I fired about 100 rounds out of a .357 sig while I was taking my CCW Class. Of the 15 different handguns that I fired that day, that pistol was the most accurate for me. IMO the round has sufficient power and its not much different than a 9mm round. If ammo is available in your area and you can find a .357 sig that you like, I would certainly not hesitate to get one.

My Sig P229 is chambered in .357 Sig. LOVE it. What a fun round to shoot!

If it's your first pistol I wouldn't recommend it. It's a 9mm bullet in a necked down .40 caliber case and it is a hot little shooter.

Secret Service has made the round popular. Ammo, good ammo, is hard to get, and .357 HP's are very costly and rare. A 147 grain 9mm or a .45 will be more cost efficient and be more readily available, wounding potential is the same with similar overall penetration depths. Important factors if you intend to shoot your gun on a regular basis. Of course there is the option of getting a .40 and getting a drop in .357 barrel.

Carry ammo is a bit spendy, but I bought 1000 rounds of practice ammo for about $0.25/round about 3 weeks ago. Had it on my doorstep in 5 days.

I've got a Glock 32c and it's become my daily carry gun (after having my faith in my Kimber shaken a bit). It's definitely got a bit more zip/bang to it than other calibers, but a well practiced shooter can control it just fine. Newer shooters would probably be better off with something else until they have the necessary skills.

Originally Posted by SigDoubleTap

Of course there is the option of getting a .40 and getting a drop in .357 barrel.

Or get the .357 barrel and a drop in .40 barrel. I've NOT been impressed with .40 in anything I've tried it in. The .357SIG is impressive to me. More muzzle flash too so it's something to keep in mind when shooting in low light or dark conditions. I think this caliber will outlast .45GAP by a long shot.

Growler I agree, even though the .40 is everywhere, I find the .357 has much more to offer in any platform. It is very accurate, but I am stuck on the oldies, the .45 and 9mm, both being around for most of a century. A traditionalist I am, and it's hard to build on perfection.

357 Sig has less feeding problems then any other handgun cartridge in a semi auto due to the tapered case neck. Great little round! getting a 125 grain JHP to 1350fps with very little recoil and great accuracy!

My 15 y/o Sig P229 is chambered for .40 & .357.

I like it being able to just swap out the barrel & it's a .357.

I have been shooting .357 Sig in some of my Glocks for years. Great round. I have a .357 barrel for the 229 and shot some today for the first time in the Sig. Nice. Shoots very easy and with good commercial ammo for self defense this is a great round in many ways.
Just my 2C!

I would try the Sig Sauer p226-40 and buy the .357 barrel for about $158.00. Its a no tool quick change and you have a 2nd gun. P.S. .40 cal.S&W and .357SIG cal. use the same 226 magazine.

HAve a .40 S & W on 226 but recently dropped in the .357 barrel Have shot about 100 rnds and it is a big difference!! Much flatter trajectory and more of a snap but they are FUN to shoot!!! I highly recommend it rounds not too expensive if you buy bulk ( ie Georgia Arms) My 2 cents worth

Performance test posted from another site. It's from the '90's though no exact date was given. Here is the available info:

This is from law enforcement testing. It's when the 357 Sig was relatively new, and the ammo used was Speer Gold Dot 125gn. P226 was the test gun. Remember, the 357 Sig was designed to replicate the 125gn 357 Magnum, the number one street proven caliber.
I'd say it does a mighty fine job of it. The second video is of 185gn +P CorBon 45 ACP, just to show you the difference in energy dump. They also tested 9mm, 40, 10mm, and 45 in different loads / manufacturers. NOTHING even came close to the 357 Sig. I've carried it ever since I witnessed this. Just thought I'd share. You can come to your own conclusions.

.45 ACP: YouTube - 185gn Corbon +P 45 ACP - roughly 15 inches of penetration
.357 SIG: YouTube - 357 Sig 125gn Speer Gold Dot - @ 2:28 you can see the pentration was roughly 21 inches.

My personal conclusions regarding the debate about over-penetration; even in .45 15 inches would exit the target short of a square/perpendicular impact with bone, and then it still just might. Okay, some latitude scientifically. The deeper penetration of the .357 SIG could have been influenced by the would channel already present from the .45 ACP impact. I was not present nor did I have any influence on the testing procedures, but personally I would've done things differently to get better objective data. **BTW, I am not a LE Professional nor in any way associated with that career field short of knowing a few officers.**

The energy transfer I think told the story in the videos provided. The 2 foot deep block of ballistic gel barely flinched with the .45 ACP impact. There was a completely different story told when the .357 SIG round made it's impact into the same block. I still believe and advocate shot placement over caliber because with the exception of a critical hit (nervous system) a handgun round will not drop a target like a rifle would a deer, regardless of what is portrayed by Hollywood. If you can place your shots, even under duress, you will have the best chance for influencing the agressor. Your objective is to defend yourself not perform an execution afterall. What happens at some point in time after one does what they must is a downstream effect.

Even a .22 can kill. If you doubt that, stand in front of one sometime to test that theory for yourself.

Looks like there is a lot of .357 sig love up in this forum. It has been a round that had intrigued me. One of these days I'll get a .357 sig barrel for my G23 and give that round a go.

.357 Mag is a fun round and I'm sure the .357 sig is as well.

Old thread, I hope the OP has bought a 357SIG.

Have a P226 that I first bought in .40 and I got the 357 barrel Fantastic !!!

I liked it so much I ordered my P239 in 357SIG.

Great round.

Lateck,

Its hard to call a round good or bad. Different bullets are good for different things. As mentioned before, the .357 sig is a 9mm bullet seated on a .40 charge and as you could imagine shoots pretty hot (usually around 1500 fps). Seeing as this is a relatively thin bullet with a high velocity, its gonna penetrate. This is both good and bad. For self defense or police scenarios, its really not ideal seeing as bullets generally exit people even after passing all the way through them and therefore pose a threat for unintended damage to anything around, especially unintended targets like people. More penetration only is going to increase this chance and is therefore unwanted. However, for situations like military, high penetration can be a good thing seeing as generally you are not operating in areas which are densely populated by innocent people (at least not nearly as much as LE and self defense situations), however, in military situations there is a much higher possibility of having to shoot through cover or to encounter a target which has protective gear such as a bullet proof best or helmet etc... for these reasons penetration is sometimes to an advantage in a military setting. If you are going to just use the gun for target shooting i wouldnt go with .357 sig, its expensive and offers no advantage over 9mm for target shooting purposes. Plus, if you are a new shooter (I'm not saying you are but I'm just not sure), it may be a little sharp to start out with. So at the end of the day, does .357 sig have its benefits? I guess a few but they are very limited in their application. Also, if you factor in the added cost of the ammo i would say that there are really better things out there but i wouldnt call it a bad round.

Sorry, after posting this message i realized how old it was. What did you end up going with?

It's a .40 necked down to 9mm. The Secret Service does use this round but they have the ammo made just for them. They shoot .60 gr at 2410 fps. Thats one hot pistol round.

It is as good as anything else but a bit pricey, which is why I have chosen to stay with 40 S&W for my 229 even tho I have both barrels.

.357SIG and 10mm are my two favorite carry rounds. They are flat, fast and very effective.

I just bought a Glock 33 in .357 SIG. I've had a Glock 22 in .40 S&W for 11 years. The .357 SIG is more snappy and really really fun to shoot. I think I'm going to like this over the .40 S&W. On line, I can get a box of 50 for $18, cheaper than what I pay for .40 S&W around here.

Originally Posted by ozzy

It's a .40 necked down to 9mm. The Secret Service does use this round but they have the ammo made just for them. They shoot .60 gr at 2410 fps. Thats one hot pistol round.

What's your source on the information regarding the .60 grain and 2410 fps used by the Secret Service?

Originally Posted by SigDoubleTap

Secret Service has made the round popular. Ammo, good ammo, is hard to get, and .357 HP's are very costly and rare. A 147 grain 9mm or a .45 will be more cost efficient and be more readily available, wounding potential is the same with similar overall penetration depths. Important factors if you intend to shoot your gun on a regular basis. Of course there is the option of getting a .40 and getting a drop in .357 barrel.

This portion of the statement is just way off, although I agree with the poster's other thoughts.

Defense ammo in 357sig costs about the same as 9mm or 40sw...or 45acp for that matter. You can easily find Rangers or Gold Dots for $30/50rds all over the internet. The real issue is that FMJs can cost damn near as much as defense rounds. If you can find range ammo for $0.40/rd, then you're doing pretty well.

I own a 357sig and it's a very good defense round (and fun to shoot), but it's not terribly cost effective. 40sw is far more practical due to the cost of FMJs, and the fact that you can replicate 357sig ballistics in the lighter 135-140gr CorBon defense rounds. And 9mm 124-127gr +P+ rounds aren't really that much slower than 357sigs in the same weight.

Secret Service has made the round popular. Ammo, good ammo, is hard to get, and .357 HP's are very costly and rare.

Incorrect, I just bought 500 Gold Dots for $200 shipped online, thats 20 bucks a box of 50.

It's a .40 necked down to 9mm. The Secret Service does use this round but they have the ammo made just for them. They shoot .60 gr at 2410 fps. Thats one hot pistol round.

Incorrect. They use Gold Dot 54234.

i have sereral pistols chambered in this round and love shooting it. i reload my own which makes it less costly for me to shoot over buying ammo. very accurate round.
have chronographed several rounds at over 1410 fps.