Reloading .357 Sig

[Rodentman]

I decided to start reloading .357 sig. Bought the Dillon dies, Starline brass, and 125g MT gold bullets for that caliber. I had saved only 3 cases from a previous shoot so I reloaded those, very carefully and slowly. Used 10.0g of Blew Dot, seated bullet to 1.135. Flared the case VERY little and crimped to .375 at the case mouth. Will test tomorrow for bullet setback and shoot a bunch more factory ammo to get some brass on which to practice. Ordered a Lee FCD, as John didn't have one.

I am puzzled, however, by this statement on the dies box: "Headspace: The sizing die must be adjusted to match your barrel or case gage (sic). Failure to do so will result in cartridges that will not function correctly." Adjust the sizing die how? The 3 rounds I made plunk nicely and line up properly in the bbl of my Sig 229.

I have read Sam's comments on this caliber on another site, and tried to follow those instructions. I want to get some AA #9 even though John scowled at me when I asked for it, suggesting AA #7 or Power Pistol, which I'm sure will work.

Any knowledge anyone cares to impart to me on this caliber is welcome. I'm rather careful but am concerned about the crimp and bullet setback. I should have the Lee FCD by mid next week and can load up this weekend and hold for the final crimping step if the FCD is superior in crimping to the Dillon crimp die. I like the Dillon dies. Not cheap but seem well made. I like the fact that the seater and crimper can be removed w/o changing the setting. I replaced the lock rings with Hornady ones. I load in a Big Boss II single stage.

[mn_smokeater]

peruse through here
http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/840601935
its sig fourms reloading page

[Gecko, Extra Crispy]

FWIW I love Accurate Arms powder EXCEPT # 7 I was trying to use it for my 38 super and found it extremely dirty. I have not looked at 357 sig loads with AA #5 but it is much MUCH cleaner than #7 so if there is a 357 sig load for it I'd use that if it were me. With #7 in my super I could get about 200 rounds before a cleaning and with #5 i get about 1200rounds. Granted thats through a wilson combat gun with hooridly tight tolerences. It took about 1000 rounds just to get it working reliably. With the sig it shouldn't be as picky. My 40 Cal sig 229 would go about 600-700 rounds before a cleaning(ie when it would stop functioning reliably) and that was with crappy factory range ammo. I use dillion dies except the last stage I have been using the lee factory crimp dies and since I switched I have had zero problems. Seat with the dillion and use the lee factory crimp for the final stage and you should be siting pretty. (insert unicorn and rainbow thoughts here)


Only way to find out what will work for you is to give it a try. Nice thing about #5 is you use quite a bit less and it's much cleaner!

Good luck and let us know how it goes



-Gecko

[Rodentman]

I plan to shoot up a box or 2 of factory ammo today and reload them this weekend. I'll hold off on the crimping until I get the FCD next week. Will advise.

Still waiting to get my 396-1 back from the shop so I can try my .44 Russians in it. They work fine in the big Ruger SRH, but I expected them to be OK. Hard to go wrong with Trail Boss with lead.

[Seismic Sam]

Hey Gecko - try VV 3N37 powder in your 38 super. It is THE powder to achieve the best performance in 9x23 Winchester, and I don't recall my EAA 38 Super Match ever getting that dirty while firing it.

[Seismic Sam]

I am puzzled, however, by this statement on the dies box: "Headspace: The sizing die must be adjusted to match your barrel or case gage (sic). Failure to do so will result in cartridges that will not function correctly." Adjust the sizing die how? The 3 rounds I made plunk nicely and line up properly in the bbl of my Sig 229.

I am equally puzzled by the language on your Dillon die box, and I sure didn't see any horse puckey like that on my Dillon die box. Did you get the carbide dies, or just the steel ones?

Bottom line, the text you cite is correct for bottleneck dies where the cartridge headspaces on the shoulder of the case. The 357 SIG, however, headspaces on the case mouth like a normal straight walled semi-auto case, so somebody at Dillon probably got slap happy with the bottle neck die stickers. You run the case all the way up into the die until the bottom of the die hits the shell holder like normal.

[RB98SS]

I've been reloading .357sig for a while now and I do not like using AA9 in this caliber. Don't quote me but I believe the Speer manual lists a max of 14 grains in a 124gn bullet. I could not get 12gns in the case and seat the bullet without cringing at the amount of compression I had to put on the projectile to get it to seat to spec. I've used Power Pistol, Blue Dot, Longshot, 800X, and AA9 all with good results with the exception of not liking AA9. YMMV.

I've got the most velocity out of 800X, but the other three are close behind. 800X is a pain because of the corn flake texture making it hard to meter. I've been using Longshot and Power Pistol as of late and like them the best.

Lastly, I too use the Lee FCD and it works great for this caliber. I've suffered no setback issues whatsoever.

[MrVvrroomm]

I've got the most velocity out of 800X, but the other three are close behind. 800X is a pain because of the corn flake texture making it hard to meter.

Yup, 800x meters like potato chips

[Rodentman]

I shot a bunch of factory ammo to get some brass to work with. I'll hang on to the virgin Starline brass. There isn't much virgin stuff left in my house but my wife is charting a path in that direction.

I tested one of my reloaded rounds by measuring it at OAL=1.1345 and then loading it, letting the slide slingshot forward. I removed the round. No change of the length! I loaded a reload and then 6 factory loads above it. I fired the 6 factory loads, and removed the reload. It measured the same, within handling tolerance of a thousandth or 2. So I am fairly confident in the crimp. I have no issues with the Blue Dot powder but I have plenty of PP and AA #7.

I tend to agree that the sticker on the box would apply to rifle but not to this caliber. Anyway, I set the sizing die (it's carbide)die to just touch the shellholder, backed it off a hair just for safety and it works fine.

I plan to use my Redding carbide .40 die for decapping and sizing and then the Dillon for neck sizing. I've heard that I still need some lube. I got some spray, but the pressure needed to feed the die feels the same with or w/o the lube. Should I use it?

I plan on loading 50 tomorrow thru the seating step. Maybe I'll crimp 25 with the Dillon crimper and 25 with the Lee which I should have Tuesday.

Caliber requires a bit more attention since there are more variables, but it seems that I have no major issues with my first effort! Thank you for your suggestions!

[gearguy10]

Not on topic, but related...

I have 156 pieces of once-fired Winchester .357 SIG brass for whomever wants it. I picked it up when I was scrounging a while back. I know the shooter and the gun it came from (Sig not Glock). I just decapped it and cleaned it in a sonic cleaner. I have it on Craigslist for $7.50 but any of you guys can have it free if you can come get it (or I'll trade for a really cheap 6 pack of beer if you don't believe in getting something for nothing).

PM me.

[RB98SS]

Can anyone provide insight as to why one of my posts were deleted from this thread? Mods? I thought it was completely harmless. ??????????

[gearguy10]

FYI - Rodentman claimed the brass. And in hindsight next time I will PM people directly instead of highjacking a thread. Sorry 'bout that. Carry on.

[ttousi]

Can anyone provide insight as to why one of my posts were deleted from this thread? Mods? I thought it was completely harmless. ??????????

pm sent

[Seismic Sam]

Yes, the max loads with AA#9 are compressed charges, and about 75% of the bullet seating pressure is actually compressing the powder. That being said, AA#9 is the powder which gets you the full 1450 FPS factory velocities, and the SD of the velocity is damn small. And without getting into the nastiness of the statistical thermodynamics of WHY compressed powder charges are more consistent, the fact is that they are in a lot (maybe not all..) of cases.

[Rodentman]

I appreciate the brass from gearguy10! I'll put it to good use. I can see that reloading this caliber is a real labor of love, requiring some extra care. A light pull on the lever when seating bullets gives a more consistent result. A hard pull, I think, gives some intertia to the bullet and it seems to seat deeper, maybe due to the short neck. I loaded up a bunch with AA7 and I'm holding off on the crimp until I get the Lee die and give that a try.

As I get more experienced I'll try compressed AA9 loads. That sounds like fun.