Difference between .40cal and .357?

[Cuz]

While I've seen .40 S&W mags feed 9mm jut fine into a conversion barrel, I HIGHLY recommend you take extreme care in following this practice. You do NOT want to ever chamber a 9mm into a .40 S&W or .357 SIG barrel. The result could be disastrous. .357 SIG into a .40 Barrel is also not a good idea, but at least it isn't likely to blow up on you.

I don't know about that Chris. Actually, I do, a friend shot a half dozen 9mm rounds out of my Glock 35 recently. He "thought" it was my G34 and took a mag of 9mm, loaded it up and proceeded to fire. Aside from the gun not cycling and absolutely dismal hits on the paper nothing bad happened. He had to manually cycle the slide to eject the round and chamber the next. After doing this a bunch of times he handed me the gun and said "see, Glocks suck, this gun doesn't shoot worth a damn". I took the gun, removed the magazine and showed him that he was shooting 9mm in my 40 cal Glock and said "see, in a pinch you can shoot anything out of a Glock!" I wish I could have captured the look on his face when I told him. It was priceless.

-Cuz.

 

[GSG]

I don't know about that Chris. Actually, I do, a friend shot a half dozen 9mm rounds out of my Glock 35 recently. He "thought" it was my G34 and took a mag of 9mm, loaded it up and proceeded to fire. Aside from the gun not cycling and absolutely dismal hits on the paper nothing bad happened. He had to manually cycle the slide to eject the round and chamber the next. After doing this a bunch of times he handed me the gun and said "see, Glocks suck, this gun doesn't shoot worth a damn". I took the gun, removed the magazine and showed him that he was shooting 9mm in my 40 cal Glock and said "see, in a pinch you can shoot anything out of a Glock!" I wish I could have captured the look on his face when I told him. It was priceless.

-Cuz.

I was at the range and saw something remarkably similar happen out of a S&W Sigma .40 with a 9mm bullet. The only difference was the shooter heard the light report and saw that the slide didn't cycle, so he stopped shooting after the 1st shot.

 

[Mikey]

At one point I was very interested in the .357 sig but the fact that it is only really useful with the 125gr bullet turned me off. If it had a versatility equal to that of the magnum I would be all over it. It would be great if you could effectively load it with something like 180gr rounds.

 

[Xak]

At one point I was very interested in the .357 sig but the fact that it is only really useful with the 125gr bullet turned me off. If it had a versatility equal to that of the magnum I would be all over it. It would be great if you could effectively load it with something like 180gr rounds.

The 357Sigs effectiveness is designed around it's velocity, that's why 115gr to 135gr are best. It isn't designed to be a hunting round. If you want to hunt with a semi-auto try something like the 10mm or 9X25. It is designed as a self defense round that mimics the 125gr .357Mag in a compact-full size semi-auto handgun. The result is arguably one of the best semi-auto cartriges for this purpose. It hits harder than any other common semi-auto caliber (accept for 10mm), does not over-penetrate, and the recoil is similar to the .40S&W.

Can you tell it's my favorite round?

 

[Ray-500]

At one point I was very interested in the .357 sig but the fact that it is only really useful with the 125gr bullet turned me off. If it had a versatility equal to that of the magnum I would be all over it. It would be great if you could effectively load it with something like 180gr rounds.

Personally love the .357. Have a very old Model 19, a newer 686, and a Desert Eagle. All are fed 158 gr. The "old" 19 was heavily customized at the factory and will never go anywhere. Carried it for many years when I needed to, and it is now within "easy reach" as an "old firiend" might be. Nothing wrong with 158 Gr. factory loads. IMHO

 

[Snapshot]

The result is arguably one of the best semi-auto cartriges for this purpose. It hits harder than any other common semi-auto caliber (accept for 10mm), does not over-penetrate, and the recoil is similar to the .40S&W.

Can you tell it's my favorite round?

I have to agree. the 357sig is my all time favorite round. I laminated a page of my favorite loads right into my reloading bench. Put one layer of clear coat down and then put the page on top, then added several more coats. It's now a permanent part of the bench

 

[ItalianBostonian]

Thanks people!