[MarineOne]

Who on here has reloaded 357 Sig's? What is the best way to reload them? I have brass that I bought over *** ******, and I have lead round nose bullets that are .356 in diameter. I can put the bullet on the casing, and with a little bit of pressure, can push the bullet all the way in. I could really use some help with this. Thanks in advance.

 

[312shooter]

Need more info, have they been sized? Have you mic'd the bullets?

 

[MarineOne]

Need more info, have they been sized? Have you mic'd the bullets?

312, the casings have not been sized and the bullets have been sized. I am confused on this one.

 

[noylj]

When the gun go bang, case expands. New and annealed cases do not spring back. Thus, case ID larger than bullet OD.
Thus, a sizing die is needed.
Please feel free to read a loading manual.

 

[312shooter]

Agree with the above post, well said. Moreover, any case that has been fired has expanded against the chamber walls and needs to be resized.

 

[aandabooks]

.356 bullets are for 9mm. You want .357 bullets and get the brass run through a sizing die.

 

[Bindernut]

.356 bullets are for 9mm. You want .357 bullets and get the brass run through a sizing die.

No disrespect intended, but please heed noylj's advice to the original poster about consulting a reloading manual.
The .357SIG doesn't use .357" diameter bullets. It uses standard .355"-.356" (9mm) bullets.
You are correct about the brass nneding to be resized first though.

 

[bntyhntr6975]

Wikipedia says a .357 Sig bullet diameter is .355, so a .356 should work just fine.

 

[Bindernut]

The .357Sig isn't that hard to reload...except I do have problems with setting the neck and shoulder back when I seat/crimp the bullet. I have to seat and crimp as two separate steps when I load them. Might be my technique though, as I have a friend here with the same (RCBS) dies that I use and he doesn't have a problem seating and crimping in one step.

There is not much neck on the .357SIG case so if you're expanding (belling) it far enough to get the bullet started, you are probably up-sizing the entire neck so the bullet is fitting loose in the neck. Try doing the very minimum amount of belling the case mouth for starting the bullet.

 

[stev32k]

I've picked up a lot .357 sig brass in the past few months and I find more split case mouths on them than all other calibers combined. It's rare to find a .45, .40, or 9mm with a split in the mouth, but maybe 25% of the sigs are damaged and end up in the rejects can.

 

[Bindernut]

The .357 SIG is a 40,000psi cartridge, which is hotter than it's .40S&W parent case or even 9mm+P. Yes, I do have the occasional neck split too. Case life is shorter than the .40...I usually only get 5 or 6 loadings out of my .357SIG brass before they start getting either cracks or the rims hammered up so bad they start to misfeed.

I don't shoot my P226 with the .357 barrel very often since I have problems reloading it and ammo is kinda scarce in my area even before SH...I normally have the .40 barrel on that pistol. Mine is a factory dual-caliber package otherwise I probably would've sold the .357 barrel quite a while ago.
I think the Glock .357SIG and the bargain aftermarket barrel chambers are looser than the factory SIG barrels are too. That, along with the high-pressure, might contribute to more problems with the split necks. In the range pickup brass that I've scrounged, I've seen a lot of .357SIG with Glock primer strikes (and bulges) with split necks.

 

[JohnTheCalifornian]

I reload 357 Sig all the time. I get a split neck every once in a while, but other than that, I have zero problems when it comes to reloading them.

I used a set of LEE dies for years until I seen that Dillon makes a carbide set. Bought those and now I dont have to lube the cases.

Only caution I would say is be careful not to push those lead bullets too fast for fear of leading.