Range Roving With The .357 SIG

"Ah, think I erased all the pictures..."

He didn't just think he did, he done did. No matter. Photographs of holes in paper aren't all that exciting anyway. Dropping a Lonewolf .357 SIG conversion barrel into a Glock 23 takes about 10 seconds from disassemble to reassemble, and the thing fit like a glove. Feed, fire, and fling were accomplished without drama, and using various brands of ammo, 2.5 to 3.5 inch groups were returned at 25 yards.

For around $90 excluding shipping, a .40 S&W was vi-oh-la'd* into a .357 SIG. Another $30, including shipping, returned 50 rounds of Double-Tap's Gold Dot 125 grain SIG ammunition, currently the hottest on the market. Speer, Remington, Winchester, and Federal all make 125 grainers to giddyup at around 1350 fps from a 4" barrel, but the chronograph returned 1462 fps for the DT loading and what the hell; if you're going to go for speed then faster is better so why not. And at that velocity, the SIG finally approaches REAL .357 magnum territory.

So then, what's the skinny.

Speer's Gold Dot is a proven performer. Secret-Service, FBI, and LE types have been giving the SIG a look, but none of them will ever use a genuine high performance load so determining what the Double-Tap technology will do in the field is going to have to await a citizen capping a gremlin with one. Or two, or three.

The G-23 was a tad snappier with the DT's as compared to a hi-vel .40 load, but not by much. Were anyone to offer 125 grain hi-test .40-fodder, the velocity would be similar to the SIG's, but no one does so if you want really-really handgun-fast, and semi-automatic fast at that, you're going to go SIG or 10 mm. The 10 will provide 1600 fps from a 4.5" gun, but nary a soul has proven to me that a plastic-fantastic exists that will contain such power without shooting itself to pieces.

Until more field results arrive we're left with middling 10 mm rounds, or balz-to-the-wall .357 SIG'ers that HAVE seen lots of range time without melting the very plastic that feeds them.

*French for presto-chango.

PostShot: The Lonewolf barrels are the old fashioned type that one may fire lead bullets from. This is of some importance to the 1 in 10,000 Glock owners who reload using lead. Federal barrels are even cheaper, but we went with Lonewolf for reasons I've long since forgotten. Might have had something to do with a special sale, or a break on shipping, or I wanted to try a ported barrel then forgot to order one and got the regular instead. And in response to the question of why I spend so much time, effort, and resources handing out free information when you can pick up a gun mag and get all the wrong results for the wrong reasons and only pay $20-30 a month reading the most popular ones...

Unbiased is usually the best sort of info one can get. The best info saves lifes. Others do the same. Well, some do. Most charge in one way or another. Shame on them. Besides; I'd be doing this stuff anyway so why not pass it along.