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What is the issue with the 357 Sig round and a 1911?

Someone was asking me about one the other day and I told them its not a good pairing
but I can't recall why.

Thanks!

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Kentucky Colonel, Tennessee Squire & Combat Leprechaun
"You won't rise to the occasion - you'll default to your level of training." Barrett Tillman

I think it's mostly because "they" say so...! Jeremy, take my advice and don't go against "them"......

I don't know why it shouldn't..... but I have limited experience, I have built all of one 1911 in this caliber and it worked fine once I got a not-caliber-related bug out of it. I put 250 rounds through it trouble free and have not had a complaint from the owner BUT I have no idea how much it has or hasn't been shot. It's the "Elements Galore" thread I started.

"They" say the same thing about .40 in a 1911, sorry to say very little experience with that too-- had one in the shop ten years ago, got it running..... that's about all I remember.

No problems with mine.

Assuming quality parts, and a quality build, I would not expect any problems with a 1911 in .357 Sig.

And ditto on the .40. After all, it was gospel for a long time that the 1911 wasn't particularly keen on being fed 9mm, and look at us now.

Like Ned said, I think it was born of "they sayers" and probably more so that than an actual issue. It is shorter than .45, 10mm, .38 Super & 9x23 which could cause some issues. Of course there are many 9mm 1911s out there running fine so clearly the OAL is not a deal breaker. On top of that many say that the bottleneck rounds feed better then straight wall cases although in the instance of a two-piece feed ramp of the traditional 1911 I can envision that MAYBE being an issue to work around. That is just completely in my head. Kind of envisioning the bullet nose hitting the ramp but then perhaps some interference with the shoulder and/or body having a secondary impact. Again I haven't measured or tried any of this, just thinking out load.

I think with any 1911 in any caliber it all comes back to quality parts put together by a quality smith. When there are considerable people/companies out there that can't build a .45 that runs you definitely will find any of the other calibers that don't work either. With that said, a smith that can build any other caliber 1911 should not have an issue with .357 Sig, it just may be a little more challenging.

The .357 Sig round is not that much hotter than the 9mm so in my thought process if you want a 9mm bore 1911 go with the 9x23 Winchester, and you will get 9 +1 rounds with performance matching and/or exceeding the factory specs. It also eliminates the OAL issue as the 9x23 is close to the OAL length of .45, and being more narrow also feeds in more of a straight line into the bar.

9x23 has GOT to be the most overlooked round in the 1911's inventory. It SHOULD replace the 357 Sig, 9mm, Super 38, and probably the 40 S&W as well. It does everything better than those cartridges, except cost less. If it had taken off as it should have back in the day, that too would've been taken care of by now. Yeah, I think that highly of it.

I'd take 9X23 over .357 SIG as well-- regardless of platform.

Agreed on the 9x23. Though during the recent shortages I was shocked a couple times to see 9x23 in stock when shelves were bare of what I thought were more common cartridges.

On the one hand I have no doubt that any of the fine makers on this board - and many others - would deliver a first rate 1911 pistol in .357 Sig using quality parts well put together.

On the other hand I've also seen Wilson Combat comment on why such pistols are not in their cataloged product line
On the gripping hand I don't see anybody filling such demand as there might be with a cataloged from stock 1911 pistol in .357 Sig.

I'm inclined to agree with John Dean Cooper that a pistol for defense ought to be no larger than necessary for the cartridge - he wrote of what he called a cruiser weight pistol as the proper home for a 9x19. As I age and my hands hurt I like a full size 1911 in 9x19 for lost brass matches and high round count exercises but those are not really defensive uses. I surely don't like the 9x23 for lost brass matches but for defensive uses and showing off the 9x23 can't be beat.

Wilson Combat doesn't support the 9x23 caliber either, sadly. I inquired if they would build me one not too long ago and they declined. It worked out for me because I was lucky enough to fall into an open slot in Jim Garthwaite's schedule, but I was surprised Wilson wouldn't take the job.

Another downside, given the length of the cartridge, would be its usefulness in only the Government model.

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The further one goes, the less one knows. Loa Tzu

It's a nose down issue in a 1911 and after a little nose down a few times pressure goes through the roof from pushback of the bullet in the case.

SIG will build a really nice 1911 in .357 SIG

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viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8464&p=58857#p58857

Here's the one I did FWIW.

Somewhere I have photos of Ned shooting that .357 Sig on the 300 meter popups.

The bullet got out there right quick, it did.

Sig advertises at least one 1911 chambered in .357 Sig. Have not seen one in any of the stores, though. I'm fortunate to own a 5" .38 Super customized by Richard Heinie. He modified the barrel to also shoot 9x23. What a great round to shoot! The lack of available ammunition for the 9x23 is a detriment so reloading is a must.

I wonder if that's one of those things they put out on paper as soon as they get the idea, but it's not really available, then they think better of it and never actually produce it?

Very well could be. I imagine that there may be some corporate pressure to produce a 1911 chambered in .357 SIG.

This is a two barrel set up on a Caspian slide and frame. 40 S&W and .357 Sig. Runs great and is fun to shoot.

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DerrPrecision.com

I had to do some searching, but here is Nedman, pasting targets out to 300 meters with the aforementioned .357 Sig.






Edited six times while I remembered how to post pics.

Greg, that looks really nice! We'd be interested in any round-count or other feedback from the range but I know that ammo ain't cheap. As I worked up the above gun, I had two kinds of Federal HP, one was noticeably hotter and was approaching primer flow problems. I took the way way out and told the client "don't use that ammo".

Thanks for the pic, Patrick.

And I've put a question in to my inside source at Sig, asking about 1911s and .357s.

We'll see what they say.

Well, waddya know;

http://www.sigsauer.com/CatalogProductD ... tmare.aspx