Originally Posted by
1168
I think Kimber, S&W, and Beretta did .357Sig also. There’s probably more, but as you said, its adoption has been rather limited. I don’t think anyone really sold a ton of them or marketed them all that much. Also as you said, I think Sig putting its name on it kinda sabotaged it, since unlike some other new cartridges of its era, you can’t just drop the “Sig” part when you say “.357” without causing some confusion.
Yeah, the niche for it didn't really work out because:
1) the dude that would otherwise shoot a bunch of ammo in practice can’t afford to. Or, can afford to, but could practice twice as much with 9mm.
2) the dude that reloads could reload it for much cheaper than factory ammo, but it is bottlenecked, therefore more tedious. He can reload more 9mm for the same work and less cost.
3) the dude that fits neither of those stereotypes that shoots a box a year… this cartridge doesn’t really suit that style. Sure, thats true of 9mm, also, but 357 comes with more recoil, blast, and flash, but less capacity. It’s an “expert’s cartridge”, but most experts don’t find that its worth it over 9mm.
Its too bad; .357 Sig is a cool cartridge, despite not really needing to exist. I can see the new 30SC cartridge potentially falling victim to some of the above. I also wouldn’t mind a little more capacity in my 43.