I know that many of us on the forum are reloaders, and we strive for consistency in our loads. Most of us routinely match or “beat” the factory loads. For example, my own early efforts on .308 loading are giving me a standard deviation (“SD”) of 16.5 , while the Federal Gold medal and Black Hills 175g loads I test my loads against measure out with an SD almost at 20 (We accidentally erased the FGM before I could report it, but it was 19.x, and the BH was 19.5) on the same chronograph on the same day, minutes apart. My current .338 Lapua load, a 300g Sierra Matchking bullet over 87 grains of Retumbo, cruising out of the barrel at 2573 fps, gives me an SD of 10.3.
But, boy did I get a surprise on Saturday when I, on the spur of the moment for laughs, tested my Texas DPS Commemorative P226 Single Action Only (that’s right – SAO, in the case of this “special” pistol), in the hot 357 SIG loading, right after testing the .308 loads. I clicked off a quick 10 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 125g which has an advertised muzzle velocity of 1350 from a 4 inch long barrel. The barrel on my Commemorative is 4 1/4 inches long, and on a semi-auto handgun, that measurement INCLUDES the chamber, so it is equivalent to a revolver with a 3 1/8 inch barrel.
The chronograph reported the following incredible, but verifiable shot-by-shot, results:
Average fps = 1341
Standard deviation = 4.1 !!
The temperature was right about 60 degrees, so NOT “hot” or “cold” outside.
First, my buddy who witnessed the whole thing, was impressed that the velocity actually seen was that high. This matches 357 Magnum 125g loads out of full length barrel, not snub-nose, revolvers. It delivers over 500 ft lb of actual (not just “claimed”) energy to the target.
But the bigger news of course was the SD. My buddy who himself makes as good or better ammo than I do, was speechless. He had not ever seen such a low SD. Neither had I. Even from very carefully assembled handloads. And here we had a FACTORY, PISTOL round, delivering not only what the manufacturer claimed, matching what is acknowledged to be a superior man-stopping revolver load, and doing so with incredible round-to-round consistency.
And those of you who load know that the 357 SIG round, with its short case and short bottleneck bearing surface, is not the easiest cartridge to set up to load consistently with uniform neck tension and precisely consistent powder loads. A typical 357 SIG loading manual load only contains about 7 to 8.5 grains of powder!
I’m impressed here with both SIG for building such a consistent pistol, and Speer for loading such consistent on-the-shelf ammunition.
But here’s the best part for me personally: This is my carry pistol.
Note also that the Speer Gold Dot is a typical police agency load (I think this very brand and type is carried by our own TX DPS commissioned officers in fact). So, it is not only effective, it is pretty lawyer-proof if someone carrying it ever has to use it for self defense. It would be pretty hard for the scumbag attorney retained by a surviving criminal or his survivors to claim “excessively powerful” ammunition, when it is the load used by the police.
I thought I had picked a pretty good pistol, and a pretty good factory load for my carry pistol, but now I am sure.
Jim G
But, boy did I get a surprise on Saturday when I, on the spur of the moment for laughs, tested my Texas DPS Commemorative P226 Single Action Only (that’s right – SAO, in the case of this “special” pistol), in the hot 357 SIG loading, right after testing the .308 loads. I clicked off a quick 10 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 125g which has an advertised muzzle velocity of 1350 from a 4 inch long barrel. The barrel on my Commemorative is 4 1/4 inches long, and on a semi-auto handgun, that measurement INCLUDES the chamber, so it is equivalent to a revolver with a 3 1/8 inch barrel.
The chronograph reported the following incredible, but verifiable shot-by-shot, results:
Average fps = 1341
Standard deviation = 4.1 !!
The temperature was right about 60 degrees, so NOT “hot” or “cold” outside.
First, my buddy who witnessed the whole thing, was impressed that the velocity actually seen was that high. This matches 357 Magnum 125g loads out of full length barrel, not snub-nose, revolvers. It delivers over 500 ft lb of actual (not just “claimed”) energy to the target.
But the bigger news of course was the SD. My buddy who himself makes as good or better ammo than I do, was speechless. He had not ever seen such a low SD. Neither had I. Even from very carefully assembled handloads. And here we had a FACTORY, PISTOL round, delivering not only what the manufacturer claimed, matching what is acknowledged to be a superior man-stopping revolver load, and doing so with incredible round-to-round consistency.
And those of you who load know that the 357 SIG round, with its short case and short bottleneck bearing surface, is not the easiest cartridge to set up to load consistently with uniform neck tension and precisely consistent powder loads. A typical 357 SIG loading manual load only contains about 7 to 8.5 grains of powder!
I’m impressed here with both SIG for building such a consistent pistol, and Speer for loading such consistent on-the-shelf ammunition.
But here’s the best part for me personally: This is my carry pistol.
Note also that the Speer Gold Dot is a typical police agency load (I think this very brand and type is carried by our own TX DPS commissioned officers in fact). So, it is not only effective, it is pretty lawyer-proof if someone carrying it ever has to use it for self defense. It would be pretty hard for the scumbag attorney retained by a surviving criminal or his survivors to claim “excessively powerful” ammunition, when it is the load used by the police.
I thought I had picked a pretty good pistol, and a pretty good factory load for my carry pistol, but now I am sure.
Jim G
