Finally coming together! I had a Sig 229 in .357 Sig cal., loved the cartridge, but the gun didn't fit me at all. Traded that one for a Series 80 Colt Commander and been happy ever since. When I ran across the .357 Sig top end kits at Rem Sport, I decided I had to build one. Got it up & running yesterday and I couldn't be happier! The quality of the Rem Sport parts are top notch and still priced right, I have about $260. in the top end, delivered. Nice stuff. Very accurate and flat shooting, even does a "one up" on the .38 Super cartridge. The 1911 handles the round well and is literally a blast to shoot! The frame is parked and the top end is blued. I haven't decided on the final finish yet, but matt black Duracoat keeps calling my name. :D
I'll give it a good breakin before I do the final finish, and of course, there are all the neccessary bell's & whistle's to add, but here it is in the meantime. Time to hit the range!
It looks real good, Arky. So tell me... why .357 SIG instead of .38 Super? Was it the uniqueness of the project or do you think that the .357 SIG is markedly superior to the .38 Super cartridge?
The ONLY thing I have against the .357 SIG is that you're back to lubing cases if you reload.
I haven't lubed any of my .357 Sig brass, except to seat the bullets. I've never had a misfire out of my Sig 226, 229, or 2022.
I love 1911s, and the .357Sig is my favorite all time cartridge. You've got one helluva gun there Arkboy. Enough to make me jealous. If you're interested in that, take a look at .400 corbon. It's a .45 acp necked down to .40 to duplicate hot hand loads out of a 10mm.
Did you have to cut a slot in the ramp, ala Kimber and their 10mm?
Solid_Snake
Sep 12, 2006
If you're question is directed at me, I don't know. I've just read about the .400 Corbon.
I already have a Colt Government Model in .38 Super and one that I built as a project. The .38 Super is one of my favorite's in the 9mm/.38 class, the .357 Sig is a noticeably hotter round though. I really like the .357 magnum cartridge too, but in the last few years I've found that the combination of arthritis/revlover trigger guards/magnum loads do not mix very well :cry: I tried the Sig 229 and loved the .357 Sig cartridge but the gun just didn't fit me as well as the 1911. Just thought it would be a great round for my favorite gun, how many 1911's do you see in that cal? :) I don't mind lubing the cases. Reloading gives me something to do during the winter months and on rainy days. :)
Popeye, I didn't have to do anything to the ramp. I got the barrel and slide from a co. called RemSport. Very nice quality stuff, all I had to do was fit the link pin and fit the barrel to my frame, about 30 minutes work. The ramp looks like a standard .45 ACP setup (just a notch on the lower edge of the chamber, not a full ramp) and feeds great.
Recently bought a .400 Corbon barrel from a forum member too. Have that in another pistol and it shoots great. Still working up loads for that cartridge, but so far it has been a very worthwhile project. I recomend that conversion highly, really wakes up an old 1911!
Rem Sport. Here's a link to a scan of their business card.
I bought this one when they had several different kits up for sale on Ebay. I need to contact them to find out if that is their only marketing tool, or if I can buy directly from them because they have some nice stuff on Ebay occasionally.
Took her to the range today and gave her a good workout. Accuracy was very good and function of the pistol was 100%. Can't say that about the mags though. All problem's were mag related, but most were cured before I left the range. The biggest problem was that the mag did not want to hold the slide open on the last shot. I did a little tweaking and I think that fixed it, but I'm going to try some Wolff extra power mag springs and see if that helps.
I need to go with a stronger recoil spring as the one I had in the gun was a little light, but I had to start somewhere. I couldn't find any info on that when I did this project. I used a standard .45 acp, 16.5 lb. recoil spring to start with, but I think an 18/19 lb. spring would be about right for the .357 Sig.
I'm ready to put the final finish on it and call it a done deal. The gun is extremely fun to shoot, kinda like a hand held M-44... beautiful muzzle blast! :D
The .357 Sig is a stout round with .357 mag. performance, but is much more controllable in a semi auto, with less felt recoil than a .357 mag. in a revolver. The 1911 handles the round very well. This one's a keeper!
I decided to try something before I got crazy with the Duracoat for the final finish. The frame was parkerized and the rest of the pistol blued, so I buffed the frame with steel wool and gave it a good going over with G-96 cold blue. What I got was a matt blue color that contrasted nicely with the polished blue of the other parts. Also re-contoured the tang on the grip safety a little to improve the fit in the web of my hand. I think I'll leave it like it is.
Got the Wolf 18.5 # variable rate recoil spring in today too. Made a huge improvement in the function of the pistol! Less felt recoil, smoother operation and an improvement in accuracy, which was already very good. Also replaced the mag springs with Wolf extra power springs. That, and a slide stop change has cured all of the mag related problems. The gun sometimes did not want to hold the slide open on the last shot, but function's fine now. Found a nice set of Colt Delta Elite grips to give it a better feel. I believe I'll call this project finished. Very fun pistol to shoot! :thumb:
Hey arkyboy, how do you like those variable recoil springs from wolff? I've been thinking about getting one for my RIA 1911
I like them, though I want to try a regular spring in this gun. The variable power spring tends to unlock the barrel a little quicker and is more helpful with lower powered loads. Great for target loads in most cals. The .357 Sig is a pretty potent load though and I might be better off with a standard type spring. I've got some different weights of springs coming to do a little more testing for this gun.