I bought my P229 Sig in .40S&W to replace my S&W Highway Patrolman bored out to .44 Special, which I carried when backpacking in Black Bear country. Unless I was willing to have a round under the hammer I had only five shots available and damn slow reloading times at that. So..................,

1. I swapped out my Sig .40 bbl and put in a ported Barstow .357 bbl @/6 inches length. This length sticks out from the slide enough to where the porting works fairly well. I find that the ported .357 'jumps' less than the .40 and seems to be quite accurate. The 'felt' recoil in this combination seems less as well. Also, it allowed me to carry a a total of three quick-to-load magazines, rather than a handful of .44 Special rounds rolling around in my pocket. In my final analysis if I can't stop a Black Bear w/36 rounds of .357 I guess I deserve to be eaten.

2. 'No', I don't shoot in matches, but if I did I would seek out .22 matches so that I didn't go broke.

3. 'Yes', .357 ammo is unbelievable high in price. If I weren't so damn lazy I'd take up reloading again because I really do like that Sig 229 in .357.

Well............... to each his own, right?

Rod