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Smith & Wesson caliber question

Fourth Horseman
On the Smith & Wesson website they list as available calibers; .357 Sig and a .357 Auto and they show standard length and compact M&P models they call the M&P357 and M&P357c. They also show two versions of the M&P for .357 Sig, they call the M&P .357 Sig and the M&P Compact .357 Sig.

Does anyone know if they are the same thing or is there a new .357 Auto cartridge now?
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  • beantownshootah
    To get right to the point, the 357 SIG is sometimes called 357 auto.

    The terms are effectively synonymous now, even though historically, there have been a number of other .357 semi-auto rounds (see below).

    If you look at the Smith Website, the M&P semiauto guns listed as "357 auto" have thumb safeties, and the guns listed as "357 SIG" do not. They aren't exactly the same guns.

    Why does Smith make the distinction THIS way?

    I don't know, but it probably has something to do with the various markets the particular guns are aimed at (civilian vs police).

    Smith does call at least some of its guns "357 SIG" so I don't think pettiness applies in this particular case, but in GENERAL, there is some amount of that at work with different gun manufacturers that refuse to use the names of other manufacturers cartridges on their guns.

    For example, Glock labels its pistols as ".40", ".380 Auto", ".45 Auto" and ".357"

    It does NOT use the formal names ".40 S&W (Smith and Wesson)", .380 or .45 ACP (Automatic COLT Pistol), or .357 SIG. Yes, curiously Glock seems to have no problem labelling its guns as .45 GAP (Glock automatic pistol).

    http://www.glock.com/english/index_pistols.htm

    Along the same lines, most companies are NOT labelling their guns:

    .38 Smith and Wesson Special
    .357 Smith and Wesson Magnum
    .44 Smith and Wesson Special, etc.

    To answer the other part of the question, there is no new 357 auto cartridge that I am aware of, though historically there have been quite a number of auto-capable .355/.356/9mm/.357 cartridges (.38 super, .357 magnum through a Coonan arms or Desert Eagle semi auto, 9x23 Winchester, .357 automag, etc).
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  • Fourth Horseman
    Thanks beantownshootah! I new someone would know. Thanks again and happy new year.
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