Sellier & Bellot's HOT .38spl !!!!

S&B tends to be a bit hotter than many other rounds.

European ammo is loaded to a different pressure level than American ammo. Years ago I bought some Fiocchi 9mm that had green primer sealant. It was the hottest 9mm ammo I ever shot, hotter than our +P+ stuff.

I read/heard somewhere that European 9mm is loaded hotter than ours so it will cycle in sub machine guns. I don't know this for a fact. Take it for what it's worth.

All S&B ammo is loaded to NATO specifications. KY Larry is correct that it's designed to be fired thru the 9mm machine guns. The other advantage is every round is sealed at the bullet crimp and primer to prevent moisture from getting to the powder.
It is also very consistant from box to box even in different lot codes. I use S&B almost exclusively in my 9mm pistols for all of my range practice. I have a few boxes in .38 and .357 too.

The POI of their 9mm 124 gr. FMJ is the same as the Speer Gold Dot 115 gr. PP ammo.

They make ammo for every common caliber on the market, from pistol to high powered rifle. They have an excellent website cataloging all of their ammo choices.
Cabela's carries a very large selection of S&B ammo now.

S&B is fantastic stuff. I've liked it in every caliber I've tried.

I like Sellier and Bellot ammunition but don't forget that a 190mm test barrel is 7.48 inches which runs the power numbers up a bit. It's not the same as a 4 inch vented test barrel. It does run on the warm side, however, IMO.

I have about 600 rounds of the S&B 158gr LSWC and it is HOTTT!!! way hotter than the +p stuff I have tried from any company. In fact, the first time I shot it I though I had put 357mag in my GP100 by mistake!

I Love Euro Ammo...

.......It's always hotter than our PC downgraded stuff. I always had S&B or Fiocchi in my Sig 232 before I started rollin' my own. Never tried their revolver stuff, but I can imagine it's the same.

Interesting... a 158 at nearly 1,000 FPS and no +P label?

Sort of makes that +P with a 125 at 925 seem silly, now doesn't it?

SaxonPig said:

Interesting... a 158 at nearly 1,000 FPS and no +P label?

Sort of makes that +P with a 125 at 925 seem silly, now doesn't it?

Click to expand...

There's no denying that it is an exceptionally hot load for .38 Special, although as Gary A pointed out it was tested with a 7.48" barrel as opposed to the usual 4" barrel used for most manufacturers' specifications. S&B's loads in the other calibers, however, are nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm not sure what valid generalizations could be derived given the variance I've seen with all of the large-scale manufacturers. For instance, Winchester tends, much of the time, to load a tad more lightly than others, but their 10mm load smokes most others that I've seen (from the major manufacturers), which aren't any hotter than .40 S&W (I guess they're still selling the 10mm FBI load). Only they'd know why. Similarly, for some reason, S&B loads .38 Special extremely hot, but that doesn't necessarily imply that they load every caliber hot (they don't, at least according to their own specs).