Experience with ammo. Not hearsay. Sellier&Bellot

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I shoot S&B 7.62x54 soft point when I take my Mosin Nagants hunting. It is decent ammo. It isn't match grade but it'll shoot minute of deer and it puts them down quickly.
 
Sellier & Bellot is the CZ of Ammo - the best and most bang for the buck out there.

For calibers I don't reload it is my brand of choice assuming I can find it. Very consistent, always goes bang, accurate and usually on the hot side. I haven't bought much lately though because about 2 years ago it became almost impossible to find in Oklahoma City for some reason. It is making a come back albeit slowly.
 
My S&B in 9mm and .45 Auto has been mostly problem free. Earlier in this decade I had a Glock 30 in which I had several misfires with light primer strikes, but a hammer-fired SIG P220 lit them off fine. I attribute this to hard primers, since the Glock always worked fine with American-made ammo. (A little odd for a European-designed pistol.;)) More recently (in different guns this time), I've had no problems with it.

The big Cabela's store near me has lots of it at a reasonable - neither the absolute cheapest nor the worst - price: 9mm 115-gr. for $7.99, .45 230-gr. for $12.99, per 50-round box.
 
A few years ago i bought a large quantity of .223 Sellier and Bellot ammo with the 55 grain FMJBT bullet. The stuff was not very accurate and the cases were not the best for re-loading.
 
I think S&B is a good plinking round. A little hot, a little dirty. But, nothing to really gripe about. No malfunctions in the history of my usage.

As far as reloading bottleneck rifle brass, it doesn't last more than about 5 to 7ish reloads. The brass seems to get pretty brittle fast. And that's just neck sizing...
 
I get really good use out of the stuff in .303 British and 7.62x54r. Never had a problem with any of it. It is perhaps the best compromise between quality and price that you can get. Now I probrobly don't know if I would put it in my primary self defense gun yet, but after two years of use I not seen anything that gives me worries about the ammo.
 
You will find most of the S&B stuff to be warmer than most commercial American made ammunition
Click to expand...

I read this a few times in this thread now, is that really true? I find Fiocchi ammo quite a bit "hotter" than S&B. But you guys say S&B is "hot" already?
 
Good ammo at typically good prices (my local shops want more for their .40s&w nearly any other brand). I LOVE their 00buck. Patterns great in my Mossberg.
 
You need a jprogressive press!

Sounds like you need to reload. How about a Dillon 650 with dies for your two calibers. With just a bit of effort (NOTHING like working up rifle loads), you'll have reliable and cheap ammo that will outshoot any factory rounds because your load will be perfectly suited for your pistol.
 
I have shot .357 SIG (lots), 7.62x54 russian, .38 spl, .357 mag, 9mm Makarov, and .45 ACP. All of it has been perfectly serviceable, accurate ammo. The 357 SIG was not particularly clean burning, and I did get a few hard primers (very few).

Someone above mentioned reloading problems. I have not had any problems reloading large quantities of S&B handgun brass. I never have tried reloading their rifle brass so I can't comment on that.

Overall, S&B is my favorite "economy" ammo. I prefer it to any other low-$ ammo including Federal American Eagle, Winchester White Box, Wolf, and UMC.
 
I have not shot a lot of it, but the half dozen boxes I have shot in various calibers over the years seemed Ok.
 
I have chronographed the 9mm - it was slightly faster than Winchester White Box, and a very small amount faster than CCI blazer.

I have had no problems with 9mm, .45 or .223. I'm not a good enough shot to make a judgment about accuracy.
 
Good reliable ammo. I second that the 55 gr FMJ isn't particularly accurate in my 1:9 twist AR. I wish they made 62 grain, would like to try that. These days their price advantage in .223 isn't much if at all. I'll try some Prvi & see how that does.
 
The S&B 9mm is loaded a little light if you like Fiocchi, but it seems to run fine. I've shot a good deal of their .357 loads and they are pretty nice also.

They make darn nice 8mm and .30-06 loads. If you want to hunt with a stock Mauser, the 8mm SPCE (or something like that) load is outstanding. It seems to be loaded to full european standards instead of the watered-down stuff US manufacturers crank out.
 
I once used some S&B .357 ammo and the rounds seemed underpowered and extremely dirty. I shoot indoors and the ammo was real smokey in comparrison to everything else I have shot with the exception of .22. it had one benifit though it made some interesting sparks on the bullet trap (the owners said it was ok). Would I use it again probably since it just may have been that batch.
 
98% good remarks sounds good to me.

It appear they might not be good for reloading, so I'm not saving my brass.

I guess next month I'll be getting a thousand or two. I just have to get to the range tomorrow now that the darn holidays are over and tries'em out.

Thanks everybody you all have been a real big help. Keep shooting.

Brian/Elvishead
 
S&B is the Czech outfit that makes a lot of the 54R I've shot. I've also heard they make the Winchester lable 54R that's been floating around. Typically 180 grain FMJ and SP. Good accuracy, very reliable, very clean. The brass is not the best for reloading though and has developed neck cracks and abnormalities in primer pockets. It's not as bad as Winchester 54R brass, but not as good as Lapua or Norma.
 
I've shot a lot of their .45acp FMJ and .38 Sp. WC. No problems at all.
 
It is the "house 9mm" at my local range. I've probably fired 500 or more rounds of it without a single misfire or defective case or primer.

They're very knowledgable guys which leads to me believe that it may have been cleaner in comparison to other cheaper manufactures, as cleaning 30 range guns is something I personally would want to do as often as a root canal.
 
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