Anecdotes on S&B SP Ammo

[Coues106]

After collecting another data point with S&B SP ammo that yielded identical results, I felt it helpful to post my experiences on internet-land for the benefit of others. I have used S&B’s black box “SP” ammo in 2 separate calibers (.270 and 7x57) and found that it does not expand well. I know there’s an S&B rep on here so I will first say out of respect to him that I am more than happy to buy their ammo and appreciate the low prices and availability of some loadings that would otherwise require me to pay hair-brained prices from US companies. That said, I don’t believe I will be using it for big game hunting any more aside from close ranges CNS shots. My 2 experiences are as follows:

1. Hunting a springbok in Namibia with a .270 for some camp meat. I was using a loaner ruger American, and had a ram at 120 yards or so. Shot one was right through the middle behind the shoulder and the buck tensed up, but didn’t act particularly hit. Shot 2 was a base of the neck shot to anchor him, which was successful. Upon analysis both rounds were total pass throughs with small entry and exit wounds, the exit maybe being 1.5-2x the diameter of the quarter inch entry wound.

2. Last night I had a 2-3 year old button buck on my lease at 110 yards that would make good freezer meat. Due to a failure in my go-to rifle’s picatinny rail, I was using my mannlicher 1903 rechambered to 7x57 in Finland, with the 140 gr S&N SP (once again, thankful to S&B for having a 140gr round nose offering that will actually feed in my gun so I can enjoy it without needing a full reloading setup). Buck was broadside and shot one was placed behind the shoulder. He tensed up, but didn’t appear hit, shot 2 or 3 took him right through the neck, dropping him. Recovery was 30 minutes later, with the buck dead. In doing my field dressing I found the buck mortally hit on the first shot, but once again the exit wound was barely 0.5” in diameter. Internal organs were all very well preserved and it had the least amount of gunk to drain from the chest cavity of any deer I’ve taken in recent memory.

This has been my experience, take it for what it’s worth as I know 99% of you won’t be bargain hunting for your big game ammo. As caveats, these were 2 lighter, thin skinned game, so the bullets might not have had the requisite conditions for expansion. Additionally, I for one am not a fan of ballistic tip bullets or similar that make a tremendous exit hole and damage a lot of meat, so there in and of itself is a nod to the S&B.

Going forward, I will likely be using this ammo for varmints, or those instances where I might want to employ a neck or head shot at close ranges and can be assured of a hit.

 

[mark-hunter]

I will first say out of respect to him that I am more than happy to buy their ammo and appreciate the low prices and availability of some loadings that would otherwise require me to pay hair-brained prices from US companies.

From the other side of pond I am of opposite approach.
And I am switching to Hornady.
I have doubts in quality of recent European ammo production.

(I will get to S&B)
First is Eley Tenex. This is/was supposed to be Olympic grade 22 LR ammo.
First lot I had 2000 rounds for match was a dream to shoot in my Anschutz.

Recently I bought Eley tenex again, what ever was left in local shop, this was another, new and most recent lot, accuracy gone without explanation.
Considering the price compared to other 22 ammo, disaster.
(yes from lot to lot can be the difference, but this difference was just too much)

Then one of newer lots of S&B in 9.3 did not cycle the bolt on my semi auto.
Casing was ejected but next round was not stripped from mag, and not chambered, thus rifle went click.
All other ammo in my 9.3 worked, and previous S&B ammo worked. New lot did not.
I used that lot later just for target practice, and worked the bolt manually.

Last month, S&B SPCE in 30-06.
Before it was with reasonable accuracy up to 1.5 MOA, this time had 4-5 MOA on target.
I did not use this ammo for hunting, always would buy for training, because of cheapest price

A local range owner said, he has a problem with S&B because he sells scopes, ammo, rifles in his shop, and clients are asking to mount the scope and zero the rifle. When they give him S&B sometimes is impossible to zero, how it disperse on target.

In old S&B production, while being reasonably accurate in my 308 win (spce, hpbt), it was also the least accurate of all other ammo I used in 308 win. I was not shooting lately S&B from my 308, to say if something drastically changed.

So, those are my experiences.

Now, on the beginning of my post I mentioned European ammo, and me switching to American Hornady.

The drop in quality that I observed in 2 European brands came after the start of Ukrainian war.
Many factories switched to war production to support Ukraine, and MAYBE this lead to drop in quality. Moreover, by accident I stumbled upon an article stating that main exports of smokeless powder chemical components come from China and Russia. So, I have some doubts of how some Euroepan factories cope in new market conditions, and embargoes with chemical components acquisitions.
Two brands have shown lack of consistency in the same time frame.
I am not saying the reason as a fact, but I am saying I have reasonable doubts only.

In order to save myself the trouble, I tested Hornady, and it performs well, in my 30-06, and 308, and 9.3x62. For now I will stick to it.

 

[Flbt]

I have been using the s&b 140gr 6.5x55 sp
I have. Not had any problems
But the ammo is at least 2 years old.

 

[Milan]

Well I was always happy to use S&B ammo as it was reliable and fairly accurate out of my Brno rifles. Since 2010 the quality has been degrading I think. I do not buy their premium ammo, so cannot speak to that but would hope it is better and more consistent. But with the basic ammo I had the follwoing problems (all "black box" ammo):

22 WM - blown primers which actually exploded the next round in the magazine, blew the magazine apart and While I felt it all come apart in my hand, my hand was not injured at all. After that I kept my hand from the magazine and it blew few more primers.

6.5x55 140gr FMJ - hard to close bolt, pressure signs (flattened primers, stiff bolt lift and eventually blown primers) after firing - mind you this is on a custom remamer/chamber with fairly tight neck. However other factory ammo functioned flawlessly. S&B 140 gr SP also worked due to shorter bullets probably. Both FMJ and SP also had few primers that never fired even with good firing pin strike. This from ammo company that started their business as a primer company and always had ammo that was 100% reliable.

I no longer trust the black box S&B ammo and buy other brands for hunting. I still use their olive green box (military/bulk) FMJ ammo in 6.5 CM. So far no issues.

 

[mauser98]

I've had and seen good results from both the 7x57 173gr SPCE and 8x57 196gr SPCE on a few animals. No complaints on my side.

My brother in-law took a young bull moose last year and we recovered one of the bullets on the offside. Looks great to me. This is a recent batch of ammo that was picked up about a year ago.

240ish yards away. Shot out of a 19" barrel so 2400 fps. I suspect impact velocity was around 2000+/-fps and it still expanded well.