Sellier & Bellot vs Prvi Partizan: European Bulk Ammo Compared

Two old factories and a lot of old rifles

In 1825, a man named Louis Sellier was making percussion caps in Prague at the request of Emperor Francis I of Austria. A partner named Jean Maria Nicolaus Bellot soon joined him, and the company that carries both their names has been making ammunition ever since.

About a century later, in the Balkans, the Ammunition Factory of Uzice opened in 1928 in what is now Serbia. It was badly damaged several times during the Second World War, rebuilt each time, nationalized, and renamed Prvi Partizan, "First Partisan." Today most American shooters just call it PPU.

These two European makers have something in common that matters to a bulk buyer more than their histories: they are often the ones still loading new, brass-cased ammunition for the rifles everyone else forgot. If you own a Mosin-Nagant, a Mauser or a Lee-Enfield, you will meet both names quickly.

The companies, briefly

Ownership of Sellier & Bellot has shifted a few times. It was nationalized in 1945, became a joint-stock company in 1992, and was acquired by Brazil's CBC in the late 2000s. Sources disagree on the exact year, with CBC's entry saying 2007 and Sellier & Bellot's saying 2009. Wikipedia now lists it as part of Colt CZ Group.

PPU is majority-owned by the Serbian government and completed a new plant in 2013. A Wikipedia citation of trade-data firm Panjiva reports it was the third-largest foreign ammunition supplier to the US market in 2016, which gives a sense of how much of it lands here.

Where the bulk buyer actually meets them

Common calibers: 9mm and .45 ACP

In the big pistol calibers, both brands compete with American and other imported range lines on cost per round.

• Ammunition Depot's bulk 9mm category lists a Sellier & Bellot 9mm 124-grain FMJ case. Its listing describes new, reloadable brass with Boxer primers and a listed velocity of 1,181 fps, in 50-round boxes.
• The S&B .45 ACP 230-grain FMJ is listed with Boxer primers, 50-round boxes and 20 boxes per case, at a listed 853 fps.

PPU also sells pistol ammo, but the PPU product in the bulk 9mm category's filter did not come through on the pages reviewed for this article, so we are not going to describe it.

The milsurp rifles: this is where they shine

The more unusual your rifle, the more likely these two are your best or only new-production options. Here is what Ammunition Depot listed when this was written:

A few things stand out for a bulk buyer:

• PPU tends to have the FMJ practice loads in 8mm Mauser and .303 British. If you want to shoot a Mauser or Enfield a lot rather than hunt with it, that is the column to look at.
• S&B's 7.62x54R FMJ case is the larger package, at 400 rounds per case versus 200 for PPU's 8mm and .303 cases.
• Note the 8x57 JRS label. That is a rimmed variant of 8mm. Make sure the cartridge on the box matches the cartridge stamped on your rifle.

Browse the full current lineups in the 7.62x54R category, 8mm Mauser and .303 British.

Why boxer brass matters for these calibers

Older surplus ammunition for these rifles was often Berdan-primed and sometimes corrosive, which meant hard-to-reload brass and an urgent cleaning job after every range trip. That surplus has largely dried up, and new commercial loads are what is left.

Some of the rifle listings reviewed here do not state primer type or whether the priming is non-corrosive. If either matters to you, because you reload or because you want to know how to clean, check the box itself or the maker's spec sheet before buying a case. Do not assume.

How much should you stock of an oddball caliber?

This is the question that separates milsurp buying from 9mm buying. With 9mm, there are dozens of makers and a case bought today will be easy to replace next year. With 8mm Lebel or .303 British, the list of current makers is short, and production runs can come and go.

That argues for a slightly different strategy:

• Buy deeper when your load is listed. If a rifle matters to you and only one or two makers load practice ammo for it, a case on the shelf is cheap insurance against a long gap between production runs.
• But size the case to your real shooting. A Mauser that comes out twice a year does not need a thousand rounds. A 200-round case of PPU 8mm may be a decade of range trips for some owners.
• Split by purpose. FMJ for practice and a box or two of soft points for hunting season usually covers it. The hunting-load choice for a specific rifle is a separate question from bulk buying.
• Store it like you mean to keep it. Long-held cases of a scarce caliber deserve good cans with fresh gaskets, desiccant, a cool and stable room, and a label with the lot number and purchase date.

Our 1,000-round baseline piece covers how much is enough for common calibers. For rare ones, think in years of shooting, not round counts.

How to compare cost per round across odd package sizes

Milsurp calibers make the cost-per-round method more important, not less, because packages vary so much: 20-round boxes, 200-round cases, 400-round cases. A 400-round case can look expensive next to a single box until you do the division.

1. Price the exact packages you would actually buy, delivered to your door, including shipping, fees and tax.
2. Divide each delivered total by its round count.
3. Compare per-round results, then ask whether you will really shoot the bigger package. A 400-round case of a caliber you shoot twice a year is a long-term storage commitment.

Prices for these loads move with exchange rates and import conditions, so we do not quote any. Check current price at the retailer.

A quick word on reputations

Both brands have loyal followings and both have critics. You will read forum posts about hard primers, stuck cases or tack-driving accuracy for each. Those are individual reports, not data, and we have not tested these loads ourselves. The honest advice is the same for both: buy one box, shoot it through your rifle, check that it feeds, fires and extracts cleanly, and then buy the case. Our guide to testing before the case covers how much to shoot first.

The verdict

For common pistol calibers, these are just two more good options on the cost-per-round leaderboard. For the old military rifles, they are often the leaderboard.

Editorial note: This is an independent editorial overview built from manufacturer specifications, retailer listings and published sources. We have not performed hands-on testing of the products discussed, and nothing here is a performance guarantee. Verify specifications, compatibility and the law where you live.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links to Ammunition Depot. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial choices are not influenced by commissions. Check current price, stock and specifications directly with the retailer.