Colt CZ to buy Sellier & Bellot / Magtech

[westernrover]

It looks like Colt CZ has lost hope of the proposal they made to buy Vista Outdoor which Vista's board rejected (but the shareholders could still approve next year, though that is totally improbable). Instead, Colt CZ is buying Sellier & Bellot, makers of Magtech etc.

Czech ammo maker Colt CZ to buy Brazilian-owned competitor

Colt CZ is expected to finalize the deal in the first half of 2024.

www.defensenews.com

At $350 million, they can afford this deal, compared to the Vista deal that was valued somewhere around $2 billion that would have seen Colt CZ heavily borrowing.

So it looks like CZ is going to get into the ammo business.

I hardly buy loaded ammo (just components), so I don't have much personal experience with S&B or Magtech. The video of an S&B factory on Youtube is pretty impressive -- very advanced machinery and not what I'd expect from what I perceive as a brand characterized as cheap foreign import fodder.

 

[JohnKSa]

Interesting. S&B was originally a Czechoslovakian company. I had missed that they were now considered to be a Brazilian organization. This sort of brings them back home.

 

[Valkman]

I like S&B ammo, would not classify it as cheap foreign import fodder. I bought 1k of it in 9mm when I had a FA Uzi and now that I've gotten into 9mm handguns I bought 1k of it again. Never had a problem with it.

 

[luv2safari]

S&B's HP rifle bullets are awful. The ammo is reasonably accurate, and the brass is decent, but their bullets don't hold together well. I shoot a lot of their ammo in European calibers in my combo guns and have a bit of experience with it.

I sure hope they don't go all "bean-counter" and drop a bunch of products, but I'm not optimistic. I just received five boxes of their 22-250 ammo today for the Ruger Predator that came yesterday. I shot two five shot groups from over the hood of my truck just before dark...no time to get out the portable bench, so I used the hood and sandbags. Both groups were 1.5"ish from a rifle I was shooting for the first time. My bore sighting with my old Bushnell professional boresighter had me 4" low at 100 yards, and I made no corrections for shooting the groups.

It shot pretty well for ammo that was almost 1/2 the price of anything American.

 

[JDeere]

The only loaded ammo I buy is 9mm. I have been buying the the 124gr fmj S&B and Magtech for awhile now and never had an issue. Accurate and reliable for range fodder...

 

[Speedo66]

S&B makes lots of obscure calibers, often the only source in this country.

As @luv2safari mentioned, hopefully they’re not left at the wayside.

As to the ammo quality itself, I found their handgun ammo to be fine.

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

I've shot their 45 Auto 230gr ball ammo and it compares well to Winchester and Federal and Remington ammo. Good accuracy and functionality. I think their brass is better than Remington but about the same as Federal or Winchester. So we'll see if their new owners keep things the same or not.

 

[BreechFace]

Hopefully they continue with the "odd ball" military calibers. Them and PPU are the only source of some of those obscure calibers. I probably should get a few more boxes of each of my military calibers just to ensure being able to reload and shoot them from time to time.

 

[codytrucker]

I hope they don't drop any of the oddball , at least here in America calibers , I use their 5.6x52R in a savage 99 .22 hi-power , and have used it a bunch in 6.5x55 .They also have or had a .22 hornet FMJ load I like for long range cottontails that doesn't do any meat damage .

 

[Armybrat]

I’ve bought a lot of their Magtech 124 grain 9mm in recent years for range & plinking.
No complaints at all.

 

[Riomouse911]

The spidey-sense tingling at the back of my mind is over-reliance on one parent company can lead to a mess if there is a downturn or other financial issue that causes all facets of the group to suffer.

Freedom Group is the perfect example of the fear I have when I see a lot of stuff being bought and ran, by one concern.

Now CZ is long in the business of arms making, and Cerebus Capital (Freedom) were a bunch of hacks; but bean counters, profit/loss statements and other $$ influences can wreak havoc on good intentions.

Lets hope it all works out for the betterment of the shooting sports .

Stay safe.

 

[Dudedog]

Wonder if they will bring back S+B primers to the US?
I used lots of S+B SP when they were on sale from Cabelas for $20/k. (back in the dark ages)

 

[unspellable]

Didn't know S&B made the Magtech line. A while back when testing the effects of changing the cylinder gap with a Dan Wesson with a chronograph, I found the Magtech 240 grain 44 mag loads to be very much on the light side. Otherwise OK. S&B does not have a reputation for lite loads.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

A brand that I will get to get brass to make my own better handloads. Never been accurate enough for anything serious for comps.

 

[CapnMac]

S&B makes lots of obscure calibers, often the only source in this country.

They were/are big in Europe, not just loaded ammo in obscure European calibers, but also components.

 

[Balrog]

I have shot thousands of rounds of S&B ammo over the years and have never had an issue with it until last week. I was shooting some 230g hardball which I had bought probably 5-10 yrs ago, and had 2 rounds in one box with extreme bullet setback... only about 1/2 as much bullet as normal was sticking out of the case. I noticed this while loading magazines, and of course got rid of those 2 rounds. Not sure what must have happened at the factory for that to have happened. Its been sitting on a shelf in the safe since I bought it.

 

[EMC45]

I like S&B primers. I’m dwindling down to my last few thousand of them. I hope and pray they kick up production back

 

[Mark_Mark]

Colt CZ need to work on their blueing… Buy a Bluing company or something

 

[hso]

personal experience with S&B

Excellent

 

[luv2safari]

They were/are big in Europe, not just loaded ammo in obscure European calibers, but also components.

Yes, and I wish they would get off their azzes and start importing components into the USA.

 

[CapnMac]

and start importing components into the USA.

I had heard, but could never verify that S&B had built/purchased factories in South America, which made importation a lot simpler. Be even better if they built a plant in Mexicali or Sonora (Aguila might not agree, though)

 

[MarshallDodge]

I wonder if they will bring back Magtech primers to the US. I've shot almost 25K of their SPP in 9mm and never had an issue.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

I'm still shooting some S & B NATO 5.56 SS 109 I bought from Cheaper Than Dirt by mail in 1996 or so. I've never had any issues with that stuff or anything else by them. Some guys used to say they used powders that tended to "dirty up" a gun but that was decades ago. CZs involvement can't be a bad thing in my book.