1825
Prague, Czechoslovakia
- 1825 Louis Sellier & Jean Maria Nicolaus Bellot established a percussion cap factory in Prague
- ready-made paper cartridges
- pinfire shotshells
- 1870 Louis Sellier died
- 1872 Sellier family bought out Bellot
- plants in Prussia and Latvia
- 1893 trademark appeared
- WWI all of their production
- After WWI leading ammo supplier to their new country’s army and police
- 1936 moved to Vlašim
- 1939 Nazis took over the commpany
- 1940 Soviets took the factory and used their ammo against the Nazis
- S&B nationalized by Czechoslovakia after WWII
- 1992 S&B became a joint-stock company
- 2009 acquired by CBC (Magtech)
Sellier & Bellot
About Sellier & Bellot
Sellier & Bellot is one of the oldest ammunition manufacturers in the world. Louis Sellier founded the business in Prague on August 5, 1825 to make percussion caps, and Jean Maria Nicolaus Bellot soon joined him; by 1835 the company was producing about 150 million percussion caps a year. It added subsidiary plants in Schönebeck, Prussia in 1829 and Riga, Latvia in 1884, began cartridge production in 1870 and added hunting cartridges in 1895. After Czechoslovakia was founded in October 1918, S&B became the main supplier of handgun ammunition to the new country’s army and police.
The company moved its main operations from Prague to Vlašim in 1936, which remains its headquarters. S&B was nationalized in 1945 and privatized in 1992 as Sellier & Bellot a.s. Brazil’s CBC, the parent of the Magtech brand, acquired the company in 2009, and at the end of 2023 S&B became part of Colt CZ Group SE, the Czech group that also owns CZ and Colt. S&B celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2025. Today it produces rifle, handgun, shotgun and rimfire ammunition in dozens of calibers, makes several million cartridges a day, and exports about 90 percent of its output to more than 80 countries, making it a familiar brand on American store shelves.
Key Facts
- August 5, 1825: Louis Sellier founds the company in Prague
- 1870: Cartridge production begins
- 1936: Main operations move to Vlašim
- 1992: Privatized as Sellier & Bellot a.s.
- 2009: Acquired by CBC of Brazil
- End of 2023: Becomes part of Colt CZ Group SE
Sources
Across the Gun Websites Network
- Sellier & Bellot Ammo Buyers Guide.com
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