Super Vel Ammo..........

[8ball]

Has any one heard of this brand ?? I have a box of 357 Mag in 110 grain jacketed hollow point. Comes in a yellow box with red stripes.

 

[s&wchad]

Welcome to the forum.

I wouldn't shoot it. It's a bit collectable, some of the early stuff is pretty hot and the 110gr .357 is notorious for flame cutting.

 

[Dragon88]

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Super Vel ammo ??? - DefensiveCarry Concealed Carry Forum

 

[stiab]

Some is hot and some is not. Turn the box over and if it does not say "Shelbyville, Ind" then it is not the original, and may be loaded to a lower level. Not all of it is collectable. The last full box I bought cost only $9.00 about two years ago.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I used a little Super Vel ammo back in the 70's. In .357 magnum I experienced massive blast and muzzle flash, and many instances of spent cases stuck in the chambers so tightly that they required a rod and mallet to remove.

Super Vel marketed their products extensively back in those days. Light bullets at maximum pressure loadings, impressive velocities advertised.

Several reports of flame-cutting, cracked forcing cones, and a few cylinder walls blown out.

I wouldn't use the stuff personally.

 

[keith44spl]

During the early 70's it was was about the only game in town for hot-roded factory .357's.

It worked well in our "N" framed model 27 & 28's, but extensive use in a "few" K-framed model 19's lead to timing problems more so that split forcing cones.

There was gas cutting in the top strap above the forcing cone, but it tended to cut to a minimal depth then stop.

It really didn't cause much of a problem, but scared the hell out some owners.

But the truth of the matter is most cops back then (at least down here) couldn't afford to shoot enough Super Vel through their guns to worry about.

+1 on the above!!!

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[Marshall 357]

I have a 1/2 of box full of 110 gr JHP 38 spl. A guy at work gave them to me, they were $7.45 for a box of 50. I dont know how old they are.

 

[tpd223]

Antique ammo should be sold or collected, not shot.

 

[stiab]

Antique ammo should be sold or collected, not shot.

Not all old ammo is collectable, or has value greater than for plinking.

 

[thomashoward]

We used that in the early 70's. As I remember it was hot. Heavy frame .357 only

 

[Homie]

Super Vel, another urban legend. The stories get better as time goes on.

FWIW, it actually dates to the mid-'60s and caused the "big three" to come up with their own light, jacketed HV rounds.

Good shooting.

 

[8ball]

Super Vel Ammo

The box that I have is mfgd. by H & H Cartridge, Greensburg, Indiana.

 

[mtheo]

The plant was located just outside of Waldron Indiana between Shelbyville and Greensburg on state highway 421. I lived in St. Paul (IN) I had a High School friend that worked there. I tried to get a summer job there myself. At the time lead round nose in .38 special model 10 or 14 was the standard police sidearm. You were either rich or unmarried if you carried a 27 and shot Super-Vel....one nice side affect from Super-Vel was that it inspired the other ammunition manufacturers to improve on their offerings.

 

[Homie]

The H&H production was announced in '77, but did not last for long.

Good shooting.

 

[redlevel]

Super Vel, another urban legend. The stories get better as time goes on.

FWIW, it actually dates to the mid-'60s and caused the "big three" to come up with their own light, jacketed HV rounds.

Good shooting.

How do you get the "urban legend" status for this? An urban legend, by definition, is something that supposedly happened, but no one really knows where the story originated. A first hand account, particularly one that is documented with facts and figures, is considered to be just about the best source when trying to discern "what really happened." A "primary source" is what we call it. I personally shot some of Lee Juras' Super-vel loads in a j-frame in the early 70s. I experienced sticky extraction, flattened primers, and a tied-up revolver due to a bullet jumping crimp under recoil and locking up the cylinder. This was in a steel-frame gun. The revolver suffered no ill effects from the half-box or so of these rounds. I still carry it three or four times a week.

How about this one: (I hope bmcgilvray will forgive me for quoting a post of his from another forum, but I believe he is about as credible a source as could be used.)
Super Vel ammo ??? - DefensiveCarry Concealed Carry Forum
I once chronographed some Super Vel in a 4-inch Smith & Wesson Model 10. It achieved 1237 fps and 376 ft./lbs of energy at the muzzle. According to my notes it was July of 1980 when I took the measurments. That was the locally famous "summer of 1980" in Texas which likely still holds the record here for most days over 100F so the ammo may have been "hot" in more ways than one.

This isn't "urban legend" stuff. These accounts, especially bmcgilvray's, are first-hand, from people who have been shooting a long, long time. Do you think anyone is loading a commercial "+p" load to those velocities and pressures today?

 

[geoff40]

I've shot the stuff in recent times, when I find partial boxes of it priced right, I'll go ahead and buy the stuff. Why not? Not for a K frame, but it is fine in an L frame IMO. I also have 2 full boxes of 158 SPs and 2 boxes of 9mm with (I forget the weight) HPs, all from the Shelbyville Plant. The full boxes I'll leave alone, except in case of emergency. I bet the 158s would be great hunting loads, much like the modern offerings by Cor Bon or Buffalo Bore.

 

[bettis1]

A personal vignette of the only living thing I ever shot with Super Vel:

Back in the early '70's about the only thin and relatively light carry handgun was the Walther in various configurations. I had both a West German PPK/S .380 and a .22. It was my custom to carry the .380 with Super Vel since it was the hottest thing around. (In the blow-back PPK it was distinctly uncomfortable to shoot extensively.)

One afternoon on a pleasant woods walk I was attacked by an armadillo.I repelled the attack with a round of Super Vel .380 at about 5 yards. The beast jumped about two feet straight up in the air and hit the ground with all four wheels spinning. He ran a good 50 yards before succumbing to his injuries. When I retrieved him he had been drilled perfectly amidship...small entrance wound, about a quarter size exit wound.

From that point on I have never had a great deal of confidence in the stopping ability of the .380 round. My logic was that if the hottest round then available wouldn't appropriately expand on the hard shell of an armadillo that certainly wasn't on an adrenalin high, I wasn't quite ready to trust it on the soft skin of a crack head.

First impressions are hard to overcome.

Bob

 

[armadillo]

A while back I dug out a full box of SuperVel .380 88 gr. JHP ammo. I chronographed 3 rounds - avg. 1060 fps. I was the hottest of 5 kinds of factory ammo I tried.

Back in the early '70s I talked with some guys who worked for another LE agency. They had just been issued new 2 1/2" nickel M-19s and SuperVel 110 gr. .357 ammo. The SuperVel had unplated cases that stuck in the chambers when fired. That was a real morale booster.

 

[stiab]

How do you get the "urban legend" status for this?

I did not post the urban legend comment, but do partially agree with it. I was an LEO in that day and used it, and it was hotter than the so called Treasury Load. However, I think the urban legend part comes in when people assume all Super Vel was hot, and it was not.

I have personally tested 110 grain .38 Special Super Vel made in Shelbyville at 1221 fps from a 4" M15, which is indeed hot. But I also tested .357 magnum Super Vel 158 grain SWC KK from a 4" M28 at only 950 fps, and retested to make sure. The .357 magnum was from the H&H Cartridge Corp., Greensburg, Indiana, but using the otherwise identical Super Vel box.

If people think they will be shooting hot ammo everytime they pick up a box of Super Vel, they are mistaken. You have to look at the back of the box.

 

[buckeyeshooter1]

You folks got me interested. I have a couple boxes in the basement. I'll have to check them out.