Cast with sabot

[DeanWinchester]

It's cold out and that means idle time. Time to ponder things.

I was just wondering if anyone has ever tried to run a 22 cal cast boolit in a sabot and loaded in a 308?
Obviously leading wouldn't be an issue. Loads with Unique you should be able load it slow enough to stay together easy peasy. Oughta be able to get it up there to any velocity that will be accurate.

Just thinking.....maybe I should stop doing that.

[Doc_Stihl]

Interesting.
Image a soft cast 55gr .224 sent out at 2500 fps. I wonder what kind of expansion that would give.
Or a big 22 cal in a 300 blackout. Quick twist and subsonic.
I haven't tried it, but I feel the need to.
hhmm.....

[DeanWinchester]

E Arthur brown has a decent price on sabots and a special seating die just for sabots.
$20 for the seater and (100) sabots.
Sabots are $40 for (500).
They also have a nice looking neck expander.

I'm really tempted here. I have a Lyman 55g mold. Cast from dead soft stick on weights and loaded over say 10.0g of unique? If accuracy is there, I bet it'd turn a ground hog to slush.

[OKSaddletramp]

Sabots for .30 cal have been around for a loooong time. Remington once even loaded them in .30-06, called the Accelerator. It flopped. The problem is stabilizing such a short, light bullet in the normal twist of modern .30 cal barrels.While handloaders were able to punch velocities to over 4,000 fps, accuracy was always "suboptimal". If you kept the speeds down to where the round would stabilize, you were better off just using a .30 carbine plinker.

The only real advantage of a sabot is the ability to utilize softer alloys and still achieve respectable velocities, but don't expect "hyper speed" and still get it on the target. Given the cost of the sabots and the sabot seater, it's not generally considered a useful addition to already versatile offerings in today's .30 caliber lineup.

But it still can be fun to play with.

Saddle [smilie=2:

[CastingFool]

I think Remington also loaded them in .308 W.

[Doc_Stihl]

I still have a full box of factory remington 30/30 accellerators.

Sabot allows you to shoot things down a barrel that shouldn't be touching the barrel. That's another thought...
A 20:1 55gr @ 2500 fps has me intrigued.

[DeanWinchester]

I wouldn't dare put zinc in my molds but if one were inclined to...

[leadman]

I tried them in a 30 carbine many years ago. The accuracy was about twice that acheived with 30 cal jacketed bullets. Speed was around 2,400 to 2,500 fps IIRC. 2400 was the powder that worked the action and gave the best accuracy.
I still have some and might load them in my 300 Whisper just to see what they can do.

[Doc_Stihl]

I wouldn't dare put zinc in my molds but if one were inclined to...

Back when I first started playing with .22 sabots I was shooting 22 Armor Piercing and Frangible pull downs in my 300 Win Mag.
I had the idea to make up some solid copper and steel projectiles but never got around to it.

[DeanWinchester]

Doc, give me some time and were gonna find out. I just ordered some from E Arthur Brown along with the special seating die.
Gonna cast some out of stick on wheel weights and load over a yet to be determined charge of Unique. Maybe Trail Boss. I ain't had luck outta the trail boss and need to finish burning it up.
Hmm, wonder what velocity would be with a 90% case full of trail boss and a saboted soft lead 55g boolit?

[dtknowles]

I have done it in a 30-06 and posted about it here not that long ago. Here is the link

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?225406-Fastest-accurate-cast-bullet-load

Tim

[bhn22]

You might consider dusting the bullets with rosin to help them resist spinning in the sabot.