Cast boolits and sabots in .30-06

[thx997303]

So, I noticed the idea for doing this for a varmint rifle, and was wondering what kind of load you would start with and what sort of boolit you would use.

Maybe I should just buy a varmint rifle, but where's the fun in that?

[SierraWhiskeyMC]

Years back, Remington came out with a line of "Accelerator" ammo. The .30-06 version had a .22 caliber 55gr pointed soft point bullet. It appears that they still manufacture them under order #R30069. I bought a box of them many years ago, but don't remember how well they grouped. I only fired five out of the 20 rounds. Muzzle velocity was supposed to be around 4100-4200 FPS.

I don't know offhand of any commercially available molds that would be suitable for casting boolits for this. You would probably need a .224 caliber boolit in a boat-tail or flat-base Spitzer design (no lube grooves or gas check, of course) which would limit you to around 52gr (boat-tail) to 55gr (Spitzer) boolit weight, assuming your barrel has a 1:12 twist.

You'd probably need a medium-fast burning powder like IMR 3031.

Oh, these folks sell sabots and a starter kit for seating boolits in sabots:
http://www.eabco.com/Reports/report04.html

[thx997303]

I think I'm gonna do a little experimenting with this.

It would be fun to do if not necessarily that beneficial.

IF I could get the velocity with an extremely flat trajectory, and it turns out to be accurate, then it would be worth it. Otherwise, just fun to play with the loads.

[MT Gianni]

Bullshop shoots these but I have not seen him post for a while.

[tommag]

I have not tried cast in the sabot, but I found I had to use smooth bullets to get reliable release. Using bullets with a cannelure, sometimes the sabot would let go, other times, it would stay attached for at least 30 yds.

[JIMinPHX]

The Remington Accelerators came in 30-30, .308 & .30-06. I tried the 30-30 variety. They grouped OK to pretty good.

I believe that you can buy the sabots from E. A. Brown Co. They also used to sell a "special" loading die for use with them, but the crappy little plastic die was not really worth having. The quality of the sabots was good though. Brown shipped a load data sheet with the sabots, but I seem to remember that most of the powders on the list were not real common.

Many years ago, Origun Mark posted loading data for the sabot rounds in the 30-30 on the old Marlin talk board, back when that still existed. I believe that the same fella goes by the name of Crazy Mark here on this board. He may also have 06 data. I don't know.

[Lead Fred]

You can push 110gr Barnes over 3500 FPS, what the heck more do you need?

and they are 30 cal.

[bigdog454]

bought some of the sabots from E.A. Brown, shot gun group at 50yards from 30-06. To be fair I've only shot about a dozen so far. Not impressed!

[jellybean]

I haven't had a chance to try any of this info out yet, but here is a site you might want to look at.

http://www.sabotreloadingpro.com/

[mtnman31]

I have not used them with cast. With jacketed they are fun to load and shoot. I used them in my .308 with a 55gr jacketed V-Max bullet. I didn't have a chronograph at the time but they would do a number on gophers and water filled 2 liter bottles. I only have a few left and need to get some more - just been dragging my feet. I want to try and really develop some quality loads with them becasue up to now I have just been playing with them.

Anyway, get some and have fun with them. If you load them with cast be sure and post your results, I'd be interested to see how it works out for you.

[thx997303]

I wonder, would pure lead do fine in these?

I think that the sabot should take most of the heat and friction.

Course, I'll probably use wheel weights, easier and cheaper to get.

[JIMinPHX]

I wonder, would pure lead do fine in these?

I think that the sabot should take most of the heat and friction.

Course, I'll probably use wheel weights, easier and cheaper to get.

Pure lead works fine in those things.

[Jim]

I have not tried cast in the sabot, but I found I had to use smooth bullets to get reliable release. Using bullets with a cannelure, sometimes the sabot would let go, other times, it would stay attached for at least 30 yds.

Wonder how it would work to push a cast .243 boolit through a .225 sizing die. That would "form" the lube grooves out of the boolit. Now you have a smooth sided .225 that might not "hang" in the sabot.

[thx997303]

I think that would require quite a bit of force.

[JIMinPHX]

Maybe for Halloween I'll load some up with silver boolits too.