Sabots for .30 cal

[wmidbrook]

While looking for deals on sabots for muzzleloading, I ran across this website:

https://www.eabco.com/reload02.html

Did anyone every get good groups with Remington Accelerators before they were banned? ###These aren't teflon, but I thought it might be a way to use a .30 cal rifle effectively for a hot varmit round.

Any experience with accelerators or other sabots, would be interesting to hear about.

(Edited by wmidbrook at 4:44 pm on Aug. 21, 2002)

[Maverick]

i was looking for these for my 06 i didn't know that they were banned! I wanted them for yotes. was unable to locate even the sabot at the time.

[Passthru]

Hmmmm,got 2 boxes of them loaded up for my .06, ###.223 in sabots,never shot any of them so i cant comment on accuracy,i didnt know that Accelerators where banned either.

[MarinePMI]

To my knowledge these are still legal, they were discontinued due to QC problems with the factory ammo. ###It was/is critical to get the sabot/bullet seated squarely into the case mouth (with flat based bullets). ###I have a friend who shoots them out of his 30-06 (sporterized Springfield) and his only complaint was keeping the velocity down enough to keep the bullets from flying apart. ###He was getting 4200fps with out even trying hard. ###There are currently two companies that sell the plastic sabot components and one of the sites lists the load data as well. ###I can't recall off the top of my head what the addy was (and I'm currently on travel, so don't have my normal bookmarks). ###You should be able to do a search on "sabot" and "30" (caliber) and get some hits (no pun intended) :smile-big-blue: ###Let us know if you try them out...I've got a .308 that I've considered trying them in.

[AMMOe]

I had a go with Accelerators once. The gunshop I used to work at got in a small lot of remington-made saboted 224 bullets. I didn't chronorgaph them but I'm guessing that they were doing 4000+ ft/sec with the load of 3031 I had them on top of. (55 grains??) They were fun but not very accurate. I got groups from 2.5 to 5" at 100 yards. In retrospect, the cause might have been my loading technique. Later on I talked to a shooter who'd reloaded sabotted 224's in his 308 and he described flaring the case neck before seating, then crimping after seating, to get reliable results. Still, his best average was just over 2 inches. I would rather go with a good 120 - 130 grain bullet in a 30-06. I have hunted prairiedogs and coyote with 130 grain cast bullets from a 30-06. They did the job at 2500 ft/sec. ~Andy

PS: PMI: How's the weather??

[wmidbrook]

I haven't seen in print that teflon accelerators were banned. ###I was told 10-20 years ago in that remington stopped making them since they were banned in CA. ###But, I don't know this for a fact. ###

Anyway, it sounds like it's tough to get really good accuracy out of a .30 cal using sabots & .224 for squirreling. ###I'm wondering if twist could also be adding to the accuracy issue here.

The following twist info I grabbed from Shilen's website for the .224:
.224 CF ### ### ###
### ### 8" ### ### ###For bullets heavier than 70 gr.
### ### 9" ### ### ###For bullets up to 70 gr.
### ### 12" ### ###For bullets up to 63 gr.
### ### 14" ### ###For bullets up to 55 gr.
### ### 15"* ### ###For bullets up to 55 gr. driven 4,100 fps or more
### ### 16"* ### ###For bullets up to 55 gr. driven 4,300 fps or more

Thanks for the info and ideas on loading these up. ###I think I'm going to try working up a decent load this winter after hunting season.

[Robert]

Trust me here. Stick to the caliber of the rifle you are shooting or buy the right rifle. I tried the sabots, and they are very unstable. What is the use of having your 30-06 doing 4200 fps if you cant make an accurate clean kill at even 50 yds? I have had these things key-holing at 25 yds. You can get them from E. Aurthur Brown....or you can buy what is left of the thousand that I bought for a re-duced price if you really insist on wasting your time and money. Better idea....Go buy a 22-250 or a 220 Swift if you dont mind re-barreling after a thousand or so shots. The 22-250 has had better reports for barrel life and the cases are easier to get.