Remington 30-06 Accelerator / 30- 378 accelerator

[grizzly340]

I remember looking through the old gun catalogs at the cartridge velocities.  One that always stood out was the 30-06 accelerator I believe it was listed at 4080 fps at the muzzle.
I see where a guy on the Weatherby FB blog has loaded a 30-378 with one. He's guessing it to shoot at 6000 fps. Hope it works for him. But I wouldn't want to be near him when he test it.

[Grouchy]

Crazy person! 

[Dino82520]

I remember reading an article where the U S Army wanted info on a projectile in the range of 6000 fps. Weatherby accommodated the request by utilizing a 30 some grain projectile out of a 30-378 rifle. That is probably les than half the weight of the accelerator round and sabot. Even a MK V action has limits.

As an afterthought, I wonder if 4500 to 5000 would be achievable and if so would the sabot have the structural integrity to be able to hold the rifling. Also the 55 gr projectile would be over stabilized to a degree that accuracy would be a joke

[grizzly340]

He is using a 128 gr. Hornady A Max for this test.
I just noticed myself when I clicked on the picture to zoom in.

[Dino82520]

As I remember, Remington loaded the 55 gr soft point in 30-06, 308 Win and 30-30. Only common trait was lousy accuracy. I think Big Muddy made a comment about accelerator rounds at one time saying he still had some.

[Big Muddy rancher]

As I remember, Remington loaded the 55 gr soft point in 30-06, 308 Win and 30-30. Only common trait was lousy accuracy. I think Big Muddy made a comment about accelerator rounds at one time saying he still had some.

 My cousin sent me a case of 30-30 accelerators. Weren't supposed to used them in my Marlin Lever but they worked, Have a Savage bolt and it seems where they enter the chamber it's not sloped enough for them to feed without catching the sabot and bending the plastic.
 I sent a box to a friend and he said he'd get three shots close then a flyer.

[JWDynamics]

I guess I don't understand the logic... In my 30+ years of hunting big game, I think the sweet spot in terms of velocity is around 2700-2900 fps. Factor in a bullet with desirable sectional density and ballistic coefficient and you've got a winner winner chicken dinner. I think that applies to a majority of game animals; however, are there exceptions? Of course... there's no one-size fits all approach and some specialized application call for alternative approaches.

When I was in my 20s and 30s, my approach was light for caliber bullets with lots of powder behind them for speed and nothing else. What I didn't realize was while I could achieve really fast velocities with these lighter bullets, it was the heavier bullets with more weight retention and less aggressive expansion that performed much better on most big game animals. I think that's where traditional Weatherby cartridges really shine. You can put a heavy for caliber bullet in a rather large case and get them right there in that sweet spot without compressed loads, ultra high pressures, or doing anything dangerous on the realoading bench.

Now if you're target shooting or doing some king of long range tactical business... I will defer to other comments because that's not my thing. I'm a firearms collector but also a hunter at heart.

[Cneelk]

My uncle used the accelerator ammo in his 30/30 , haven’t seen the ammo in years and he’s gone now, I do remember the 30-06 as well, but 30-378 please post videos.

[txaggie]

Back in the day I had an uncle that was a gun nut, playing with odd loads. He loaded me some 125's for my 30-06 can't recall the flavor of bullet and too young to really understand but they would hit like lightning I knew that much! lol

I do not see how something moving that fast could survive impact unless it was a solid. That's crazy velocities;

[Dino82520]

J W, in some rifles and for certain game I do use light for caliber bullets if I get good accuracy with them. My favorite load in my .300 Wby uses a 150 Barnes TTSX right a 3500 FPS. I have used it on elk as close as 75 or so yds and out to just over 325 yds. Always complete pass through and no bullets recovered. I use an 80 gr Barnes TTSX in my 99 Savage 250 AI at 3300 fps. Great for deer and antelope. My 6.5 X 280 AI uses the Barnes 127 gr LRX at just over 3200 fps. All loads will print 3 shot groups of 3/4 in or less at 100 yds. Velocity is nice as long as accuracy is there. . My 257 Wby doesn't like Barnes bullets so I load 120 Partitions at 3300 fps.

Living in the west as I do, shots can tend to be long, and having old tired eyes knowing that being able to hold hair to 400 yds simplifies things for me. BTW, 400 is my self imposed range limit.

I understand your thinking and the velocity range you mention. My 35 Whelen loves a 225 Sierra at close to 2700 and it is a great round.

[JWDynamics]

J W, in some rifles and for certain game I do use light for caliber bullets if I get good accuracy with them. My favorite load in my .300 Wby uses a 150 Barnes TTSX right a 3500 FPS. I have used it on elk as close as 75 or so yds and out to just over 325 yds. Always complete pass through and no bullets recovered. I use an 80 gr Barnes TTSX in my 99 Savage 250 AI at 3300 fps. Great for deer and antelope. My 6.5 X 284 AI uses the Barnes 127 gr LRX at just over 3200 fps. All loads will print 3 shot groups of 3/4 in or less at 100 yds. Velocity is nice as long as accuracy is there. . My 257 Wby doesn't like Barnes bullets so I load 120 Partitions at 3300 fps.

Living in the west as I do, shots can tend to be long, and having old tired eyes knowing that being able to hold hair to 400 yds simplifies things for me. BTW, 400 is my self imposed range limit.

I understand your thinking and the velocity range you mention. My 35 Whelen loves a 225 Sierra at close to 2700 and it is a great round.

I shot my biggest whitetail in 2023 with a 225 gr Sierra load in my 1903 Springfield 35 Whelen custom rifle.

In the end, everyone's situation is unique to some degree. My personal experience has been better with heavier bullets than lighter but that's only my experience. One of the things I really enjoy on this forum is reading about the different geographic locations and how that factors in to the rifle and ammo strategy.

[truck driver + 2]

J W, in some rifles and for certain game I do use light for caliber bullets if I get good accuracy with them. My favorite load in my .300 Wby uses a 150 Barnes TTSX right a 3500 FPS. I have used it on elk as close as 75 or so yds and out to just over 325 yds. Always complete pass through and no bullets recovered. I use an 80 gr Barnes TTSX in my 99 Savage 250 AI at 3300 fps. Great for deer and antelope. My 6.5 X 284 AI uses the Barnes 127 gr LRX at just over 3200 fps. All loads will print 3 shot groups of 3/4 in or less at 100 yds. Velocity is nice as long as accuracy is there. . My 257 Wby doesn't like Barnes bullets so I load 120 Partitions at 3300 fps.

Living in the west as I do, shots can tend to be long, and having old tired eyes knowing that being able to hold hair to 400 yds simplifies things for me. BTW, 400 is my self imposed range limit.

I understand your thinking and the velocity range you mention. My 35 Whelen loves a 225 Sierra at close to 2700 and it is a great round.

Run a tight 35 Ackley improved chamber reamer in your rifle barrel and give it a long Wby free bore and you can reach close to 3000fps with the 225gr bullet and right powder and still be safe.
I have a one with a 1-12 twist barrel on an M70 and it is the cats meow.
Took a Texas heart shot on a white tail doe because that was the only shot she gave me and literally split her in half using a 225gr Nosler partition. Close to 375 H&H muzzle energy and bullet performance.
The 30-06 accelerator round was developed for the military for armor penetration, a 55gr Hp out of a 22-250 will drill holes through 1/2" steel.
The accelerator round has a problem with tipping the bullet when the sabot leaves the bullet causing inaccuracy. With newer plastic materials that might help with the problem. 

[zoniezonie]

www.eabco.com    in search type in sabots  it will come up with different types including 30 cal.   back in the day just fooling around played with 35 cal sabots in a 458 win mag case, definitely lighter recoil,  we ended up keyholing  the bullets used so never really went any further with it, but the idea was sound given better bullets and sabots.  one of the biggest problems with old sabots we used was I thought  the sabot wouldn't hold the bullet tight enough and sabot spun around the bullet in the barrel,  today they do make some tools to seat sabots,   in our current  world all bets are off especially if a person could make a discarding  metal or polymer sabot that came apart when exiting the barrel but has inner means of holding the bullets spin when compressed on the bullet when seating in the case.  like milled in sharp lengthwise slot or groove that holds the bullet from spinning, otherwise you are looking at a smoothbore with a discarding sabot with smooth interior built in half's, third's or quarter's that separated when exiting the barrel. 

I think it's absolutely doable today,  I saw somewhere they had velocities on 22cal in 300Wby sabots,  I don't know of any re-loading type chronographs that will go over 5000 fps,  even my new little  Garmin only goes to 5000 fps (very nice little chronograph by the way, still have my old chronograph) no doubt high end laboratory grade chronographs would be needed.  common sense would say try very heavy, med and lighter weight bullets just to see where  and if it's  stabilizing.  you might be able to get away with 2 chronographs at different ranges and calculate back to get a starting velocity, but it better be accurate enough to shoot over the distance chronograph. 

[zoniezonie]

If you click on eabco and then type in sabots and then click on 30 cal accelerator type sabots scroll down and you will find load data link,    5100 fps with a 55 gr out of a 300 wby.  I didn't read it all that carefully more of an fyi.  one thing about going that fast or faster is your drops would be cut way down,  and even for little coues deer might be something to think about,  it's kind of a catch 22 in general terms heavier sleek weight bullets make for a lot higher BC's, real heavy sleek bullets in the same bullet caliber make for even higher BC's  then you take a squatty little 55 grainer it will sure go fast but loses drop &  energy advantages as ranges extend.  you would have compare each against the others on a good BC program to see if it's even worth it, for what you want to do.  I think this kind of stuff is kind of cool just for fun.   

[224KING]

Talking about BC's and SD's.I can't believe that someone hasn't tried the 85gr, 22 cal. pills.I think there is even a 90gr on the market. 85 grainer at say 4500fps sounds very interesting.