Help with identifying '06 ammo

2wheelwander · February 8, 2025, 04:36 PM

I inherited some old ammo from my father. Could any of you help in providing more info. I know some of this is a crap shoot, but saged wisdom is needed here.

First up I have a few boxes of Accelerator ammo. I remember Dad talking about it when I was a kid but know nothing about it. Check out the price on the box! What is/was it's optimum use? 155 grain I believe

I am assuming this is old Garand surplus ammo?

Last up are some of his reloads. Are cast OK to shoot in Garands? The only other '06 he had was a Remington pump action.

papajim2jordan · February 8, 2025, 04:44 PM

That's 55 grain, not 155. Its a sub caliber ".22" bullet in what's called a discarding sabot. Made for high velocity, supposedly to turn a deer rifle into a .22-250. As I understand, they were not very accurate.

105kw · February 8, 2025, 10:21 PM

The middle photo is Greek manufacture .30M2 ball, should be fine in a Garand.
Do not shoot that lead reload ammo in a Garand, It was load for a pump Remington,
M1s are gas operated and lead bullets will muck up the gas system.
The Acceleraters are not going to work well in a Garand, they are loaded to a different power curve, and 55grs is too light for a M1.

**44 AMP** · February 9, 2025, 01:52 AM

The Greek ammo was made to run in M1 Garands. The only possible down side to it is that that box was made in 1969, and may possibly have deteriorated since then. If the ammo is clean and bright, its probably fine.

Remington made the Accelerator ammo in three calibers, .30-30, .308Win, and .30-06. You could get them through the 80s, but they didn't work as well as hoped and Remington eventually dropped them. The idea was to turn a deer rifle into an acceptable short range varmint gun with a simple change of ammo and sight settings. The .30-30 became a .222, the .308 a .22-250, and the 06 load was actually faster than a .220 Swift doing over 4000fps. The drawback was that they didn't shoot well in many rifles, and in rifles where they shot as well as standard ammo, they weren't as accurate as an actual varmint rifle. Also I hear that shooting a lot of them left plastic residue in the barrel which was difficult to remove.
They are absolutely NOT suitable for the Garand.

The cast bullet loads are also not suitable for the Garand, being A) lead bullets, and B) almost certainly not loaded to the pressure level and pressure curve the Garand needs to operate on.

2wheelwander · February 9, 2025, 12:00 PM

Thank you for the detailed answers gentlemen. I figured cast bullets were a no-no with the Garand, honestly don't know why Dad loaded these. Maybe he got some given to him by a friend? He didn't cast his own bullets. Dad enjoyed target shooting but wasn't a bench shooter chasing that final fraction of MOA. Those are a mystery to me.

Think I'm going to shoot that Greek ammo. I have a few sealed battle tins of Garand ammo my son in law wants to break open and shoot away. Not gonna open those. These boxes, I'll shoot and enjoy my Dads old Garand. He had one in the Army and loved this rifle.

The Accelerators I'll just keep stowed away as a conversation piece.

Thanks again Gents.

**44 AMP** · February 9, 2025, 04:30 PM

I have (through an estate sale) a quantity of ammo with bullets that look just like the cast ones in your pic. They are loaded in 1950s GI .30-06 brass that was formed into 8mm Mauser.

The loads are light, "gallery" or plinker level. Cast bullets with gas checks can get you into the 2200fps range without issues but driving them faster causes issues. NOT suitable for a Garand.

The Garand is a very efficient rifle, built to run on a narrow range of ammo, and is NOT an omnivore. Feed it what it was made to eat, and it will thrive. Feed it something else and it can get sick, or even break.

You could pull the bullets from the cast loads, toss the powder and reuse the brass, of course.

2wheelwander · February 10, 2025, 03:48 PM

"You could pull the bullets from the cast loads, toss the powder and reuse the brass, of course"

This crossed my mind as well. Wouldn't be hard to do. Given I only have a few of them I may run them out of the Remington pump for giggles. I need to look at the head stamp and see what kind of brass it is. Interesting.

**44 AMP** · February 11, 2025, 03:28 AM

Quote:

Given I only have a few of them I may run them out of the Remington pump for giggles.

There you go! Shoot them out of any manually operated rifle and they should be fine. Just not out of semis, particularly the Garand.

Check the headstamp and look for the red lacquer primer sealant. IF it is there, that means the brass has the original GI primer, crimped in, and will need to have the crimp removed before reloading them.

February 8, 2025, 04:36 PM	#1
2wheelwander Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2018 Posts: 626	Help with identifying '06 ammo I inherited some old ammo from my father. Could any of you help in providing more info. I know some of this is a crap shoot, but saged wisdom is needed here. First up I have a few boxes of Accelerator ammo. I remember Dad talking about it when I was a kid but know nothing about it. Check out the price on the box! What is/was it's optimum use? 155 grain I believe I am assuming this is old Garand surplus ammo? Last up are some of his reloads. Are cast OK to shoot in Garands? The only other '06 he had was a Remington pump action.

February 9, 2025, 01:52 AM	#4
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 30,503	The Greek ammo was made to run in M1 Garands. The only possible down side to it is that that box was made in 1969, and may possibly have deteriorated since then. If the ammo is clean and bright, its probably fine. Remington made the Accelerator ammo in three calibers, .30-30, .308Win, and .30-06. You could get them through the 80s, but they didn't work as well as hoped and Remington eventually dropped them. The idea was to turn a deer rifle into an acceptable short range varmint gun with a simple change of ammo and sight settings. The .30-30 became a .222, the .308 a .22-250, and the 06 load was actually faster than a .220 Swift doing over 4000fps. The drawback was that they didn't shoot well in many rifles, and in rifles where they shot as well as standard ammo, they weren't as accurate as an actual varmint rifle. Also I hear that shooting a lot of them left plastic residue in the barrel which was difficult to remove. They are absolutely NOT suitable for the Garand. The cast bullet loads are also not suitable for the Garand, being A) lead bullets, and B) almost certainly not loaded to the pressure level and pressure curve the Garand needs to operate on. __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.

February 9, 2025, 04:30 PM	#6
44 AMP Staff Join Date: March 11, 2006 Location: Upper US Posts: 30,503	I have (through an estate sale) a quantity of ammo with bullets that look just like the cast ones in your pic. They are loaded in 1950s GI .30-06 brass that was formed into 8mm Mauser. The loads are light, "gallery" or plinker level. Cast bullets with gas checks can get you into the 2200fps range without issues but driving them faster causes issues. NOT suitable for a Garand. The Garand is a very efficient rifle, built to run on a narrow range of ammo, and is NOT an omnivore. Feed it what it was made to eat, and it will thrive. Feed it something else and it can get sick, or even break. You could pull the bullets from the cast loads, toss the powder and reuse the brass, of course. __________________ All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.

February 8, 2025, 04:44 PM	#2
papajim2jordan Junior Member Join Date: February 6, 2025 Posts: 1	That's 55 grain, not 155. Its a sub caliber ".22" bullet in what's called a discarding sabot. Made for high velocity, supposedly to turn a deer rifle into a .22-250. As I understand, they were not very accurate.

February 8, 2025, 10:21 PM	#3
105kw Senior Member Join Date: June 30, 2017 Location: Columbia Basin Washington Posts: 518	The middle photo is Greek manufacture .30M2 ball, should be fine in a Garand. Do not shoot that lead reload ammo in a Garand, It was load for a pump Remington, M1s are gas operated and lead bullets will muck up the gas system. The Acceleraters are not going to work well in a Garand, they are loaded to a different power curve, and 55grs is too light for a M1.

February 9, 2025, 12:00 PM	#5
2wheelwander Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2018 Posts: 626	Thank you for the detailed answers gentlemen. I figured cast bullets were a no-no with the Garand, honestly don't know why Dad loaded these. Maybe he got some given to him by a friend? He didn't cast his own bullets. Dad enjoyed target shooting but wasn't a bench shooter chasing that final fraction of MOA. Those are a mystery to me. Think I'm going to shoot that Greek ammo. I have a few sealed battle tins of Garand ammo my son in law wants to break open and shoot away. Not gonna open those. These boxes, I'll shoot and enjoy my Dads old Garand. He had one in the Army and loved this rifle. The Accelerators I'll just keep stowed away as a conversation piece. Thanks again Gents.

February 10, 2025, 03:48 PM	#7
2wheelwander Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2018 Posts: 626	"You could pull the bullets from the cast loads, toss the powder and reuse the brass, of course" This crossed my mind as well. Wouldn't be hard to do. Given I only have a few of them I may run them out of the Remington pump for giggles. I need to look at the head stamp and see what kind of brass it is. Interesting.