220 swift barnes load issues

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I have a Ruger M77 target in 220 swift, and have been trying to find a loa dusing barnes 53g xlc, and 53g tsx. I have only tried one load with the tsx, but 10 using 3 powders with the xlc. I cannot get it to shoot tighter than 3" at 100 yds. And that was only one group. The rest look like a shotgun pattern at 100 yds. The gun will shoot, every factory load I have tried under 1" 3 shot group, and factory federal 52g match loads I have a couple 3 shot under 1/4". I neck size once fired hornady brass, CCI 200 primers, VLD chamfer tool, primer pocker uniformed, flash hole uniformed, hornady dies. I have seated .030" off the lands, and the only load that shot was .11" off the lands (made a mistake in measuring oal). That was the 3" 5 shot group, using N160, 44gr. I have tried IMR4064, RL15, N160 powder. N160 at 43, 44 and 45, R15 at 38, 37, 36, IMR 4064 at one and two grains under max (forget the charge, don't have my notes with me, but going by the barnes book). The velocities are from 3500-3850, and the consistency is good, most loads less es and sd than the factory federal loads. I start each session by shooting a 3 shot group with the federal factory loads, and finish with one, to check the accuracy for the day, incase it is me or the gun. Each time is the same outcome. The factory loads will be under 1" every time, 3 shot group. Most of the loads are horizontal stringing, but 2 feet from one side to the other. No pressure signs with any load, hard bolt lift, shiny case heads, or primer signs. Factory loads have a more flattened primer than mine. What can I try? Anyone have ideas for the XLC or TSX, as I have boxes of both, a couple hundred bullets each.
 
They're not stabilizing (barnes are long for caliber, they're much longer than standard 60gr bullets).

Almost guaranteed that your swift has the standard 1:14 twist (Optimal for 55gr and less)...I had a super accurate 22-250 w/14 twist that would barely "pattern" the 60gr Nolser Partition, yet shoot most other bullets into bugholes.

Try the smaller 45gr TSX they've just come out with...my guess is super tight groups!

Good luck, and keep us posted.
 
I had the same issue with xlc's in two of my rifles. One issue to watch out for is chamfering. If you are not using a VLD case neck chamfer, try that. The reason I suggest this is the blue coating has a nasty tenancy to scrape off. The other thing to try would be slightly belling the case mouth with a .224 neck sizer, just a little bit. This will also keep the blue stuff from scraping off.
Other than that all I can say is, neither of my rifles shot the xlc's as well as they shot the plain old X-bullet. But I have seen some rifles shoot them quite well.
 
I believe it is 1 in 12 twist. That was one reason I chose the Ruger Target model. It shoots 60 grain hornady factory loads well, 1" groups no problem. I do use the VLD chamfer tool. They are not keyholing, nice clean punch through.
 
try using a faster powder and magnum primers. A faster, sharper pressure spike may be needed to obturate the copper bullet to the bore. This trick has worked for me a few times with bullets that don't otherwise shoot well
 
I have a ruger mark 2 target in 220 swift. It loves 40 grain pills. it also loves to be shot dirty, like 4-5 fouling shots. i use " wipe out + acceletaor ", supposed to be good stuff.
 
I use the 53 TSX's in a 14 twist 220 swift 700 VSSF and get 1/2" 5 shot groups off the bench if I am doing my part. Here are a couple of powders you can try H-414 or H-4831 you can also look to RL 19 or RL-22. I have always had better results with H-414 and 40-50 grain bullets and H-4831 with 55's. Primer wise go with what you like or what you have.

Get your barrel as clean as you can I like Barnes Cr-10 with a coated one piece cleaning rod and nylon bore brushes.

Good luck to you
 
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