.220 Swift the forgotten

S

Swifty

CGN Regular
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I have been reading quite a few postings on different hunting forums and just wondered why the Swift seems to be the forgotten varmint rifle.First of all in no way am i bad mouthing the 222,223,22-250 and the 204 ruger but i shoot the Swift and its a great varmint rig.I know the others except maybe the 204 have plenty of ammo and cheaper too and unless you load (i do) the Swift ammo can be hard to find and expensive but this aside it gives up nothing to these others yet its almost forgotten around my parts anyways.Whats the reason and no it doesn't burn out barrels any worse than these others if you hot load them.
 
I had one and liked it...but the popularity of the 22-250 even back when it was a wildcat combined with the undeserved bad mouthing that a few gun writers gave the Swift, it never could overcome the 22-250...it is a bit faster than the 22-250 but some guys still shy away from it...I guess speed isn't always the determining factor...
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with the case, but if I was buying a new gun, it wouldn't top my list.
 
I had one in a Ruger 77 heavy barrel that was very accurate but I traded it off because she weighed close to 11 pounds with the scope mounted on it. Way to heavy to lug around all day!

I missed it after I got rid of it so I bought a brand new Ruger M77 MKII (standard barrel) which I still own and will probably never get rid of. It is every bit as accurate as the first one that I owned.

There are a few guys around here shooting the 220 Swift but most are shooting 223's & 22-250's............
 
The reputation of a barrel burner was probably right back in the 30's when they crammed the case full of powder and tried to see how fast thay could make the bullet go.Back then throat erosion was indeed a problem but not anymore than it would have been for other calibers abussed that way.I've never had any problems loading for it and infact the longer neck makes it easier to load than other 22 centerfires.Your right about pelt damage sometimes but using the right bullet is the key there.My one buddy uses the 22-250 and another buddy uses the 204 ruger and they're real good rifles but hell if we all owned the same caliber we'd have nothing to argue about over a few whiskeys on sat night.
 
I just picked up a Ruger M77 in .220 Swift, I have not shot it yet, I am thinking of using moly bullets with it, has anyone done this? I hope the moly coating will make the barrel issue go away, or at least decline.
I plan to load it warm only, as I am not a huge fan of hot loads.
I am thinking of 55 grain bullets. I have shot .22-250 and .204 and are happy with the results.
I would appreciate any CGN's pet loads they care to share.
Thanks for reading.
 
Swifty said:
I have been reading quite a few postings on different hunting forums and just wondered why the Swift seems to be the forgotten varmint rifle.First of all in no way am i bad mouthing the 222,223,22-250 and the 204 ruger but i shoot the Swift and its a great varmint rig.I know the others except maybe the 204 have plenty of ammo and cheaper too and unless you load (i do) the Swift ammo can be hard to find and expensive but this aside it gives up nothing to these others yet its almost forgotten around my parts anyways.Whats the reason and no it doesn't burn out barrels any worse than these others if you hot load them.
Click to expand...

If you load the swift for what it was designed to do (shoot 50-55grain bullets fast! in excess of 4000 fps) it is harder on barrels than the other calibers you mention. I have owned a swift as well as many 22-250's and unless you reload it is expensive and difficult to aquire ammo for the swift. With a little more trouble you may as well go with a 22br. Less powder, waaay more accurate and easy on barrels compared to the swift and the 22-250. The 22br will be my next 22 cal. gun.
 
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