.220 Swift
Any one out there that could give me some advice on sighting it in. (Rem 700) right now it shoots bout 2" groups at 100yds bout 2" low but cant hit a soda bottle at 300yds. havnt shot at a target that far yet. right now im just using factory hornady 60grn hollow points, but plan on hand loading some in with 55grn vmax in the near future. any advice on how far out i should plan on sighing it in at and any advice on power selection and weight primer selction ect would be a great help thank
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It occurred to me recently that you never seem to hear about the .220 Swift caliber anymore. There was a time (30+years ago) when that round was considered the ultimate varmint load--very flat trajectory, very high velocity, etc. Just wondered what brought about its apparent demise and what calibers have replaced it for varmint hunters. 0 -
At the time of its't intro we did not know as much about barrel steel and flame temp of powder so the 220 swift got a bad rep for short barrel life .Some of this was caused by reloaders thying to get the max or more out of this cartridge. Also bullets at this time were not up to the job. Ruger came back out with this in their model 77 but by this time the 22/250 had a big following today we have the 204 ruger only time will tell if it takes over from the 22/250 0 -
About 6 or 7 years ago, the 220 had kind of a resurgence of a following, at least locally you started seeing new rifles at gunshows and shops. That and .22 Hornet and .218 Bee. Ruger and Browning seemed to be bringing back some of the oldies. It's sort of like hemlines and hairlength, and now that we have the new rimfire .17's and the .204 to play with, it may be a while before the oldies and nostalgic calibers come around again. The .220 is probably one of the most expensive factory loads in the varmint class also. As Perry said, they got a bad rap when steels weren't as good, nor were the powders and bullets up to the task. 0 -
After you've tried 22-250 you'll never go back. everything else is an answer to a problem that didn't exist.It depends on what and how far your shooting, I had a weatherby vangaurd (Howa 1500) in 22-250 ,it was a killing machine. lost it to a very fortunate pawn shop. Gonna get a remington 788 in 22-250 very soon. But for spank'in lesbian neighbors cats and dogs, you can't beat my new n.e.f .17 h.m.r. Its a tack driver out to 175 yds. on the cheap. I will put this up against my dad's high dollar kimber 22 any day at any range. 0 -
well ya 'no i think the Swift in all its Glory is still a great cartridge, what i think may have happend is the today shooter has gone to the short action-almost as fast bullet an better selection in bullet weights i do own a Rem.788 22-,250 an recently aquired a Rem VLS .243, but still i've always wonder about the 220 the Ballerina of its day. HMmm....maybe New tests should be done with all the above threads entered on this topic... or have they been already?
confused....but learning0 -
I still have a pair of 220 swifts that will never get "replaced" with a 204 or a 22-250. Nothing wrong with either of these cals. but with the bullet and powder technology we have today I have no need to replace the swift. The only other rifle that is in the truck more than the swift is the 257 AI. 0 -
there isn't a 22-250 around here thats even close to being on the heels of my 220swift rem700VSSF. Good loads and this gun is an honest .25moa if you do your part. The new powder coatings, better steels, and smoother bores really let the swift "shine" as she should. I will rebarrel this one to 220swiftAI when this barrel is toasted.
why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?0 -
My #1 220 Swift AI is the best shooting factory barrel I own, and I use it a lot out to 500 yards. It willl shoot fire forming factory 50 gr Federal ammo into 3/4" @100 yds all day long.The only reason I may use my 22/250 more is because of a custom 9 twist 3 groove S/S S/M Pac-Nor barrel, and it cost me almost as much as the whole #1 Ruger did when it was finished
that lets me use a heavier (75 gr Amax) grain bullet for a lot longer distances that I usually don't have around here.
If and when I burn the Swift barrel out of the #1 I will definitly rebarrel it to the same 220Swift Ackley Improved. According to my Hawkeye bore scope the throat is still real darn good after 994 rounds out of it...so much for burning them out early in the game...
Gun control is hitting what your aiming at.0 -
The .220 Swift is still King. The .22-250 can be loaded up to .220 Swift levels, but the .220 Swift can be loaded beyond that if desired.
I used to have a Rem. 700 VS-SF and it was the most accurate out-of-the-box rifle I've ever owned. I was a fool for selling it...
We can all cite example after example where the cartridge with the lesser specs gained popularity for a multitude of reasons while the better one led a niche existence.0 -
From all the reading I have done on the .220, I have to concur that it was the barrel burning reputation that killed the Swift. Funny, today we have the .223 WSSM which produces very similar numbers but would seem more likely to kill throats with it's sharp shoulder and wide body creating very high pressures/sharp pressure curves. I would still opt for the .220 over the .22-250 and the .223 WSSM, but I have also found my .223 to be about all the varmint gun I really need. A .220 may still be in my future, though.
Liberal compassion inhibits progress.........think Republican and prosper!0 -
Hunter375, actually a sharper shoulder increases throat life because as the plasma exits the case mouth, it is forced more toward the center of the bore rather than directly at the lands as with a slow shoulder angle. That and a more complete burn while inside the case were 2 of the reasons P.O. Ackley has such great success with his experiments. I agree the WSSM is probably a bit much,..hence the chrome lined bores.
why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
Got Balistics?0
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