220 Swift factory rifles ?
- Thread starter PRR1957
- Start date
Buy a .204 Ruger.
I have a .204 with a Shilen fairly fast twist barrel that does everything my Swift does and shoots the longer bullets now available with less kick. Plastic tipped boat tail bullets get longer faster than they get heavier so even maxing out the velocity in a Swift 26" barrel there are some very nice bullets I'm wasting time trying to use. Even if they hit point on under stabilized means I'm not getting all the ballistic coefficient I'm paying for.
My own Swift is a nice 26" Hart barreled tight necked on a blue printed Remington action but the rig is obsolete with a 1/14 twist. Very much a retro rig today but what I really wanted and dreamed about in 1975. Maybe a Jim Carmichael influence. At age 75 I think it's pretty heavy too. Full diameter to the end of the barrel.
On the one hand it means I don't much need a laser rangefinder as it's a matter of hold on the ground line then hold on the middle then hold on the head for ground squirrels and prairie dogs. It's fun in a friendly social setting to take the 400 yard+ shot out from under a friend who is still dialing. But with the slow twist I can't much take today's long shots that are easy for folks who do lase and dial. I have enough cases that I'll likely re barrel one of these days but I have found cases to be a seasonal run sort of thing. Factory ammunition is pretty good.
I have a .204 with a Shilen fairly fast twist barrel that does everything my Swift does and shoots the longer bullets now available with less kick. Plastic tipped boat tail bullets get longer faster than they get heavier so even maxing out the velocity in a Swift 26" barrel there are some very nice bullets I'm wasting time trying to use. Even if they hit point on under stabilized means I'm not getting all the ballistic coefficient I'm paying for.
My own Swift is a nice 26" Hart barreled tight necked on a blue printed Remington action but the rig is obsolete with a 1/14 twist. Very much a retro rig today but what I really wanted and dreamed about in 1975. Maybe a Jim Carmichael influence. At age 75 I think it's pretty heavy too. Full diameter to the end of the barrel.
On the one hand it means I don't much need a laser rangefinder as it's a matter of hold on the ground line then hold on the middle then hold on the head for ground squirrels and prairie dogs. It's fun in a friendly social setting to take the 400 yard+ shot out from under a friend who is still dialing. But with the slow twist I can't much take today's long shots that are easy for folks who do lase and dial. I have enough cases that I'll likely re barrel one of these days but I have found cases to be a seasonal run sort of thing. Factory ammunition is pretty good.
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
Nothing fancy. I asked Hart in Apulia to spec it for 50-55 grain vmax or the 53 grain. They chose 1-12. I'm good with that. Its on an old 1950's home-built Arisaka...ya ya I know...
There is a photo of it on the varmint rifle photo thread in the varmint and hunting section. That photo was the last hunt with it. It would still shoot a quarter inch group, but only after a good cleaning, then 10 rounds to foul it. and then for about 15 shots it was awesome. then it went to softball sized groups in about two rounds, out came the rod and brush. A half-way clean would give me another ten rounds of good groups till it went crazy, and repeat. It had a nasty tight spot about half way up the barrel. I think it is an early Douglass, but who knows. Bottom line it had seen its better days, and besides, the guy who cut the reamer added in a bit of, shall we say, "room"...it was right on the edge of excessive head space and was a bit fat about the web...my fired cases would never fit a standard chamber. So i decided the old girl needed a face lift. I asked for a matching barrel profile, polished stainless, two inches longer. It might be done in Fall. If the old action is deemed ok. I paid two hundred bucks for the thing 20 years or more ago and have had more fun with it than any other rifle Ive owned. Upon trigger release that plunger goes forward, the gun goes boom, never moves on the rest and groundhogs die. i have kills on chucks to 700 with it (very unlucky chuck) and a crow that I whacked at 525 ish. I don't know who was more surprised, me, my spotter or the crow. i have always run 40 grains of H380 and a 55 grain Vmax in it. Slow, but it sure works. I enjoy this rifle more than my 22-250 40XB. Oh, BTW, it has never had any other scope on it except that old steel T10. I call it my Dial a Hog scope. My eyes are going so I might have to upgrade a bit.
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
And I will add that after shooting the 220 Redline, I seriously almost called Hart to go fast twist, but I am just too set in my ways to change. I shoot a few chucks, and I dream of next year. Someday I am sure I will be in heaven, shooting chucks. After all, His word says "He makes me lie down in green pastures..."
Gary in MD
Gold $$ Contributor
OP
There is a real nice Ruger Number 1 in the Swift for sale on LRH
There is a real nice Ruger Number 1 in the Swift for sale on LRH
For whatever it’s worth to you you just can’t get any more nostalgic then the Swift! I read somewhere one time probably in a Pennsylvania game news magazine or an outdoor life magazine that the 220 swift is the closest thing to holding a bolt of lightning in your hand. My first one was a Ruger number1 then a Remington 40 X and I have been shooting a Cooper model 22 Phoenix for the last 10 or 12 years and I think it is my favorite.There may be better cartridges designs out there,the 22 Creedmoor sure looks interesting but let nobody kid you the 220 swift gathers no flies.
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It seems to me that no matter the speed you drive them at those SX bullets continue to shine. (And they're cheap!)
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