Bullets tumble out of 220 swift.

[halfmoanut]

A friend is having bullets (52gr) enter the target sideways out of his 220 swift. However 55 grain bullets are stable? Barrel is marked 1-14 twist? He is shooting 39grs of 4064. What would be the main culprit for this occurrence?

 

[AckleymanII]

Way too little information.

What kind of 52g?

How many rounds has been through the barrel?

I have had some extremely shot out barrels exhibit the same thing, but went to a bullet with more bearing surface and they straightened out. IMR 4064 is really rough on Swift barrels. I went from 55g Sierra spt to the 55g sierra semi point, then to the 63g Sierra semi point. The semi point bullets have more bearing surface and will extend barrel life, depending on what kind of accuracy you are wanting. I was using this Swift as a jack rabbit and coyote rifle.

I switched to AA2700 and win 760 on the new barrel and it is a lot easier on throats.

 

[pacificman]

Ackleyman is right when he mentions bearing surface....some of the lighter weight bullets are lighter in
weight but their length may prevent them from stabilizing in a slower twist barrel.

 

[chuckshooter]

I had a remington swift where the bullets didn't make it to the target. they were coming apart at about 50 yds, you could see them hit the dirt. when I sent it to remington they said "unable to find point of impact" and they replaced the rifle. it was brand new and there were no obvious indicators of the trouble. it didn't matter as to bullet or powder and yes I checked the twist. that was before I had a bore scope, so I don't know what the bore looked like. good luck

 

[Swift4Yotes]

In my experience 14 twist barrel don't like long bullets regardless of weight.

 

[SheepDog]

The Swift used light weight, short, bullets to get their high velocity and to keep the bullets from "blowing up" in mid air they used a slow twist. Shooting longer bullets won't solve your problem. If the barrel is shot out, that is quite common in Swifts, then you get to put a new barrel on it. Get a barrel that has a faster twist and use heavier (longer) bullets. The barrel will last longer and it will stabilize the bullets better. a 1:10 twist is good for bullets up to 60 grain or so -depending on actual length.