Has anybody out there shot any Speer 50 gr Tnt's in their 220 Swifts? The box they come in says 3400 fps is recomended. I am wondering how fast you can push then before they go PUFF. I am thinking of loading up some to about 3800 to 3900 fps, but am looking for comments before doing it. I have about a 1/2 of a box of a value pack to use up.

thanks for the comments

Hey, I just pushed some last weekend to 3850fps and they were giving a vapor trail from 30yds. to 100yds. at the target.. Quite a sight to see , good for demo but surprisingly good groups... Good luck, Doc Stone

Tnts can come apart at much over 3800 fps. I prefer the 50 grain vmax or ballistic tip, over the speer offering. Try 43.5 grains of h380 a 50 grain nosler. That load has worked very well out of 5 different swifts.

MN Dick:

Speer talks about guys pushing them to 3700 but I have used them and keep them down to the 3400-3500 fps range.

Being concerned about that tho, I started using another Speer bullet that is not so fragile and costs the same price. That is their 52 grain HP. I have redlined it out of a barrel with a one in 8 twist and it did not evaporate on me.

Speer also indicates that the 55 grain will take higher velocity than the 50 grain TNT.

Unless you are shooting way way out there, the difference in trajectory of throttling them back to 3600 or 3500 should only mean a little extra click or two on the scope adjustments.

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

Well, here is the deal. I got myself a brand new Ruger 1v with a 26" barrel in the 220 swift. I couldn't turn it down, it was new in the box for $550 including tax. The gun shop has had it sitting around for about 2 to 3 years and wanted to move it. I checked around and about the best I could do was about $700 total at other places, so I bought it.

I plan on using it for punching paper at the range and shooting P-Dogs out in the Dakotas.

I got myself some brass and a set of dies for it. On my reloading bench I look around and I find a bunch of Lg rifle primers, some H380, Varget, BLC-2, Reloader 7 powder and some 50gr TNT bullets, so lets asks the experts out there if I should give it a try using the 50 gr TNT's and how fast I sould try and push them.

Based on the feed back so far I think about 3600 fps is about it for speed.

Minnesota--to me the easiest way to figure this out is to go and let er rip with that rifle.

That is a excellent bullet for PD's and such, accurate and it rips the dogs quite well.

I've a buddy from Billings that shoots a lot of dogs and does it with a heavy Swift and with the TNT's pushed a lot faster than is the supposed ceiling.

To me, this is gonna come down to how smooth or how rough your bore is and that is the name of that tune.

Good luck

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

I haven't any exp. w/ the TNT, but the Sierra Blitz used to come apart about 1 of 3 when pushed above 3700fps. Unfortunetly I sold my Swift way back when. A great little laser beam.

Please understand.....Velocity don't cause bullets to "come apart".....it's RPMs that do it. Bullet Mfrs think we're so dumb that we can't figure it out!!!

.22-250s and .220 Swifts typically have 1:14 twists and they can shoot faster without increases in RPMs.....I've fired thousands of 50 Grain TNTs thru my .22-250 and my Swift and never had one come apart.....but they sure do take apart Prairie dogs.....they vaporize dogs.....vapodog...

They are very accurate and cheap and they just work!!!

vapo, that is kind of semantics; higher vel. will give you higher rpm in any give twist bbl. If the bullet never reaches the target, I'ld say it "came apart".

let me repeat.....with my .22-250 and .220 S rifles (both of which have 1:14 twist)..... I have never had a 50 grain TNT not reach the target.

Lets do the math.....a .223 with a 1:9 twist at 3,300 f/s will impart a bullet from the muzzle at (3300/9*12*60)=264,000 RPM.....a .22-250 with 1:14 twist will impart a bullet from the muzzle at (3850/14*12*60)=198,000 RPM

I assure you, you'll have many more blowups with that .223 and a 1:9 twist than the .220 Swift with a 1:14 twist!!!

Well, I will soon find out, because I plan on loading some up this week-end and find out.



The plans is:



Speer says 3400 fps is max.

My plan is 3400 fps plus 10% or aprox 3740 to 3750 fps.



I am going to try and use:



H380 at 42.9 or 42.8 gr.



I think this is right.



The typ 223 rem = 1-12 twist.

Speer 50gr tnt = 3400 fps max

So (3400/12*12*60)= 203,999 rpm



Ruger 1V 220 swift = 1-14 twist

So (3750/14*12*60)= 192,857 rpm



As rpm goes the bullets will be turning 11,142 rpm less out of my 220 swift that the 223 rem. If they go poof it shouldn't be from over spin of rpms.



thanks for the replys