I'd be grateful to hear from any die-hard 220 Swift users as to what the pros and cons of this particular cartridge are (I recall our gracious host, Saeed, listing it as one of the calibres he couldn't do without in a recent thread - which I can't find).

I personally don't know of anyone who owns a rifle in the calibre so I'm relying on your guys to educate me. I have read articles singing it's praises due it's flat trajectory and others saying how destructive it can be on barrels. I also read an article on the internet (forget the site) saying how the 22-250 is slowly making it redundant.

So, who loves it (and who hates it )

Brit, I had one about 25yrs ago, one of the Ruger 200yr M77. It had a factory 26"bbl. It was very fast & very accurate, 45gr bullets @ 4100fps. Unfortunately I sold it, marrage does funny things to some, wish I would have kept it. I was easy to load for, sub MOA groups were common. I can't comment on bbl. life as I only fired about 300rds out of it.
Brass is more readily available now than then & there are better bullets to withstand the high vel. If you are in the need of speed, it's a good factory way to go about it.

Pros? Too many to list!

Cons?
22-250 owners will be jealous and Hate you!

[ 11-04-2003, 22:44: Message edited by: Marsh Mule ]

A high quality stainless barrel will last as long in 220 Swift as 22-250 for any practical purpose as long as you don't abuse either. And yes, the 220 Swift will do some things a 22-250 can't. Some writers who should know have said that the early 1930's Winchester barrel steel was softer and not well suited to the round; hence it's early reputation. On a slightly different note (and I may get a lot of flack for this one) the barrel maker may make more of a difference in this case. Shilen grooves are relativley shallow compared to some others and therefore more susceptable to erosion by virtue of less metal. This is supposed to be a trade-off for less stress during buttoning. Serious benchresters don't mind as they change barrels more frequently and Shilen is one of the best for that sport. I've had 3 220 Swifts and ruined my first by loading too hot and shooting too fast. I burned the throat out in about 500 rounds. That was from my abuse, not the characteristic of the round. But damn! its a wonder to see what 40 gr bullets at 4400 fps will do to railroad iron! (PS: That's scrap iron, not working tracks!!!!)

[ 11-04-2003, 22:52: Message edited by: tiggertate ]

I own several "varmint" calibers and have two Swift's. Everytime I go hunting, I say I am going use another caliber next time,but I always seem to take the Swift. I love mine!

It is a hard cartridge to find a used rifle in good shape. It is not so much that it is hard on barrels as the reputation goes... if one takes care of it, and does not get overly 'trigger happy' with it.

A good used one is hard to find as owners normally don't get rid of it, until it has had it. Usually they just rebarrel it, or sell it to just buy another new one.

The loyalty and following it has speaks volumes on it.

The Swift is the one I carry when I am serious about varmint hunting. If I really want to hit something the Swift is the easiest one to do it with.

I think I've had 5 .220 Swifts, two Sako's, two rugers and a Remington built by Ed Brown. The Remington I still have and is on its second barrel. Like some of the others say, it's the easiest caliber to hit with on long range coyotes, when you learn to not hold over too much and just shoot at them for the most part. Barrel life will run about 4000 shots- mine still shot 1" groups, but looked like hell. I rebarrelled to an Ackley improved version this time.

The Swift is the closest thing to a death ray that you can legally own. I never found any of the "bad stories" to be true. They don't eat barrel OR cases.......unless you load them into the twilight zone, which has bad effect on ANY cartridge.

Extremely accurate. You'll love it.

The only negative I could think of is the semi-rimmed case, and that's arguable.

You will have to trim the cases a little more often than other calibers with sharper shoulders. It is ALOT louder and generates more muzzle blast. This may not concern you but back east where I do my varminting that kind of noise usually generates lots of attention...some unwanted. So I stick with my .222 Rem for most varminting.
But when I go someplace where the shots are long I carry the big stick. My M77V (tang safety) will shoot 3/4 inch 5 shot groups if I let her cool down. But this rifle was one of my more finicky rifles I've ever messed with and it took quite a bit of tinkering with bedding and loads to get it to shoot well.

I have a Ruger 77 200th anniversary model with a 15x Unertyl Ultra Varmint. I changed the trigger to a Canjar single set. Great rifle that shoots half inch groups when I do my part.

Bob257

I too have one of the Ruger 200th anniversary guns. Will never sell it. Very accurate with a lot of loads. watch the case length and neck thickness and you won't have any problems.

is it possible to take a 220 swift chamber reamer to a 22-250, and presto 220 swift,or is the 22-250 round a bit fatter

In years gone by I've shot thousands of prarrie dogs between Casper Wyoming up to Parkside, Wyoming. I used a Sako .222 (my favorite), a couple 22-250, two .220 Swifts, a 6x47, a 243, and a 6mm Remington. Also did some prarrie dog shooting using left over elk loads in 270, 7mm Mag, 30-06 and even some heavy 300H&H. My favorite is still the .222 as it was great out to 200 yards. After that the wind played hell with it. The Swift was capable out to 400 yards, but the wind played havok with it too.

All things considered, I'd go with a .223 or 22-250 with a proper rifle and good optics.Learn how to read the wind.

CumminsCowboy, the .22-250 case is fatter, having the standard Mauser-sized head. The 6mm Lee Navy case that the .220 Swift was based on had a smaller diameter case head and longer body than the .250 Savage. The reason the .220 is semi-rimmed is that Winchester put a rim on it of the standard Mauser head diameter to fit standard bolt faces.

I have used the 220 Swift since 1976, when I bought a Ruger 77 heavy barrel ($165.00) and used it for deer hunting and crow killing til I got tired of carrying 10 lbs around. I used 50 gr. Speer and Nosler solid base bullets, 39 gr. of 4064 and it worked great. The solid base is not enough bullet at close range, it won't take the abuse, but at longer range seemed to work fine. I bought another Ruger 77 standard weight in the early eighties and after 3500-4000 rounds it quit shooting good groups. I switched scopes and loads, but the only remedy that worked was a new Douglas Premium barrel done in the same contour. It is chambered much better than the factory original and is very very accurate. I use 55 and 60 grain hornady's for deer and 50 grain Nosler solid base for crows and other such stuff. 39 grains of 4064 for the 50 grain, 38 for the 55 Hornady and I can't remember offhand the 60 grain Hornady load. I have tried 55 grain Trophy Bonded bullets, and as much as I would like to use them for deer; they don't shoot good enough to suit me. If anyone
has a load that works for that bullet in a Swift, please let me know. I get good case life with the loads listed, and they kill very well. Get yourself a Swift you will not be disappointed, almost 30 years for me and I love it.

Merluke What twist is your deer rifle? Are the twist the same for both rifles? How fast you pushing this stuff?

To cool..

Standard twist in both rifles, 1-14. 50 grain bullets and 39 grains of 4064 around 3950 fps. Have not chronographed 55's or 60's.

60 grain spitzers have been used in .220 Swifts and .22-250s for a long time, way before the fast-twist .223s came out. My old 1964 first edition "Cartridges of the World" shows a load or two for them. 1-14" twist was standard then.

The early 60 grainers used in 1-14 rifles were blunt short bullets for that purpose. You have much better variety with 1-12 or 1-10 plus you can go a little heavier if you wish. I went to 1-12 for my third Swift and never looked back. I don't know all the options but I think I heard there are some factory rifles that have sped up the twist to 1-12 too.

[ 11-19-2003, 06:32: Message edited by: tiggertate ]

What 22-250s do the Swift will do better. You will never get a favorable comparrison from the balistics tables as they will not show the same point of zero or same wt.gr. I had a custom Mauser back in 1963 that put a clover leaf in the Ace of heats card at 300 yrds. I shot too much and after 3,000 rounds it grouped .75 at 100 yards. Big error was shooting the hornet bullet in the swift. A blade of grass turned the bullet to dust on the way to the target. God I wished I had that gun back in new condition.

British....I have .17s, .222s, 243s, but when I really want to "reach out and touch something", I grab my Swift, a pre-64 model 70 Winchester. It don't get any better than that...........