My first .220 Swift didn't shoot 55s very well. It was a Remington 700 VSSF with a 1-14" twist.
It did not shoot my regular load well with new brass. My procedure with it was to fire form WW brass to my chamber by jamming a Speer bucket mouthed 52 grain hollow point hard into the rifling and pushing it to about 3300 fps with IMR 4064.
I'd "bump size" ... in other words, set up my FL die so it sized the whole neck and just kissed the shoulder so chambering was easy but not sloppy, there was a little resistance on the bolt handle but it was not "hard."
My regular operating load used home mollied 50 grain ballistic tips over 43.5 grains of H380, WW brass, and Fed 210M primers. Average velocity clocked 3987 FPS and accuracy was in the high 0.4s for 5 shots.
My 2nd Swift was a Ruger #1V. Nothing to learn from it, it had a loose spot in the bore and never shot worth a crap.
The final was a custom 700 with a 26 inch straight cylinder barrel, 1-14" twist, 3 land and groove PacNor. it was a primer blowing SOB even with most book starting loads. Finally ran it over a chronograph and found those "starting" loads to be more than 200 fps faster than the book-predicted max. No wonder, huh?
It finally did come around for me. My final load, which wouldn't fit in new brass but would, with a drop tube, go into formed cases, was 44 grains of IMR 4831 under 55 grain ballistic tips ... naked, not coated.
The final 3 shots, before I sold it, punched the 3 push-pins on my 200 yard target through the backstop.
The reason I sold it was that despite the accuracy, with that heavy barrel the balance point was ahead of the front sling swivel screw and I was having a real hard time not having it nose-dive off the front of the bags. (Serious, not exaggerating.)
Tom
