Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 220 Swift what barrel length and twist

Finally going to scratch the long time itch for a swift. Looking for recommendations for barrel length and twist. I am thinking 55gr bullets.I will be loading of course what say you swift guys?

I personally would use the longest barrel I can get, availability is mostly 26. the higher velocities of the Swift say you don't need a lot of twist unless using heavy bullets.

I would use a 12.

HM

Pashooter: I have been a long time fan of the 220 Swift.
I have owned many of them in the past.
Next Tuesday i will be picking up my eighth Varminter in 220 Swift that I currently own and shoot.
It has a 26" barrel.
I prefer longer barrels in the 220 Swift for efficiency and stability of aiming in the field.
My longest heavy barreled Swift has a stainless 27 1/4" barrel.
I love that Rifle and baby it to the extreme as it is superbly accurate!
All my Swifts use either 55 grain bullets or 52 grain bullets.
I have yet to find something I want done with my Swifts that can't be done with these bullets.
Go long!
Best of luck with your 220 Swift project.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

What VarmintGuy said..

Thanks guys. I pretty much was thinking along the same lines, but it never hurts to ask those who have been there. 26" and one in twelve it shall be.

I went looking for a 220 many years ago. I finally found one, a Ruger 77V, that the barrel was cut to 20 inches. I liked the idea of a short heavy barrel, so I bought it. Still have the rifle and am on the second barrel. Much handier than a 26 inch barrel, though I did give up some MV.

My 8 twist 24" swift shoots as small groups with 55gr. bullets as it does with 80gr bullets.

If building I see no reason to handicap yourself with slow twist?

Stay away from the fast twist stuff. If you are varminting, that is what the round was developed for and have fun with it. I would suggest that you look at the Vmax 50 grain bullet. It too will shoot very well and out of a 26 inch barrel, it will be a Laser.

I don't own a Swift but if I were to get one I'd do exactly this^^^^^^^

Long Barrel.....12/14 twist....50/52gr bullets....

Why limit yourself with a slow twist if building? My 1 in 8 22-250 AI shoots 50s as well as 80s.

Barrel length would depend on what I wanted to use it for. I'd probably go 24 if 26 if I didn't want to lug it around much or shoot out the window a lot

My swift is a 24" standard contour Ruger 77 with a 1 in 14 twist. When that barrel gives out, contour and length will be duplicated but it will sport a 8 twist

My first Swift was a rebarreled Mauser with a pencil thin 22" barrel. It was accurate for about 5-6 shots, then it started opening up. My current Swift, which I've had for close to 25 years, is an old tang safety 77V with a 26 inch barrel. It went back to Ruger when I first bought it for a new barrel as the old one was toast.

Were I to rebarrel it or build another Swift it would be a 26 inch, varmint weight barrel with either a 1-8 or 1-10 twist.

Looks like the slow twist guys outnumber the fast twist fans.

One disadvantage to the fast twist after many rounds and the throat begins to erode the thin jacket 50-52 gr. bullets may vaporize?

Cant think of any other downside to fast twist?

I would go with a 12T as my last 24" 14T barrel would not stabilze a 50G bullet. Stay with the lighter bullets if you want to shoot heavy ones thats a good reason to build a 6mm .

I had a 1-8 on a .22-250 ai.. It shot best with 55 gr. Sierra HPBTs.. I shot some 75 gr. Horn. about every 3 or 4 shot, the bullet would vaporize before it hit the target..

The slowest twist I would go is 1-8 in a Swift. I have two Swifts with that twist and they shoot light bullets as accurately as the heavies.

26 inch with 1&9 twist

Never re-barreled a Swift but my 22-250 is an 8" and there is no looking back for me.

Shoots 40's-75's equally awesome.




Dave

I built a custom 220s about 12 ears ago

Rem 700 blue printed action, stainless
Lilja 24" number 3 contour, stainless
I can not remember the twist but I followed Lilja chart for 50 grain bullets
McMillan Sako hunter stock (now called McMillan Hunter)
My stock is Black/Black/Gray swirl.
And I had installed a PTG firing pin assembly and bolt knob, both blue
I use it on coyotes and load
39.5 grains IMR 4064 and 50 grain ballistic tips or 52 grain Bergers

Correction, my barrel is 26"

26 inches and a twist rate of 12 or faster. With bullets like the hornady 53 grain v max and 40 grain lead free that both require a 12 twist or faster to stabilize I would find it foolish to start with a 14 twist.