Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles favorite swifts

i have never been a die-hard, dedicated fan of the swift--preferring the 22-250 instead--for numerous reasons of no practical moment.

nevertheless, swifts are a very nostalgic chambering--which we happily saw resurrected in the mid 1970's in a bold move by ruger--a move that snatched this old war horse back from the brink. sako also grabbed some of the action...

though the pre '64's are mighty fine medicine, my favorite swift is the sako L579--though i don't think too many of these were made.

a recent photo of my wife with the sako swift with leupold 8x ao on deck, and stock re-shaped and refinished by me--the factory shape, color, and finish were a little on the raffish side for my liking.

the factory stocks had a very high comb, and a little bit of cast-off. they were nearly red in color, with a tough, clear finish on them. the factory checkering on this sako rifle was very well done--but it had to go, as i re-contoured and slimmed the whole stock. the checkering on this specimen was then re-cut to a different pattern. this rifle was glassed and free-floated by me in 1982, which helped it a great deal--for like other makes of sporter weight rifles, some of these sako's were prone to changing poi.

like swifts as i do, when heading out to hunt coyotes, deer, or chucks, nine times out of ten i'll still grab a 22-250 out of the rack...

That is a nice rifle. What bullets are you running through it?

thank you,

yeah its a beaut...

if going after coyotes, i've always used the hornady 53 grain hp match, as it stones yotes instantly, with zero damage (the 60 gr hornady hp will do the same).

for deer i use the 55 gr hornady sp, or the 60 grain hornady sp., and the 60 is a favorite.

like this rig as i do, i've never been as good at using it in the field--on demand--like i can a rem 700--it doesn't seem to point and balance as well for me as the rem 700's.

however, i've managed a few shots on yotes with this rig at just past the 400 yard mark. when i miss a yote with it--its always an over-shot...

the 8x on this rig for me is unusual--i have almost always used fixed 6x on my rigs since the early 1970's.

I jumped on the Ruger band wagon in the 70's and bought mine..still have it today but don't give it the attention it deserves. Hafta laugh whenever there's a tread about the inadequacies of the 22's ..I usually bite my tongue and keep quiet since taking P dogs,groundhogs,song dogs,deer and a half dozen speed goats over the years with the Swift and plain old C/C bullets!

those early rugers were usually super accurate rifles. i'm sure you have really had fun with that rig--especially on the speed goats.

i remember carmichel writing about using one of them in a bench rest match...

the .22 centerfire in knowledgeable, skilled hands is a remarkable, fearsome weapon.

i've used them for about 40 years now, and they are my favorites (though if starting over today i would go .243 win--65 vmax for speed, and the higher bc bullets for longer ranges).

many years ago--if i recall correctly--i believe i read where (ackley ?), may have conducted a test where he shot some burros in the head with a swift, but the critters had military helmets on--using solids. a comment the shooter made was that there were multiple exits holes in the helmets--pieces of bone set in motion by the terrific velocity of the solid pills.

someone out there might remember if that was in fact ackley--i think the test was for a military study--but i long ago read that back in the late 70's while casually visiting in steve billeb's stock making shop, so i can't be sure...

You are correct about the helmets on burros and DOD testing.I have both Ackley volumes not sure which one but there is reference to testing high vel rounds on many critters for the Dept of the Army I believe.

I had one of the few Sako Swifts they made, it was a disappointment. It wasn't a good shooter at all. I was going to re barrel it, but thought that was the wrong thing to do to an original gun in a rare caliber. I sold it and moved into a Sako L57 action, even better than the 579.

Dennis Olson in Plains took the action, barreled it with a Lilja 27 inch Chrome-moly, fluted barrel, with a nice piece of American Walnut. There are those that say a 204 Ruger is the baddest medicine on Prairie Dogs, I beg to differ...

That's a beautiful rifle in the pic! Well the 204 groupies have a good one but I'll still take the Lee Navy morph as I know its capabilities well..

yes indeed, the old L57 actions are a thing of artistic beauty.

the bolt is a work of art--all by itself. by comparision, many other rifles seem like "soup can metal" when side by side with the sako's, which typically handle and feed so well--not to mention excellent accuracy. i could spend hours just looking at the machining in the bolts...

though .204's are nice--and i like the high velocity--but compared to a swift they are simply "geriatric".

may God forbid, but i once set a can of coke on some pea gravel at about 50 yards and shot it with a hornady 55 grain soft point. the sculpted shape/image of the pea gravel was swaged into the bottom of the can.

sorry, but i didn't have a can of pepsi along...

One of the prettiest Ruger #1's I ever saw was a Swift. It was in a Gunshop in San Angelo, Tx in the early 90's. Full figure in the buttstock, and even some in the forend. It was there several months, and I kept looking at it each trip to the deer lease, but I never did have the scratch to buy it. Of course the first time I did go in there with the money, poof it was gone One of these days, maybe I'll stumble across it at a Texas gun show or something...

Jerry,

You da' man...no PEPSI

We should take those swifts over by Harlo and blast some pd's with them, there is still plenty of season, maybe soon...

sniping some of them dogs would be some good medicine--maybe even put the p7 to a really close one--if possible.

BTW, i'll be getting in touch with you fairly soon to have you come by and pick up something of interest--might be a week or two or three yet though...

did your son ever get in touch with norm--i think he would really enjoy norm's "wristy--twisty" teachings. i did mention it to norm recently--he's a great guy to learn from--he taught at the l.e. academy for years.

Jesse is in the Academy now and will be for another month. He could probably benefit from Norm's training sometime afterward.

This is a PD on swift velocities, I doubt a 204 can match that...

that is a really well done photo--perfect timing!

i'll mention all this again to norm about your son--as i talk with him about every couple days or so--we have great times shooting together. but, whenever he does a dt demo for a friend, etc., i no longer let him "twist my wrists", as more than once they were completely shredded--when he did a demo on steve h. (6'2" tall, and 240 lbs), the guy was a mass of bruises the next day.

BTW, norm was the dt instructor at the academy when i introduced him to what a swift can really do--he was in absolute disbelief--even after seeing it. i fired a 53 gr hornady completely through an axe head about midway down the blade. he was totally shocked.

back in high school, scenarshooter and i would shoot railroad spikes with swifts--we'd stick them upright in a stump, and if hit just right, it would nearly cut them in two.

as i've said to many folks over the years; "out to about 375 yards, there ain't nothing better than high velocity". beyond that, the heavy, high bc pills take over, as weight and diameter are constants, while high velocity is a constantly diminishing variable.

its strange that the two guys i've known the longest on the campfire--you and scenarshooter--over 40 years i've known both of you--both use swifts regularly.

tell your son congrats on landing that position.

I have railroad tie plates that I shot through with the Swift. I would use them in Hunter Ed to show the kids how velocity trumped iron. I would take a 50 grain HP bullet and pound it into the tie plate with a hammer and show them how the bullet just mashed flat and didn't even dent the tie plate. Then I would show them the hole I put in it with the same bullet at 4000 FPS...

They were always impressed.

Shrap-far and away that's one of my fav rigs from the Fire. Pretty much model perfecto!

Dober

I picked up a couple standard ruger tangers over the past two years. Love both of them and stil got one. It wears a period correct Burris 3-9.

I have a Ruger 77V, tang safety, in .220 Swift-
I bought it used in the mid 80's, with no idea how many rounds had been thru it at that point.
Over the years, it has seen a lot of use on prairie dogs. Several years ago, the accuracy began to fall off- 1.5 in. groups, instead of the usual .5-.75 it would normally do.
I gave it the copper-out treatment with an Outers Foul-Out system, and it seemed to restore some of the accuracy, for a while. I just put it back in the safe, thinking I would rebarrel the action at some point.

Then, one day a few months ago, I decided to give it the Wipe Out treatment, try some different handloads, etc. before going the rebarrel route. After 3 days, and 7-8 applications of Foul Out, I finally got the barrel squeaky clean. At that point, I also gave it the Dyna-Bore Coat treatment.

Took it to the range, with some new handloads- RL 15, and Hornady V-Max 50 gr. bullets. Don't know if it was the new ammo, or the Wipe Out treatment, or both, but she's back to shooting as good or better than ever!

25 or so years ago one of the major distributors, I want to say Accusport, had Remington build a special run of their Model 700 Varmint ( plain BDL with a heavy barrel back then) in 220 Swift. Two of my freinds then and I snagged one each. Wow, what FUN thise rifles were. I shot my first ever coyote with mine, called in for me by MART from here at the 'fire before there was a 24hrcf and when he still lived in Walla Walla. Total bangflop.

Even though I have had faster 224's like the 22-250AI and 22 Cheetah I wish I still had that 220 Swift. I still like the plain 'ol BDL with a heavy barrel Remmy varmint models. Attractive, and I like the normal slender good lookin/feelin stocks for 95% of my shooting and hunting, and I LUV me some high polish blued CM steel.

flyboyflem,

thank you for mentioning that--i was fairly sure it was ackley that did those tests with the helmets. i remember something about him using solids--maybe even something in the order of possibly 39 grain solids at super high velocity?

i also think he may have participated in a culling program on burros as well--all of which gave him quite the background in those early days.

i remember reading an article by hal hartley on penetrating steel--he tried all manner of rounds on steel at many ranges. during that time a guy brought by the then new .458 win mag, and they shot it at a piece of 3/8 inch thick spring steel. the .458 failed to penetrate--making only a slight bulge with hairline cracks. next was the swift--and of course the swift coasted right on through...

a guy i knew used to buy sick or old horses on the hoof--wanting them "for food" for certain critters. he was schooled as a doctor and knew anatomy well. he would arrive on-site, and had to kill the horses where they were--humanely. he used a winchester model 43 .218 bee, with a 4x scope on it, shooting a 46 grain pill. he mounted the scope so that the crosshairs were at 45 degrees, like an "X". then, he would line up the angular crosshairs on the horses forehead, so that the "X" lines created by the crosshairs passed through the left ear and downward through the right eye, and the right ear and downward through the left eye--making the intersection exactly where it had to be for the brain--essentially foolproof. one shot and it was all over--he was a tremendous fan of the swift, but used the bee for that specific task, knowing full well that it would deliver the mail.

in the mid 70's, i began to shoot tie plates with these high velocity centerfires--sometimes it would even crack the plate. the same happened with the axe-head--it bored right on through, and hairline cracked the rest of the head as well--from the hole to the edge--while the heat from the impact nicely "solders" the lead to the edges of the hole. equally impressive is what a high velocity .22 will do to a 6-8 inch diameter rock...

kirk--i remember you doing that demo in class with the plate--my son took your class and the wife and i attended the classes too, and had a great time listening to stories, hearing lectures, etc.

one more pic of old swifty:



this 12 inch rock was shot at 150 yards with the swift--to big really, but it still chunked it up some...