Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rem 700 VS SF

Looking at them in .220 Swift and looking for opinions. Stick, I know where you stand on the subject from a previous post, but by all means, jump right in and tell me more.
<br>
<br>Only price I've got so far is $753 not including tax. Am I in the ballpark?
<br>
<br>Be kinda hard to get one and not put a Leupold on top to bring the varmints up close!

That price strikes me as pretty steep.
<br>
<br>I dig the Swift and have had great luck with both the VS and VSSF's. I weigh stainless pretty high,due to my locale.
<br>
<br>I dumped a VSSF in 308Win,into a Remington Classic patterned stock by McMillan. It is one of my very favorite rifles,due to it's penchant for digesting mil-surp ball ammo into tidy little groups. I have had that barrel so hot,so many times,that noone would believe my recounting of the events. It continues to shine,despite countless abuses and is amazing in every facet. I mourn the day that barrel finally pukes.
<br>
<br>It would much suprise me if you could find reason to cuss a VSSF in Swift......................

Some of the folks I know who have them, in .220 Swift, aren't impressed with them. It seems they have kind of a long throat, and you must be careful loading them. The semi rimmed design of that case needs to be carefully stacked in the rifle to get them to feed proprerly.
<br> The long throat tends to make finding a really accurate load for them tougher than the same rifle in .22-250. I know a couple of guys who have had their .22-250 rifles punched out to .22-250 AI, and the barrel/actions blue printed. They use Swift loading data and get fabulous accuracy.
<br> I'm not knocking the rifle. I own a VSFS in .308. I've tweaked it every way I can think of. I love that thing. While learning to make wind calls, I shot some very nice 6 inch groups at almost 550 yds. From a sitting position, no less. It's the only rifle I've ever owned that did not get better with glass bedding. And it shoots almost any load well. Some of them under .5 MOA. I mean consistantly under .5 MOA. E

I shoot two of them that belong to hunting buddies. Theirs are the VS version not the stainless fluted barrels. I considered buying one of the stainless fluted rifles a while back. They were asking $700 and I did not buy it. I have never seen or heard of any problems working up loads for the Swift in these rifles. We had no problems getting my friends rifles to shoot one hole groups. Some people don't like the semi-rimmed case. The claims are that they cause feeding problems if not loaded into the magazine correctly. Maybe, on paper. In real life, I learned the first time I loaded my Ruger to stack the cases in the magazine with one rim in front of the other. Never had a problem with feeding, never knew anyone who did, can even load a magazine properly in the dark. I might feel differently if the rifle were a battle rifle or a dangerous game rifle but there is no need to be concerned about the semi-rimmed case on the Swift. I have heard all kinds of bad publicity on the Swift; It burns up barrels, it streaches case necks, it thickens case necks, the semi-rimmed case won't feed, and on and on...... I have a lot of trigger time behind a 220 Swift and I am sure Big Stick has also. From experience I can tell you those things just are not true. Anything the 22-250 can do the Swift will do better. Heck, the gun writters and rifle manufactors have tried to send the old 220 Swift to it's grave many times. Remington quit making ammo and rifles for it for a long while. But it just refuses to die. Too many shooters are too savy to it. Perhaps the popularity of varmint hunting has given new life to it but there are a lot of deer hunters here who bought a lot of Ruger rifles in the Swift back when no one else would make them. Remember my friend who has the custom Mauser in Swift? he had it made up during that dry spell. He used it as a deer hunting rifle.
<br>
<br>22-250 or 220 Swift? For my money, I will go with a Swift every time. But it's your money on this deal. Get the one that catches your fancy. You can't go wrong with either. pds

I have a VSSF in 223, great rifle for the gophers we have here in Alberta.Had it about a year and a half now.Shoots the 50 gr VMax around 3/4" to 7/8" without any "real" load development.I imagine one in 22-250 would be more of a good thing.I think I got one of last ones around with the HS stock and w/o the goofy key-lock.One of my brothers has one of the early 24" VS's,also 223 and it's a good shooter.The ones on the rack now have the Bell & Carlson stock and the key-lock.Paid $950 CDN for mine.What's that in "real" money?

'Bout fifty bucks!................(grin)

I just realized I was wrong earlier. I said the price I got was $753 and it was actually $735.
<br>
<br>Still a bit steep, but my clumsy fingers just about cost me $18 on the keyboard.
<br>
<br>Anyway, it's only the first price I got. Hopefully, they'll come down the more I check around.
<br>
<br>Hhhmmmmmmm, I'm thinking of a Vari-X III 4.5-14 x 40 on top.
<br>
<br>

I see a 6.5-20X Leupie on BR Central,for $400 today.................

Cheaper than I've seen 'em Stick.
<br>
<br>What's BR Central?

Bench Rest Central = BR Central. Great place,for great info. They also have a Classified section and upon there,is an Optics section. Within it,the Leupie came up today. It is a used glass,but it would be pretty hard to go too far wrong,on a price like that.
<br>
<br>I'll dig up the link and Post it for you..............

www.benchrest.com
<br>
<br>dedicated sight for benchrest shooters. i used to check it out quite a bit, but they tend to not care for hunting-related rifles/br classes... lots of good info there on accuracy.
<br>
<br>as much as i'd like to shoot tiny groups like that, actual hunting rifles (and their comparatively larger group sizes) are much more fascinating to me.
<br>
<br>

Shop On!...................

"bout fifty bucks"??? I aint sellin' Stick just askin'..he he he he.........maybe I'll have to sell it. Just bought a Mohawk 243 and another BDL Varmint in 222 tonite,old one without the bolt guide rib,pressed checkered too..........man what am I gonna do with 'em?Projects?maybe.The 243 Mohawk would make a dandy "in and outta the truck coyote gun". Wonder if there's a detachable mag that can be adapted to a 600.

I saw a Remington 700 Classic in .220 Swift (1992's offering in the Classic series) in a local paper here last week. Unfired and still in the box for $700.
<br>
<br>Anyone know if that had a heavy barrel or no?

Mmmmmm. I was thinkin' the exchange rate of Yankee Greenbacks,was about fifty bucks,to the amount of Monopoly Money you quoted(grin).
<br>
<br>The Deuce is a 223Ackley in early staging and the 243 is a dandy as is. I am unfamiliar with a 600 DBM system being offered,though such an animal could certainly exist.
<br>
<br>I scored another 223Ackley last night,from a couple of swaps with a pard. He raked me over the coals and I am just now startin' to heal up(I'm guessing he is gonna read that!). If your laws weren't so stringent,I'd offer you some of them Yankee Greenbacks,in hopes of luring the Deuce away from you. I'm cravin' yet another 223AI. Can't seem to get enough of that particular creature.................

No heavy barrels on Classics. I had one in 220 Swift a few years ago. Was a decent shooter and FAST,3900 with a 50 gr VMax and 4064 was easy.Sold it to buy a Sako Varmint 22-250 which I still have.

Nope,it doesn't. I had a Swift in Classic and ended up getting traded out of it. They are of a typical BDL-ish Sporter contour,sans sights. $700 for one,is absolutely NUTS. They are $500 NIB...................

Go with the 6.5 X 20. Then you will be able to see as far as your 220 Swift will shoot. That's a serious recomendation. Those gophers and prairie dogs are mighty small at 500 yards, especally the pups. The 4.5 x 14 is better on a big game rifle than it is on a long range varmint rifle. (I guess that it might depend on the size of your varmints though. Those giant prairie dogs with the long horns are not so hard to see.)
<br>
<br>A 3x9 or 3.5 x 10 is fine for a varmint calling rifle. But those little diggers in the next zip code need some serious glass. It's hard to hit a prairie dog when the crosshair in the scope completely covers it up. Sooner or latter you will be wishing for more than 14 power.

I thought the $700 was way high too Stick. Probably why it's been in the paper for awhile.
<br>
<br>PDS, you're absolutely correct. I'll probably go with the 6-5x20 if I take the plunge. Might as well do it right the first time.