Originally Posted by ruffedgrouse
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My sole use for this will be coyote hunting
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I doubt I will ever get a shot over an honest 300 yards and the huge majority will be far less.
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I don't shoot hundreds and hundreds of rounds in load development to get the last tiny bit of accuracy out of a rifle. I work up a load with a bullet I like and then hunt with it.
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Picking a few sentences from your response RuffedGrouse, these statements are much the same as how this rifle will be used...coyotes will be a random opportunity with deer being the primary goal.



Originally Posted by T_O_M
Have not BTDT, not with heavies in the Swift. I had a 700 VSSF in .220 Swift years ago that was an absolute terror, half inch 5 shot groups with 50 grain ballistic tips within spitting distance of 4000 fps. I've also messed with the 77 grain TMK in an AR which gave me a bit o' experience with those long doggies in a magazine with limited length. Puttin' the pieces together, here's what I'd do:

I would pick a good varmint bullet, either 60 grain VMAX or 60 grain Ballistic Tip, seat to something slightly under magazine length, and have the reamer cut for that. Then either load the heavies long and single feed or load them at mag length and see what happens. Sometimes a bit of jump is not a bad thing.

The idea of a .22 Creedmoor is not a bad notion. You said 60 to 80 grains for bullet weight. If your focus is on the 80s more than the 60s, the shorter Creedmoor case may be the way to go. Like you, though, the Swift case just ... captures my imagination.


T_O_M, I'm probably going to shoot you a PM about the 77 TMK's in the AR if you're okay with that....but back to the Swift application....

As I mentioned above, this will be a hunting rifle and I plan to have deer on the menu (90-150lb whitetails). I mentioned the 77 TMK because of several positive reports I have read with this bullet and deer. I suspect I will also experiment with the 60gr NPT and 62gr TTSX at some point. I would not expect those two bullets to require a long action for optimum seating...but I didn't want to hamper myself from the start if the 69/70 or 77/80 varieties are where I settle (especially if they NEED the mag room). Your suggestion on throating to a 60gr bullet at mag length is a good idea.

Keith mentioned a few other bullets heavier than what I mentioned. If I am getting into the territory of 85gr, 90gr or heavier bullets, my mind says I should be reaching for a 6mm of some flavor (which I also have).

This build will not see hours on the bench or on a PD field, I have a couple of .223 Rem's and another .220 Swift for that. The current Swift is a Ruger #1V w/ 14" twist. If I decided to play with the real heavy bullets (80-90gr) in the Swift, it would be in this rifle following a rebarrel (absolutely NO magazine constraints with that set up laugh)

Not sure if that additional info affects the suggestions...but that is what has steered my frame of mind for this build.