Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles pet 220 swift loads

My new swift should be done in a week or so and I'm getting ready to start ringing her out. Looking for ideas where to go for speed and of course accuracy. It's a 1/14 twist, 24 inch varmint barrel so I'm probably going to shoot 50gr and under bullets for now, although I'm probably going to give the 52gr Bergers a try as well (love Bergers for Coyotes). Powder on hand are RL17, I4198, H4895, I4350, I4831, H335, H322, and Varget.

H380 or AA2700 are the only powders I use anymore in a Swift for any bullet. The only powders you list that I tried are Varget and 335 which both sucked.

44.5g of AA2700, Rem case, Rem 9 1/2, 50g nosler bt, 52g berger, touch the lands= 4000 fps, 1/4" groups or less. Heat index for 2700 is very low. IMR 4064 eats barrels, wore out 4.

There were half a dozen guys using this load when I moved from Ca on ground squirrels and coyotes.

I have been using H 4895,,, Excellent accuracy and speed.. Also 3031 because I bought 11 # cheap...

Bbassi: Those 52 grain Bergers are indeed great bullets not only for Coyotes but for Rock Chucks and Prairie Dogs as well.
Whenever I get a new Varmint Rifle in caliber 220 Swift I go to IMR 4064 first off, powder wise for load development!
Five of my nine current Swift Varminters prefer IMR 4064 powder.
Don't overlook this fine powder.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

As varmint guy says 4064 darn hard to beat or Re 15 will also do you well.

I've been working with Hunter in a recently rebarreled 77V shooting 53-grain Varmageddons. It's looking like 43.3 grains will work well, but still not sold on it. Getting about 3840 out of a 24" barrel.

I may try 4064 in the future, but I have about 10 lbs each of I4350 and I4831. The new Nosler book shows both will work with 50-52 grain bullets. Has anyone tried these?

bb, I used 4350 with heavy bullets 63-64 gr.. What I have found with lighter bullets, the accuracy is excellent, but speeds rather slow..

4064 us a dandy powder in the Swift and .22-250.. But I had better accuracy and speeds with H4895,,, 4064 was the classic powder for the Swift when I was a kid..

Look up the heat index for AA2700, very, very cool burning.

4064 is rough on barrels compared to 2700, 760,380, or 414.

I burned out 4 swift barrels with 4064 before a gunsmith in San Diego told me about 2700. 2700 also works with 55 and 63g bullets as it has the burning rate of approximately 4350.

I burned the barrel out of a 22/250 shooting 35g of 4064 in one day on a p. dog town, Shilen barrel....that hurt!

Where can this information be found?

Saw somewhere long ago ( IIRC), that AA 2700 and H 414 are pretty much the same powder, also for W 760 and AA 2700.

H 414 is NOT temp insensitive....

a powder I bet would serve a Swift well, particularly 53 grain bullets and down... AR Comp... it sure does well in the 22.250.

I'm not sure, but I believe W760/H414 is a St. Marks powder made in the US, and that AA powders are made in eastern Europe somewhere. No matter...

Looking at QL, AR-Comp does indeed look good "on paper." I might just give it a try in my Swift since I have a few pounds hangin around with nothin to do.

For years I happily used IMR4064 and 52 gn Sierras but have switched to slower powders and sleeker bullets.

760/H414 proved to be way too temperature sensitive for my taste.

IMR4831 was adequate for grouping but too bulky to get top velocity.

2000MR gave excellent accuracy and velocity and meters nearly perfectly through a powder measure. It is not "temperature resistant" so I moved on.

Reloder 17 was top-notch in velocity and accuracy but not temp resistant (maybe I am too hung up on this issue).

H4350 is the second place winner: accurate fast and temp resistant.

Reloder 16 is great: accurate, fast, temp resistant and has a copper fouling reducer. Shot-to-shot velocity spread was +-100 fps but switching from Federal 210 primers to 215s cured that. Speer Manual #15 has a top load of 43.5 gn for 50, 52 and 55 gn bullets and a long tube on the powder funnel is needed to get it all in. 43.0 gn might make slightly smaller groups but I can not be certain until the opportunity arises to compare them on a calm day.

Depending on just how temp sensitive they are I could be quite content with 2000MR or Reloder 17 but H4350 and Reloder 16 have superior characteristics.

The Speer #15 Manual has data for 2000MR and the Reloder powders.

Cheers,
Walt

thanks for that Walt. When you say RL17 was not temp sensitive, how much of a spread were you seeing?

I just put a Brux barrel 220 swift on a Ruger no.1, 26 inch long,1/12 twist, rifle will be used for coyote hunting and plan on saving the hides,will use 60 grain Nosler Partitions has anyone used Reloader 17 with these 60 grain bullets ? I was thinking 40 grains Reloader 17 with the 60 grain bullet ? hope to get over 3600 fps with this load if it shoots well ? temperature should not be a problem here in Minnesota winters. thanks,Pete53

I should have been more clear. I did no formal testing for temp sensitivity but was mostly going by the claims on the powder can.
With Reloder 17 loads were worked up with 55 and 60 gn bullets that seemed OK at around 60 degrees were excessive at 90 degrees. Then Speer Manual #15 came along and showed that my loads were 1.5 gn over maximum. The 55 gn loads were shot in different rifles so the velocity difference is irrelevant. The 60 gn loads showed only 50 fps difference between cool and hot temps but, as noted, were probably excessive to begin with.

By the way, despite being listed in manuals, 60 gn bullets would not stabilize in a 1:14 twist at any reasonable velocity. In my wild and extravagant youth I pushed the 60 gn Nosler Solid Base to 3600 fps, got good groups and found them to work well on pronghorn. Do not try this.

Speer lists maximum loads of 43.1 gn of R17 for 50 gn bullets, 42.1 for 52 gn and 41.6 gn for 55 gn. If you don't exceed those limits I suspect you will be happy with R17. With the exceptions of R16 and 760 I found standard primers to be best. Beware of Winchester cases. Over decades of using them I have found the necks to too thick. Even after the first firing a new bullet would not fit into the neck of a fired case. Either turn the necks of new cases down enough to remove most of the high spots or avoid the trouble by using Norma brass.

Cheers,
Walt

My long term Swift load was WW brass, Federal 210M primers, 50 grain moly coated ballistic tips, and 43.5 grains of H380.

I had another for a short time that perked up to 44 grains of IMR 4831 and 55 grain ballistic tips. I could not get 44 grains in new brass, had to fire-form first.

I used the starting load of 4064 under Speer 52 grain bucket mouth hollow point seated out / jammed into the rifling. Accuracy was pretty spectacular but it was slow.

It is interesting how opinions vary so much here is my .02

I have been shooting the Swift longer than any other varmint caliber that I own, on my first swift I tried about every powder on the market in the approximate burn rate. From bbassi's powder list I would have never tried IMR4198,H335 or H332 for that reason, from his list the only powder I really had success with was IMR4831. it has shot very accurate over the years in several of my swifts with 55gr BT's or BK's not the fastest velocity but good accuracy. one powder that some on this thread love is H380 ????????????????? this boggles my mind, in my testing it proved to be the most temp sensitive powder I have ever used, I have since given it away or used it in the garden with the last of my H335.
Over the years one powder has stood out in my rifles.....H414/W760 some say that it is temp sensitive, it may be but not in the realm of H380. the only time it would be a factor is if I were shooting it in 100 degree weather, in 100 degrees I will shoot a 222 or something that will create less barrel heat.
I will never use Winchester brass in my swift again, The Norma brass in this chambering is night and day better and will last the life of the barrel.
My pet load for several rifles is 55gr Ballistic Tips, Norma brass, Fed210 primers and H414/W760.
One thing that TOM mentioned is bullet seating depth, In every swift I have ever owned they love to have the bullet slightly jammed in the rifling or slightly off, you seat your bullets OAL to what the reloading books say and your accuracy will go away significantly .

Win cases,WLR primers, Sierra 55grain SBT #1365, 37.5 grains IMR 4064. Works well in my 3 Swifts.