Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .220 Swift--anybody using Hunter

Am I the only guy that runs 3031 in his Swift ??

I am still shooting the very first load I ever tried in my 77V tang safety..............well..........technically the second load. Started with 52 gr Hornady HPBTM's over top 38.0 grains for an average of 4080 fps. Got some 3-shot groups in the .1's at 100. But .3's are more the usual for 3 shots or 5. But the Hornadys were unreliable on groundhogs. You'd shoot one at 400 yards and the bullet worked fine. Then shoot another one at 40 yards and get no expansion. No way to predict when theyd work and when they wouldn't. So I went to 50 gr Nosler BT's over the same charge. Picked up exactly 100 fps and 5-shot groups are in the .4's. Difference is.................the BT's expand. Violently. Most groundhogs shot center mass are nearly halved and quartering shots on coyotes leave them basically gutted.

Ran out to the range yesterday to try out some 55-grain Ballistic Tips with AA2700. The BTs seem to be an easier bullet to get to shoot than Varmageddons. When I first tried AA2700 I was seeing things I didn't like long before I got to the charges that many have recommended...something about my rifle's chamber, maybe, or it could be the Nosler brass I'm using. I don't see the need to get the last few fps out of the rifle anyway.





Charge was 40.9 grains of AA2700 and they clocked about 3765 fifteen feet from the muzzle (24" barrel). If the load will do this consistently I will be perfectly satisfied.

I use this load too but I stop at 38.0 grains