Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles What has happened with the .220 Swift?

Before rangefinders and turrets, the Swift could 'flatten the curve' a bit further out.

It's been overcome by technology.

Thanks Swifty. I think Federal still makes the P220B 40 grain ballistic tip, I’ll give them a whirl.

Osky

Yes Federal still makes them, but finding any in stock is another matter entirely.

always been a fan of the 220 Swift still own 5 rifles in a 220 Swift ,i carry a Swift in my truck every day of the year ,twist is 1-10 i use 60 gr. Nosler Partitions mostly to save on the coyote hides. anyone got a nice Ruger 77 220 Swift for sale ? or a Remington 700 220 Swift ?

Quite a bit of ammo showing on Ammoseek.com

220 swift will always have a place in my heart. Don't need the newest, latest, greatest thing. As a matter of fact, I just picked a Remington 700 with an aftermarket barrel on it for $400 at a gun show yesterday. Bore and rifling looks great, I'll see how it shoots in the next couple of weeks.

Codybrown: Good luck with the new Rifle in 220 Swift.
And if it shoots at all well that was a great deal.
Dang gunshows in my neck'o the woods have all been cancelled - will have to drive 375 miles to Post Falls, Idaho for my next gunshow opportunity.
Again good for you and please let us know how it shoots.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I have two 700s with Swift barrels... Some shooting does not give one the chance to range, twist turrets and shoot.. The Swift and many of the older hi speed calibers still out shine the fast twist heavies popular today..

You were right Swifty, it took a bit of looking but they have been shipped to me.
As Wyo.... said I’m the kind of guy in all my years of coyote shooting who wants my scope zeroed once. I can adjust my hold for distance. Someone above mentioned 275 yard zero for everything out to 500 yards with these 40gr ballistic tips. I’ll start there maybe after initial group check.
I’m not enthralled with lengthy shots. Having done this coyote work seriously since the 70’s I would speculate the vast majority of my kills are within 100 yards. If you can get them headed towards you from afar there is only an irregular external you can’t control or a mistake in calling or set up location that prevents the dogs from coming within 100 yards. Just my experience in the open west, maybe not gospel.
Osky

Ran the numbers on that round, personally I don’t like to hold off of fur so that zero should give you a top of fur hold out to 400, 500 you’ll be holding 1 dog off of fur. These numbers are perfect conditions i.e no wind what so ever and if you are actually clocking 4250. 100 fps low and the numbers change a bunch.

Bought a brand new M700 Classic in 1992.To this day, it's been the most reliably accurate rifle I've ever owned...and also my most favorite. Just such a joy to shoot. Has great balance, light recoil and kills hogs just as fast as my 257 Wby . 55 grain Ballistic Tips at 3800 Fps are pretty impressive killers. I've been looking for another 700 Classic, but they're darn near impossible to find, let alone finding one in decent shape. Even the 700 VSSF's have all but disappeared. Guess people are hanging on to them.
Anyway, great cartridge, but unfortunately don't think it'll ever make a comeback. As others have alluded to, too many factors working against it. Thankfully, I have a lifetime of brass, so I'll always have a Swift in my arsenal.

The thing that turns me off about the Swift is the semi-rim. I never understood why it wasn't designed as a rimless 473.

That said, I've inherited one, a Model 70 pre-64 and after I shimmed the action and barrel to float the tube, it shows some real potential. It was a safe queen before that.

I alluded to this earlier, but here goes.
The prototype for the .220 Swift was developed in 1934–35 by Grosvenor Wotkyns who necked down the .250-3000 Savage.
Winchester didn’t think the web of that brass was capable of propelling a 48 grain bullet @ 4140 fps. Plus the fact they would have to buy the brass from Savage.
Winchester made all the brass for the 6mm Lee Navy for the government and any others. So Winchester had all this brass laying around and tooling already in place.
Due to the semi-rim of the Lee Navy the web was a lot thicker than savage brass making it able to handle the specs they wanted for the Swift. So Winchester made the Swift pushing a 48 grain bullet @ 4140 fps using surplus and new 6mm Lee Navy brass necked down which they owned.
Then it backfired in 1937 when Grosvenor Wotkyns, J. E. Gebby and J. B. Smith introduced a more versatile round the 22 Varminter commonly known today as the 22.250.
Wotkyns Original Swift design eventually won the battle.

Inherited a Swift in '09 that my father had built in the late '30's on a Mauser action with a 1:14 bull barrel of unknown origin. Even had a set trigger. Sold the Fecker scope on ebay and put modern glass on it. I became a reloader then due to the cost of the ammo. For 9 years I shot it at my club always at 200-230 yds. Had some good groups but never as accurate as I hoped off a bench. Sold that 12 lb. rig cheap at a gun show and the dies later on ebay. Still sitting on 94 handloads. Good memories.

Hornady has been loading Swift ammo for years. (55 gr. V-Max bullet.) Saw some just last week at stores here in Amish country. I tried some in my Ruger Mk. II and it wasn’t great; good ol’ 414/760 and 50-55 plastic tips shoot great so far in it. I plan on eventually going to a bit faster-twist barrel to stabilize the 53 V-Max.
HSM also produces loaded ammo for .220 Swift.

One of the big things is that interest in colony varmint shooting has waned. Look at all centerfire varmint offerings in varmint platforms (in other words, ignore the .223 in an AR platform). Compared to 10-15 years ago they are few and far between. Particularly look at those based on the .222 Rem case head.

I love the .220 Swift but I don't have one and probably won't again. A couple things happened .. we had a component shortage at the same time farmers and outfitters decided to monetize varmint shooting. This drove away many varmint shooters who never came back. Now they shoot PRC or don't shoot much at all. The Swift is a fairly accurate cartridge, but with a 1-14" twist it is not competitive at the long range shooting sports of today.

Tom

The light 55-65 grain bullets available for the 24 calibers may not have helped.

Those 55 grain Ballistic Tips are pretty fast out of the 243 and 6mm.

Minimal holdover on coyotes and instant death.

When I was out at my son's place in Missouri recently, the gun safe seemed to be getting pretty crowded, so when I left I brought back a couple of rifles I'd left with him some time ago, a Belgian Browning .22 auto and my Ruger 77V .220 Swift. I hadn't done anything with the Swift in years, probably 30 years, at least. It's old school, wears a fixed 16x Leupold. I'd planned on loading some up when I got appropriate bullets and shooting the old thing again (not that I have any use for it.) The other day I was in Sportsman's Warehouse and saw a bunch of Hornady 55 grain factory ammo on the shelf, so bought two boxes. Yesterday I went out to the gun club. After a few shots to settle things down and get the poi where I wanted it, it would put 3 in 1/2 inch at the hundred yard mark with me trying to shoot between gusts. I then went after the 2" steel hanger at 200 yards and was able to swing it every time. Great fun.... Really don't have any use for the rifle now except as a range toy, but I also dug out a box of 50 primed cases I'd put away some time ago and I'm waiting for a box of 55 grain SGK's to arrive from Midway. Life is good.

>>> then old Swift being so fast ended up riding with me in my truck year around taken out critters fast and deadly ! SWIFT still feel`s he is KING !

my inventory of Swift rifles

1. Ruger #1 custom Brux barrel 1-10 twist my truck rifle all year
2. Remington VSS
3.Winchester pre 64
4. 2- Ruger # 1`s V

we use the 220 Swift on runnin coyotes with dogs with good bullets like Nosler 60 gr. partitions , reason hides don`t get ruined with big holes from this bullet and that old Swift still will reach out and smack a coyote a long ways out. my friend an old Sniper Ranger swears by a Swift and this old Sniper is deadly a long ways out too with his Ruger #1 V Swift.

Cra1948: I am happy you have renewed your possession and enjoyment of that Ruger 77 in 220 Swift.
By coincidence one of my Varmint Hunting partners also owned an early Ruger Model 77 Varmint in 220 Swift and he had a Leupold straight 16 power scope on it!
I am pretty sure he still has the Rifle but he changed scopes eventually to a Leupold variable.
Those 16 power Leupolds were (are) kind of rare.
Enjoy.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy