Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles What happened to 220 Swift fans

When I was growing up a local retired guy used to take me ground hog hunting. He was super fan of the swift had about 10 rifles in 220 swift.

I love mine. It's a pristine pre-64 Model 70 so I don't do any high volume shooting with it. I take it deer hunting occasionally and it works well for that purpose.

Blaserman: Nothing - many of us still around.
I currently own 13 (thirteen) Rifles in caliber 220 Swift. Four of them are mint condition pre-64 Winchester Model 70's in my collection (in three different models) that I do not shoot and the other nine I shoot - mostly at Varmints and predators.
I missed buying a minty Remington 700 stainless heavy barrel Sendero earlier this week - I missed it by one day - thought about it 24 hours to long (price $899.00).
There still is a "niche" market for Rifles in caliber 220 Swift just not much in the way of supply! When a clean (with good bore) used Rifle in 220 Swift comes on the market, in my experience, it doesn't last very long.
The 220 Swift Sendero I just "missed out on" was on the market (gunstore rack) for 2 1/2 days!
Many of my friends that I Varmint and predator Hunt with own Rifles in 220 Swift.
I have a fair supply of 220 Swift brass on hand so I won't be leaving the ranks of 220 Swift "fans" any time soon.
Long live the 220 Swift.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I’ve had several swifts. Currently have a custom stainless R700, 26” Shilen sporter barrel, McMillan hunter stock. I’ve had it for more than 20 years. Use it for coyote calling and it’s highly effective. Had another similar, only heavier barrel. Shot the rifling out of that one, on PDs. And still another VSSF, a great gun, but I sold it as barrel heat and recoil is more than I wanted in a PD gun. So I sold it.

I shot out 4 swifts, then went to the 22/250 AI...never looked back, never trimmed another piece of brass for that case...never...since 1987!

Agreed. In the early 90s Norma brass went from hard to find to impossible to find. The WW stuff wasn't great & the new Hornady/Frontier stuff was poor. I took a 22-250 Ackley in trade, test fired it, worked out the bugs, & sold all my Swifts except the Model 54. Having a chronograph helped with the decision.

All the 220 fans I knew were guys in their fifties back in Reagan's first term. They're not really fans of anything at all anymore...

Hey that’s just hurtful. 😁 74 here, still shooting and enjoying the swift. On my third one, all Ruger 77’s.

Perhaps because laser rangefinders have made shooting varmints at long ranges with 223s easier, so there is less demand for the 22-250, the 220 Swift, and the various 6mms and .257" bore cartridges for shooting pdogs and 'chucks that are way out there.

It's alive and well with me.

20 cal's became more popular.....with me any how

20-222.....20 Practical (20-223) 20 Vartarg (Fireball)

I was fortunate that my first experience with the Swift and my first experience with a Pre-64 Model 70 came in the same package. I'll be a fan of both for life!

I haven't done much with my old 77V 220 Swift in a while but it's still the king to me. I keep thinking I'll find a good deal on a lefty 700 SA to build a correctly handed Swift but other projects seem to take precedence and that old 77V and I have a lot of great history, despite the fact that Bill Ruger chose to put the bolt on the incorrect side. Guess I'll always be a Swift fan.

The Swift is still my longer range varmint rifle, an early flat bolt M77V. I go easy on the barrel, and it has held up well for a lot of years. On prairie dogs, the .17HMR gets the nod to about 175 yards, then it’s Swift time.

Me too. Bought me first Swift as a limited production Ruger M77V back in 1975. Been a huge fan ever since. Never ever have I gone on a prairie dog hunt and not taken one along. Sacrilege. I have lots of other calibers and dearly love them all. But the Swift is the King. Always has been, always will be. Period.

Mine sports a 26 inch #3 contour 1/14 twist ss/Cutrifled Mark Chanlynn bbl,older Ruger Flat bolt/M77V action,Canjarset trigger,glass bedded into an older fiberglass stock ,it's name can't remember , yeah she's not going nowhere ,LOL.

Wish Tikka would make a run of Swift’s in a 1 in8 twist barrel.

I hope it doesn’t fade to dust. I have a swift in a Ruger #1 that hasn’t been fired yet, new in 94 if I recall. As soon as I can get an FX3 on it I’ll take it out and break it in. With the longer barrel I maybe will use it on long range coyotes. Take some work off the .243.
A case of 40 grain ammo for it arrived a couple weeks ago so when the glass arrives I’ll get it ready for my years first run thru the western states.

Osky

20 cal bullets are still available on store shelves....

Shot out the barrel on my first 220 Swift at about 3k rds used to push 50 & 52 gr bullets to damn fast with 4064. When I replaced it with another 77v I backed off max went to ball powders and slowed way up on quantity of rounds used at the dog town. MB