Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles What happened to 220 Swift fans

They started running 55/58 grain bullets in their .24 calibers.

Traded off my swift many years ago, it has just never made it back to the top of the " I want now list". Definitely a fun round, especially for reloaders...

Put one up for sale in classifieds ,they will come out of the woodwork and blow up your PM.

Sarge

My coyote hunting buddy turned me on to 220 swift a while back. I've bought every one I've seen for sale since then.....1

Eeww...

Civilization did it in around here. Houses everywhere.

Many varmint shooters are shooting heavier bullets with better SD & BC's these days. Most Swift rifles rate of twist doomed the cartridge.

Now this is just funny. The Swifts 14 twist doomed it, but I would like you to explain why for 35-40 years after the Swifts demise in 64 that starting in 65 they made and sold a boatload of 22.250’s with that same [bleep] 14 twist. The Swift was doomed in 1936 when Wotkyns and Gebby introduced the 22 Varminter.

I never had an issue w the twist.

Shot 55 grain Ballistic Tips just fine and killed schitt way out.

i am still a fan of the 220 Swift, one of my 220 Swifts rides with me every day of the year. .I use 60 gr. Nosler partitions and 60 gr. B.T with a 1-10 twist Brux barrel on my Ruger # 1 shoots great.

I found this thread which struck a cord as my very first groundhog kill was with a 220 swift. The rifle belonged to a college buddy of mine, a pre-64 model 70
of course but had been purchased by his father when he was a small child in the very southern part of coal country of West Virginia. His dad was a WWII veteran and a coal miner of course.

When my college buddy was a small child his mother had given his dad $200.00 to my some furniture for the house, when his dad returned he had the pre-64 220 swift and no furniture. His mother was spitting mad but his dad kept the rifle. Over the years growing up he said his dad had "sold the 220 swift several times and each time when his mother discovered the rifle gone......she had his dad go buy that rifle back which he did.

The 220 swift left enough impression on me that some years later I bought a Ruger model 77 heavy barrel in 220 swift. That rifle would shoot tiny
bug holes with a Sierra 52 gr and IMR- 4320.

Greg,

thanks for posting that...far southern part of WVa, that is where the stork delivered me to...Lots of family, and Lord knows they sure use to have a lot of ground hogs...but guess Coyotes moving in have cut those numbers down quite a bit... and in a pre 64 Model 70...

Guy here in town, always love to run into me at the range, because I turn green when he brings his Grandpa's 1941 purchased Model 54 in 220 Swift.... it had an Alaskan 6 power Leupold thrown on top sometime in the 50s...this thing looks like its 6 months old... it was his grandpa's only rifle he saw him with as a kid... and Grandpa was a hunter and used it for EVERYTHING... nuisance varmints to elk... and in those days getting an elk every season around here was no big deal... they were a dime a dozen...

I have a Husqvarna in 270, that I have been thinking of rebarreling to a Swift ever since I got it... but also have a Marlin X 7, I've also had pretty much the same idea of doing since I got that one also... but the Swift doesn't give me anything the 22.250s I have don't.... except the cool factor...22.250s are cool, especially the one I have with a one in 7 twist, but is still not as cool as a 220 Swift... especially if it is on a Model 70 or Model 54 action...

never shot that many Groundhogs on relatives' farms down in WVa, have sure shot a bunch of prairie dogs and millions of Sage rats.. ya don't need a Swift for that...at all...and that was out here.. ya know someone would pop up and tell me there is no prairie dogs in WVa...
after all this is the campfire....

hey hope that stuff on the 444 helped you out some..

cheers and best regards my friend...

All those 220 Swift lovers puffed out their chests, gave each other knowing nods, and went skipping off into the sunset together.

Swift fans are out there, just pretty quite. All busy trimming brass.....😁

I still have 220's, but been thinning my herd down a bit. Not that I totally want to be empy but with health Conditions I just do t want tons sitting around. I'll probably stay with one of my #1 220's (red pad) and also keep Tons of bullets and power on hand. They are beyond flat shooting and if you don't heat them up to much and trade out off and on during varmit shooting they'll last !

What good is a rifle if you can't get brass for it? One of about 50 cartridges Win has killed. Now that Win is running the Lake City plant they will most likely try to discontinue 5.56 and 50BMG ammo.

The first new rifle i ever bought was a ruger 77v with 26" barrel this was in the early 70,s. I put a redfield 4x12 duplex scope on it,the scope cost pretty near as much as the rifle. I have shot everything from woodchucks to deer with it,and it will be the last rifle i get rid of. I was shooting 52 grain sierra hollow point boattail match ammo at around 3700 fps,pretty much keep inside a nickel at 200 yds . We swift owners just grin when were told the swift is dead !!!!

FatAlbert: "I" have a "lifetime" supply of 220 Swift brass for my mini-hoard (9) of 220 Swift Rifles so "my" 220 Swifts ARE all "good"!
The other 4 collector type 220 Swifts I own won't be getting shot by me but when I sell them in a year or two the new owners may have to look around a bit for loading components or ammo if THEY want to shoot them. I have seen both Hornady and Nosler 220 Swift brass on shelves in the past 6 months around here as well as want ads selling this in Winchester and Norma brands.
I guess if you (Winchester?) invent a cartridge you (Winchester) can decide to quit making brass or cartridges for it.
I have not heard that Winchester has quit either - have you?
Long live the wonderful 220 Swift.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The first deer I ever took was with my grandpas M77 .220 Swift. It was a cold, foggy morning that turned to snow in a hurry and we were out early in the morning checking the cows. The deer was bedded across a small draw and the fog lifted and grandpa looked at me and said “do you think you can hit him?” The deer stood up and I touched of that rifle and the deer took off like a shot, ran straight into a small pile of buck brush. He was dead before he hit the brush but I’ll never forget how he dove into that brush breaking off branches that were 2” in diameter. I own three .220 swifts today, Grandpas M77, a Ruger #1 that likes the 60 grainers like Pete53 refer to above and a Rem 700 Classic. Working on a fourth at the moment, had the itch to build a fast twist .220 swift. Currently have a 1:8 twist barrel at my local gunsmith waiting for find a donor action to put it on.

We swift owners just grin when were told the swift is dead !!!!

Couldn’t agree more