Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles .220 Swift Loads

Same rifle as the OP. 55 grain Sierra and Nosler have worked well. Probably won't be able to get to the lands without run out issues with these stubby bullets. 760 is my go to powder because it meters well. A bit of a case stretcher, may find a good trimmer is helpful.

Cooper 22, Montana Varminter 26” tube



5 shots

Nice pictures bartman and I see another 760 fan … helpful info here and many thanks to you.

[quote=Swifty52]Cooper 22, Montana Varminter 26” tube



Glad there are creative financing options these days … beautiful rifle Swifty.

I have a Remington M700 Classic in 220 SWIFT. It dotes on H414 and Nosler 50gr Ballistic Tips. Longest kill to date - 488yds - Montana prairie dog.

A load JB had in an article a few years ago 44gr of Hunter powder, 52gr Sierra HPBT, Federal LR primer. It has became the load I shoot in my Swift. A Ruger 77 heavy barrel varmint.12x Lehpold, Canjar single set trigger. No complaints.

It was a gift from my wife about 04. I had to buy the glass though.

SS, nice old tanger.

Thanks TwoCup, timely … just picked up some 50gr Spitzers from another member on the Classifieds Forum so will use your info to work up some loads.

Thanks SS396, love that M77 and details on 52gr Sierras.

from research, it seems as though most people have better luck with 50 grain than 55 grain out of the swift. I just bought some 50 grain bullets to try to work up a load in the spring for the 220 swift. Right now I have several hundred rounds of swift loaded with IMR 4064 and 55 grain ballistic tips, but they are like a 1" grouping. My .22-250's love the 55 and it seems like more people have success with 50s out of the swift. Give some things a try.

There is a simple reason, most 22.250 and Swifts were a 14 twist. Now if you look at all 40-55 grain they are basically all under .825 in length, plastic tips don’t count. After passing this length 14 just couldn’t stabilize them. There were some 60-63 grain bullets made that came in under the .825 length to which a 14 twist would stabilize. Simple answer.

As I remember the Swift as originally designed, wasn't ever thought of as a deer rifle. So why would you need heavier bullets and a faster twist?

I once considered rebarreling my 220 to a faster twist, but it wasn’t for deer hunting. I used it for coyote hunting and was happy with it, but the pigs moved into my area. Seemed like every time I took out the 220, I’d see a big hog at 200 yards. It was either rebarrel the 220 or go to the 260. I went to the 260.

That old tang safety Ruger is so amazingly accurate as is, I could not bring myself to seriously consider changing it.

If I was going to deer hunt with it, I’d limit the shots to 150 yards or so, and I’d use the 63 gr Sierra SMP bullet, which will stabilize in the rifle.

So I'm currently working up some loads for my Ruger 77 sporter barrel swift and have come across a couple that have proved promising. 37, 38 or 39 grains of IMR 4064 with Berger 50 grain varminter flat base with CC1 200 primers have produced less then half inch 3 shot groups and .750 5 shot groups. Gonna fine tune and see what happens. I've noticed several people touting seating depth and I'm curious what most of you all are doing with the depth. I think I have mine at 10 thousandths off but am considering getting a little closer. Thoughts? Also I'm currently working with Norma brass but I have RP, Hornady and WW. Not sure what this means but when I run all of these through my full length sizer, the Norma is smooth as butter, followed by the RP and then a tossup between the Hornady and the Winny.

I had one of those. I moly coated 50 grain Nosler Ballistic tips and pushed 'em with 43.5 grains of H380. MV was 3987 fps average. Groups were around 1/2 inch at 100 yards. Impact was vicious.

My gun did not shoot real well with new brass. Once fired, it was a different story. I finally found an accurate, though slow, case forming load: I used the minimum load of 4320 in Hornady data with a Speer 52 grain bucket mouthed flat base HP shoved hard into the rifling. It'd shoot quarter inch done that way at roughly .223 speed.

I had another Swift .. my last one .. with a 1.25" straight cylindrical barrel 26 inches long, 1-14" twist. It'd knock push-pins through the paper at 200 yards with 55 grain ballistic tips and 44 grains of IMR 4831. It had a real tight bore and with other powders it was blowing primers with the starting loads.

Tom

B52RadarNav: You have probably settled on a load by now but I thought I would add a bit here.
One of my most accurate 220 Swift Rifles (I have about a dozen of them!) is an all stock Remington 40XB-KS single shot with the 27 1/4" barrel.
I have a Leupold 6.5x20 variable scope on it and this Rifle is just plain ACCURATE!
And of all things one of the first bullets I tried in this rig was the humble Sierra 55 grain Blitz (not the BlitKing).
I use Norma brass, Federal 210 M (Match) primers and good old IMR 4064.
Some of my friends poo-poo'ed my idea of trying the "explosive" Blitz bullets in the Swift but they hold together for me (in the 40X's quality barrel!), the accuracy is wonderful and the lethality is "impressive" to say the least - on everything from Prairie Dogs, Rock Chucks, Badgers and especially Coyotes.
Anyway anyone looking for an inexpensive bullet to try, for spectacular kills, on Colony Varmints I highly recommend the 55 grain Sierra Blitz for your Swift.
Long live the 220 Swift.
Hold into the wiind
VarmintGuy