Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Your Favorite 220 Swift Cartridge Configuration

Safariman: Thank you for your recommendations.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I love my M-77 in 220 Swift.

I got it very cheap because "the throat is eroded." A good cleaning repaired the "throat erosion". A case of an old wives tale leading to a bargain for someone willing to look at the basics.
Factory Ammo goes into about 3/4 of an inch, which is good enough for field work.

I have done a bare minimum of reloading for it, but put about 100 rounds a year of factory ammo through it. The once shot brass I loaded certainly didn't need trimming. It also didn't print to the same point of aim as factory rounds.

It is absolutely my favorite on windy days cause the velocity minimizes the hold, and I like the couple of boxes of 60 grain trophy bear claw bonded bullets I bought for it, because they print just a little higher than Hornady 60 grain loads, and give me a bullet suitable for Cats, Antelope, and Deer if the opportunity arises.

This makes for a great walk about rifle when I am just glassing new country and enjoying the Eastern Oregon Deserts.

Since, I don't really push the envelope by spending on expensive equipment, because varmint shooting is just practice for big game seasons, I like the easily obtained performance I get from the swift, and I feel it complements my .300Weatherby well as an understudy round.

For these reasons I would not re-chamber the rifle. Th Swift performs very well as is.

Funniest quote I have read in quite a while
RC

VG if your brass has problems growing you may want to give the RCBS X dies a try. Just sayin of course.

17ACKLEYBEE: I have never used a set of them before.
I am willing to try them though!
What is the format of these dies that may solve the growing brass situation!
Hope all is well out on the WET coast!
Love "hussien" there as the "JOKER"!
My youngest, who just this month graduated from Washington State University with two degrees, has a sweatshirt with a picture like your avatar of "hussein" as the Joker on it - and he wears it all the time!
I thank the Gods I worship that he made it through those 5 years of EXPENSIVE "indoctrination" with some semblance of reality still in his head.
I think I will mosey over to the RCBS site and see what these "X" dies are about?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Siskiyou6: There is a lot of wisdom in your "philosophy" regarding Varminting and it being practice for Big Game seasons!
And good for you on the good shooting bargain Rifle!
I have one Swift that also is a "consistent" 3/4" group (5 shots at 100 yards) with its 55 grain bullets!
Thats just the best this Model 77 of mine will do.
But in the field it is just near "weird" how deadly it is on Varmints!
I have killed Rock Chucks and Coyotes with it out to 500 yards and I have also harvested an Antelope or two with it.
3/4" Rifles WILL get a lot of things done that need be done in the Varmint world.
Again there is merit in your opinion and money to be saved in not re-chambering and not buying the custom dies for any Swift "improvement"!
BUT I am a LOVER of Varminting and do it year round and am constantly scheming and coniving on ways to enhance my enjoyment of the sport.
Blessedly, the moderate expense ($150.00 to $200.00?) involved in "improving" a Swift, for me, would not prevent me from seeking out the possible enhanced results.
Thanks again for your opinions.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Every round I load for right now is blown out or improved in some way shape or form. That said a power trimmer and a bunch of brass will be cheaper than a barrel job. Just putting it out there. Only thing I hate more than turnin necks is trimmin. Reamers and custom dies get real expensive in short order. So if you goin to the trouble and expense may as well screw a new tube on even if the factory barrel shoots well now.

I think if I was gonna do a rifle along the lines of what you are looking at I would do the Weatherby or one of the classics you are speakin of. Do an 8 twist barrel to use a wide range of bullets.

I have rem 700 VSSF 220 swift. I hand load a fair amount, not as much as some though I am sure. The mose accurate load that I have so far is 36gr Varmint Grenades. I have been utilizing some brass from factory ammo that I bought and fired, Hornady and Remington. Next in line is 40 gr moly coated in the same brass. I use Vhitavuori N130 with the 36's and Varget with the 40's. I will double check the charge weight and get back. WLR primers in both. Does anyone else load 36gr VG's?

I used a 220 Swift and 25-06 on pdogs for years side by side.
The 25-06 brass needed to be trimmed just as often as the .220 Swift. I don't know how these rumors get started but I suspect it is from 22-250 owners.
Just trim them every time and forget about it!
Nothing is more deadly than a .220 Swift with 55 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips. No improving is needed or wanted!
whelennut

Earlier I commented that the Swift stretched worse than any other cartridge ever used. I too bought an RCBS X die and it definitely works! If memory serves me correctly I use the X die about 4 or 5 times then full length resize and if necessary trim a bit. The die is kind of expensive but well worth it.

Jim