Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting .220 Swift Barrel Life

Im starting to get into the smaller calibers for paper shooting and yotes hunting. I just picked up a Ruger Varmit .220swift with a target grey bull barrel, what kinda round count can I expect out of it shooting factory ammo.

Senar is the Swifto guru, he can tell you what the scoop is. Personally I'd AI the bugger.

Dober

Thanks Mark.

I shot the barrels out of 4 Swifts on yotes, p. dogs, chucks, crows, what ever.

I was shooting Ruger 77's, Savage 112J's.

I discovered that the barrel life was much shorter with IMR 4064 than it was with AA2700. Needless to say, the chuck hunting in Idaho was unreal at that time and the Jackrabbits in N. Nevada were thick as fleas.

I shot a load of 44-44.5g of AA2700(4000 fps) with a Fed 210 with a 50g Sierra lead tip Sp and the same when the the ballistic tips came out. Accuracy with these rifles was in the .300 range or a little smaller at times(3 shot groups).

IMR 4064 is a dream powder for the Swift, but is hell on barrels in hot shooting. I don't know if it was the flame temp, kernel size, or something else of the 4064 that lead to shorter barrel life.

As the throats grew on the Swifts, I went to the the Sierra 55g Sierra Flat base Semi Point which were as accurate as Berger bullets and 52g Rem Benchrest Bullets in most of the rifles that I have shot them in. When the leade got even longer, I went to the 63g Sierra Semi point which is the hammer of Thor on yotes and is extremely accurate in 1-14 twists.

All of the Swifts that I have ever owned liked for the lighter bullets to be seated near the lands with the exception of the 63g Sierra, which seems to straighen itself out when it gets started crooked in the barrel. The only draw back with the Sierra 63 is additional copper from it's longer bearing surface, but it saves a re-barrel for at least 800 more rounds.

I shot a Mt. Lion with the Swift and the 63g Sierra, and he dropped liked a toilet seat. I can't say enough good about the 55 and 63g semi points in as far as accuracy and terminal ballistics.

Good luck!

The 63 Sie semi or as I call it the "ugly bullet" is my all time fav 22 bullet.

Dober

I forgot to comment on the barrel life of the Swift. Going to the Sierra Semi points as the throat got shot out put me in the 3500 range before the barrel was toast.

None of my swifts would shoot well jumping the bullet very far with the exception of the 63g Sierra. After I had got to the point to where I had put 800-1000 rounds of the 63's down the tube, the barrels were so fire cracked that copper fouling was becoming an issue within 35 rounds...stopping and cleaning a rifle in a target rich enviorment is not a good thing.

Stainless barrels should get more rounds down the tube than these chrome moly factory barrels, especially if you started off with a custom with zero freebore or close to it.

Or turn it into a 220 Weatherby Rocket..

Mine has 2,300 rds. and is starting to get fussy about what it likes.

I have had swift's for many years and the ones with factory 1-14" tubes shooting 55gr bullet's seem to be close to the end at around 2500rds with reasonable care. to me the swift shines with the heavies in a 1-8" or 1-9" twist because you have several hundred yards added range, the downside is that the faster twist gets pickier with seating depth much sooner.
You mention factory ammo, I have never had a swift that shot factory ammo well,best to roll your own with this round IMO

RC

Splittine: Just 9 days ago I was out on the west coast and attended the huge Gunshow (1,000 tables) in the Seattle "suburb" of Puyallup, Washington.
I bid on a used but "minty" Ruger 77 V/T in caliber 220 Swift.
I won the bid but did not complete the sale as the owner was "needing" to TAX me at a rate of 9% additional!
The sales tax in Washington is 9% - BUT - I am a Montana resident and Montana residents are EXEMPT from the Washington sales tax of 9%!
The 9% sales tax in Washington state is ONE reason I moved from there 13 years ago.
I tried to reason with the onwer/dealer but he claimed he was unaware of the Montana residents exemption, so he lost the sale.
I had checked the bolt face and the leades of the rifling of this Rifle VERY carefully with my Siebert Bore Inspection tool and it appeared VERY fresh - possibly even un-fired.
I had beaten the dealer down to $510.00 cash for the Rifle but alas it was not to go through!
Its my understanding the nice folks at Ruger have quit manufacturing the 220 Swift in their Ruger 77 V/T's?
So I assume you bought your Swift on the used market?
Best of luck to you with the new and versatile 220 Swift.
Now to barrel life - my good friend Irv was so impressed with my Remington 40XB-KS single shot in 220 Swift that he bought one exactly like it!
Less than 2 full years later he was replacing his barrel!
He would NOT let his barrel cool whilts Hunting in the Colony Varmint areas of central Idaho, Wyoming and Montana!
Less than 1,200 rounds later his barrels rifling did not start for 1 1/2" down the barrel!
That factory Rifle originally shot groups of 5 rounds at 200 (TWO HUNDRED!) yards measuring 1/2" on several occassions that I personally observed!
The new barrel on that 40X would "only" do 1" groups for 5 shots at 200 yards!
Suggestion then - shoot that barrel slowly and NEVER let it get warm!
If you only Hunt Coyotes with it then that barrel most likely will last you a LONG, LONG time!
My 40X in 220 Swift has been shooting accurately for 19 years now!
I have 6 (six) Varmint Rifles in 220 Swift caliber so I fully intend to never have to re-barrel a Swift!
I have handloaded for every Swift I have ever owned and only RARELY ever shot a factory round in any of them.
My observations are though, that, 220 Swift factory munitions are "pretty perky"!
Most of them shoot faster than my handloads - faster equals more barrel heat and wear!
My W.A.G. on factory barrel life for your Ruger would be 2,000 rounds of slow fire - before accuracy SUFFERS!
Another Swift I own I bought new in 1976 - its a "Bi-centennial" or "Liberty" Model Ruger 77 V/T.
It shoots the same size groups today as it did 34 years ago.
I also "baby" this Rifle and the loads I use in it!
Again best of luck to you with the Ruger Swift.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Figuring on the cost of a custom, a factory bbl in a swift can give you a good life for hunting, if you let it cool and not overheat it.

If one does not let it cool, it can burn a throat in give/take 50 rounds....which is why if I picked a rifle for volume rapid fire on say Prairie Dogs, a 221 or 222 w/40s would get first consideration. They heat VERY slowly and use little powder, 3600/3700 does well to medium distances.

Swifts can be very fun, laser trajectory at common distances.

Not sure of your distances, but some have gone to 243/6mm for longer range work for yotes, energy, accuracy, and flat shooting with lighter bullets. Nothing wrong with a Swift, but a fast light 6mm can buck wind well to good distances. At extreme distances 87 vmax are nice, and a 105 amax or similar if a rifle will shoot them - barrel twist dependent, but the bullets can offer a nice punch, again, if you are shooting longer distances.

In Swifts, I too used 4064 often and w/great accuracy/speed. The Swift never failed to impress in accuracy, and field performance for me. H380 also is an option.

Varmintguy, yes I purchased the rifle used. I bought it from a very close friend. He only had 128 rounds through it as he never shot it. Im pretty pleased with the gun as far as the way it looks and feels. Gonna take it out and she what it can do this weekend. Thanks for the info guys.

RL 15 works well for me with 55gr V-max. 1/2" 5 shot groups at 100yds, 1.5" at 350 for three shots at 3740fps. Only been p-d hunting once, but could always reach out and grab the barrel without getting burned. Jim Carmichel said Harvey Donaldson had 10,000 rounds through a Model 70, and "it was still nicely accurate". But he emphasized keeping it clean and cool.