Just curious. One of my favorites.

WS

No

once in awhile I do
5 shots @ 100


The Swift is on top



Swifty

Swifty

What load are you using?

Hal

Yessir, a Ruger #1V in 220 Swift, RL-15 and 52 gn A-Max's do very good things on paper, and very, very bad things to 'yotes.

Gunner

Great for prairie dogs...

Holy chit, prairie dog chum, flight 220 leavin' the gate

Gunner

Ruger #1.

DF

Too lazy to post my own pictures. Ruger #1-V w/ 6.5x20 target dot scope.

Heavy 1 in 14 in a 26" Harte barrel on a smithed Remington 700. Keeps me from embarrassing myself in social shoots at ground squirrels and prairie dogs. The next one if I live that long might be a .204 - something cheaper no louder and with less kick will be a better social occasion rifle. In the era of laser rangefinders trading barrel life for more leeway in guesstimating range might not be so wise - but it's nice to know that a misjudgment doesn't have to mean a miss.

That group was shot using 36 grs H-4895, 52 gr SMK, norma brass with Fed gold medal match primer. Velocity average of 3667 fps.

Shrapnel, nice pics and rifle

DF, thats a pretty No. 1 indeed.

Swifty

Have two both on 700's with Douglas barrels, both I believe are 27 inches long..one on a std. rem. stock is my everyday coyote rifle..the other is on a thumbhole stock..my long range prairie dog, gr. squirrel, and rockchuck rifle..both are very accurate..had I known I could put a swift barrel on a 700 35 years ago, I would have never spent those years shooting a .22-250...

Too lazy plus I don't know how to. But I do love my Ruger #1 220. Shoots great and is pure poison on groundhogs.

My truck gun is a well used Ruger No.1V that I took PD hunting to finish off the barrel so I can have the gun rebarrelled and re blued. After the trip it still shoots sub moa so it lives on as a truck gun.
I also have a Rem 700 and Ruger M77 in 220 Swift. Ohio Woodchucks are no match

that ruger is just like mine. 3rd cf rifle i bought for neb coyotes. love the swifts.

I do. Ruger #1 V. Just found my 55 grain load this last weekend. I'll double check but I believe it was the 4064 charge.

Agreed completely. Admittedly, I've never owned either, but have hunted a lot with borrowed rifles in both and I like the Swift better. Couple of my buddies with many, many decades more experience than myself have used both over the years and also agree. They've both also built and shot a LOT of different wildcats as well, but of their all-time favorites, the Swift is either first or second. That tells you something.

If you don't let the barrel get too hot and make even a small effort towards regular cleaning, the Swift barrels those guys had/have were/are surprisingly long-lived with great accuracy, and I'm talking about thousands of rounds & still shooting small groups.

Having used and also watched slow twist with light bullets and fast twist with the heavier stuff (for groundhogs), both setups are devastating, but when the range starts to get long and/or it's windy, the Swift really shines in a fast twist and heavy ball. I think this is where you can harness the full potential of the Swift.

It still has a lot going for it, but not without some downsides too. Seems like that brass needs trimming more than any other cartridge I've seen and the loaded ammo/brass is not as readily available and can be a bit more expensive too.

Not trying to start some type of angry debate (not my intention - nothing wrong with a good .22-.250 - a great cartridge and ammo's cheaper - & now you can even get Lapua brass), but I'll just say that from what I have observed, the folks shooting the .22-.250's have never tried the Swift.

Great looking rifles, by the way.

The 250 will come close to the Swift, and well it should as it was designed by the same person. Both will require trimming if running max loads.
Brass is relatively available for the Swift, although I have given up on winchester due to some recent QC problems. Remington has been good so far, but Norma is the best.
Handloading is a must with the Swift as its not readily available in most stores, as is not the case with a 250. I own both, but have had a love affair with the Swift for about 50 years now, and it aint waned yet.

Oh and Lapua thinks awful highly of their 22.250 brass, 1.15 per is the best Ive seen yet.

Swifty

You might check Powder Valley , they are a little cheaper.

Hal

Hal, yep they are cheaper and thanks for the heads up, but w/ s & h plus tax they end up being a buck and change per. They just are not worth it to me. The Swift has a match chamber and shoots lights out so I dont mind popping for good brass. The 250 is just a yote and dog gun. My stable of Varmint guns.



The 250 is the No.1V had it since about 90 or 91.

Thanks again.

Swifty

Swifty52: I am also a long time Swift enthusiast (40 years or so now).
One of my seven current 220 Swifts is a Remington 40XB-KS single shot, and it uses that fine and durable Norma brass to attain its excellent accuracy.
I am using Winchester brass in the rest of my Swifts though - to date I have not had any specific issues/objections to the Winchester brass.
Can you enlighten us on your 220 Swift Winchester brass troubles?
By the way I also own a Ruger #1-V stainless Rifle in caliber 22-250 Remington similar to yours - I just purchased this Rifle from a friend of mine and I am just starting load development on it.
What does your #1-V in 22-250 prefer for bullets/powder?
Dandy stable of Varminters you have there.
Long live the 220 Swift.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I know where there is a Winchester M70HBV in 220 Swift for
sale if anyone is interested drop me a PM.

My old Swift is a tang safety Ruger 77V that came to me with a bulged barrel. I sent it back to Ruger for a new barrel and it has been my go to varmint gun for 20 years. When the 40 grain Ballistic Tip first became available it was my favorite ground squirrel bullet.

I still have my Swift but it doesn't get much time afield now. Alaska offers some varmint shooting but nowhere near the opportunity that Eastern Washington did. The Swift is a might hard on fox hides with any bullet.

My favorite fur bullet for coyotes was the old Speer 52 grain hollow point. It's a ballistic dog next to many of the available bullets but I had few exit wounds with it. My Swift never found a 40-55 grain bullet it didn't like. Some shoot a little better than others but it seems to be happy with most any bullet. Not surprisingly it has never done well with bullets heavier than 55 grains.

I have had nearly every 22 centerfire at one time or another. I never did have a 225 Winchester or 224 Weatherby but have had a few 22-250's and enjoyed them. The Swift though has always been my favorite of the 22 centerfires.

Mart

I have generally had a Swift or two around for about 30 years now. The first was a tang-safety Ruger bought from the used rack of a local store. I cleaned the barrel thoroughly (it needed it) and it started shooting 3/4" 5-shot groups with the right load. This depressed one of the employees of the store, who'd put it up for sale because he thought the barrel was shot out. It got used on a lot of rockchucks, some foxes and coyotes, and a few antelope, all with the 60-grain Nosler Solid Base at about 3650 fps.

Had a heavy-barrel Remington 700 and a Ruger No. 1B for a while. Both were half-inch rifles, though the Ruger needed a Hicks Accurizer to do it. Both killed a lot of PD's.

My present Swift is another tang-safety 77 sporter I got off the Campfire Classifieds. It came properly bedded and free-floated, with the trigger nicely tuned. It shoots about any 55-grain bullet into .6 or so at around 3750 with 42.5 grains of Ramshot Hunter, but I tested some of the new 55 Varmageddons and the first shot out of the gate was .43. They blow up PD's EXTREMELY well!

Am thinking about a fast-twist Swift right now, but that's as far as I've gotten.

Maybe we should rethink fast twist just as I refer to normal capacity magazines and single stack insead of hi-cap and convenional? The historical norm Swift 1/14 with a traditional cup and core bullet on the light side will make people smile with a much longer than most extended point blanc(k) range with no real worry about actual measurement to the yard but just as with the .223/5.56 and assorted larger bore I suspect something faster than when introduced will be the new norm.

I like my own 26" heavy barrel 1/14 but I'm pretty sure I'd like a .204 Ruger for what I do now with the Swift and a faster twist in the Swift to do more than the .204

I have a couple... a Remington Classic, and a Ruger V/T... the one with the blued action and SS barrel, in a laminate stock.

]

I had a Swift once in a Remington Classic like you mentioned and I need my head caved in for ever getting rid of it too.......it was the best sporter weight barreled rifle I ever owned.

I have owned several Swifts since then and still have a 700 VSSF in one. It is a great caliber and not a very finicky one to load for in my opinion. All the ones I have owned shot several different powder/bullet combos very well.

WhopperStopper,

Shot my .220 Swift just this morning. Mine is a tang-safety Ruger, that I bought used in the mid '80's. I have no idea how many rounds it had thru it when I bought it, but the bore looked in good shape.
I ran another 1,000 rounds or so thru it, and the accuracy began to decline- three shot groups an inch or more at 100 yards, not acceptable 'prairie dog' accuracy. I made an attempt to remove copper fouling, and the accuracy improved, although not what it was years ago.
This past week, I decided to make one last attempt at restoring accuracy before pronouncing the barrel 'shot out'.
I spent three days and 7 or 8 applications of Wipe Out, removing a half a penny or so of accumulated copper fouling.
To make a long story shorter- after free-floating the barrel, and loading up some 50 gr. V-Max bullets, I was surprised to see accuracy restored to its old familiar .5"/100 yd form!

Best combo was H-380 and a 52 SMK or 55 BK, but as usual 380 was a little unstable on 90+ degree days and a dog town. But Varget and those bullets was much more stable, and performance was good year round.

Swifty

That's one of my fav rifles from the campfire no doubt about it. Now about those sweat pants your're wearing......

Hope alls well your way Shrap!

Dober

Praire dogs, hot loaded high B.C. 55gr. bullets, is there anything else?

This is known as an "oxymoron"

Love the Swift! At this time I have 2; a 80s Savage 112 single shot and a pre-64 Md 70 Varmint.

Both are good shooters with 4064.

Dennis.

The Swift is a long-time favorite of mine.

I own three as I recall... the Remington VSSF, a Ruger No 1V and a Ruger Mk II. They all shoot sub MOA with the same load... a Sierra 55gr SBT over 37.5 grains of IMR 4064

I had my Ruger #1 V at the 200 yd line the other day and consistently got tighter groups with the 50 gr V Max Hornady and Varget than I did with the 55 grain V Max with Varget. The 50 grain bullet was 200 fps faster so I am going with that this season. Varmints beware! (Has anyone ever traded their .220 Swift for a 22-250? I doubt it.)
whelennut