My 220 swift is a custom job and the medium-heavy barrel length is 28 inches which makes for a heavy rifle to carry around in the field. I was just curious as to the shortest barrel length some of you guys have and are still able retain excellent accuracy. I have been told in the past that all swifts have long barrels do to the velocity and needing to stabalize the bullet but when I compare it to my 22-250 the ballistics are not all that different and my 22-250 has a 22 inch barrel length. Long and short of it is can I shorten my barrel length and by how much and still retain accuracy and does anyone know someone they recommend to do this as all our gunsmiths around here are a joke. Thanks in advance for your help.
220 swift shooters
- Thread starter Kyleb
- Start date
Rustydust
Active member
You know, I really do not think you are going to make things all that much better by sawing off that tube any. You are right- a Swift needs plenty of barrel. I have had 24", a 26", and my current has a 28" Krieger barrel on it with a Vais muzzle brake on it after that. Plenty long but hey- it's a Swift!
A 24" will be every bit as accurate, but not that much more handy in my book. I would leave it as it is and be happy.
A 24" will be every bit as accurate, but not that much more handy in my book. I would leave it as it is and be happy.
motivationteam
New member
The reason most swifts have longer barrels is because the swift case has more case capacity-translation more powder and the longer barrel is needed to give time to burn all the powder. If you wanted a shorter barrel then the advantage of having a 220 swift diminishes. The main reason you would own a 220 is for speed- the reason you have a longer barrel is purely for more velocity and never for more accuracy. A shorter barrel is typically more accurate than a longer barrel. The longer barrels are all about more speed. If you are pushing the 220 to its capacity and chrono it and compare it to the 22-250 with the 22 inch barrel and chrono it and do the math you will find that they are far apart ballistically. Also the lenght of the barrel is not that important in this case to stabalizing the bullet the twist bullet lenght combination is what stabilizes not necissarily the lenght. Keep in mind that if you cut the barrel to short on the swift you are going to have quite a muzzle blast in my opinion. My opinion only!
You can easily take off a couple of inches and not loose any measurable velocity. You could probably even bring it down to 24 inches and still be in pretty good shape. Accuracy shouldn't be affected if your gunsmith does a good job of putting the crown back on it after it gets cut down.
The barrel length on the swift doesn't have anything to do with stabilizing the bullet in flight. That is the function of the twist rate. The longer barrel does help with velocity though. Some bullet/powder combinations need more barrel to realize the full velocity potential of some loads.
Some barrels are faster than others just do to their dimensions and other characteristics. In other words you could possibly have a 24-inch barrel that is faster than a 26 inch one. All things being equal though the 26-inch barrel will have the velocity edge.
Just as an example I had a 27.5-inch barrel on my swift one time and after I shot it out I replaced it with a 26 in barrel. They were the same make of barrel and with the exact same load I saw no velocity change at all between the two. At what point I would start to see a drop in velocity I don't know? A swift though traditionally supports a 26-inch barrel. A 22-250 usually has a 24 inch barrel. I honestly think that you could get by with a minimal loss of velocity if you dropped down to 24 inches.
Good hunting.
Q,
The barrel length on the swift doesn't have anything to do with stabilizing the bullet in flight. That is the function of the twist rate. The longer barrel does help with velocity though. Some bullet/powder combinations need more barrel to realize the full velocity potential of some loads.
Some barrels are faster than others just do to their dimensions and other characteristics. In other words you could possibly have a 24-inch barrel that is faster than a 26 inch one. All things being equal though the 26-inch barrel will have the velocity edge.
Just as an example I had a 27.5-inch barrel on my swift one time and after I shot it out I replaced it with a 26 in barrel. They were the same make of barrel and with the exact same load I saw no velocity change at all between the two. At what point I would start to see a drop in velocity I don't know? A swift though traditionally supports a 26-inch barrel. A 22-250 usually has a 24 inch barrel. I honestly think that you could get by with a minimal loss of velocity if you dropped down to 24 inches.
Good hunting.
Q,