Originally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: travjcMy swift likes a little over a max load of 4007ssc pushing 55gr v-max. It's about to the ragged edge in my gun, YMMV!
Why load a .220 Swift down to 222 Magnum velocities.
Simple. Why not? .220 Swift brass is through the roof expensive nowadays. Match barrels are many hundreds of dollars. Accuracy is number one with me and if I can shoot a day in day out load that pokes little ragged holes in the targets and save life of my brass and barrel I'm all for it.
People that own Corvettes don't drive them wide open all the time do they?
I have pictures of my chronograph with over 4700 fps showing on it that I shot with my Swift. Fun, but served no purpose except to help toast my barrel. Besides, a prairie dog shot at 500 yards can't tell the difference between a couple hundered feet per second.
Your Corvette analogy is a poor example. A better analogy would be - buying an 18 wheeler to bring home groceries from the A&P... and a .220 Swift is a poor choice for a PD town.
For a PD town, get a good 223 with Lapua brass and leave the swift for something else... or do you load your 223's down to 22 Hornet velocities???
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I think that my Corvette analogy is an excellent example myself. What I was pointing out that just because you have a hot rod it doesn't mean that you have to drive it wide open all the time. Sorry if that was over your head.
And a .220 Swift a poor choice for prairie dogs? Wow. First time that I ever heard that and I have a boocoo of dead prairie dogs that say that you're wrong too. And what makes you think that I don't have a .223 anyway? I go every year with them and take lots of critters with mine. I also take my .17 HMR, my .17 Remington, my .204 Ruger, my .223 AI and sometimes one of my .221 Fireballs. Took over 100 prairie dogs one year (great year!) with a .22 handgun.
And yes, there have been times when 12 grains of Bluedot and a 40 grain bullet have been shot in one of my .223 rifles. Great fun and quiet load but will still turn a 150 yard ground squirrel inside out. And I shoot for fun.
I love my .220 Swift and to show it that I love it I will continue to load it to less than maximum pressures. It does all that I need it to do at the speeds that I shoot it at that's good enough for me. A couple guys on this forum that were on my last praire dog hunt with me two months ago can tell you what my wonderful Swift will do to a pasture pooch that gets in my crosshairs!