Good shooting .220 Swift

Rustydust

Rustydust

Active member
Hey All

Got back from a nice day at the shooting range yesterday with a couple of targets that I shot with my Krieger barreled .220 Swift. Both are three shot groups with the one holer being .064" and the other being .35". That gun has always shot well but this was a load that I had not tried before. It was 37 grains of Varget with the 50 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets with a Federal Match primer. I was too chicken to try for 5 shot groups but was pretty happy with what I got.

I took pictures of the targets but I couldn't figure out how to post them darn it. The one group you literally could not push a pencil though it without tearing the paper.

I like to shoot more than a couple of groups with any load before I start getting really excited but this one don't look like no fluke.

I loaded up some more an hour or so ago with some Vmax bullets and am going to see how they do. If they do anywhere near as well as the Noslers do then I have me a new critter load come springtime.


Shooting two consecutive groups that averaged .207" makes me feel like I might just have a real winner here.
 
I would have to agree. How much better can it get?
thumbup1.gif
 
That is great rusty. Hey I have been very interested in finding a 220 swift. was wondering if you could point me I the right direction on one . Not looking for a custom. Just Something off the shelf that will shoot well.... If there is such a thing anymore
 
I don't even know anymore who make an affordable Swift these days. At one time Ruger, Remington and Savage were all making them but it seems that interest in them has waned in the last few years. I guess that you can still get a Cooper and all of the custom makers will be happy to put one together for you for the proper amount of coin.

If you are really jonesing for Swift it is pretty easy to put a really good one together. If you were to get a good deal on Stevens or Savage .243 or .308 it for example it would be a snap to screw on a new barrel from Criterion or ER Shaw. After you headspace it you mount you a decent scope on it and you are done. Might want a trigger job and may even want or have to put on a different stock depending on what size barrel you go with but I think that the end result would be worth it.

Of course, if you can find one of those previously mentioned rifles with a good barrel (hard to do) for a good price (harder to do) then you would be set.

A word of warning here though is in order: .220 Swift owners are a curious lot. We are about as zealous about that grand old round as there is to be found. I certainly have been for the last 40 years and I see no way that it will ever change. Not that that is a bad thing.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanNow that is some sweet shoot'en!!! Congrats! What kind of action is that Kreiger on?

It is a Remington 700. I bought it about 20 years ago. It came with a HS Precision stock. I never did care for the 24" barrel as it handicaps the potential of the Swift somewhat. But I shot the heck out of that thing back then and after I finally wore the barrel out I took it to a well known bench rest rifle builder and pretty much gave him carte blanche. He suggested either a Krieger or a Hart barrel and said that his personal preference was the Krieger so that was what he installed.

And no more 24" for me. This one is 28" in length. And with my suppressor screwed onto the end it make for one really long barrel!
 
Originally Posted By: PredburnerI'm dying for a Swift M 70 in pre-64....

You and me both, brother!

It's like my dream to come across a yard sale one of these days and see one in the box (hey- if you are going to dream, dream big) with a $100 price tag on it.

Funny thing is, when I started getting interested in buying a .220 Swift back in the early 70's all I could find were pre '64 Model 70's and I didn't want one. After all, some of them were as much as $200! The nerve they had for asking that much! The stupidity I had for not buying every one that I could lay my hands on!!
crazy.gif
 
Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: PredburnerI'm dying for a Swift M 70 in pre-64....

You and me both, brother!

It's like my dream to come across a yard sale one of these days and see one in the box (hey- if you are going to dream, dream big) with a $100 price tag on it.

Funny thing is, when I started getting interested in buying a .220 Swift back in the early 70's all I could find were pre '64 Model 70's and I didn't want one. After all, some of them were as much as $200! The nerve they had for asking that much! The stupidity I had for not buying every one that I could lay my hands on!!
crazy.gif


Can you imagine if you bought every one you laid your hands on in 220 Swift and .22 Hornet.....!!
 
I had a swift years ago, one of the most accurate guns I have owned, shot 60gr Sierras out of it with RL-15, many a groundhog met its demise from that rifle, would like to have another if the price was right.
 
I traded off my first one like an idiot. I lived in Houston at the time and had no good place to shoot it except at the range and frankly, punching paper bored me. Dammit, I wanted to kill something with it and I had no place to take it.

A few things have died as a result with my current Swift including a deer when I lived in Tennessee. A few hundred prairie dogs and lots and lots of ground squirrels. Way more powerful than any ground squirrel would ever need but my oh my do they ever explode! I do love the toss so very much.
 
Originally Posted By: COYOTEKILLERMILLERAnyone that shoots the 220 SWIFT is automatically my best friend and Brother !! LoL

And backatcha. For sure, the .220 Swift clan is a tight knit group. Call it devotion or love or even an illness but it is what it is. Something about a Swift that just brings out the wood in many of us. Much cheaper than Viagra too!
 
Quote.... Much cheaper than Viagra too!
_________________________

LOL....LOL...LOL.... last longer too...LOL

Ps...what makes a pre 64 so special?
 
Last edited:
Rustydust thats some nice shooting all you guys make me want to get my old 77 Ruger 220 swift out and blow the cobwebs out of it. I am ashamed to say how long its been sense I have shoot it . its shoots less than 1moa at 200yd always out done all my 22-250s . sure am glad I'm not having to look for one now thats not shoot out. Swiper
 
I have been a Swift nut since 1976 when I bought a Ruger 77 heavy barrel centennial model. In the early 80's I bought another Ruger 77 standard weight. I wore out the factory barrel on that one and had a Douglas premium installed. I still have the standard but sold the heavy one. I just did not use it anymore. I killed a lot of deer with 220 Swifts, and will probably kill a few more before I'm done. Barlow
 
Back
Top