220 Swift Improved?????

[srhaggerty]

I have a used tang safety ruger M77. The thought had crossed my mind of rebarrelling it this winter and was wondering if anyone can offer any advice o making it improved or not. Is there much benefit to making it improved? Or will staying will the 220 be the best choice?

 

[goodgrouper]

The caliber you are talking about is called the 220 Weatherby rocket. Do a search on that and see what you can find.

I personally would not touch this round unless firing at least 80 grain bullets as it only offers slightly more velocity than the standard swift when using lighter bullets and burns your barrel out much quicker.

 

[srhaggerty]

Thanks for the reply. I have heard of the caliber, but I also thought they were talking about Ackley when the improved came in.

 

[brianwinzor]

srhaggerty,
There are a variety of improved swifts, and the 220 Weatherby Rocket that GoodGrouper mentions is one that has enjoyed some popularity.

I owned a 220 Swift Ackley improved with 40 degree shoulder in the mid 1980's, and the Winchester .220 Swift cases which I used had a capacity of 50.4 grains, and a capacity of 55.5 grains after fireforming.

Although I have only tried one "improved swift" , I believe that ballistically there is probably not a lot of difference between the various versions. Consequently, I would not enter a debate into which one is the best.

I agree with GoodGrouper suggestion, and also recommend you use it for bullets of 80 grains (or more).

Now that Sierra have introduced a 90 grain MatchKing, and with Richard Graves introducing an excellent variety of Wildcat bullets bullets in 80 - 100 grain weight, I believe that an "improved Swift" with a 1 in 7 twist barrel, would be a good platform for those bullets.

However with cases of this capacity (or larger), if you fire 3 shots in about 3 minutes the barrel is hot, and you should then wait for it to cool before firing again. So if the rate of fire is likely to exceed that, then I would choose a smaller case. Regards, Brian.

 

[srhaggerty]

I appreciate your guys help on this matter. I think I will stick to the basic 220 swift.

 

[Aussie]

Still no flies on the basic Swift . Check out the .220 Wilson Arrow . Has similar case capacity to the original but with a steeper shoulder angle to reduce case stretching .
One of the leading Aussie gunwriters is a big Swift fan but likes the Arrow even better for it's mechanical advantages .

 

[James Jones]

I think that alot of guys over look some of the more benifical aspects of the Ackley Improved case , like the steep shoulder and minimum case taper helping to reduce case strech and improve burn ability of the powder used.

In cases that are already "over bore capacity" changing to the Ai version will generaly not give to much of a velocity gain , this is the case with the Swift , but the Swift does have ALOT of body taper and slow shoulder angle so it should be a good canidate for the Ackley improvement if you can see past the low velocity gain , hell personaly even if going to the Ackley desgine cost me 100fps in my 22-250Ai I would still do it just for the improved case life

 

[Kevin]

I have a 220 swift improved. From a 26inch barrel, the barrel is only a 16 twist which is a big bummer. I used to max out right at 3950fps with 55gr bullets from the stock version of the swift, based on a case life of 4 reloads. With the improved swift I now can get 4 reloads when pushing the 55gr bullets at 4230fps. So I definatly would argue with those saying that there is little velocity gain from the improved swift. I currently load the 55gr bullets at 4160fps and most cases make it over 10 reloads no problem. The barrel is about shot now though so that gives me a good excuse to get a new barrel, this time it will have a tighter twist so I can shoot the 75+gr bullets. I have loaded some 60 gr bullets in mine, they didn't stabilize but I just wanted to see what kind of velocities it would produce. I was getting 4000fps with good case life and 4090 fps with poor case life.

 

[goodgrouper]

Even if you do gain 230 fps more than my standard swift with 55 grain bullets, my point was that it really has no advantage over a Swift improved or a regular swift that has a fast twist and shoots 75+ grain bullets. My 22-250 AI fast twist (which has roughly the same case capacity as the swift)DOUBLES the effective killing range of my swift shooting 55's, and the larger bullet passes the lighter bullet at under 600 yards! It also stands to note that the swift improved slow twist would burn more powder than the swift improved fast twist shooting heavier bullets and thus reducing your barrel life a touch. You have noted that you already need a new barrel.

I do agree however that the improved version of the swift would be a heck of a lot easier for brass prep as it would nearly eliminate the nasty taper of the standard swift. Trimming and FL sizing would probably be decreased by half!

 

[srhaggerty]

GG, now are you talking 220 AI, or weatherby rocket?

 

[Kevin]

srhaggerty, sorry I did not specify but mine is the 220 swift 40 degree AI.

GG, I think we do mean the same thing. I was just under the assumption that you didn't think an improved swift would shoot light bullets any faster. And yes down range there really is very little benefit.

I completely agree that unless one just gets a kick out of shooting light bullets fast, the swift improved is a waste if you have a slow twist. Aside from the ease of reloading.

 

[srhaggerty]

MTBA,

Well I do like kicking out the little bullets as fast as I can. We don't shoot much over 500 yards, with the majority being 200 to 300 yards. I went back and looked at some of Richards bullet selection. What kind of velocity do you guys think I could get with a load based around his 68 grain ULD bullet? Would you think this could be an explosive round on chucks?

 

[Freebore]

srhaggerty,
I shoot a 'standard' Swift in a 12 twist. I shoot the 55's at 3900 w/N160. I shoot the Sierra 69's w/RL-22 and get 3350 and great accuracy and have hit PD's at that 700 mark. I was able to get more velocity but lost accuracy. I would assume you could get close to 3500 in an improved with the right twist. There are guys shooting the 80's out of the Swift's w/ fast twist and getting great performance. This is a custom w a 27" barrel.

 

[Kevin]

I have not shot the bullet you mention so I cannot comment on the explosiveness. I would guess 3600fps for the velocity, depending on barrel length. If 500 is about all the farther you will be shooting then it is more your personal preference.

What I can tell you is that from 200-300 yards almost any 55gr bullet out there will be explosive, believe it or not even the the sierra FMJ leaves big holes. That is the bullet I use the most since it shoots the best in my gun.

Just for kicks I loaded some 40gr Ballistic Tip silver Tips to around 4800fps. (no pressure signs yet but any faster and they don't hold up) Probably not that good for my barrel but oh well. Suprizingly they did shoot a .5in group at 100. And turn gophers into flying bits of mush.