The .220 Swift

Jeff Higgins · 12-18-2014, 07:16 AM

While it may be a bit of a stretch to proclaim this as the "triumphant return" of this venerable old varmint number, I was rather surprised to see both Winchester and Ruger are currently chambering rifles in this caliber. Winchester offers their 1885 High Wall and Ruger their Number 1, both falling block single shots. I can't imagine this is going last for long, so if you feel a need for a rifle in this classic cartridge, here are a couple of opportunities.

I picked up a #1 about 35 years ago, the last time I'm aware that Ruger offered one so chambered. I shot out the original barrel after about ten years, and wound up having it rebarreled by Rick Freudenberg, using a 28" 12" twist Lilja barrel. This thing is a virtual "ray gun"; I leave it zeroed at 300 yards, and it's only about 1.5" high at 100 and just a bit higher at 200. It only drops about 4 to 5 inches at 400 yards. This is with the 60 grain Hornady V-Max at darn near 3,800 fps. It will easily approach 4,100 fps with 50 grain V-Maxes.

Many modern loading manuals show maximum loads for this cartridge producing lower velocities than .22-250 loads. Much of our modern factory ammunition is loaded to lower velocities than modern .22-250 loads. Don't be fooled - the old Swift easily out-paces the .22-250 with any bullet weight, and by a couple hundred feet per second. It is, however, a handloader's proposition to extract that performance, and an experienced handloader at that.

If you are up for it, though, the old Swift provides pretty darn remarkable performance in the field. It's not prairie dog cartridge, as you will soon burn the throat out of the barrel shooting at that pace, but it excels on long range coyotes, rock chucks, wood chucks, and the like. Essentially, if you can see them, you can hit them, with no concerns over silly things like trajectories.

Here's mine:

on2wheels52 · on2wheels52's Garage

In 30 years I have had seven guns in .220 Swift come through the shop (out of 20,000).
I didn't keep any though.
Jim

Jeff Higgins · 12-18-2014, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by on2wheels52

In 30 years I have had seven guns in .220 Swift come through the shop (out of 20,000).
I didn't keep any though.
Jim

That's probably a good thing. Used ones are a very dicey proposition. Rifles in this caliber are extremely easy to ruin. I bet a guy could ruin one in less than one box (of 20) rounds. You really have to pace yourself and never let it heat up. Throat erosion is its only real fault, but it is a very real fault. Too much powder in too small of a bore...

Bill Douglas · 12-18-2014, 11:36 AM

That's why I like .223 with a 1:12 twist. It can be loaded down to much the same as a .22 Hornet, or the same feet per second as the lower end 22-250 range.

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

This round was developed from the old 6mm Lee Navy round from 1895. The Lee Navy was one of the earliest small bore/high velocity rounds made for military use. At a time when the typical military round was running about 1200-1400 fps, the 6mm Lee was doing around 2600 fps or a bit better in some cases. The Lee round was also one that would "shoot out" a barrel in a relatively short time. The rifle used was a straight pull bolt action designed by James P. Lee and built by Winchester. The rifle was loaded by way of a 5 round stripper clip that would fall out of the bottom of the action when the last round was loaded. As a result, most of the clips were lost and are quite rare today. The Lee Navy rifle was only used for a short while before being replaced by the Remington Lee, a more conventional rifle. One of the few places where the Lee Navy saw action was at the defense of the legations in Peking during the Boxer rebellion.

Jeff Higgins · 12-18-2014, 11:50 AM

Yeah, Winchester really upset a lot of people by choosing the 6mm Lee Navy case as the basis for the .220 Swift. There was already a wildcat .22-250, and everyone was assuming they would standardize that. I've got old loading manuals that list loads for the .22 WOS, or Watkyns Original Swift (I bet I spelled his name wrong...). Winchester saw that the Lee case was better suited to the extremely high pressures to which they intended to load their new round, so picked it over the .250 Savage case on which the .22-250 is based.

I like the semi-rimmed case that resulted. It seems to suit my personal vision of what such a rifle should be - an accurate single shot. Something fired slowly and deliberately, maybe a bit more regal than a common bolt gun. That, and we can fit a lot more barrel on one before it gets to be too long.

Jeff Higgins · 12-18-2014, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

That's why I like .223 with a 1:12 twist. It can be loaded down to much the same as a .22 Hornet, or the same feet per second as the lower end 22-250 range.

I love my .223 (an old M700 with the heaviest bull barrel I've ever seen on a factory rifle) and shoot it way more than the Swift. It's a much more useful, versatile, forgiving round. The Swift is very specialized. Not for everyone, but once you've gotten to be friends, it will do things for you that no other cartridge will.