220 swift owners, help on bullets

N

NCVARMINT

New member

I made a post a few weeks ago, on on 243 or 25-06, well the 25-06 is out of the picture, for too much recoil. I am going to use the gun i get for groundhogs, crows, and praire dogs, and rockchucks when i go out west this june. I have a 204 ruger in a savage 12vlp that i will be using also.
I have made up my mind on which 220 swift i want, the 12bvss-s single shot. But also thought about a 243 win in 12bvss savage. Shots will range from 100 to 500+ yards.

Is there alot of recoil difference in the 220 swift and the 243 win.
Does anybody have a remington vls in 6mm caliber, that could tell me how they like it

thanks guys
 
I shoot a Rem. 700 BDL-V in 6mm Rem, and it is the baddest varmint rifle I've ever seen!! The 6mm or .243 will shoot 55 grainers faster than any .220 Swift with nearly equal powder charges and an undecernable increase in recoil. If you have a .204 already and have decided on a 6mm of some sort then the 220 Swift is totaly unecessary. Get the 6mm VLS, you won't be dissapointed. ~6mm
 
for a duel purpose rifle the 6mm is hard to beat BUT for the ultimate factory offering in a varmint rig I would vote for the swift....Use 55gr.noslers or bergers man then you got something..........
 
So the 220 swift is a good 500 yard rifle, even with the low bc bullets,
what is the heaviest bullet that will stabilize in the 1/12 twist
does anybody have a savage 12bvss-s, if so how do you like it
 
I did not know that Savage twists the Swift barrel 1-12". That's the twist I would select in a custom barrel.

It's just a small technical point but it's the length of a bullet and not the weight that counts twist wise.

The 55 gr Sierra Blitz King is pretty long. A 1-12" should handle that bullet just fine. The Ci of that bullet is .271 which is pretty good. That bullet will run quite well with the 70 gr out of the 6mm's.

I would get the 243 since you have a 204 whatever it is. I would not have got the .20 in the first place however. The Swift remains my sentimental favorite varmint round.
 
The Swift is a great 500 yard caliber with a fast twist barrel, unfortunately, in the factory offerings, the 223 is a much more capable 500 yard caliber because it is available in faster twist barrels. At 500 yards BC rules and in factory barrels the 223 can shoot higher BC bullets than the Swift.

The 12" twist in the Savage and T/C is a step in the right direction but still will not shoot the longer range bullets.

Jack
 
6mm or .243 is a far superior 500 yard caliber than the Swift no matter how you slice it. WAY better B.C.s available, higher velocities, and ability to shooter heavier bullets for greater terminal ballistics; all that without a substantial increase in recoil. Look at the numbers, they don't lie! ~6mm
 
Comparing similar loads in a Swift to a 6mm they are about the same. For instance the 50gr BK out of my Swift starts at 4000 fps and drifts 25" at 500 yds in the standard 10 mph/90 degree data. The 243 with the 70 gr BK starting at 3600 fps drifts 23". In terms of drop from a 250 yd zero the Swift is 24" low and the 243 is 27" low!

Of course a 6mm can be loaded up with heavier bullets but then the safety factor of richocets comes in along with recoil. Heck I long range varmint hunt with 264 WM's and have since 1961 so the 6mm/Swift debate is just words to me.

Over normal hunting ranges day after day taking into account recoil, safety, seeing the bullet hit and all other factors the Swift is still the #1 death ray. Other similar cartridges are very close and why not as the are similar!

The 223 is not even on the first page. I am surprised that it even came up as an alternative.

Use what you want. There is way more to it than just the cartridge or twist.

To each his own.
 
as a strictly varmint rig I would go with the 220 swift. Sure the 6mm/243 will hit harder, it can shoot a heavier bullet. But we are talking about varmints, a large coyote will weigh in at 50 lbs. a 55 gr bullet will take care of that. as for distance. I have a confirmed kill on a yote at 597 yards. I was able to see him go down in the scope. He was so far i had to get permission from two land owners just to go pick him up (LOL just kidding with that one.) I am not knocking the 243/6mm i have both and love them, but since the original question was about groundhogs, crows, chucks and PD's then i would definately recommedn the 220 swift. The 243/6mm wont kill them any deader than the 220, the practical range will be the same when using either gun.
 
If you already own a .204 then you have a good gun for close to medium (400?) range. The Swift will push that farther but not by much since with a 12" twist about the heaviest bullet you can shoot will be a 60 or maybe the Berger 64 HP.

As the owner of a .22-250 AI (duplicates the Swift ballistics) with a 10" twist barrel, I shoot the 60 VMax. Great bullet for accuracy and terminal effect, but gets blown around pretty badly at the longer distances (past 450 or so).

To me, the lack of a really good varmint-specific .224 bullet in the heavyweight range (70-80) coupled with the need for a 10" twist at least (to stabilize the Berger 70 HPBT LTB bullet; the 70 VLD requires 9") means you can't wring the top performance from a .22 without a custom fast-twist barrel which nobody makes on a factory bolt gun, and makes me think the .243/6mm is the way to go for a factory long-range gun. Load the 87 VMax with .400 BC and don't look back. You'll have two good rifles whose performance complement each other.

At distance, wind drift matters less than trajectory, since the latter is fixed and unchanging (per stationary target) and will have to be figured correctly anyway no matter what it is, while wind is constantly changing and shifting in both speed and direction, and cannot be figured exactly. So you want to narrow your margin of error with the bullet that has the least drift. The heavier weights of .243 bullets are not necessary to kill the varmint, but rather to resist wind drift beyond 400 yards. The need for this resistance grows radically with increased range. So, shooting a 58 or 65 grain bullet in the .243 is really a waste of time for the longer shots - go with the 75 or 87 VMax or the 105 AMax match bullet for the really tough shots.

Remember you will always have to compute drop compensation no matter what it is, but with the wind you will be forced to guess at something constantly changing.

Just my $.02.
 
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220 swift 400 yard shots like this one are easy just got the swift recently and still working on loads this one was 36.9 Varget 50 gr speer tnt btw I shot 22-250 for quite some time and still do I just wanted a swift also it kind of intreging
Img0451.jpg

[image]http://photobucket.com/albums/v208/hardtyms/th_Img0450.jpg [/image]
 
I would go with the Swift. Have shot them for years on PD's and predators. 500 is nothing for a Swift. We always shoot the 55gr bullets and the BC has not let us down. We have found that our Swifts either like the Sierra 55 BK or the V-Max 55gr. For some reason all our rifles will shoot one or the other well but will not shoot them both.

If you have a custom fast twist barrel, you really have something then. I would recommend the Swift over the 6mm because of recoil and the .22 caliber bullets are cheaper to shoot. 80 gr'er are cheaper than 55's!
 


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