Need some help/advice with 220 swift

I

iayote

New member
I picked up a Ruger M77 Tang safety 220 Swift over a year ago. My Dad has reloaded for years and has great knowledge for reloading 22-250. He was excited to say the least once I got this Swift. Long story short, we were strictly wanting accuracy and not speed. We have found best luck with Winchester brass, Sierra 50 or 55 grain spitzers loaded with either 35.5 or 36.0 grains of IMR 4064. I love the gun and it is very accurate. However, I have used new and used brass in my reloading and I go through all the proper steps including F/L sizing. I have noticed on quite a few rounds here and there that I can not chamber or close the bolt all the way forward in order to fire the round. I have not and will not force these. What's the problem??? Headspacing??? I have NO knowledge at all regarding headspacing. I have read that you can get go gages, no go gages, and field gages. How do these work and how can I fix once I find the problem? Would I be better to send to a professional gunsmith that specializes in this. I live in Central Iowa and do not know of anyone to hepl me out. Interested in anyone elses experiences with this gun or headspacing issues. Thanks, Brian
 
Id say that your die is not set up quite right for full length resizing. Make sure that the press is fully camming over.Maybe turn your die down another1/8-1/4 turn. Thats what I check first.Im sure others will have more advice as well. Good luck.
 
I agree with Ornery that maybe you are not length full length resizing and need to screw down your die a little. If you have fired these rounds before and want the accuracy don't full length re-size anyways, just re-size the neck if you are using these in the same gun you shot them out of although this is not the problem you are having now with not closing the bolt down. Did you try to seat your bullet a little deeper to make sure it wasn't hitting the rifling on the barrel. Did you use your calipers to see what your bullet was seated at according to the book?
 
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Another mistake I have made.. try the resized brass before loading it. If your seat die is turned too far down you may be getting a bulge at the base of the neck. Take your Michrometer and measure from the bottom to the top of the case, if there is a bilge, that would be a problem.
 
Another thought to consider and an easy check, are the cases themselves over length. If they are long enough to hit the end of the case neck cut in the chamber and are loaded you won't be able to fully close the bolt. Just an idea from experience.
Cheers
 
Like others have said, make sure your FL die is adjusted correctly. How many times have these cases been reloaded? Do you trim your brass after FL sizing?
There's one other possibility that may be causing your problem, but doubtful. The Swift has a tendency to flow brass toward the case mouth. The necks get thick in a hurry! If too much brass has flowed into the neck, it is possible that with a bullet seated, the necks might be tight in the chamber.
This has happened to me using Swifts over the years. Now, I always use a Forster inside neck reamer before I resize the cases. Outside neck turning would probably produce more consistent neck thickness, but it takes longer and the tools are much more expensive!
Thick necks also boost chamber pressure!
F1
 
Originally Posted By: UlvejaegerAnother thought to consider and an easy check, are the cases themselves over length. If they are long enough to hit the end of the case neck cut in the chamber and are loaded you won't be able to fully close the bolt. Just an idea from experience.
Cheers

If your dies are properly adjusted for fl sizing, and you still have trouble chambering the round ^^^this is usually the problem. Look at the end of the neck of your fired casings. If they are shiny brass and not carbon covered they are hitting the end of the chamber. Trim them back .010 from that dimension and you will be running smooth again. As was mentioned in an earlier post, neck sizing only, usually improves accuracy and prolongs the life of your brass.
 
I had a similar problem with my Ruger M77 in a Swift. After trimming the cases my problem went away. Flyrod1 and Ulvejaeger might be on to something.
 
I had this happen on a ruger 220 swift. We wanted accuracy as well, but when we neck sized, the bolt would seldom close, so full length sizing was the answer. When the bolt quit closing on loads, the cases were in need of trimming, however we rarely trimmed the case because when we trimmed them, one firing was all we could get and the case would split. 220 swift cases are the shortest lived case I've ever reloaded, but they are cool. We quit trimming because it wasn't worth the time to trim, measure, and deburr for one shot, we baught more cases. I bet your gun is fine, just remember that the swift was the first factory round to break 4000 fps, done by loading to very high extreme pressures.
 
Originally Posted By: ColoradoHillBillyI had this happen on a ruger 220 swift. We wanted accuracy as well, but when we neck sized, the bolt would seldom close, so full length sizing was the answer. When the bolt quit closing on loads, the cases were in need of trimming, however we rarely trimmed the case because when we trimmed them, one firing was all we could get and the case would split. 220 swift cases are the shortest lived case I've ever reloaded, but they are cool. We quit trimming because it wasn't worth the time to trim, measure, and deburr for one shot, we baught more cases. I bet your gun is fine, just remember that the swift was the first factory round to break 4000 fps, done by loading to very high extreme pressures.

Annealing your brass will solve this problem and save you a few $. Brass gets work hardened after a few firings especially in high pressure applications like the Swift. It becomes brittle and loses its elasticity, hence the cracking. I have Swift casings with over a dozen firings on them. Hope this helps

 
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Originally Posted By: iayoteAnyone have an idea what twist this barrel has also?


my tang safety m77 had a 1-14 twist. to be sure,use the cleaning rod method to find the twist.
 


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