220 Swift v. 22-250

S

SDShooter79

New member
In the market for a new varmint rig, and it's gonna be chambered in one or the other. What do you guys think the winner should be? I have my own opinions, but I'm interested in hearing someone else's objective point of view.
Thanks B:)
 
From a performance standpoint, I don't think there is much of a difference. I have a Ruger No. 1V in 220 Swift and love it although it took quite a bit of work to get it tuned but that is a common issue with No. 1's.

Do you reload? I bought my first Swift in 1973 and it introduced me to reloading by necessity since factory ammo was hard to come by. I don't buy factory ammo so I couldn't say what the situation is today.

Pay attention to rate of twist. Some rifles have a 1:14 which will have difficulty stabilizing bullets heavier than 55 gr. as is the case with my Swift.

Either way you can't go wrong if you want a high velocity .22.
 
Swift gives ~100 FPS more velocity, which frankly isn't all that meaningful (what is that, about 2%?).

Do you like Fuji apples, or Granny Smith?
 
Identical ballistics but the Swift will be much harder to find factory ammo for.

The Swift also takes a rimmed bolt face which is not standard, the reason for price differences. It is much easier to mass produce a standard bolt face that caters to standard case heads.
 
I own and shoot a 22-250. I really admire the 220 Swift, as well. I built my first rifle in 22-250, mostly becasue at that time Winchester had quit loading ammo and making brass, and 22-250 brass could be had anywhere.

I used to shoot ground squirrels in CA back then, and had a couple of hunting/shooting partners who shot a 22-250 and a 220 Swift. They had an ongoing feud over which was the better cartridge. They went so far as to have their ammo and rifles tested, and the results said that the Swift was just a few fps faster, but then it had a 26" barrel to the 22-250's 24" barrel. So when I built my rifle, I used an uncut 28" barrel blank. Got an extra 60-ish fps over my friend's Swift. Big deal.

I would advise you get the 22-250, but whichever you choose, you will love it.
The Swift also takes a rimmed bolt face which is not standard
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No, the Swift uses a standard bolt face, but it is a semi-rimmed cartridge.
 
ive allways had a soft spot for the swift and will always own at least one. There not only fast but usually very accurate. that been said the 22250 is hands down the best choise in a varmit gun.
 
Alright. Somewhere through history someone said "semi- rimmed" lol.

Still a non standard bolt face.
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Hum WRONG again.

Please see this cartridge drawing from Steves pages. http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd220swift.jpg

The swift takes a .473" bolt face just like the OMG 22-250.

I love the swift. My first varmitn rifle was a Ruger M77 VT in 220 swift. It had a timney trigger and a weaver El Paso 4-16x on it IIRC. That thing would shoot the eyes out of a gnat at 300 yards. I could kill squirrels out to 450 with it.
 
It's one of those personal preference deals. Six of one, half-dozen of the other for accuracy and performance on critters. I've loaded for both, and for no particular reason I prefer the Swift. But, no big deal, really.
 
OK here's the straight dope. First, at present if you match apples to apples there's no advantage in fps with a swift. I have a 24" #1 in 22-250, had a 24" M77 in 220 and the long and short of it was I could never get better than 22-250 velocities with the swift pushing 52-55gr slugs over a chrono. Sold the swift.

I do have a 40x in 22-250 with the H2 27 1/4" bbl that will shoot in the .3's with Sierra 55 gr btsp slugs going 3815fps behind 3031 with good brass life
 
I own a Swift for the simple fact that everyone else I hunt with have 22-250's! I like being the rebel!:) Maybe I will buy a 22-250 for the safe, then I will be a conformist! Each to their own!
 
Sdhooter79:

When I was shooting perrie dogs in Arizona I used the .223 before the wind picked up. After the wind picked up, I switched to my 22-250. Even with the extra velocity of the 22-250 I saw little difference in hits when my buddies kept shooting the .223. However, I did have a slight edge. I never shot a 220 swift but I can't see how there could be a significant between the 220 Swift than the 22-250 when shooting in the wind. I think that for logistics that the 22-250 is the best choice.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
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I'm also a non-conformist and shoot the 220 Swift. The 22-250 is certainly almost as good as the Swift, and the 22-250 AI version is probably equal to the Swift, but the Swift is special. If you don't reload, get the 22-250. If you reload, get the Swift. Let's face it. If you don't care about bullet velocity, get a 223. If you do care about bullet velocity, why go for number 2? I like feeling superior to the 22-250 owners.:D
 
This is just my opinion.

There is no logical reason to choose the swift. In the field, they are going to be for all intents identical.

There are many good reasons to choose the standard caliber rather than choose one that is and has been for years on the cusp of obsolescence.
 
Just perusing my nearest handloading manual, there is almost no difference in performance level :

Swift- 40 gr bullets to 4008, 22-250 to 4090

Swift 70 gr bullets to 3364, 22-250 to 3300

Swift 55gr bullets to 3807, 22-250 to 3663


Both are really fast with light bullets....... The .22-250 just does it with less powder...... in some cases, almost 10% less.

If too much velocity is never enough for you, step on down to the 17 REM!
 
You know, there's one other thing, the Swift is a hell of a lot louder than a 22-250, I know guys that surrendered the swift just because of that.

By the by if you're really after ideal ballistics forget them both and get a 20TAC, 3900fps with a 40gr vmax, which has a BC 50% higher with 25 1/2 grains of powder. Welcome to the world of the 500 yard chuck gun.
 
They are essentially equal. As a handloader, I prefer the 22-250 because the brass is easier to obtain and I burn slightly less powder, which is important because I like to shoot it a lot. If you want even faster velocities in an easily obtained factory rifle, just get a .223 WSSM. It outdoes both of the other 2.
 
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