Story of a bargain 220 Swift

Bullcat · Post by **Bullcat** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:07 pm

I gave my local gun dealer a call to see what S/H Varmint rifles he had in stock. He had a few .223`s (already got one) and a few 22/250`s (had one). He also had a Ruger 220 Swift on the shelf at $695 including a Tasco 3-9x40 scope. So I went and had a look at it. I thought that it was fairly priced for the condition of it, but I didnt have $695 to spend. Anyway, I told him that I would think about it and in the mean time I would rack my brain to see how I would raise the cash as I dont like buying things on lay-by`s. Anyway, that same day a guy I know came to see me at my shop (I`m a secondhand dealer) and with him he brought an old Continental Field 12g Shotty he wanted to sell to the gun dealer for $500. The Gun dealer only gave him $400 and he refused to sell it. Anyway, this guy had his eye on a washing machine I had there priced at $500, so I told him that if he went to the Gun dealer and put his shotty as a deposit on the Swift for me, I would give him the washing machine. So that what we did. That left me with $295 to pay. So I took my Savage combo in, and the gun dealer toook this in as the remander of what was owing.
The washing machine cost me $200 and the Savage was $150. Therefore the swift only cost me $350... Not bad eh?
Tomorrow I am taking it to the range to see what it shoots like and in a couple of months I will ditch the scope and put on a Leaupold...

Rinso · Post by **Rinso** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:12 pm

Sounds like a good deal mate .. lot of fun the 220

cheers
Rinso

HiWall · Post by **HiWall** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:32 pm

Bloody beauty mate - if it is one of the old Mk1's with the adjustable trigger you got a super good deal. Should be a great shooter.

Knackers · Post by **Knackers** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:42 pm

Hope the rifle shoots well for you. Best bit was the wheeling and dealing that saw a rifle cheaply aquired, I love that stuff.

Dr G · Post by **Dr G** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:55 pm

great story Bullcat

bushchook · Post by **bushchook** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:51 pm

Have an article from Nick Harvey somewhere entitled "The .220 Swift Rides Again". Was written in about '76 and made a big impression on me as a 15 year old . Was a test of the M77V which shot 0.5 MOA with the 52gn Hornady match HP in front of a compresssed load of 45gns IMR 4350 . Bought a Sako Swift in '80 and used that same load . Shot around half MOA in the Sako as well .
Love the Swift .

trevort · Post by **trevort** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:43 am

good work, hope it shoots, if it doesnt its still the cheapest action you could possibly get to put a new top grade barrel on

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:26 pm

Bullcat, tell us more about the Swift----heavy barrel, has it got the tang safety?. I use the 63gn Sierra ( not the new 65gn ) in mine behind a full case of 2213---- Malcolm

Bullcat · Post by **Bullcat** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:59 pm

Its got a heavy barrel on and its got one of them safety`s that you would get on a shotty (is that a tang safety?) I dont hand load (maybe I should) and have only put Winchest Super X 50g pointed soft points through it.The stock and the action are in great shape and so is the barrel apart from some of the blueing is fading slightly. There`s a few light scratches on the floor plate and the trigger. Its wearing a Tasco 3-9x40E scope which I hate and will be changing a soon as I get some cash together.
Is there anyway to tell when it was made or whether it is a MKI etc.
Anyway, I took it up to the range today to see what it could do. The first shot was about 2 metres high and 1 metre to the right!!!! After a few more shots and lots of adjustment on the scope I got it shooting just where I wanted it to be. I shot 1/2" groups at 100 yards with no problems at all. As it had the crap scope on which needs replacing, I didnt waste too much time on it. I took a couple of shots at 300 yards and was hitting the target still which was the size of a dinner plate, so I was happy with that. Once I get the new scope on I will then spend a bit more time on it and have it on target zeroed at 200 yards.
Just out of interst, how often do Swifts need cleaning? I clean my .223 on average about every 15-20 shots. I presume the Swift will need cleaning more often?

Con · Post by **Con** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:07 am

bushchook wrote:Have an article from Nick Harvey somewhere entitled "The .220 Swift Rides Again". Was written in about '76 and made a big impression on me as a 15 year old .

Bushchook,
Have you still got the magazine and can you make a photocopy for me please??

I've decided to go 21st century and am scanning all the old stuff that featured cartidges and reloading items ... so far upto 330MB of old articles and have all the ASJ's from '88 through to '93 coming with Greg Matthew's "Compact Cartridges" series.
Cheers...
Con

HiWall · Post by **HiWall** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:25 am

Your rifle is the MkI mate - the tang safety was changed to the swing safety with the Mk11. It will have a nice, adjustable trigger there for you to play with.

The old MkI Rugers are nice rifles, especially the varminters - you will have a lot of fun with that one.

bushchook · Post by **bushchook** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:57 pm

Con wrote:
bushchook wrote:Have an article from Nick Harvey somewhere entitled "The .220 Swift Rides Again". Was written in about '76 and made a big impression on me as a 15 year old .
Bushchook,
Have you still got the magazine and can you make a photocopy for me please??

I've decided to go 21st century and am scanning all the old stuff that featured cartidges and reloading items ... so far upto 330MB of old articles and have all the ASJ's from '88 through to '93 coming with Greg Matthew's "Compact Cartridges" series.
Cheers...
Con

Con ,
Have scanned it for you . PM me your email and I'll send . 10.4 MB though so hope you have broadband . I can compress to about 1MB but quality not quite as good . Let me know how you want it .

Dr G · Post by **Dr G** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:40 pm

sounds like a great resource Con

Bullcat · Post by **Bullcat** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:23 pm

HiWall wrote:Your rifle is the MkI mate - the tang safety was changed to the swing safety with the Mk11. It will have a nice, adjustable trigger there for you to play with.

The old MkI Rugers are nice rifles, especially the varminters - you will have a lot of fun with that one.

Thanks for the info HiWall. As I said, I took it to the range yesterday. I am so impressed with it that it`ll be one of them rifles that you keep for a long time.

Con · Post by **Con** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:24 am

Dr G wrote:sounds like a great resource Con

It is!! I've hassled Marcus O'Dean to try and release a "Pet loads" style book by Nick Harvey covering his cartridge descriptions and experiences ... basically a compendium of the cartridge specific articles he's written over the years.

When was the last time you saw an article in an Australian rag on the 6mm/284?? Well Nick Harvey covered it back in the late 60's!

Our magazines are not a patch on what they used to be, Guns & Game being the exception. The ASJ's I'm waiting to arrive covered around 30 cartridges in 6 years, including oddities like the 219Donaldson Wasp, 6.5Carcano in a Rem700, there was even an article on reloading the 22 Magnum!!
Cheers...
Con

AusVarmint

Story of a bargain 220 Swift

Story of a bargain 220 Swift