A Few Great .220 Swift Loads
Bullet	Bullet Weight (gr.)	Powder	Charge Weight (gr.)	Muzzle Velocity (fps)
Berger Varmint	40	Alliant Reloader 15	40.0	4,164
Sierra softpoint	50	IMR 4064	39.0	3,932
Speer HPBT	52	Norma 202	36.0	3,860
Nosler Ballistic Tip	55	Vihta Vuori N140	38.5	3,873
Nosler Partition	60	Hodgdon H4831	46.0	3,618
Swift Scirocco	75	Hodgdon H4831	42.0	3,410
Federal Ballistic Tip	40	Factory load	--	4,177
Federal Ballistic Tip	50	Factory load	--	3,826
Federal Bear Claw	55	Factory load	--	3,710
ABBREVIATION: HPBT. hollowpoint boattail
NOTES:All powder charges are maximum and should be reduced by 10 percent for starting loads. Velocities are averages of five or more rounds clocked 12 feet from the muzzle of a 26-inch barrel. Federal cases and 210M primers were used in all loads. The Swift bullet requires a rifling twist rate no slower than 1:8 inches for stability; others are stabilized by a 1:14 inch twist, which is standard for factory rifles in .220 Swift.

Further load development produced occasional groups measuring as small as .250 inch. Casual “hunter rifle” benchrest matches used to be popular among members of the gun club I belonged to, and anytime that rifle did not win its class the fault was mine.

Soon after the .220 Swift was introduced, some hunters were so impressed by its velocity they decided to try it on big game. The results were mixed because the speedy 48-grain bullet sometimes went to pieces before penetrating deeply enough for a quick kill on deer.

P.O. Ackley solved the problem by developing his Controlled Expansion bullet, but few who used the .220 Swift knew about it, and the cartridge never overcame its reputation as a poor performer on game larger than varmints.

Back when I first started handloading, Bruce Hodgdon sold military-surplus H4831 in 50-pound kegs for 60 cents per pound. The only two rifles I owned at the time were in .220 Swift and .25-06, the latter a wildcat at the time. Money was scarce in those days, so I used nothing but H4831 in both .

When loading the Swift I simply used a powder funnel to fill a case to the brim with that powder and then seated a 50-grain Sierra bullet. Accuracy was plenty good, and while H4831 is too slow to produce maximum velocity with such a light bullet, it was cheap, and bullet speed was fast enough for someone who was accustomed to varminting with the .22 Hornet.

I eventually switched to IMR 4064. It’s difficult to improve on when bullets up to 55 grains in weight are used. For top velocities with heavier bullets, powders with slower burn rates are the way to go. Hodgdon H4831, IMR 4831, Alliant Reloder 25, Norma MRP and VihtaVuori N160 are great choices. I usually switch to a magnum primer when using those powders in cartridges with bigger appetites, but a standard primer works fine when they are used in the .220 Swift.

For varmint shooting I prefer to zero a rifle in .220 Swift two inches high at 100 yards. This puts its bullet about two inches above line of sight at 200 yards, an inch low at 300 and less than a foot low at 400 yards. Zeroed in this manner, the cartridge has a point-blank range of about 340 yards on a whistlepig sitting on its haunches or a coyote standing broadside to the gun.

Such a flat trajectory allows you to simply place the crosshairs where they should go, squeeze the trigger and watch a varmint bite the dust. A laser rangefinder--combined with a range-compensating reticle in a high-magnification scope--extends the range of the .220 Swift even more.

In order to make anything new look better than everything old, practically everyone who has written about the .204 Ruger has incorrectly touted it as our fastest factory-loaded cartridge. Not true.

The 32-grain loading of the .204 Ruger is rated at 4,225 fps, which is 25 fps slower than Federal’s 40-grain loading of the .220 Swift. I’ll admit the difference is insignificant but the fact remains, the speed record still belongs to a grand old cartridge that has ruled over varmint land since 1935.

Warning: The loads shown here are safe only in the guns for which they were developed. Neither the author nor InterMedia Outdoors assumes any liability for accidents or injury resulting from the use or misuse of this data. Shooting reloads may void any warranty on your firearm.