Ruger#1 in 220 Swift info

[gravedigger]

HI guys, is this type of round (220 Swift) a barrel burner, and how reliable is the ruger#1, the one i'm looking at has a heavy bbl and a muzzel brake with scope but don't know how mant rounds went through it.

[marlinman93]

The 220 Swift can definitely be a tough round on barrels. Especially at the chamber throat. Check it out closely before purchasing, or better yet see if the seller will let your gunsmith check it out.
 The 220 can last a long time, with little or no erosion, if loads are kept to lower velocities. With the large case capacity, many reloaders pushed this cartridge to it's maximums, and the result was either setting the barrel back, or replacing it.
 I have a good friend who has a model 70 from the 1960's chambered for 220 and it has never been pushed over 3800 fps, with 50-55 grain bullets. It still has a good barrel, and shoots dime sized groups at 100 yds with ease.

[oso45-70]

gravedigger,
I think you will get very good barrel life if you keep your loads to about where the 22-250 is. I have shoot lots of loads through the 220 swift and had no excessive barrel wear, You hear this a lot and some of it is blown way out of perportion, as is a lot of things, If you can get some one to give it a good going over that knows what they are doing and gives it a clean bill of health, and you do decide to buy it, you will have a great long range varmint rifle, Hope every thing works out for you.........Joe...........

[gunnut69]

I've a No.1V in 220 and love it.  Bought it used and looks to be an older rifle.  Shoots just great. The 6mm No.1B I bought just isn't as cooperative, of course I'll admit I've done much load work on the 6mm. It's just that with the Swift there was almost none to do!. I picked the bullet I was interested in and a fairly stiff load. test fired and loaded enough to shoot some groups.  First groups were in the 5/8's to slightly less than an inch range.  Just stopped and stated injoying.  I bought a pre64 M70 in the 220 as a restoration project. Some ninny 'adjusted' the trigger and the safety stopped functioning. I got it cheap enough but I'll have to work on it before shooting it to see how it groups.  I think most of the barrel burning stories are just stories.  You can destroy the bore in nearly any rifle in a dog town if you don't allow it to cool down and in that the swift and the 22-250 are about equal.  Perhaps the seller will let you shoot the rifle before closing the deal?

[oso45-70]

P-Dog Shooters,
The first rule in p-dog shooting, Never take less than three rifles to a dog town, There have been more rifles messed up by not alternating their rifles so they would have a cool barreled rifle standing by. I have seen guys shoot massive amounts of ammo. without giving their gun a break. And then wander why their gun will not shoot a group, Amazing!!!!
You All have a good day............Joe..............................

[tuck2]

I picked up a used 220 Swift and then made a chamber and about three inch bore casting with Brownell`s Cerrosafe.  The Cerrosafe came with instructions and the NRA Gunsmithing Guide-Updated also has an artical on page 99. Ask if you can take the rifle home on approval then do a casting. You then can see the condition of the bore. I lucked out, my new used 220 Swift bore looked like new.

[busman202002]

I had one built out of #1 25-06 I had, 26" Stainless douglas match barrel fluted then froze, mounted a Swarovski 4-12 on it. I love this gun very accurate and has taken everything from crows to does with authority.