CatShooter
Well-Known Member
I have always loved the .220 Swift, and have continously owned one (or more) since the early 60's.
Back in the end of summer, 2013, I sold my last .220 Swift (with it's brass), in anticipation of getting my new, special order .220 Swift.
In March, 2014, I picked up a new Rem 40XB stainless single shot, chambered for .220 Swift.
It had been on order for 14 months, and I had a new 2 ounce Jewell trigger waiting for it.
I was in Groundhog shooter's Heaven... or so I thought!!
It was right after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut in Dec 2013.
Obama promised massive gun controls, everybody was buying up everything in sight... and no .220 Swift brass, even fired brass, could be found ANYWHERE.
I was chatting on a varmint shooting forum, and bemoaning the lack of .220 Swift brass. A very nice guy offered me 200 pieces of brand new Norma brass for free + postage. It doesn't get any better than that!!
The only catch was that he got them at a tag sale and the original owner tried to form the cases for the .220 Wilson Arrow (a popular wildcat in the 40's and 50's).
He did a very bad job. The cases were, for all practical purposes, useless.
But in desperation, I eagerly snapped them up and sent him $10.
Two weeks later, I was the proud (?) owner of the ugliest .220 Swift cases I ever saw.
Inspection of the cases showed the following.
1 - The cases had the worst hydraulic dents I had ever seen.
2 - Since the shoulders had been flared for the .220 Wilson Arrow, the cases wouldn't chamber and the bolt couldn't close on my rifle. (but that turned out to be an advantage).
3 - The biggest problem was that the shoulders had been pushed back so far that the cases had an average 0.100"+ of headspace (the shoulders had been pushed back a 1/10th of an inch).
The good part...
4 - They DID say "NORMA .220 SWIFT" on the case head.
The solution...
1 - I bought a used RCBS FL .220 Swift die on eBay for $10 (with free shipping ).
2 - While waiting for the die, I annealed the necks and shoulders, and then polished them in a vibratory polisher with corncob and Dillon polish for ~12 hours.
3 - Then I tested the case heads for hardness - it was not really necessary, but I have the gauge, so I did it - the cases were fine (they averaged 91 Brinell - very hard).
4 - When the die arrived, I slowly ran the cases into the die, turning the die down in small steps, while test chambering the cases in "trial & error" until I could close the bolt on an empty case with a lot of force. (When fired, I wanted the forward case movement to be as small as possible).
5 - I loaded the cases with stepped loads of 4064 and an assortment of 55gr bullets, seated to touch + 10 thou, so I could use fireforming to gather loading data at the same time..
When firing, I first rolled the cases over a pad soaked with a light gun oil (G-96) so they were wet with oil, and then fired the cases.
All the cases formed perfectly - none stretched at all. The reloaded cases are perfect.
What this shows is that cases can take a beating and still be fine - so don't worry about blowing out oil/hydraulic dents - they blow out to make perfect cases.
The biggest mistake handloaders make is over FL sizing their cases, which causes case stretch - this is a case killer which leads to head separation, that cannot be corrected.
Back in the end of summer, 2013, I sold my last .220 Swift (with it's brass), in anticipation of getting my new, special order .220 Swift.
In March, 2014, I picked up a new Rem 40XB stainless single shot, chambered for .220 Swift.
It had been on order for 14 months, and I had a new 2 ounce Jewell trigger waiting for it.
I was in Groundhog shooter's Heaven... or so I thought!!
It was right after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut in Dec 2013.
Obama promised massive gun controls, everybody was buying up everything in sight... and no .220 Swift brass, even fired brass, could be found ANYWHERE.
I was chatting on a varmint shooting forum, and bemoaning the lack of .220 Swift brass. A very nice guy offered me 200 pieces of brand new Norma brass for free + postage. It doesn't get any better than that!!
The only catch was that he got them at a tag sale and the original owner tried to form the cases for the .220 Wilson Arrow (a popular wildcat in the 40's and 50's).
He did a very bad job. The cases were, for all practical purposes, useless.
But in desperation, I eagerly snapped them up and sent him $10.
Two weeks later, I was the proud (?) owner of the ugliest .220 Swift cases I ever saw.
Inspection of the cases showed the following.
1 - The cases had the worst hydraulic dents I had ever seen.
2 - Since the shoulders had been flared for the .220 Wilson Arrow, the cases wouldn't chamber and the bolt couldn't close on my rifle.
(but that turned out to be an advantage).3 - The biggest problem was that the shoulders had been pushed back so far that the cases had an average 0.100"+ of headspace (the shoulders had been pushed back a 1/10th of an inch).
The good part...
4 - They DID say "NORMA .220 SWIFT" on the case head.
The solution...
1 - I bought a used RCBS FL .220 Swift die on eBay for $10 (with free shipping
).2 - While waiting for the die, I annealed the necks and shoulders, and then polished them in a vibratory polisher with corncob and Dillon polish for ~12 hours.
3 - Then I tested the case heads for hardness - it was not really necessary, but I have the gauge, so I did it - the cases were fine (they averaged 91 Brinell - very hard).
4 - When the die arrived, I slowly ran the cases into the die, turning the die down in small steps, while test chambering the cases in "trial & error" until I could close the bolt on an empty case with a lot of force. (When fired, I wanted the forward case movement to be as small as possible).
5 - I loaded the cases with stepped loads of 4064 and an assortment of 55gr bullets, seated to touch + 10 thou, so I could use fireforming to gather loading data at the same time..
When firing, I first rolled the cases over a pad soaked with a light gun oil (G-96) so they were wet with oil, and then fired the cases.
All the cases formed perfectly - none stretched at all. The reloaded cases are perfect.
What this shows is that cases can take a beating and still be fine - so don't worry about blowing out oil/hydraulic dents - they blow out to make perfect cases.
The biggest mistake handloaders make is over FL sizing their cases, which causes case stretch - this is a case killer which leads to head separation, that cannot be corrected.
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