204 Ruger vs 223 Remington vs 22-250 Remington vs 220 Swift Review & Comparison

[@toddhuff6007]

Thanks for the video sir. I have used all these and like them a lot. But my all time favorite is the .220 swift ! I’ve noticed the swift being discussed more often here on KZbin in the last year or so. I really hope and pray videos like this will fire up interest in this old laser beam once again. It’s no more of a barrel burner then rounds like the 22-250 especially with modern barrel steel , bullets and powders. It’s stupid fast and flat and very very accurate to boot. My swift is a 26” Ruger M77 Pet load is a 40 gr V-max pushed by 41g of RL-15. Muzzle velocity is 4,250 fps.

[@michaelgarrow3239]

Not bad for an antique.

[@pawcrawlowens8730]

I've loaded for a 22-250 for 35 years and started using a 1-8 twist 12 years ago, a 70 grain Barnes TSX 70 is a monster on whitetails

[@barneygo2010]

Long range shooter here…. I bought a Bergara B14 HMR .22-250 with a 24” 9” twist barrel. I was launching the Hornady 75 gr. HPBT booolit at 2900ish FPS. It was an absolute hammer out to 700 yards! Peace Be The Journey!

[@kevincallahan1607]

I use a Ruger m77, 220 swift, my load was 34.5 grains of IMR 4895.with a 63gr bullet...... Not sure of the velocity but was super accurate.

[@leskrug9266]

I have a Remington XR100 in .204 ruger. Tac driver. Also bought 40 - 20 round boxes of hornady 32 & 40 grain factory ammo when I first bought the gun & still trying different reloads!

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Which load does that rifle seem to prefer?

[@dontbetreadin4777]

Just nabbed a Ruger M77 heavy barrel 220 swift, i reload ammo or i wouldve probably gone with a 22.250 otherwise. It looks brand new, it's had 2 boxes of ammo through it, one of the hundreds of guns this guy had, old age prevented him from shooting anything really. Super cool rifle

[@jonathanmitchell3733]

These videos deserve many more views. Crazy amount of good info here

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

I appreciate that!

[@randallcl9925]

In the mid '70s I bought a new Ruger M77V in .220 Swift and loved it. Eventually sold the rifle but found a used perfect example a few years ago and had to grab it. I also own the Ruger MKII M77V/T in .223 and a T/C Compass in .204 Ruger. I take all three and alternate shots according to distance to target and prefer to fire the .220 less because of the expense per round and to save the barrel. With 52g BTHP Match bullets my Swift shoots right at 1/2 MOA. The .223 is cheap to shoot with decent factory ammo for not much money. The .204 is cheap to handload with inexpensive bullets and small powder charges.

[@joquin4618]

223 cuz I’m stocked up and I can get it without paying an arm and a leg!

[@donbenson5292]

I have loaded all three extensively. Started shooting a 220 Swifter way back in 65. Mod 70 pre 64 along with a 22 hornet consecutive serial numbers that was a friend of my dad. My favorite long range is my 788, shilen 27 inch, 12 inch twist with a customer chamber. I only us it for those long range shoots 400 yds plus. Conserving barrel life. I run 60 gr vmaxs at 3750, 55 gr up to 3950 with r19 and 65 gr Sierra spbt at 3680 fps with r22. All shoot 1/2 groups at 200 yrds. I do shoot much more with the 223. Have a n 223 ai with a 14 inch twist for light bullets and another with a 9 inch twist for heavy bullets. Any powder almost works good in 223's that is matched for the bullet weight. The 204's I use the 39 gr Blitzking in the 12 inch twist and any of the 40's in the 9 inch twist. All with aa2520. As for the 22-250, I load it with 52gr Speer hps and imr4895 and let it rip... All are dead ground hogs.

[@russellmerritt9935]

You want to sell the model 70 Swift, lol. I've never had a m70 in a swift they've been more than I want to pay for 20 years, but I've got a 30-06, 264 westerner, and a 243 feather weight. My Ruger 220 shoots as good as my m70s so I guess I'll have to settle for it.

[@jaybailleaux630]

The most accurate rifle I own is the mighty Swift . The cool thing about the swift is the most accurate loads are at max or near max. I can't say the same for the 22-250 . Had many more 22-250s than swift's.

[@kevinberdine]

You are oozing with great information. Have you done a comparison of the 223 and 5.56. I know they are very similar, but I'm sure they have a list of differences as well. I would love to hear your take on that.

[@trael4166]

Great info! That was an exhaustive amount of well researched information and was very helpful

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@terryvantrease8527]

The 204 is my favorite. The lack of recoil makes it a pleasure to shoot and reloading keeps the price down. I have done a good amount of hunting with the 220 too. Too bad the ammo is so pricy and harder to come by these days because it’s an excellent round. Thanks for the video. That was really informative. You did an outstanding job!

[@keithprinn720]

reloading makes sense build loads not quite red hot to help with barrel life and significant savings from loads yourself. some absolute rockets here

[@garrytalley8009]

I have all the .224 calibers listed. Your info is pretty spot on. I do like flatter shooting bullets and limit my .223 to shorter ranges. I have a 26 in. barrel Remington Sendero in 220 Swift. I have a muzzle brake on it and you can see the bullet hit the target because of the reduced recoil. Real fun to shoot. I got it and had a lot of fun shooting at targets at a 300-yard range. I think that a lot of the barrel burner hype was when people re-barreled rifles for the swift with barrels that were really soft. Shooting them hot definitely reduces barrel life too. I just got the 22-250 recently because I was never able to get accuracy at high velocity out of my 220 Swift and had to reduce my loads to the velocity of a 22-250 to get accuracy. I may revisit reloading for it with some of the better bullets on the market today. If one wants to shoot cheap the .223 is definitely the way to go. But honestly if you reload it isn't all that much to use more powder and have more accuracy at longer ranges with a 22-250. One must realize the reload data takes into account using longer barrels than most they sell today unless you are buying a target or varmint rifle. Most of the rifles sold today are 22-inch barrels. I prefer heavier barrels in my rifles and if one gets either the 22-250 or the 220 Swift, they should have a heavy profile barrel if they are wanting to shoot it a lot. If it's just for hunting medium game and not going to be shot much a lighter hunting rifle might be OK. But heavier barrels will not heat as quick and if you are going to make multiple shots in short order a skinny barrel in either of those two rifles is not a good idea.

[@KevinTullock]

Just bought a Bergara B14 HMR in 22-250, looking forward to some great shooting.

[@barneygo2010]

My HMR is a hammer…love that 9” twist barrel. 75 gr HPBT by Hornady was a tack driver out to 700y. Then that 9” twist fell short at 800y since my 75s began to yaw! Keeping it for coyotes now and bought a B14 HMR in 6.5CM. Now to grow a man bun hair style! LOL Peace Be The Journey!

[@JohnnyRebKy]

The 204 is so fast it turns into a grenade when it hits. Things literally disappear into a mist when it hits. It’s wicked !!

[@RandyBeretta-db5bg]

Love the 22.250.!!!

[@emmettperkins844]

I’ve heard of all four calibers and familiar with three I still enjoy hearing the content and the manner you present information.I would enjoy a 221 Fireball format.

[@marksmith7054]

I used to have a savage 110 26" heavy barrel 1-10 twist 22-250 I would load my 53 gr BTHP with 4895 and shooting at 4400 FPS was deadly at 1000 yrds nonstop. I would experiment with different bullets and I was shooting a 40gr sp and at that same 4400 fps 53gr load I would watch that 40 gr bullet disintegrate at about 600 yrds some would start to tumble some would just blow into thousands of pieces they were all still on target tho. the tumbling bullets really made a mess out of the gophers. 90% of my loads were with the 53gr BTHP and I would take down many deer, elk, coyotes, rabbits, gophers, at any distance, such a flat shooter. I still kick myself for selling that gun so many years ago.

[@yngve6049]

22-250 hands down

[@vmancity9691]

204 ruger has been very fur friendly in my experience. Also deadly

[@boredvet]

I'm building an ar10 and want to either build it in 22-250 or 220 swift. For now the swift has more ammo availability right now. Just interesting they pretty much perform the same. Only thing I can see which is better is when put in 308 magazines, the swift fits more appropriately with less travel to the chamber than the 250 does.

[@MrJtin69]

My first rifle was a 22o swift i love it

[@russellmerritt9935]

If you reload and want to be all you can be the Swift is the king. If you don't reload leave it alone. Plus it must have a 26" barrel. All of these cartridges are very good, the .223 probably the least performance wise but the availability of cheap ammo is nice. btw I thought the .204 was built off of the .222 magnum.

[@cabinbills6743]

22-250 all day long

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Nothing wrong with that! What ammo do you prefer?

[@cabinbills6743]

Big Game Hunting Blog remington core lokt 55gr for bigger game and winchester 50gr silvertips for yotes Hornady 50gr v-max for others Has never failed to get the job done but if I feel i need to i grab the 25-06

[@toddhuff6007]

Oh yes I agree. The 22-250 if you satisfied with being 2nd place. Lol .220 SWIFT for me. ALLDAY !!! Lol 87 years old and still the standard by which all fast steppers are judged since 1935 !!! Long live the King.

[@cabinbills6743]

Todd Huff yep while your shopping for extremely hard to find ammo for around $2 a pop i’ll be out in the field slinging rounds at about $1 and loving being second All Day Long I’m curious in my 66 yrs of life i’ve never seen a rifle chambered in 220 . I’ve never even known anyone who has one . Tell me if you can find one of those unicorns do they have a great big sticker on them that says “SUCKER” ?

[@waynemayle865]

@@cabinbills6743 what's funny is good luck finding 22-250 ammo cheaper than the swift 8 gun shops in my area no one has 22-250 ammo 6 of them have swift ammo 33.00 a box .

[@raymondoreilly7569]

Here in Ireland. We'll ammunition price's are going up crazy. No doubt what calibre is the best. But a box of 220 swift are €56-86. We can't reload. I have just bought the 204, and it like Hornady 40g vmax, €35 - 50 per box

[@bobborlog1677]

223 with 36 grain barnes varmint grenade out if my 22 inch 1-12 handi rifle or 24 inch stag varminter upper are my go to handloads

[@thegrantdanielsband]

If you are serious about pelts you will go with the 204 Ruger it would have an edge over the others 🙂

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

good point!

[@maurogarcia6512]

This may have been asked before, but if you own a 223 bolt rifle, can you safely shoot a 556 Nato cartridge in it? Thank you and keep up the great videos.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

I don't recommend doing that. Some people get away with shooting 5.56 ammo in a 223 rifle at times, but you're risking trouble if you do so. It's fine to shoot 223 ammo in a 5.56 rifle, 223 ammo in a 223 rifle, and 5.56 ammo in a 5.56 rifle, but don't shoot 5.56 ammo in a 223 rifle.

[@tombouldin8403]

Would like to see .224 Valkyrie added into this comparison

[@dougbinnewies128]

Great info. Thank you for presenting this.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Glad it was helpful!

[@oldlincolnpipewelder]

Man is dropping facts for 30 minutes.. Excellent work sir! 🫡

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

I appreciate that!

[@DMX-PAT]

What's your thoughts on the .17 Remington?

[@GeirMeyer]

Beautiful work

[@angelo_giachetti]

I wanna see a .220 Swift necked down to a 32gr .20" bullet. See how fast it goes!

[@rikkilee9409]

that was a great video

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@romanticbrain18]

is it possible for the 220 swift to surpass the 204 ruger if a lighter bullet was used

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Good question. The lightest 224" bullet Hornady makes is a 35gr NTX. Their reloading manual shows the same velocity for that bullet with a max load out of the 220 Swift as a max load for a 24gr NTX from the 204 Ruger. Of note, the 220 Swift is using 40-44gr of powder to achieve 4,500fps with that 35gr bullet and the 204 Ruger is using 29 to push a 24gr bullet to 4,500fps.

[@JV-lq3tx]

Been waiting for this one! Got a Remington 700 in 22-250 that I plan on rebarreling for a faster twist rate. I want to test how effective a 22 cf can be on deer.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Very interesting. Let me know how it goes!

[@lmbear]

The 204 shoots flat, but loses steam past 250-300 yards. Plus the really lightweight bullets are very affected by the wind. Give me a good 22-250, and hold the fluff..

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Fair enough!

[@Jeff_Seely]

Thank you for the interesting data of these cartridges. Although the cartridge is all but dead, I still have access to a 22wssm and that thing is a screamer. It stacks up pretty nicely to the 220 Swift but it has become just too hard to find. Also it has a hard time with magazine feeding.

[@SilenceDoGood4th]

Im here for swift info

[@johnblackbird7523]

223

[@FISHUNTREECOUNTRY]

.204 with a monolithic projectile

[@garyhopkinssr8561]

204

[@MrJtin69]

The 220 swift injured animals when shot with wrong bullet design and shot placement

[@mr.noneyabidness]

By a man hellbent on discrediting the 220 swift. Do more research on it.

[@MrJtin69]

​@@mr.noneyabidnessthats what i was referencing dumb bum

[@dilorenzopiero5162]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@ziggystardust1122]

Pretty sure u used to be on Japanese TV.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

This definitely wins the comment for the thing I least expected to hear!

[@ziggystardust1122]

I was being serious though. You're a dead ringer for him if you're not.

[@Thebiggamehuntingblog]

Send me a link to a clip if you can find it. I'd love to see my doppelganger!

[@DaBellyMan318]

220 swift ai all day

[@alrightalrightalright-]

I just thought about it and I've only seen maybe 1 or 2 .220 swift rifle and never seen a .204 rifle. Seen a hundred 22.250 and thousands of .223 rifles. I own a Howa 22.250 and it's an amazing! rifle.