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rechamber question
joes
Member Posts: 484 ✭✭✭
Is there something in the 220 family ( similar case) that would make a barrel swap possible ( to go to a 220) with a minimal amount of modifaction needed? If not would could a .243 be changed over to a 220? - Thanks,
Comments
The .220 Swift is a queer duck of non-standard case diameter and a semi-rim; so it might be tricky to get it to feed out of some other magazine. On the other hand, that semi-rim is of standard diameter, so it would work on a .243 etc. bolt face.
I haven't tried it, maybe someone who has will come along.
I think you have a rifle chambered for 243 and wish to make it a 220 Swift. Sadly that won't work because 220 has a "one off" case head.
You can make that 243 a 22-250 with a barrel swap. If your wanting a 220 you'll have to buy another rifle.[8D]
The case head is of odd diameter, but the rim is not.
When Winchester based the .220 Swift on 6mm Lee Navy brass for its strong construction (and the .225 on .219 Improved Zipper for good case volume) they finished them as semi-rimmed cases with rim diameter .473" so as to be able to use standard bolt faces as for .30-06 and many others, including .243.
It will be a straightforward rebarrell, if he is, as said, willing to operate on a single shot basis.
Do you think I make this stuff up?
a Speer manual shows the 220 swift to have a rim/case head diameter of .469 while the 243 and 30-06 case's show a diameter of .473 at the rim/case head. Now I know that tolereance stacking and machining tolerances vary but theres still a possiblity that this .004 difference will rise up and bite this conversion where "the sun don't shine". If this conversion is undertaken the odds are high the bolt face will have to be opened up. No re barrel is as easy or cheap as we want it to be and my thoughts are along the same lines as my last message: the 22-250 shares a case head with the 243 that will not in any way shape or form require a bolt modifacation.
The real question here is what does our guy Joes really want? If his only requirement is a good varmint rifle the 22-250 is still the easy way to go. If he's got the hots for a 220 swift my suggestion is sell the 243 and buy a 220.
In all honesty Hawk by the time Joes gets the rifle work done he will have most likely spent at least half the cost of a new rifle on the work. maybe more. At this point in time Joes needs to evaluate the rifle he's planning on re barreling with two real hard questions: 1 how much is this gonna cost and 2 what is the rifle worth right now versus what will it be worth when he's done.[8D]
I really don't make this stuff up.
That said, I would rather have a .22-250 than a .220 Swift. Do have, in fact; but if joes wants a Swift, he can have one for the same cost of a barrel.
The last time I looked, .469 is smaller than .473, so where do you get having to have the bolt face opened?
There are 2 SAMMI / CIP specs, one for chambers and one for cartridges. The chamber specs are all Min + tolerances (IE the bolt face must be .473 to .480), while the cartridge specs are all Max - tolerances. (IE cartridge rim must be .465 to .471) Note that the largest spec for a cartridge component will ALWAYS be smaller than the smallest spec for the same part of the chamber.
BTW, my set of SAMMI specs (contained in AccuLoad) show the Swift with a nominal .473 rim spec.
Not that I'm on this topic, the 22-250 Ackley Improved is the equal of the swift, and eliminates a number of the problems (IE neck stretch) that the Swift often displays. Just something else for the OP to consider.
A friend of mine out in NV, who is a diehard Swift fan, Uses a Win pre-'64 action originally chambered in .257 Rbts. He chose that as it would feed with no problems. I would take a guess then that just about any Mauser based action would work just fine. The Swift is a smaller case throughout its various diameters but still large enough to catch and feed normally in the feed rails. EDIT: {What I forgot to say was that I would choose a long action over a .243/short action to put a Swift into.}
That said I think you are really going to have feed issues by simply sticking a 22-250 barrel on your rifle. The taper of the case is way too much to convert straight over from any .308 based case. Your bullet will hit the side of the chamber every time. However, What Tailgunner1954 mentioned would be a good conversion. The blown out case walls would fit in .243 rails nicely. And, give all the performance a .220 Swift would.
Edit:
The Head diameter issue is a non-issue. The .220 Swift fits any standard bolt face. It was made to do that.
your right! .469 is smaller than .473. Sometimes after a long day I'm a bit dislexic.
I'm still not convinced the swift conversion is the way to go here and as I mention before it's really going to depend on the rifle's current condition/value that Joes should consider before he spends a penny!
As an example: if Joes rifle is a remington 788 that was given to him I say go ahead on! If it turns out to be a pre-64 model 70 in feather weight version I think he's about to burn a big hole in a large chunk of change and wind up with a rifle that might only work half as well.
Again a re barrel is never as easy as it sounds! My real hope is the we've all given Joes some ideas on what he "might" face as problems and a better idea of what he wishes to accomplish.[8D]
I think you just hit the nail on the head! "If his smith is worth his salt" he'll be charging a shop rate between 70.00 and 90.00 per hour. Plus he'll have to buy or "depreciate" a reamer to rechamber with. I think thats 2 to 3 hours labor plus the reamer, and that sounds a lot like 250.00 to me! In this case joes wants to go from a 243 to a 220 swift. a barrel set back and a reamer won't get that done, he needs a barrel. depending on the quality of barrel I think were now talking 500.00 on the lite side!
In all honesty can't joes go and buy a quality bolt gun for about the same money?? Maybe less if he waits for the right bid oppertunity!
He's gonna spend 500 so how can having two guns instead of one be a bad thing?[8D]