Texan_Til_I_Die Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 I've got a Ruger 77 in 220 Swift that I almost never use for varmints. Lately, I've been thinking about turning it into a nice little deer rifle. I've loaded and shot 70 gr Speers in it and found that it performs fine on smaller deer. Currently it has a sporter weight 24 in barrell. I'm thinking about rebarrelling it with a shorter, midweight barrel and I've got a couple of questions. First, if I'm only planning to shoot 70+ gr bullets, should I get a different twist? Say a 1 in 8 or 1 in 9? And secondly, what's the shortest pratical barrel length for this type of setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Re: Thoughts on a project rifle For small bores with big cartridges, you need longer barrels to get the benefit of the larger case. I would not think of getting a barrel shorter than 24" and would probably lean towards a 26". For the twist, the typical twist in a Swift is 1:14" - 1:16" which is way too slow for good accuracy with most of the heavy bullets. I would step down to a 1:8" twist. Swift has a 75 gr Scirocco that should be sweet in a bigger case gun like the Swift. Since you are rebarreling anyhow, why not go with a better choice for deer? I would look at the 243 Win or 6mm Rem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7th Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Re: Thoughts on a project rifle I have to go with you on that one again AJ. My cousin has a .224 TTH and been shooting some 80 gn bullets in it and shot one deer with it in the spine and thinks it is the berrie's. I tryed to tell him that if he was a 1" lower that deer would have gone to a long hard death and if he was lucky, he would have got it. Not that what you are looking at would not kill a deer, the .243 or 6mm would be a little more forgiving. Just my $.02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted October 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 Re: Thoughts on a project rifle [ QUOTE ] Since you are rebarreling anyhow, why not go with a better choice for deer? I would look at the 243 Win or 6mm Rem. [/ QUOTE ] No particular reason except I like the Swift round. I've also already got the components, dies, etc to reload for the Swift. I'll think about it some. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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