My 220 Swift is shooting poorly - after I took copper out

this is quite a surprise. My 220 has been a tack driver for what seems like forever. Shot it a couple of weeks ago and it was a bit below par. So I cleaned the bore. Got serious about it with Boretech Eliminator, and the copper and general fouling is gone. I shot it a few times and all looked Ok. But today I thought I'd check it out prior to doing some coyote hunting this week. Nasty groups. A shock! I have three groups of reloads, with two having been FL sized and one that was partial resized. The FL reloads are looking better than the partial resized ones, probably because the shoulders weren't bumped back enough on the partial resized ones.

So now I don't know if the problem is the reloads or that I took ALL the copper out. Geez! Guess I'll just do some more shooting, which isn't all bad, and copper up a bit. Problems, problems, problems...

Probably just need to foul it up a bit. Not one of mine shoots good clean.

How many rounds you got on the swift?

100 yard paper.

Shoot 1-5, measure the group, write it down.
Cool the barrel
Shoot 2-10, measure the group, write it down.

Repeat until it comes back to acceptable. My .260 would make one ragged hole, gradually open up, get cleaned, then shoot bad until I got 20 rounds down it. And that was a cut rifled barrel with a perfectly centered chamber.

They all have a personality.

I think I found the problem. Like I mentioned, I had 3 MTM 50 round boxes of reloads. One has FL sized cases with Sierra 55 gr bullets (for pigs/coyotes) and one has same load but with 55 gr Nosler BT's (coyotes). Both of those reload batches were FL resized, with the shoulder bumped back a touch. They shoot quite well, but I think I need to recheck the shoulder setback. Some rounds, maybe one in ten, still chamber a bit hard, and I get the occasional flyer. The third box of reloads are awful, with big ugly groups. Those were Partial Resized and I didn't catch that they were due for a FL resize. The chambering is hard, and the groups were poor. So, I ordered a Redding Body Die so I could set the shoulder back a touch on the loaded rounds. I used it this morning on that third batch of reloads, and they chamber great and shoot even worse than they did. Must be that I made those rounds less concentric with the Body Die, since I can't think of anything else negative that I could have done. I have a Body Die for my 260 and it didn't seem to harm the concentricity, so I wasn't expecting a problem with the 220 Swift rounds.

I need to either shoot up the last 25 reloads in that batch, or just pull the bullets and FL resize the cases. I'll probably go with the latter.

Since the copper removal, I've put about 20 or so rounds through the barrel. I'm thinking that the problem wasn't the copper after all, but just below par reloads. But...I'll still copper it up a bit. Can't hurt.

Probably about time I spent some thinking and effort on the 220. For the last couple of years, it's been more thinking and shooting with the 223 and 260, both of which shoot great.

My rifles seem to shoot terrible after cleaning even with the same load that was .5 MOA or better before cleaning. I've heard people say to shoot 2-3 rounds after cleaning to refoul the barrel but with my guns that doesn't seem to be enough. I guess it depends on how much of a cleaning the barrel goes through. A light cleaning may require less fouling shots but mine seemed to need way more than 2-3 after cleaning to go back to grouping really well. I guess that means I cleaned them too well. For this reason, I have somewhat stopped cleaning unless I see groups starting to open up consistently and when I do clean I do a light cleaning and check it again. I would rather have a fouled but very accurate rifle than a clean one that won't group worth a darn. Wipeout has seemed to work very well for me for copper removal. I use it in a gun I shoot the Barnes TSX in from time to time. From now on, I will not clean just to clean anymore, I will only clean the bore when groups go bad and I suspect its caused by too much build up.

It was the brass. Work hardened badly. Replaced it with fresh Norma brass and all is good. Copper fouling, or lack of it could also have been part of the problem, but the new brass brought an instant correction to my ugly shooting.

Since .220swift is a relatively expensive round for brass, I would suggest looking into a case annealer (Bench Source is what I use) to help alleviate neck tension / possible splits.

The annealer is a good idea. I might do that. And AT11's thoughts on cleaning are sensible. I may be in a new place mentally regarding cleaning the 220 bore. I've had the rifle for decades. Wore the first barrel out (I think it was a Shilen) and now have the second on there (Douglas). All those years with that rifle I used Hoppe's and Shooter's Choice, and though I got the carbon fouling out, I probably didn't take out much copper. Looking back, I think I was doing the right things for the wrong reasons. This new barrel, (newest, not new) doesn't copper-up much. And since I took what copper there was out, I've started with a truly clean barrel. Now I have about 20 rounds through it, and it's shooting great again, thanks mostly to new brass. I'll just see how long it takes for accuracy to fade.