sign from 1942 to 1944, finally placing it on the market in 1945. For Roy, it was a good move at the time because the 220 Swift was starting to wane in popularity, which in my opinion can be traced to both the cartridge and barrel troubles. The cartridge could have been too hot for barrel metal at the time, and in those days, cleaning a barrel after a ’chuck hunt was not one of life’s priorities. I believe one, or both of these, led to the early demise of the Swift.
In any event, to improve the Swift, Weatherby went ahead with his Rocket project. His new offering held 50.0 grains of water; the more common Swift, only 48.0 grains. Not that much of a difference for sure, but for those who knew Roy Weatherby, one-upmanship was the only way he went with his rifles and cartridges. The shoulder on the Rocket moved up about 0.075", which aided in the velocity department (more space for powder) and for those who wanted a rifle with a Weatherby cartridge designation emblazed on the barrel, any rifle chambered for the 30-06 Springfield (same rim diameter) was a strong contender.
First you need a rifle. Here my
choice was easy, as I wanted more of a pure varmint rig as opposed to a “sporter” rifle. I called Ruger to ship me one of their M77 II Target rifles with that impressive two-stage trigger. With a slight movement to the rear, the sear breaks at just about three pounds even, and all without a hint of slack. I then shipped the gun to Rich Reiley at High Tech Custom Rifles (3109 N. Cascade, Colorado Springs, CO 80907) to transform this 220 Swift rifle into the 220 Weatherby Rocket. Rich told me all he would have to do is recut the chamber and set the barrel back about a full turn. To add a final change, both Rich and I agreed to increase the famous Weatherby venturi shoulder to help bring the Rocket up to current 21st cen- tury standards and overall appearance. Again, taking Remington’s popu- lar 50-grain 220 Swift factory ammuni- tion, I fired off more than 100 rounds over roughly six different range ses- sions. This would eliminate undue stress to this new barrel because of heat from the Swift and would allow me to sight in my new Leupold 6.5-20x scope at my leisure. Since then I have formed another 100 cases with less than 2% loss
With 44.0 grains of IMR-4320, the Weatherby Rocket made this half-inch group with an average velocity of 4,235 fps.
BULLET
Loading data for 22 Caliber Wildcats POWDER
50-gr. Hornady V-Max 50-gr. Barnes VLC 52-gr. Speer HPBT 52-gr. Berger HP
55-gr. Hornady V-Max 55-gr. Speer FMJ
40-gr. Hornady V-Max 40-gr. Speer Spire Point 45-gr. Hornady Hornet 45-gr. Sierra Spitzer 50-gr. Speer TNT 50-gr. Speer TNT
40-gr. Nosler BT 40-gr. Nosler BT 46-gr. WW H.P. 46-gr. WW H.P.
50-gr. Hornady V-Max 55-gr. Nosler BT
50-gr. Hornady V-Max 50-gr. Speer TNT 53-gr. Barnes X 53-gr. Sierra H.P. 55-gr. Sierra BT
55-gr. Speer Soft Point
219 Donaldson Wasp IMR-3031
H-4895
IMR-4064 H-4895
IMR-3031 IMR-4064
22 K-Hornet 2400
IMR-4227 WW-680 H-110
AA-1680 AA-1680
H-4198
IMR-4227 IMR-4227 H-4198 H-4198
27.0 28.0 28.0 29.0 27.0 28.0
12.0 11.5 11.5 11.5 12.0 12.5
218 Mashburn Bee 2400
14.0 17.0 16.0 16.5 17.5 17.0
220 Weatherby Rocket H-4895 H-380 H-380 H-380
IMR-4320 IMR-4350
40.4 44.0 43.0 43.0 44.0 45.0
3,202 3,386 3,160
GRAINS VELOCITY GROUP
1.00" 1.00"
0.750"
3,443 0.875" 3,175
1.00" 3,094 0.750"
3,092 0.875" 2,694 2,725 2,829
0.875" 0.375" 1.00"
2,438 0.750" 2,504
3,147 0.850" 2,944 1.00" 3,144 0.500" 3,233 0.750" 2,956
0.250" 2,788 0.750" 4,086 1.00"
3,913 0.750" 3,885 0.750" 3,814 0.750" 4,235 0.500" 3,851
0.625" Notes: All groups are three-shot groups at 100 yards.
www.varminthunter.org Page 29 0.750"
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