220 Swift feeding problem

[stretchman25]

About a year ago I put together a 220 Swift on a Yugo 48 action. I have never been able to get the rifle to feed correctly. It will not controll feed and many times the cartidges will slide forward in the magazine and the bolt is unable to pick them up. I imagine that part of the problem could be solved by installing a magazine block, but I am more concerned with the cartridges just popping up and having to force the bolt down on them as they enter the chamber. Does anybody have any ideas, or know of anyone who could correct this problem?

[gunnutty]

The Swift has a rim... Are you loading each cartridge in front of the other when loading the magazine?

 

If the cartridge on top has its rim behind the one below, if will probably push it forward. The swift is a "semi-rim", and this is supposed to alieviate the issue. If it isn't then a magazine block might be the way to go.

 

[stretchman25]

Yes ... I load the rims to where they do not catch on one another. Many times when the rifle magazine has been loaded and rifle has had its muzzle pointed down(riding in the truck)the cartridges will "slip" to the front of the magazine, and when the bolt is operated the it will not pick up the next cartrtidge.

[gunnutty]

Never needed to block a magazine.

 

If the cartridges are moving forward preventing reliable feeding, you probably need a block. You can play with a "junk" follower, shorten it, and TEMPORARILY, using adhesive, put an aluminum block in the magazine front.

 

Or you can ride with the rifle muzzle-up.

 

The feeding issues maybe aren't related to the cartridges moving forward. Dunno.... Perhaps a more experienced member has ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BobVZ]

Z1R posted comments in recent weeks that the .220 Swift is notoriously a poor feeding round, such that most Mauser sporters he has seen are single shots. However, it must be possible to build a system to feed this round since both Mausers and other staggered magazine bolt rifles have been built to handle rimmed cartridges. Since reading your post earlier today, I have spent some time researching these weapons. There seems to be two basic methods used to feed rimmed rounds in the Mauser system rifles.

 

1. Siamese Mauser (8x52 R)

 

This rifle uses a staggered, slanted box magazine arrangement sized to fit the cartridge length to prevent cartridges from sliding forward in recoil. The extractor is narrowed at the top and bottom so the rim can slip under it on loading and eject easier. The M48 mag well could be blocked to adjust it to the OAL of your cartridges, but it would still be too wide to reliably control the orientation of the smaller Swift round. I rejected this arrangement as an option.

 

2. P-14 Enfield (.303 British)

 

The P-14 uses a straight, box magazine(like the M48) with angled, rounded vertical interior ridges at the rear (in front of the cartridge rim) and in the middle (at the cartridge shoulder). The top of the ridges are tapered and come short of the feed rails so the top round will slide over them, but retain the rounds underneath. The rear ridges retain the rims and prevent the cartridge from sliding forward and the middle ridges keep the rounds pointed forward in the magazine. The ridge angle helps rims to slide backwards to prevent jams. The follower has a forward portion to assist in feeding the last round. The Enfield extractor is also modified by narrowing the extractor hook as in the Siamese. Since this system is applicable to Mausers as well, I selected it to build a theoretical feeding system.

 

Proposal

 

If I were to attempt to construct a reliable Swift feeding system for a M48 Mauser, here is what I believe I would do:

 

1. Acquire a magazine box and follower for a 1914 Enfield.

2. Remove the sides of the magazine box and fit them to the interior of the Mauser box. These could be soft soldered or epoxied in. Since the Mauser box is sized for the .473 rims of the Mauser and Swift rounds, a portion of the inserts behind the rear ridges might have to be removed so the rims would not be constrained. However, I think I would test it before removing the metal. Make sure the distance from the rear of the mag box and the rear rib is the same as the Enfield to allow room for the case rims.

3. Fit and replace the Mauser follower with the Enfield follower.

4. Modify the Mauser extractor to mirror the Enfield.

 

The .303 British round is nearly identical to the Swift in overall length and shoulder dimensions with the Swift only about 16 thou smaller in the head, so the spacing of the guide ribs in the mag should be right. I tried some .303 rounds in my 8x57 Mauser and the feed lips seem to be adequate to retain them. With the modified extractor and the guide ribs installed, I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't feed .220 Swift cases.

 

Bob

[gunnutty]

Rather than tearing apart the magazine box, I'd recommend having taper "blocks" (top to bottom and vise-versa) in the front and rear of the magazine. These wedge-shaped blocks would do the same thing that the Siamese magazine does. Those wedges should be easy to make from either aluminum or steel plate scraps. I'd do some geometry on the rear to ensure the angle is correct. The only kicker is that the overall internal magazine length will have to be very close to the overall length of the loaded cartridge.

 

The blocks will ensure proper initial alignment, the close overall length will prevent the cartridges from shifting.

 

I don't think that the issue is having a rim; it's having the SEMI-rim. If it were a full rim and provided the shooter loaded the cartridges right in the first place, the top cartridge would always stay ahead of the case below it.

 

Instead, the Swift rim is shallow enough to allow the bottom case to slide forward of the top case, yet large enough to cause feeding problems when this occurs.