Savage Custom Shop forged a 220 Swift scalpel .. and Nightforce honed it.
The heart wants what the heart wants.
When Remington went out of business some years ago, it left a void among rifle manufacturers that built factory 220 Swift platforms. This will not stand, so I reached out to my friend RJ at Savage, asking for something maybe nobody wants, a top-of-the-line precision rifle in 220 Swift. I still remember his face standing at the Savage booth as if he thought I was just messing with him. However, RJ and I have been friends for a long time, and I believe he then recalled how odd I was, and he knew I was serious.
Now, Savage had at one time built a Swift rifle, but has not in years, and he proceeded to show me a really nice Model 12 LRPV in 22-250. “Now, RJ, if I wanted slow, I would have asked for a .45-70” or something along those lines. So my friend was saddled with having to convince the Savage Custom Shop to take on a build they had not done in decades. It was a few weeks after SHOT when RJ called me and told me the project was greenlit, but Savage had to buy new chamber reamers and some tooling to machine and build this relic. “Relic”! I will show them.
The build begins
With Savage on board and new tooling in place, we were starting with a clean slate. RJ asked me to spec out the rifle, and with some of his recommendations, we settled on the Model 12 LRPV as the base. I wanted this rifle to be muted and understated, so we agreed all parts to be finished in matte black. I also wanted to lengthen the barrel to 30 inches and thread it with a 1/2 x 26 thread. As they machine and manufacture their barrels, this was doable. After a few phone calls and emails, all the details were finalized, and now we wait. Surprisingly, once the ball was rolling, Savage built the rifle in only a few months. From being told yes to having it in my hands was less than a year. Some of that was my fault, as I was undecided on a number of things, such as twist and Savage having to secure some tooling.
Fresh off the gunsmith’s bench, my rifle is getting ready to ship. Notice to the left a similar rifle that Larry Case with Guns and Cornbread ordered, speced almost like mine.
When the rifle came, even the cardboard box was custom. I was so excited, but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Optics?
When I talked to RJ at SHOT, and he had a feeling this could happen, I made a beeline for the Nightforce booth. I was stepping out of my comfort zone and exploring new possibilities. I had an appointment with my new best friend Alex, though in all fairness, Alex had no idea what he was in for and did not know me from Adam’s housecat. We talked about Nightforce optics, and he educated me on what Nightforce is all about. I can say everyone was very professional and knowledgeable, and not one person openly mocked me when I brought up the Savage 220 Swift project. I told Alex what I was doing and what I wanted. I asked him if Nightforce was interested in lending a hand. He agreed, though probably because he was sure I was full of it and this would never happen.
Nightforce Atacr secured
However, to Alex’s credit, when I called him and told him Savage was building the rifle and I needed some “for real” optics, he got a Nightforce Atacr 7-35×56 F1 with a rail and rings in the mail to me. Now I am no stranger to precision rifles, but I have always used Leupold, as I have always viewed them as best. Trying a brand new to me system from Nightforce was a bit daunting to say the least, but once mounted, all my worries evaporated as I knew this was the exact right scope for the high-end precision rifle Savage and I were going for.
First Range Trip
Took the rifle out to Andrew’s, CEO of Barnes Precision Machine, proving grounds to break in the barrel and get it sighted in. If you are unfamiliar with how to break in a precision rifle’s barrel, follow this link to my article/video. As we were breaking in the barrel, we shot some 100-yard groups and easily held sub-half MOA with factory Remington 50-grain soft point. Once all that was done, I got some dope on the Atacr, and we began to print some respectable 500-yard groups with the same ammo. I was satisfied but mentally exhausted, so after Andrew, Chad, and I got all this done, we called it rawhide.
Second Range Trip
Back to the BPM proving grounds with a few boxes of Hornady 55-grain V-Max in 220 Swift, we set right out to get the 500-yard groups. As you can see in the above photo from the first three shots, two are nearly touching, and a third is about a thumb’s width away. This looked promising, and I was getting about eight inches less fall at 500 yards than the box called for. That 30-inch tube with a 1-in-9 twist was paying off. After some adjustments and letting the wind die down, we were able to print several three-shot inch-and-a-half groups at 500 yards.
The rifle turned out quite well. Coming in at close to seventeen pounds, outfitted at fifty-one inches long, before the B&T Print XH Hybrid 556 was added. B&T silencer reviewed here. The Savage Accutrigger broke clean at a pound and a half with no take-up and just enough overtravel for follow-through. The HS Precision fiberglass stock with V block held the action securely and firmly bedded in place. This is a single-shot, no-magazine, right-bolt, left-eject action. The right-bolt, left-eject is primarily for economy of motion. Instead of your right hand having to run the bolt and load the rifle, you are dividing up the tasks between hands. This aids in keeping your position when fielding the rifle. It also prevents brass from ejecting across you. With such a methodical setup, this rifle really forces you to immerse yourself in every aspect of shooting, from building your position to breaking the shot and following through. Think of this rifle as an exotic automobile. It requires a lot of care and maintenance and will punish hasty or poor techniques, but when tuned right and fed the right fuel, it is not only a head-turner but a true precision rifle that performs as one.
Conclusion
Savage builds some of the most accurate rifles straight from the box, and our recent tour only confirmed what many shooters already know. When the custom shop was tasked with resurrecting a hyper-accurate rifle in a caliber they abandoned decades ago, they rose to the challenge and delivered a superb precision tool. This rifle printing consistent inch-and-a-half groups at 500 yards with 55-grain factory ammunition is the very definition of precision—and we haven’t even begun handloading yet.
If you want a new precision rifle or want to push beyond factory performance, Savage is where you start. And if you want to take that even farther, their custom shop can make it happen. I couldn’t be happier with how both the rifle and the Nightforce optic turned out. Not inexpensive, but worth every penny
Acknowledgments
