Barrel life is next to nothing and the shells were always hard to come by.
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I haven't heard that old wives tale in years!
I don't know what you consider nect to nothing but I have a Ruger M77 with tang safety that has over 2000 rounds through it and I have not seen the accuracy fall off yet.
You need to consider that the quality of metal in the barrels of today's guns is much better than what was used back when the Swift was new