.220 Swift for Muntjac and CWD

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KaramojoBell

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Looking to add a Centrefire .220 Swift to fill the gap between my .17 HMR and 30-06.
Mainly for Fox but would be useful as a secondary rifle for the small legal deer in England/Wales. Obviously there are several other calibres .223,.222,22-250 that would be quite capable but I'm impressed with the ballistics on the Swift and it's heritage and history.
I'm a keen and experienced hand-loader and can source brass and die sets so ammunition availability doesn't really concern me.
To any existing shooters of the swift, I was wondering how much meat damage there was with a high velocity projectile? I was thinking 70grn bullets for deer, would that give enough penetration and reduce fragmentation?
Any information and advice on the Swift would be gratefully appreciated, thankyou.
 
I like my 220 and use it on roe. You'll get a fair bit of carcass damage with the high velocity, but no worse than my 270. You'll also be limited with the bullets you can shoot with 1:14" barrels - I favour a 50gr Barnes TTSX with plastic tip removed. Very similar to the 22-250.
 
No experience of the Swift, but I did use a 22 Max back in 90’s. It was a wildcat based on the 243 case blown own and necked down, shooting a 60gn ballistic tip bullet at 4,000 ish fps. Lazerlike to shoot. MPB range on crow sized targets was 300m. Terminal effect was explosive. Shot plenty of deer with it. Head shots only - no need for a knife to remove to the head.

Foxes - just turned them into soup

If you use a tougher monolithic type bullet, rather than a ballistic tip Varmint type, i would expect the damage to much more acceptable, although you probably want to avoid close range shots.

The 22 Swift did get a reputation of bullet blow up. Much more to do with the bullet type than the cartridge.

If you are having one built do think about twist rate so more suitable for monolithic type bullets. The velocity will help as you will get faster spin, but traditionally I think the swift has a quite slow twist rate.
 
For the smaller species of deer your climbing up the wrong tree ! 243 will do all it does and more however 222 , 223 are far the better choice 22-250 is basically the Swift in terms of bullets and velocity
Carcass damage is going to be high unless you slow down the swift and the 22-250 is far better to download to your needs as required , saving barrel life when you really dont need the speed it can even get down into 22 hornet velocities
 
I bought a swift very recently with a standard 1:14 twist. The history of the swift, and it sending 40gr vmax at mid 4000fps - what’s not to like. Following takboks point above, I’ve pulled the tips on 50gr TTSX as I think theyll be superb on roe.

But the plan is to have fun shooting out the barrel and then rebuild for 80gr 🤫

Get one if you fancy one. Had a 243, it did the job fine. Now I’ve a swift which also does the job fine. A bit harsh on the rabbits - pink mist and no need to pick up afterwards……
 
KaramojoBell said:
Looking to add a Centrefire .220 Swift to fill the gap between my .17 HMR and 30-06.
Mainly for Fox but would be useful as a secondary rifle for the small legal deer in England/Wales. Obviously there are several other calibres .223,.222,22-250 that would be quite capable but I'm impressed with the ballistics on the Swift and it's heritage and history.
I'm a keen and experienced hand-loader and can source brass and die sets so ammunition availability doesn't really concern me.
To any existing shooters of the swift, I was wondering how much meat damage there was with a high velocity projectile? I was thinking 70grn bullets for deer, would that give enough penetration and reduce fragmentation?
Any information and advice on the Swift would be gratefully appreciated, thankyou.
Click to expand...
One other thought - 25-06 and 100gr TTSX is a future-proof marriage made in heaven and might span well between your calibres? Not trying to deflect you from the swift, you’d just need a tighter twist barrel to run the heavies - which is a superb solution all by itself. I’m planning a 7 twist next for that very reason.
 
I use both 223 and 22-250 on muntjac and CWD.

I use the 223 in thicker woodland where short range snappy shots or from high seats in known locations are order of the day, soon to have NV on it. 22-250 is preferred in open areas and is a laser beam.

I just dont see the ‘horrendous damage’ people talk about, and that is using vmax 55 gn on neck shots and sierra 1390s.

When its barrel needs replacing ill get a faster twist but just enough to stabilise 75gn.
 
what appeals to me about the likes of the 223 etc is the fact it can be had in a smaller action , it burns less powder so cheaper / longer barrel life . if built on the dedicated 223 actioned rifle and the barrel cut back with a smaller moderator its fast to aim freehand and light to carry . 222 has much of the same features
22 swift ? not for me especially shooting 70 grain as the 243 win can do that and more as well as the 55 grain stuff or switch up to 95/100 grain
its good guys re-visit the past though , look at 6.5 creed against 260 rem or 260 ack . 6mm creed against 243 ? win but then there is the 22-250 v swift ( sometimes a cartridge doesn't need to be better just different will do)
love to see how it all pans out
 
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