220 swift for deer

White Eagle

New member
with all the talk here lately about using the 223 for deer would you all be as willing to take a 22o swift to the deer woods if you had one ?
it would seem to me that if the 223 is adequate then the 220 swift would be better yet although it has been tried and slammed down for deer hunting in its early days /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I have shot about 12-15 deer with my swift. One scored 188 5/8 (mule deer) Never had a problem one shot, one kill. Never lost one, but that was in open country. I would have to say if you are hunting in trees, not to use one. There is seldom a blood trail. If they don't go down right away, they are hard to track. I don't use it now for deer for that reason, and the land that I hunt on isn't very big and they could easily leave my land if they don't go down right away. With proper slugs and if I didn't have a choice, I would use it and just be extra careful about shot placement. Most likely a neck shot. There are better choices.
 
There can be differences in the bullets..... regardless of the cartridge they are fired out of... whether it is a 223, 222, 22-250, 220 swift, etc

better to use a bullet constructed for game if possible...Sierra makes a .224 65 gr bullet for game hunting
Nosler even makes a .224 partition i think 60 gr....also I think swift makes an .224 all copper bullet....

I know.... I know.... all kind of bullets have killed deer in all kinds of 22 cal rifles...... and will in the future...

but I would rather shoot at a deer with a 65 gr sierra game king than with a 40 gr v-max with an extremely thin jacket


I did not fully appreciate the differences in bullet construction until a few years ago.... and I am offering this in case there are other dummies like me...

R
 
It would depend on the twist rate of the rifle. If fast enough to stabilize a 62gr TSX or 60gr Partition (probably need 1-12 or faster methinks)I'd do it, but wouldn't be my first choice of caliber.......
 
No doubt it can do it. Just that bullet selection and shot placement is more critical than say an '06. A friend of mine is about to take his Swift out for Antelope this year. He's got a 300 Weatherby that he uses for big game but with a new business just starting up he doesn't have the time to get proficient with it. With the Swift and the 60 gr Partition, he's much more confident with it.
 
I am of the opinion that a 224 diameter no mater what the chamber is just to small to reliably take a deer sized animal all the time. Yes I have heard inumerable stories of folks cleanly takeing monster deer with the 223 ect. But in each of these cases the shot placement was exact, head or neck shots. Very few in the body and they always had to be tracked. As was said before the 224 diameter just will not leave much of a blood trail. That is my opinion and i am sticking to it. Minimum for deer is 24 cal and 85+ grain bullet
 
With the right bullet, I'd have no qualms with using the Swift for "most" deer hunting.

In Robert Ruark's "Horn of the Hunter" written in the early 1950's, he did some hunting in Africa using the Swift and the highly fragile bullets available at the time. With the fast expanding low penetrating bullets, he thought the Swift wasn't even fit for shooting woodchucks. The fragile bullets blew up on several critters. If I remember correctly, he shot a hyena at least 9 times before finishing it off with another rifle. Ruark and his guide quickly realized the bullets did not penetrate. But both condemmed the cartridge in the book.

Deer bullets made today for the .22 CF's are much better than the varmint bullets 50+ years ago. The old stories die hard though and many people can't get past them.
 
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I am of the opinion that a 224 diameter no mater what the chamber is just to small to reliably take a deer sized animal all the time. Yes I have heard inumerable stories of folks cleanly takeing monster deer with the 223 ect. But in each of these cases the shot placement was exact, head or neck shots. Very few in the body and they always had to be tracked. As was said before the 224 diameter just will not leave much of a blood trail. That is my opinion and i am sticking to it. Minimum for deer is 24 cal and 85+ grain bullet



Well said. I have to agree with you 100 percent.
 
blinddog, in the earlier thread about .223 and shooting deer, I asked you to relate your personal experience with shooting deer with the .22 CF's and you never did answer. I'm not trying to single you out, I want to hear your actual experience

Funny thing is I've shot quite a few deer with the 22/250 and NEVER had to shoot more than once and the tracking job was simply walking over to where the deer fell. Sure, a few took a few hops or made a 30 yard dash and tipped over, but all were shot in the chest region and penetration was great. As far as the precise shot placement thing, I simply wobbled the crosshairs across the chest and shot. No head shots, neck shots, spinal shots, or "exact placement" that many say is critical to killing a deer with a .22 CF. I must be lucky because whenever I put a 60 grain Partition somewhere through their lungs they die rather quickly.
 
Here in Hickville, a guy can kill 15 deer a year, but then again, who is counting?

I know of two guys that kill 10+ deer a year with a 22/250.
One of the guys shoots Rem 55g Factory loads, the other uses the 60g Partition.

The 60g Partition makes a bigger mess of a deer than a 30/06.

I have killed two does with a 223 loaded with 55g Sierra's (100 yard shots) and an antelope at 430 yards with the same load. All animals dropped in their tracks where they stood.
The shots were in the lungs on the back side of the front leg.

Mr. Ackley killed a lot of deer with a 220 Swift with the standard 45g Bullet, he prefered a neck or head shot.

Most of the guys that shoot their varmint rifles are extremely accurate shots with their guns, and the ability to place a shot is not an issue with these shooters.

The two guys here that love their 22/250's on deer claim that they can shoot the rifles better because of a lack of recoil that gives them more confidence in their shot. They both claim to be recoil sensitive, and the 22/250 is their answer. They both laugh at the mention of using a 30/06 on deer.

Now back to your bullet choice. I have shot up 5 boxes of the Nosler 60g partitions, they were shooting 1 1/2" groups in my Rem 700 with a 1-14 twist at 3400 fps with a darn near max load of IMR 4350. They may shoot extremely well in your swift at higher velocities. I don't think that the Sierra 65g will stabalize in a 1-14 twist. One thing that you can take to the bank is that the Sierra 63g Semi point will indeed stabalize in the 1-14 twist, they are unreal accurate also. A buddy killed a large Mt. Lion with the Ruger swift and the 63g Sierra, DRT at the gun's report.

If you can find any of the old nosler 60g Spt, they are tough, too tough to use on coyotes for sure...should be great on deer. The Sierra 60g Hp in 22 Caliber is another very tough bullet. Barnes makes a 53g Tripple shock that may stabalize in the 1-14 twist, call them to find out.

Good luck, and remember to take your time and place your shot or pass on the shot...there will be a next time!

Good luck!
 
Barnes recommends a 1-12 or faster twist for the 53gr TSX also.

Though I have heard reports of guys shooting them in 1-14 barrels with good results. Apparently "results may vary"......
 
Is a 243 with a 85gr bullet enough to kill a deer ALL the time? How about a 300 Win Mag with a 180gr bullet? Should we all be hunting with a .458 Lott?

Get your micrometer out and dial to .019. You may be surprised at how small that is. That’s the difference in what is acceptable to hunt with (.243) & what’s not (.224).

I have personally killed a pile of deer with .224 calibers. Never lost one. I've killed a BUNCH of deer with a 7mag, I've lost two with it. If the two I lost with the 7 would have came first, I'd think it was junk. Instead I think it is probobly one of if not the best deer killer. Have ya'll killed enough deer with the .224 to give it an honest rating??? Most nah sayers have never used one.

A poor shot is a poor shot; regardless caliber. A deer shot in the pouch is going to make a run for it. It may not be that far if you luck up & hit/wound the liver. Either way, he will eventually die, either from hemorrhaging or infection. Your right, if you shoot here (guts), it will be benificial to have a larger caliber.

Now if you can shoot a little more toward the front and hit the deer in the lungs, things are going to be better. Sometimes deer shot in the lungs (classic broadside shot) fall on the spot and but most times they run 20-80 yards (typically). This happens when shot with a .577 Tyrannosaur, 30/06, .221 Fireball, or an arrow, (heck even a sharp stick will work). When you poke a whole in the lungs, stuff dies!!! As Ack said earlier, I have seen smaller (usually faster) cartridges make a real mess inside, they just work.

Don't forget that shooting at bad angles also brings the need for more penetration that USUALLY, comes with larger calibers and/or tougher bullets.

The moral of the story, if you TAKE & MAKE good shots, the .22CF’s (with decent bullets) will work 100% of the time.

It amazes me that lots of people get upset at the thought of using a 22CF on deer because it doesn’t carry enough energy. Run the numbers. My bow shooting a 388gr arrow at 280 fps puts out enough "optimal game weight" energy to kill a 5lb animal /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. Don’t tell anyone that I'm that "undergunned" during early season, you'll get me banned.

The 22CF’s are not a marginal cartridge for deer. It's a bad caliber choice for marginal shot placement. There are better choices out there for quartering shots/bad angles when that one comes along and you don't want to pass.But they will work.
 
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