Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints .220 Swift and coyote bullets

I do my coyote calling with a couple of .220 Swifts. Still experimenting with different bullets. For those of you with lots of experience shooting coyotes with a Swift, has there been one bullet that you've settled on? thanks much.

Not a swift but a 22-250 and use 52gr Speer FB HP's.

What are you twisted?

If twisted tight, the 50gr Vmax has served me very well...but a 69gr TMK is the berries if you can spin it.

No Swift here...but a 22 Creedmoor running swiftish speeds.

I have a 12" twist. Sometime back I thought I'd read some fellow who sounded like he had lots of Swift experience on coyotes: thought he mentioned a 55 gr. Sierra, but can't remember which one. I've used 50 gr. Nosler BT and today a 60gr. Hornady, but want to hear from others with lots of Swift experience. thanks

55 grain Ballistic Tip or a 55 grain Gameking SPBT.

If it doesn't like a 55 grain bullet try a 50 grain Ballistic Tip.

50 grain blitz is a dandy. Tough, accurate bugger, holds up to moderate Swift speeds, but never pushed em past 3800.
50 BT or BK will also serve you well they are accurate, hold together and do their job even at pedal to the metal speed.
52’s while match do work in a pinch, the 52 Speer is a good one.
55 Just stay away from fmj. Nosler, Sierra and Speer make a good 55 but with my Swift it was partial to the BK, BT’s were good also.

Any above suggested will do depending on pelt hunter or just whack em, unless your coyotes are the armor plated variety.

I shot a few truckloads of coyotes with a Swift and this bullet when I lived in Eastern Washington. Very few exits. Very quick kills.

I use what 10gaugemag uses, the 55 gr BT and Sierra GK. If I ever run out of them, I might switch to the 40 gr BTs at 4300 fps or so. Laser beam…

That 40 gr BT out of my 223 is an amazing terminator on coyotes. Lord knows what it’ll do at 800 fps faster.

My current Swift I use H4895 and 50 gr. Sierra BK.. For a long time, I killed more coyotes with fewer misses with that Swift.. Still have it and love it..

i use 60 gr. Nosler Partitions in my 1 -10 twist rifle but try them they might work fine in your rifle ? very little pelt damage in and then out 2 smalls holes.

thanks all for sharing.

I used 50 ballistic tips and 52 Bergers on coyotes in my 220 swift.

My swifts have all had 1-14" twist barrels. Mostly didn't like 55s. Most of my Swift shooting has been with the 50 grain ballistic tip. It is vicious.

Id say + 1 on this, and Ive also used 50 Gr NBTs with good success...both are usually fur friendly.

In Az, I hunted in an area with Lions, and tracks were frequent.

55g Sierra sp flat base and the 55g BTHP are awesome with 43-43.5g of AA2700 in a Rem case with a rem 9 1/2 primer.

Legendary barrel maker, benchrest shooter, and County Trapper in Texas, Harold broughton told me he had killed 5000 with his various swifts with 52g Sierra bthp, and in his last years had switched to a 257 AI with 100g Ballistic tips for those yotes that would hang up at 500 yards. His wife was still shooting a swift with the sierra 52's when I last saw them.

AA2700 is one of the very coolest burning powders on the market today, and this extends the barrel life considerably in cartridges it is shot in.

I killed a lot of coyotes with Ruger 77's with a load of 44.5g of AA2700 with the 50g Sierra spt, high velocity....heck of a job.

I shot 50g ballistic tips for a while. I shot a coyote in the head at 325 yds as he looked over the top of the bush at me callling. The bullet hit right up above his left eye and did not go though the skull, and then I switched to the 55g ballistic tip after that.

Note, several powders eat barrels in the 220 Swift, IMR 4064 and H4895. I shot the barrels out of two Ruger 77's, two Rem 700's, and two Savage 112 J single shots. Most were shot with IMR 4064 because that is what worked so well. H380 also worked very well and gives some additional barrel life over 4064 and 4895.

We shot a heck of a lot of jack rabbits, rock Chucks, with the swifts where shooting was hot and heavy.

For those having trouble with 55's in a 14T, the Sierra 55g Spt and the 55g BTHP is your answer as they are very jump tolerant.

As the leade gets shot out, go to a 55g Sierra semi point, then a Sierra 63g Semi point in your 14T for amazing accuracy. If you can find any 55g Sierra semi points, buy all you can get because they are as accurate as Berger bullets and will jump nearly .100 and still shoot bug holes.

I shot the 63's at 3600 when the throats looked torched with 1/2" accuracy which is great for predator hunting.

No swift experience here but a pretty fair amount with a 22-250. For me, a 50BT is my favorite. I load them to 3800+fps. Shoot flat, don’t splash and usually blow to pieces inside the coyote leaving only a very small exit where the solid base pokes through. Last year I used a different 22-250 and it like 55BT better…. I couldn’t really tell much difference but haven’t used it enough to say it’s better or worse than the 50BT. I’ve seen too many vmax blow huge holes in them going in…. I’d stay away from them unless you dont care about saving the hides.

Like Keith said, I also finally went to the Sierra 63 gr SMP in my 220 when the lands got further away in the first barrel. An amazingly accurate bullet.

My first ground hog rifle was a borrowed 220 swift ( pre-64 M-70), the owner taught me how to reload. The loads was IMR-4320and a Sierra 52 grain HPBT. All the ground hogs died.

My brother bought a Ruger M-77 varmint heavy barrel with the tang safety and the same powder and bullet shot
lights out in his Ruger. Dang the rifle would shoot. The 220 Swift is a much under appreciated cartridge.

My first ground hog rifle was a borrowed 220 swift ( pre-64 M-70), the owner taught me how to reload. The loads was IMR-4320and a Sierra 52 grain HPBT. All the ground hogs died.

My brother bought a Ruger M-77 varmint heavy barrel with the tang safety and the same powder and bullet shot
lights out in his Ruger. Dang the rifle would shoot. The 220 Swift is a much under appreciated cartridge.

Mine was a pre-64. 14" twist. Most coyotes were 40 grain vmax or 50 grain blitzking. Would not stabilize 55 grain plastic to bullets. Best bullets i ever used were 55 grain Sisk soft points. Sadly I've been out for years