The first deer I ever took was with my grandpas M77 .220 Swift. It was a cold, foggy morning that turned to snow in a hurry and we were out early in the morning checking the cows. The deer was bedded across a small draw and the fog lifted and grandpa looked at me and said “do you think you can hit him?” The deer stood up and I touched of that rifle and the deer took off like a shot, ran straight into a small pile of buck brush. He was dead before he hit the brush but I’ll never forget how he dove into that brush breaking off branches that were 2” in diameter. I own three .220 swifts today, Grandpas M77, a Ruger #1 that likes the 60 grainers like Pete53 refer to above and a Rem 700 Classic. Working on a fourth at the moment, had the itch to build a fast twist .220 swift. Currently have a 1:8 twist barrel at my local gunsmith waiting for find a donor action to put it on.
