Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 220 swift, 40 gr bullets

Anyone use a 40 grain bullet in a 220 swift for coyotes.
If so, what’s the load please.
I generally use a 50 gr BT in my swift, but wondering about a 40.
Don’t care about pelt damage.

Well, nobody answered, so I will. I use the Nosler 40 gr BT in my 223 but haven’t used it in my 220. I have thought about it, and that little bullet will drop a coyote in his tracks (my experience so far) at 3400ish FPS, so it should do at least that well at 4400 FPS. My problem is that whenever I take the 223 or 220 out in the back pastures for coyote, it never fails that I see pigs. So mostly I shoot the 65 gr Sierra GK in the 223 so I can deal with pigs a bit better, if they show up.

But, like you, my thoughts wander over to how flat that little bullet would shoot at 4400ish FPS. I really need to try it.

As for what powder and amount, I’ve found that if you shoot Nosler bullets, their recommended loads are usually about where I find my best loads.

I gave them a try in my swift but they did not shoot that well, all barrels are a bit different but with my current barrel it refuses to shoot well unless I have the bullet seated close to the lands. when the barrel was new it shot 50gr BT's awesome, any more I only shoot 55gr BT's out of it. my current barrel never shot 40's well

EPIC fhuqking humor!

Congratulations?

Laughing!.............

Thanks for the responses.
Must be more experts out there.

What rifle? What glass?..................

Rem 700, SS
Action trued, lugs lapped
Lilja SS sporter barrel, 26”
Mcmillan Sako hunter stock
Zeiss conquest 4.5-14x

Twist? Throat length?..............

40 grainers or any b.t. bullet out of our swifts blow bigger holes alot ,so the guys i go with outlawed them for our dog hunt use. i like and use 60 gr. Nosler Partitions holes are small on coyote hides so hides are worth much more.

What twist are you running? I run 40 BT's in my Rem 700 22-250 with the standard 12 twist and they are extremely accurate at around 4200 fps and do awful things to rock chucks and punch some pretty big holes in coyotes. I don't keep the pelts so it doesn't matter to me. Not sure what the Swift would like but my 22-250 likes Varget best by quite a bit over any other powder I tried. In fact I kind of found this load by accident but that is a story for another thread....

My 223 AI also likes them and they run around 3950 with a full load of H335 and equal accuracy to the 22-250.... I do find with both rifles that they like to be very close to the lands so I keep them about .005" back. If your throat is eroded this may be hard to do with these short little pills...

Bob

Thanks Bob,
Throat shud be fine, doubt there has been 200 rounds through the gun.
I believe it’s a 1:14 twist

I've barely had a dozen Swifts. Hint.

In an OEM 14" and for killing schit dead,I'd wanna drive the 50 V-Max at nearly 4000fps ala '15.

Hint.............

If you can get the 50's to shoot in it, that is the route I would go. I tried everything I could- 50's, 55's, Vmaxes, BT's, Sierrras, etc.... in my 700 22-250 and about to toss it in a river when I tried the 40 BT's and it shot them great. Even tried 40 Vmaxes and it wouldn't shoot them. Go figure.... In this arena Stick has shot about 100 times more than anyone else on this site so it is definitely worth buying a box and a lb of powder to try...

The secret I found with them is seating depth and getting close to the lands. If your throat is cut right you shouldn't have any problem...

Bob

Thanks guys
I’ve been shooting 50 and 52 grain bullets in multiple 220 Swift’s over the years. Yes they work, I know that.
Just was interested in trying 40s at about 4300 FPS.
And I’m shooting called coyotes, usually under 200 yards.
I don’t care about the hides.

50gr V-Max are your best ride.

Obviously...you've NEVER shot them.....................(grin)

Back in the late 1980s up until 2002, I was doing a lot of coyote control work in the northwest. Both trapping and hunting. I still have the old tang safety Ruger 77V 220 Swift I used back then. It's a 14 twist and wears a Redfield 12x. When the 40 grain Ballistic tips came out I tried them for coyotes. I loaded 43 grains of H414 and they ran 3950 out of my rifle. With a good chest shot they were instantly effective and fur damage was generally limited to a small 22 caliber entry wound. Coyotes dropped on the spot and stayed dropped. Bone hits tended to splash and leave giant entry wounds and weren't always immediately fatal. I shot a couple dozen coyotes with them and went back to the Sierra 55 grain and Speer 52 grain bullets.

I realize saving fur is not an issue for you. If you just want to make dead coyotes then I'd go with your 50 grain bullet. Many of the bullets available today weren't back then. It would be tempting to put together a fast twist Swift and use some of the heavy bullet offerings if I was doing control work again.

Not a .220 Swift,instead a .22/6mm loaded with the 40 grain Varmageddon. Like you my shots are 200 yards or less.

IIRC it was about 60-65 yards away looking at me.



About an hour later.


About 2-1/2 years ago.


The smaller coyote was shot in the head as it ran towards me about 75-100 yards.


The bigger one was about 175 yards away.

Wish I still had the pictures of it but I shot a coyote once with my .17 Remington w/25 grain hollow points. Hit him in the neck at about 200 yards and nearly decapitated him... others weren't nearly so decisive with the .17 but dead is dead....

Shot a few with the 223AI and 22-250 and results are usually pretty fatal at sane ranges from 100 yards out to about 400 or so. After that, they still kill but usually not as dramatically. Smaller wounds and they seem to just fall over or run a few feet before they realize they are dead. In the sagebrush they can be pretty crafty so you need to be able sometimes shoot the longer distances when they hang up to a call.... or sneak up on you...

Bob