Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 220 swift or 25-06

What do u think would be a better dedicated calling rifle for coyotes? Why?

either one will work great for you if you've got a rifle that you're comfortable with... find a bullet that shoots well... hard to find one that won't kill coyotes very well...

truthfully, i think of both of these cartridges as long shot options, as opposed to calling rifle cartridges...
still, the 25-06 is what i will be doing the majority of my hunting with for a while... and that will include a bunch of calling....

i actually called a coyote into the yard yesterday evening... no safe shot presented... coyote gets a check on his training records...

If you don't want to sell fur, the 25/06 all the way.
Why? 'Cause within callin ranges you can hit them literally anywhere....it can get messy.

I'm a fur guy and a 22 40 grainer seems more friendly.

A 222 ain't so bad for calling, but its pretty close shooting here.

Why just those two? Why not a 22-250,.223,.222 or a .243?

I think it would have to be determined by the conditions that you hunt in. If you are hunting in areas that are wind protected like firebreaks through the woods and such, the Swift will have a flat trajectory and make hitting at distance easier. If you hunt somewhere windy, then the .25-06 with heavier bullets will leave the Swift in its wake, and still shoot very flat.

I got a dose of this when I went to Texas a few years ago with a .223. I bought a .243 after that.

I use my .25-06 for coyotes and mule deer. It's not fur friendly. Does a fine job of slamming the dogs though.

The smaller cartridges seem to leave the fur intact more often if that's what you want. Most of my 'yote hunting buddies use a .223 of one kind or another, the AR-15 being most popular.

FWIW, Guy

My 25/06 will blow a coyote to bits, it's a fine slaughter rifle, but you're not gonna like the end result if you expect to save the hides.

The 220 will not be legal for big game in most places, the 25/06 will be legal for big game everyplace I know of.

Coyote guns are in the 20-.22 dia range, bigger game in the .25 plus range. The 25/06 is certainly not a good fur cartridge. Actually it might be a stretch to find a cartridge that will make a bigger mess of one.

The trick to using the bigger guns (25/06 and such like my 6/06) is in your choice of bullets and where you place the dog gone things.

If you stay away from big bones on a yote (shoulder, spine, and the breast bone on a frontal shot) then there are a few bullets in a 25/06 that won't make much of a mess.

The 120 Sierra HPBT is a good one, as is the 100 TSX and Horn.

If one is really worried about pelts then either use a gun that's lots smaller and yet you still need to stay off those big bones.

I'e taken about a world supply of yotes with my 6/06 and some of the bullets really tear them up and some....do not. I use a 55 NBT for about 6 weeks a winter when it's pelt time and they're very user friendly.

Side note, there is such a tiny amount of people actually trying to make cheddar off of yotes pelts and that know how to care and handle them that talk about pelts and saving them is one of those incredibly over rated and over talked about things. Kind of like long range antelope rifles and what pistola should I carry in case I run into a bruin....grin


Dober

I agree with Dober in that the .25-06 doesn't necessarily HAVE to make a mess. About 2 weeks ago I shot 2 badgers within 24 hours. I shot both of them with a 100gr CL going 3300 fps. The first was a female that provided me with a frontal shot as she was staring at me from 40 yards away. When I fired she flipped over onto her back and didn't even flinch. There was a small bullet hole at the base of the neck and no exit.

The next was a larger male, who was about 30 yards away and quartering away from me. I shot him at the onside point of the shoulder, with the bullet angling forward towards the head. There was a .257" hole in the shoulder and about a 1.5 caliber sized hole under the offside eye-socket.

I'm sure that if had used a 75gr Vmax on that second badger I would have blown his head clean off.

It's all about bullet choice and placement when using the .25-06 on large varmints (and that pretty much covers every cartridge and every quarry, too ).

Since your choices were the Swift and the 25/06 I take it that you are shooting some longer ranges or are in a windy situation.

Let me tell you a short story, there was a guy in Texas named Harold Broughton. Harold was a Predator control officer for one of those small Texas counties for years. Later on in his life, he became involved in barrel making and Benchrest shooting.

Harold and his Wife shot the 220 Swift for 30+ years. In his later coyote shooting, he went to the 257 IMP which is a clone in ballistics to the 25/06. He said that the 100g Bullet clobbered those Texas yotes with authority at 500 and beyond whene the Swift seemed to give out around 450 yards.

Since Harold had killed over 5000 yotes, you could take what he said as gospel.

Hope this helps

For longer range work, or wind, I would go with the 1/4 bore.

I've never tried them, but the Barnes 90 grain solid always seemed like a heck of a bullet for coyotes out of a 25-06 if you're worried about hides.

The fact is, last winter coyotes were barely worth enough money to warrant skinning. So, I used a 270 with 100 grain Speer HPs. Exit wounds were LARGE. Twas an excellent way to practice with my big game hunting rifle.

Funny you should mention this, Harold built my 25/06!

Keith good info there.

I built a 6/06 just to do something a bit different from the 25 and have found it takes care of things mo betta at longer ranges (especially with the 95 NBT) and if the hits aren't quite right. And for me it's incredibly easy to not hit a yote quite hit a yote right past 300....

I've got several friends that do predator control work and it seems to me that they also use the Swifto and 25/06.

Dober

Wonder if Harold has ever launched a 75 out of the Swift...

They don't call it a Swift for nothing.

When I used to sell furs I killed a lot of coyotes with a 220 Swift. I never had to go look for one and the fur was always in good shape.

The 25-06 is also a fun long range coyote cartridge. Kills are impressive but you are going to have larger holes in your hides. I shot this bobcat last season with the 25-06 and 100 grain Ballistic Tip. The taxidermists says he can fix the hole.


I say the 220 Swift if you want to sell furs. The 25-06 if you don't.

I shot a coyote with a 25-06 and 90 gr Sierra HPBT in the neck once. It dropped at the shot.
I took it to a Taxidermist to sell it, and he thought it had been hit by a car, he saw no bullet hole at all. Being young and proud of myself I bragged that I had shot it, then the price went down.
whelennut

Steelhead, Harold and his wife shot an over load of IMR 4064 with the 52g Sierra BTHP.