My mate is going to shoot roe deer in Scotland and wants to know which is the best caliber to have.
I thought I would ask here as in Austrailia you can shoot deer with these calibers as far as I know.
He cant reload,(Irish law ) so factory ammo only.
Whats the best factory ammo for the swift and 22-250 for deer?
He is probably going to get a swift as its harder to licence a .22-250.
Would he be missing out, if he went for a Swift, instead of a .22-250?
Any info would be greatfull,
Thanks.

If it where me I would go for a .270 or a 30/06 bu thats me.........I won a 22/250 and there good for foxes etc. on bigger stuff shot placement is critical you really need to take brain shots.

Having shot varmints the size of roe deer I would avoid either cartridge if only factory loads are in the cards. The hyper velocity bullets are going to blow up a lot of that little critter. It's easy to write to shoot them in the head but it's not that easy to hit a animals head and who wants to look at that mess?

How about using a regular big game rifle? Just use a 308 Winchester with 180 gr bullets and you will have something left of the animal.

I read that they hunt them with the 222 Rem too. That would do less damage if there is varmint hunting there for the 222 or 223.

I just don't see getting a special gun for roe hunting unless it can be used elsewhere.

Thanks.
Unfortunatly, Anything above a .220 Swift is very hard to licence over here in Ireland.
So it would have to be ither a Swift or prehaps a .22-250.
Looks like he is going with the .220 Swift.
His question is, Is he going to loose much to the .22-250?
Thanks.

[You might need to use a full metal jacket bullet to get good penetration and avoid a bullet explosion on the outside of the animal.

Search for the factory ammo that's for sale in your area or the area where he will hunt. Select the cartridge that has the bullet choices that most match your requirements.

Just look at the heavier or "big game" bullets as both cartridges are excellent for varmints with any of their standard bullets.

I would check into the way "they" decide what is good and what is bad .
222 Remington and 223 Remington cartridges are way less powerfull than either the 220 swift or the 22-250 , yet the 222 or 223 would be more than adequate for a deer the size of a big dog.
Get a copy of the rules and then work back from there .There wont be much left to eat if you clobber a Roe deer bambi with a 220 Swift , just mush and a pink mist on everything.....

Which factory bullet is best for panetration?
Soft point or hallow point in the Swift?
He can get hold of Norma, which I think is soft point and Remington soft point, at present.
Is their any other factory ammo for the Swift?
Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Mik:
His question is, Is he going to loose much to the .22-250?
Thanks.

I use a 22-250 and have a friend with 220 swift.
Answer he is not going to lose to much by going 220 swift.
As far as I was aware the swift also uses a .224 bullet but shoots it faster.

As for bullet choice stay away from hollow points and fMJ's. The hollow points won't penetrate as well as soft points and fmj's won't expand resulting in wounding. FMJ perform very poorly on foxes.

I would shoot a deer in the neck with 55gn bullets and expect it to drop on the spot. Avoid target ammuntion though as the bullets may not be constructed well enough.

I currently use 55gn soft nose hornady's these bullets seem to perform very consistently and have good penetration.

Make sure the shot placement is good if restricted to .224 cal bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by Mik:
Is their any other factory ammo for the Swift?
Thanks.

Had a quick look on net to see what is available. Remington site I went to didn't have anything in 220 but your friend has seen them so they must exist.
The only ammunition I found was 50gn and less and designed for varmiting (220 & 22250 best suited application). Given the apparent limitation in ammo I would be concerned in 220 if he doesn't want to reload.
If he reloads everything gets easier as he can match the right bullets for his need.

Given that both are not ideal for chest shots on deer I would be strongly suggesting your friend go with something commonly used for Roe deer shooting in Scotland.

How are 243's, 2506 and 270's for registering?

If he really wants factory ammo in 224 cal then the 22250 will have more appropriate factory ammo available and in IMO not much difference in performance to 220.

The .220 Swift is faster than a 22/250 and a bit more exotic IMO.

Locally it would be impossible to get loaded ammo for a .220 Swift but easy for a .22/250. I have no idea how easy or hard it is to get factory ammo in either in Scotland or Ireland.

I shot a nice double rilfe where one barrel was in 5.6x50 mm Rimmed Magnum. The 5.6 x 50 mm was designed in Germany to be the minimum legal .22 for roe deer but is basically an extended .222 Magnum.

I have shot pigs, goats, roos etc with a .222 and it kills them fine enough but I would choose a 6.5mm (or a .243) or larger if I had the choice for pigs, goats, deer etc.

You may be able to source Hirtenberger factory ammo in whichever calibre. These load a 55gr Nosler Partition H dual core style bullet for roe deer. I shot them in the 5.6x50 and they were extremely accurate.

I think since then there are other premium bullets designed for deer. Barnes X i think are also made for the .22 but I don't know if they are loaded in factory ammo. Also try Norma factory ammo.

I think either a .22/250 or .220 swift will damage a lot of meat AND also possibly create shallow wounds at times as well.

Not a great deal of difference between a 22-250 or a 220 swift,the difference isn't worth worrying about.

If I wanted the meat I would not use either of those cartridges,my choice would be a 22 hornet or a 222/223.

Whatever you use see if you can get some barnesX bullets because at least then you will not have lead particles all through the meat

Thanks everyone for all the info.
He was in his local gun shop and they had some Norma ammo, so he is probably going to get that.
He has applied for the swift so should get that soon.
He is mainly going to use it for foxes and only the odd roe in Scotland.
If he was only getting it for foxes, he would of gone for a .204 like I did, but as he is going to shoot roe he has decided on a .220 swift.
At some stage he is going to try for a deer permit, which are a bit hard to get, but can be done, to shoot deer over here in Ireland.
If he can sacure a deer permit then he has the right to apply for a deer caliber, as the wildlife department over here dictates the minimum caliber for deer shooting is .243, using a 100 grain bullet.
He is going to try for a 6.5x55, as he thinks this is best suited.
Thanks again.

Mik ,
I've never shot or even seen a Roe deer (other than on the net) but have read that a buck weighs up to 30kg . This is less than half the weight of a large male kangaroo (boomer) .
I have shot literally hundreds of kangaroos with both my .22/250 and .220 Swift . A good 50gn Nosler Ballistic Tip through the heart / lung area invariably results in quick death . Neck shots are even better . I believe Winchester load the Combined Technology ballistic tips in their Supreme loads . These are the Nosler BT with a coating . Anyone who reckons these things blow up on light , thin skinned game should try standing in front of one to prove their point .
BTW , where did you get the idea that a Swift gives anything away to a .22/250 ? When loaded to similar pressure there is nothing you can load into a .22/250 that will equal the great Swift . The Swift case is stronger , has greater powder capacity and is less prone to stretching .

Thanks Bushchook,
My mate has got his swift and is amazed at the accuracy with the Norma factory ammo he got for it.
He is Planning his first trip to Scotland soon to shoot a few Roe and is looking farward to it.
Lucky bugger
That swift is awsome, he has the Ruger laminated target grey model, lovely looking bit of kit, Im tempted

Mik ,
The .220 Swift is my favourite cartridge .
One of the dumbest things I ever did was to sell my original Sako Swift (that I owned for over 20 years) to buy a Remington VSSF in .22/250 .
Like trading a classic Ferrari Dino on a Camaro really .
The .22/250 is now a .243 AI and shoots very well ... but it's not a Sako .
No Sako in the safe is a problem I'm about to rectify .

Mik, ive owned both,dont believe you can tell the difference in the field.220 needs more neck trimming& inside neck reaming.22-250 was a clayton nelson custom(74 Gun digest) & ikilled 11 deer,neck shots,up to 200yds& they dont move.that was w 55gr rem power lokts.nosler trophy bonded,barnes all make better bullets now you could have custom loaded.good hunting.