In fact, the .220 Swift, .22-250 Remington, and .204 Ruger all have a very similar trajectory with the .220 and .22-250 requiring only a little more holdover than the little Ruger cartridge. 22 250 vs 223 vs 204 ruger vs 220 swift clash of the speed, terminal ballistics, shooterscalculator com ballistic trajectory calculator, 220 swift aussiehunter, metric ballistic chart hornady I like the 22/250 it has a tad more reach and downrange energy. 722 Cal 244 for coyote & Antelope. The .220 Swift is a semi-rimmed rifle cartridge developed by Winchester and introduced in 1935. As expected, each of the large bores turned the water jugs inside out in spectacular fashion – albeit with significant recoil (the .458 was the mildest, owing to the heavy weight of the stock and action). Though some of the differences between them are significant, the distinction between the cartridges in other areas may seem like splitting hairs at times. Delivers outstanding accuracy. Are you looking for an ideal cartridge to use in an AR-15 platform? Philip B. Sharpe said it best in his book The Complete Guide to Handloading (second revision of the third edition, p190 & 192): The .220 Swift was not as flexible as had been anticipated and performed best when loaded to approximately the full velocity…The Varminter case is amazing in that it permits the most flexible loading ever recorded with a single cartridge. With this in mind, the vast majority of .223 Remington factory loads shoot bullets in the 35-90 grain range. However, the .204 Ruger is in a completely different league from the others with less than half the recoil of the .220 Swift. Both the .22-250 and .220 Swift are very flat shooting, retain more kinetic energy, and have less wind drift than the .204 Ruger and .223 Remington. My use for these is the 204 Ruger is what my wife uses for high volume shooting. Due to the wide variety of semi-auto rifles and large supply of ammunition designed specifically for the task, the .223 Remington also has a major advantage here. For reasons that are unclear, Winchester chose the 6mm Lee Navy case as the parent for their new high velocity .22 caliber cartridge instead of the .250/3000 Savage. This means I will earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase. The reloader can equal or exceed most of these velocities and has access to a much greater selection of bullet weights, ranging from 40 grains to 60 grains. Here’s a look at three of the best. The .223 Remington is the only real choice here and there are countless good quality AR-15 style rifles chambered in .223 Remington or 5.56x45mm NATO. Especially considering that each cartridge tends to appeal to particular segments of the hunting and shooting communities that value different characteristics in a cartridge, the 22-250 vs 223 vs 204 Ruger vs 220 Swift debate can get pretty intense and tough to navigate at times. 22-250 … The .223 Remington lags behind the others, but it’s no slouch either. Had the factory mounts line bored to 26mm and fitted a Schmidt & Bender 12×42. During the late 1970’s shot more than 1000 foxes with this combination, done in a spotlight consistently in the head out to 200 yards (skins were bringing upto $60 each). This is particularly true when shooting a heavy barrel varmint rifle. The beauty of it is the low recoil means I can watch the impact, yet it still hits with enough force to pop both the eyes out of a fallow deer’s skull at 200 metres. The .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, and .22-250 Remington are all very easy to find in bolt-action hunting rifles like the Browning X-Bolt (223 & 22-250), CZ 527 (204 & 223), Mossberg Patriot (223 & 22-250), Remington 700, Ruger American, Ruger Hawkeye, Savage 110, Tikka T3x, and Weatherby Vanguard (223 & 22-250). After all, there’s a good reason why they are among the most popular centerfire small bore rifle cartridges in the country. While some hunters prefer using the larger .22 caliber centerfires on coyotes, it’s really just a matter of personal preference. Fantastic cartridge and not to be underrated! Over the years had two .17 rem, three .222 rem & a 22.250. Barlow. These will vary with barrel length of course. My rifle hates factory ammo. At this time, the .204 Ruger is the only cartridge in mass production using .204″ bullets, so bullets of that aren’t nearly as widespread. Later, Of these, 50 grain, 55 grain, 62 grain, and to a lesser extent, 75 and 77 grain bullet weights are most common. It also has has significantly less recoil than the .223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, and .220 Swift, which really says something because they are all mild shooting cartridges. And If NO then why ? Absolutely not. The Big Game Hunting Blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, and other Amazon stores worldwide. Barnes, Hornady, and Nosler manufacture .224″ TTSX, GMX, E-Tip, and Partition bullets and there’s nothing stopping handloaders from making custom loads using them. A .223 would have a velocity around 3100 to 3300 fps. The fact of the matter is that those lightweight bullets used by all four cartridges also have a relatively low ballistic coefficient, both of which make them more prone to wind drift than many other cartridges. Hunting . It didn’t take long at all for designers to start building even smaller bore cartridges with correspondingly higher muzzle velocities. I must however disagree with the point about not using these calibers on animals the size of red deer and elk. Vs. .243 Win. I have … Can you shoot a I also upgraded to a stainless fluted 26″barrel from Lija Precision Barrels. 6.5 Grendel vs 6.5 Creedmoor: Which 6.5 Cartridge Is Right For You? For simplicity lets say you were using a 55 gr bullet in each of the three. It should also be st… They’re followed by the .204 Ruger and the .220 Swift. The quest for ever increasing velocity is not a new phenomenon and really picked up steam during the early 20th Century when the widespread adoption of smokeless powder opened up a whole new world for cartridge designers. The .220 Swift has a smaller but fervent following, yet the .22-250 Remington is undoubtedly the more popular, and maybe for reasons that include more than marketing. Next, the .204 Ruger and .223 Remington both have a maximum overall length of 2.26″ which is shorter than the 2.35″ length of the .22-250 Remington and the 2.68″ long .220 Swift. Großvaters Erbe. Az Adatvédelmi irányelvek közt és a Cookie-szabályzatban olvashat bővebben arról, hogyan használjuk fel adatait. All of these factory velocities were taken in 24" barrels. The Varminter was also much more versatile than the Swift. Like the .223 Remington, the .204 Ruger is also descended from the .222 Remington. After many trips to the Dakota’s prairie dog hunting and many many round’s fired through the Swift it was time for a new barrel. Also consider a 223 if you are within the 400 yd parameter, they have less recoil, burn less powder, cheaper brass and longer barrel life (5000-8000 rounds) drover . They also aren’t rare by any stretch of the imagination either and there are some good quality bullets to choose from. In this article, I’m going to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the 22-250 vs 223 vs 204 Ruger vs 220 Swift in order to give you the information necessary to choose the right one for your needs. The Swift's high-velocity performance comes at a price, Due to the cartridge being over capacity for the bore diameter and the extreme velocity of the projectiles Throat erosion is a common problem. Ha engedélyezi a Verizon Media és partnerei részére, hogy feldolgozzák az Ön személyes adatait, válassza a(z) Elfogadom lehetőséget, ha pedig további tájékoztatást szeretne, vagy kezelné adatvédelmi lehetőségeit, akkor válassza a(z) Beállítások kezelése lehetőséget. Posted By: flightnurse 220 swift vs. 223 wssm - 08/03/03. Választásait bármikor módosíthatja az Adatvédelmi lehetőségek oldalon. 10 shots off the roof of the ute (no benchrest – practical field shooting) at 100 metres you could cover with your thumb nail. Yes the 22-250 is harder on a barrel, but it would take a lot of shooting, and I mean a lot to burn one out. The .204 Ruger and .220 Swift data was obtained using 26″ barrels while the .223 Remington and .22-250 Remington used a 24″ barrel length. However, each one has different strengths and weaknesses. Swift for 16 years, and it is an impressive gun, particularly for prarie dogs, rock chucks and coyotes. i want a 22 cal. On the other hand, the .223 has the most wind drift and most arching trajectory of the four cartridges when using 55gr bullets. That being said, the advent of better quality bullets has made the .22 caliber centerfires much more effective big game hunting than they used to be. The .223 Remington wins hands down here since it’s arguably the easiest to find and least expensive centerfire cartridge in the United States. Winchester released their new cartridge in 1935 as the .220 Winchester Swift. I think the only part that would have been left of a prairie dog would have been the pawprints. Remington's factory loads for the .220 Swift include a 50 grain PSP bullet at a MV of 3780 fps and a 50 grain V-Max boat-tail bullet, also at 3780 fps. Both cartridges have substantially less wind drift than the .204 Ruger and .223 Remington. The .220 Swift was also available for a short period of time in the Winchester Model 54 rifle. It was an amazing tack driver, but the most surprising result was the devastation wrought by the bullet. As a full time professional kangaroo and wild game harvester I go through quite a lot of ammo – I field dress and sell anywhere between 100 and 140 kangaroo, deer and boar a week. Glad you enjoyed the article! I would go with either the 22-250 or .223. Finally, they all have different SAAMI maximum average pressure levels: 55,000psi for the .223 Remington, 57,500psi for the .204 Ruger, 62,000psi for the .220 Swift, and 65,000psi for the .22-250 Remington. #I would like to know which of the following calibres is recommended for #best accuracy with the longest range? Modern metallurgy and cryogenic treatment have vastly improved barrel life with the .220 Swift and other 4,000 ft/s (1,200 m/s) cartridges, although weapons firing these cartridges still usually require rechambering or rebarreling much sooner than those firing lower-velocity cartridges such as the .222 Remington and the .… In addition to the impressive external ballistics of the cartridge, the .220 Swift also exhibited devastating terminal performance on small game like woodchucks/groundhogs, prairie dogs, coyotes, foxes, etc. At this time, I’m only aware of one rifle currently manufactured in .220 Swift: the Remington Model 700 Varmint SF. Do you want a cartridge ideal for hunting big game like feral hogs and deer? My best load so far with the new barrel is a 60 Grn. A(z) Yahoo a Verizon Media része. In that case, the only thing really stopping a handloader from building a good deer hunting load for the .22-250 or the .220 Swift would be the rifle itself, which may or may not accurately shoot those bullets. While that essentially negates the old barrel-burner issue, it also nearly removes … In particular, AR-15 style rifles like those made by Bushmaster, CMMG, Daniel Defense, DPMS, Noveske, and Wilson Combat, are extremely common with the .223 Remington. A 220 swift around 3700-3800 fps. Particularly interesting observations on the .22-250 and its versatility. On the downside, the .204 Ruger is indeed more vulnerable to wind drift than the .22-250 and .220 Swift (but not the .223) and does not retain energy nearly as well as the others. It was particularly effective as a varmint round where its flat trajectory, great resistance to wind drift, and exceptional accuracy were useful. The ideal coyote hunting cartridge is flat shooting, highly accurate, and won’t ruin pelts. Of course, I critically weighed every charge, and was very careful in prepping the cases. Fitted a Timney trigger. When I had a gunsmith do mine, it didn't cost much, the finish on the barrel & action matched, and on a Remington 700 even a long action feeds the swift great. John. All 3 are fun to shoot and challenging to find a specific load that works best in each one. At one time, Ruger produced both their No. The rifle has been tricked up a bit with an aftermarket trigger and a glass bedded thumb hole stock and shoots like a dream. It’s quite interesting to to see facts on velocities and trajectories rather than the rifle owners biased opinion about “my gun shoots better and further than yours” story. Those are both among the fastest commercially available loads available in any caliber. I load the Swift at about 3,700 fps and at this loading the Swift is operating at very low pressure as compared to loading the 22-250 at the same velocity. The .228 was no more successful than the .220 and soon became obsolete. It sounds like you and I are both in agreement that there are many other cartridges better suited for taking those shots on big game animals than the smaller .22 caliber cartridges as well. While all three other cartridges are virtually non-existent in semi-automatic rifles, the .223 Remington is extremely popular in semi-auto platforms. This results in a cartridge with even less recoil and report, but with a much higher velocity. However, the tiny bullets used by the .204 Ruger do not retain energy very well and have a paltry 257 ft-lbs of energy remaining at 500 yards. #Subject: .222 vs .223 vs .22-250 vs .220 swift vs .243 for Range/Accuracy #Date: 1 Aug 1994 17:53:02 -0400. Nosler Accubonds and match bullets probably the best. I decided to go to a faster twist 1:12 vs 1:14 which original factory was. Regulations are designed to preclude experimentation with less than suitable calibers. They’re all also available in a wide variety of plain old soft point bullets from a variety of manufacturers. The .224″ bullets used by the .223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, and .220 Swift are also used by their Ackley Improved cousins as well as other cartridges like the .218 Bee, the .219 Zipper, the .221 Fireball, the 22 Creedmoor, the .22 PPC, the .222 Remington Magnum, the .223 WSSM, the .224 Valkyrie, and the .224 Weatherby Magnum. I bought a Ruger 77 in .220 back in the ’70’s. Specifically, the table shows a 32 gr V-Max (.210 BC) in .204 Ruger and 55 gr V-Max (.255 BC) loads in .223 Remington and .22-250 Remington. I too purchased a 220 Swift in the 70’s. This bullet grains range from 40 gr to 60 gr, and its speed ranges between 3,600 on the 60gr and 4,200 fps on the 40 gr. However, the .22-250 and .220 Swift each have significantly more case capacity than the .204 and .223. The .204 Ruger is also known for outstanding accuracy and spectacular performance on small varmints. After considerable testing I love the fur friendly performance and accuracy. However, since the differences between them (22-250 vs 223 vs 204 Ruger vs 220 Swift) are pretty big in certain areas, there are definite advantages to using one over the others in various situations. Similar to the case with ammunition, rifles chambered in .223 Remington are the most common, followed by the .22-250, the .204 Ruger, and finally the .220 Swift. Well done. p.s. By Ron Spomer. So, there’s a plethora of good quality bullets available to choose. thanks in advance. Do not try to shoot 5.56 in a 22-250. Especially when shooters allow their barrels to properly cool between shot strings, barrel life is not nearly as big of a concern as it was in past decades. My hand loads running a 39gn Sierra blitzking on 26.5gn of ADI AR2206H will consistently shoot under .5 moa 5 shot groups at 100 metres. Good luck with your .220 Swift! Case capacities for the .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, and .220 Swift were obtained from Nosler. Great article. bullet, IMR,Hodgdon,and Winchester powders, selected all powders. Since they’re both descended from the .222 Remington cartridge, the .204 Ruger and .223 Remington both are rimless cartridges with a .378″ (9.6mm) rim diameter. Among others, the Barnes Varmint Grenade, the Berger Varmint HP, the Hornady NTX and V-Max, the Nosler Ballistic Tip and Varmageddon, and the Remington AccuTip V are available in .204 caliber bullets. The .220 Swift is another old-timer, and if not for the popularity of the .22-250 wildcat during the '30s, it might never have been developed. If you want the fastest horse out the gate. I believe that for a competant marksman these smaller .22 calibres do the job admireably. To get that tack driving accuracy I believe you must work up a handload for the Swift. When combined with lighter, smaller diameter bullets, new cartridges using smokeless propellant like the 7mm Mauser, .30-40 Krag, and .30-06 Springfield led the way out of the black powder era and offered massive increases in velocity over common black powder cartridges of the day like the .38-55 Winchester, the .44-40 Winchester, and the .45-70 Government. The .223 Remington falls more or less in the middle: it has less recoil and retains less kinetic energy than the .22-250 and .220 Swift, but more than the .204 Ruger. The secret of the .220 swift as a varmint rifle I have liked the .220 swift more than my 22-250 for the following reasons. Make sure you follow The Big Game Hunting Blog on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, andYouTube. Even though Winchester opted not to utilize the .250 Savage as the basis for the .220 Swift, many wildcatters continued to neck the Savage case down to .22 caliber over the ensuing decades. Are you looking for a cartridge with lots of inexpensive ammo for general plinking or target shooting? Not surprisingly, the resulting cartridge was capable of even higher velocities than its parent and Wotkyns submitted his brainchild to Winchester for commercial development. It’s also available in the Ruger Mini-Fourteen. Sako and Savage (among other companies) manufactured rifles in .220 Swift as well. The table below compares the recoil produced by those cartridges when fired from 8.5 pound varmint rifles: a Remington Model 700 SPS Varmint for the .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, and .22-250 Remington and a Model 700 Varmint SF for the .220 Swift. The .220 Swift typically uses bullets in the 40-60 grain range while the .22-250 usually shoots 35-64 grain bullets. The .223 Remington has a slight edge here because rifles chambered in that cartridge typically have a faster rifling twist that enables them to accurately shoot longer, higher BC bullets than the rest. Since most rifles chambered in .22-250 Remington and .220 Swift have 1:14″ rifling twists, they have trouble stabilizing heavier bullets. Fishing. Bedded the action and floated the barrel. Arz [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons When looking at the .22LR vs .223, the truth is that the .223 is, in fact, a .22 caliber round.While the media loves to portray this as a ‘huge assault bullet’ and only meant for use in warfare, the truth is that a .223 round is a relatively small and not particularly powerful. The M77 swift is still the go to. So needless to say your article caught my eye when you were comparing these different calibers. Weatherby's next cartridge, the .228 Weatherby magnum was based on a shortened version of the .300 Holland and Holland magnum necked down to accept a 70 grain .224 caliber bullet. The .220 Swift is a semi-rimmed rifle cartridge developed by Winchester and introduced in 1935. The 220 Swift I have no experience with yet. I’ve owned rifles chambered in .223 for years and have found it to be a very versatile cartridge and a pleasure to shoot. I like shooting the heavier grain bullet for windy days in the Dakota’s. Handloaders can wring a tiny bit more performance out of the .220 Swift, but there’s a much better selection of rifles and factory ammo with the .22-250. In my experience, the 220 leaves the 17’s for dead in windy conditions. Of the group, the .204 Ruger has by far the mildest recoil and is excellent for hunters and/or shooters who want to observe bullet impact through their rifle scope. Though Winchester attempted to phase the .220 Swift out back in 1964 and replace it with the .225 Winchester (.225 Win), the Swift is still hanging around. ZAMÓWIENIA POWYŻEJ 400 PLN, PRZESYŁKA NA TERENIE EU GRATIS; Language/Sprache/Lingua: It consistently will shoot .65 MOA 5 shot groups at 100 yds. Furthermore, those loads achieve that performance with virtually no recoil and while burning significantly less powder than the .22-250 and .220 Swift. Like anything it is up to the skill of the shooter to place his shots so the animal is killed quickly and humanely, Thanks for your comment Norris. We’ll discuss those last two points in more detail alter in the article. The calibres were 30.06 , .270, .308 and I used a .22/50. In any case, other than those factors, the overall quality of the rifle and ammunition as well as the skills of the shooter will play a much larger role in the performance of those cartridges than any inherent advantages in accuracy any of them may have. The .220 Swift also initially gained a reputation as a barrel-burner, which further limited the appeal of the cartridge. The other three cartridges use Hornady factory loads. The .204 Ruger is not well suited for big game hunting at all. Respect the animal! Browning even took the unusual step of manufacturing rifles chambered the cartridge while it was still a wildcat. Very good article. The 223 is more common in semi auto's and is more common for plinking and target shooting, but there are a lot of varmint hunters that use it. As you can see the 22-250 and 220 swift are close to the same. Finished up with a load of 52 grain Sierra HPBT, Vhitavouri large rifle magnum primers, 36.5 grains 3031 in Norma brass. The US Military was searching for a replacement for the relatively new M-14 rifle and 7.62x51mm cartridge during that same general timeframe. All four loads used a 200 yard zero. As I referenced earlier in the article, the .220 Swift performs best at near maximum velocity. Hornady V-Max using IMR 4064 powder. I was anxious to try handloading, and found a very hot load to be used with HPSpBT match bullets that I took out to the range. This is particularly true with the .204 Ruger, which requires just over 4″ of holdover at 300 yards with a 200 yard zero. Use this load at your own risk. The results are that case life is far longer and trimming far less necessary than with the 22-250 at the same velocity. Finally, they all have different SAAMI maximum average pressure levels: 55,000psi for the .223 Remington, 57,500psi for the .204 Ruger, 62,000psi for the .220 Swift, and … On the other hand, the .22-250 Remington is a larger rimless cartridge with a .473″ (12mm) rim diameter and the .220 Swift is a semi-rimmed cartridge that also has a .473″ (12mm) rim diameter. As you’d likely expect from looking the cartridges themselves, there are some significant differences in the ballistics of the cartridges. The .204 Ruger, .223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, and .220 Swift are all excellent varmint cartridges. The .204 Ruger is especially great for small creatures like prairie dogs and foxes, though it will certainly do the job on coyotes as well. John, Great article, great comparisons. Prices and availability vary from region to region, but the .223 Remington is by far the most common and least expensive.