220 Swift Vs .223

[John Lewis 11]

Ive been meaning to add a photo for some time now.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2014 by John Lewis

[charlie caller 3,654]

So how does she shoot, and have you had a charlie with it?

[John Lewis 11]

It shoots very well, The first night out i wasn't happy with the stock fit to myself so spent an afternoon building up a comb using pipe insulation, Once finished i then covered it with a neoprene sock so doesn't look ghastly. No every time i line up a shot i know my head is in the same position and im not holding my head up to look through the scope.

 

I have taken 7 shots with this at fox's and 6 have rolled over on the spot. Not 100% i know but you cant win them all.

[charlie caller 3,654]

Good 6 out of 7 is a good start, the man who says he has never missed one is either a lier or he has never been out foxing

[FreshFace 2]

I use a 220 Swift Ackley Imp, so I'm slightly biased but I think you made an awesome choice.

On the factory ammo front I believe Norma do some, make sure you save the brass for when you reload or even sell to help fund the next lot of factory loads.

[DeerhoundLurcherMan 997]

Well after shooting my .223 and Johns .220 swift at least once a week since September we have accounted for 45 foxes so far...Two different nights have seen 10 in the bag, one night of 5 and the rest 2s 3s and a few 4s,

 

To anyone reading this and wanted to hear an account of the differences between the two calibres from someone who has shot both and zeroed both side by side, here it is...

 

The swift is noticeably faster and shoots much flatter than the .223, with both rifles using 55grn rounds, zeroed an inch high at 100m, the swift is bang on bullseye at 200 whereas the .223 drops 4 inches low...

 

The vast majority of our shooting is between 50 and 150m so it doest matter at all. I just have to give a couple of inches when pushing out to 200, but john can just point and shoot out to 250 .I have shot one at 280m with the .223 and head shot one last high on a chicken farm at 160m so once you know you rifle and ammo, unless you need to shoot to 300m regularly neither are better than the other.

 

Our local gun shop doest stock swift ammo so has to be ordered which can be a pain, but obviously we don't get that problem with the .223. The swift is a little louder and kicks a bit harder even with a wood stock and heavy barrel. Which at first John struggled to see the bullet hit home but soon got comfortable shooting the cannon and now sees then go over...

 

Finally, the foxes don't seem to mind what they are shot with...

[ZacB 114]

10/10 for thread, interesting read from start to finish.

[slipper 116]

Good read mate the 223 shoots a bit flatter with the 40 grainers which is what I use, but like you said once you find the best ammo your rifle likes it doesn't matter

[DeerhoundLurcherMan 997]

Good read mate the 223 shoots a bit flatter with the 40 grainers which is what I use, but like you said once you find the best ammo your rifle likes it doesn't matter

Thanks slipper, I tried the 40s but to be honest we are sub 200m 99% of the time as we struggle to ID them past that distance on the lamp... So if all I have to worry about is a 4 inch drop at 200m, I'm happy with that. The 55grn vmax have served me well so far... Point and shoot to 150ish with an inch high zero at 100m...

[John Lewis 11]

Nice write up there Jim, and couldn't agree more.

 

Due to the nature of our shooting i would agree that a .223 is sufficient and had you not had one i certainly would have. Having said that the .220 Swift is awesome. I used to be in to my Carp fishing big time and was a self confessing "tackle tart" Hence the nice wood, bling mounts and S&B scope. I also love that when ever i mention i shoot a swift it perks peoples ears up, after all i like being different.

 

The fox shooting has been out of this world to be frank.. Since 12th September to date we have bagged a confirmed 50 Fox's between us and are forever evolving our technique. We would like to add a four more on however if we cant find them we don't count them. One thing that really amazes both of us is how far they can run if you don't nail them in the sweet spot. The four mentioned above were all runners and failed to find them even though there has been serious signs of trauma.

 

An example of how far a fox can run takes me back a couple of weeks at one of the local chicken farms we cover, We was trying to lure in a fox that was mooching around at a distance, when another come running around from behind a bank of mud no more that 60 meters away. Lamp on a quick "oi" to stop him as Jim knelt down for the shot "crack" he let him have a 55gr Vmax and i watched him fall. I flicked back round with the lamp to see if the other we was watching wanted some of the same treatment but he thought better of it and buggered off. We walked down to where we saw the fox fall only to be confronted with a pool of blood and no fox. After following the blood trail some 75 meters there was the Fox shot just behind the shoulder with its side blown out for an exit wound. This if anything has shown me just how far they can run when they done die outright.