The .220 Swift is one hell of a cartridge, often said to be the fastest commercial cartridge on the market. But is that true? Perhaps not quite! The claim might be valid in the American market, but there’s a certain german cartridge that can shoot .224 bullets of any given weight up to 100 fps faster than the Swift. To no surprise, the cartridge I refer to has a metric designation: the 5.6x57mm.

Are 22-caliber rifles suitable for deer hunting? Can the 223 Remington, 22-250 Remington, 220 Swift, 22 Hornet, 20 Nosler, 224 Valkyrie or any other 22-caliber shooting .224” bullets effective for hunting big game? Ballistics, energy, range all investigated here.