ceton

iam thinking of try to make a little extra money by hunting fox i live in md what would be a good cailb was thinking 220 swift and also what months is good as far as pelts and how much is involved in taking care of the pelts

aborquez18

I dont have to much experience on the swift but from what I heard its a good varmint caliber. I dont know about pelt damage. I have a 204 Ruger that Ive used on coyotes and have only had one exit wound. I use 32 gr Vmax and reload them to shoot a little slower.

gopher slayer

Ive read good things about the 17hmr on foxes. minimal pelt damage but will knock them down and its cheaper to shoot. i think a 220 swift is more then enough power i image you will get some hide damage with that scince its moving preaty damn fast. a fox is not a very big animal and its thin skinned.

beagleman28

Give some serious thought to a .17 remington. Currently, Remington and CZ are the only companies making guns in this round. I have a Remington LVSF that is a good calling gun. We don't have many coyotes in my part of Virginia so I'm mainly targeting fox. I'm shooting Hornady V-Max reloads with 24 grains of Varget powder. It does a nasty job on fox if you hit them wrong. I have killed several fox with the .17 remington that had no wounds. I'm going to try some of the smaller grain berger bullets to reduce pelt damage. Another good all around fox gun is the 22 hornet. I don't know what part of Maryland you live in but if it is a heavily populated area the hornet is probably your gun. It will not shoot as flat or as far as the .17 remington. It is good out to 150 yards solid. I would suggest a Browning Micro Hunter with hornaday factory loads. That set-up is a real tackdriver. It has been my experience that the "bigger" (223, 22-250, 221 fireball) caliber just do too much damage. I have not had much luck with the 17 hmr. I don't have any experience with the 220 swift. I have seen two fox run off with 17 HMR rounds inside them. Blood trails at night are not my idea of fun. My "go to" gun is the .17 remington.

Rockfish1

Bubba you just don't have a clue do ya... the swift will tear a fox up... stay away from it... Beagleman suggested a Hornet, sound call, cheap to buy, easy to load for and the Winchester 46gr HP's shoot in about 95% of the hornet's I've seen... if you don't roll your own... as for putting hides up... not at my house, the work involved is way to much for the little money you get for them... all mine are sold in the round, on the hoof, unskunt, whatever you want to call it... I lose about $3... by not skinning, fleshing, stretching and drying them... not worth it to me... not with the numbers that are shot in a year... if I had a 100 skins in a year, maybe...

Soilarch

220 is a only a slightly SLIGHTLY hotter round than a 22-250. The 220 swift is more expensive...and both will destroy a fox's hide

If you're in it for pelts I would echoes everyone advice to look at the 17s and 22hornet, heck I'd even look at 22mag, and 22lr if I knew they'd be within 100(and capable of head shots)