Hornady just 2 days ago released the 22 ARC cartridge. Seems sort of like a 22-250 but the ARC fits in a gas/piston gun. No content of it yet on commytube. Sounds a lot like a glorified 223 Rem. What do you guys think? Its so new I cant even find any ballistics on it yet.
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22-250 but for AR-15s basically, yes, I saw that too. Only I am guessing out at longer distances the ARC will probably outrun the 22-250, but as you said I haven’t actually seen any real-world data out there yet…
We already had the 6mm ARC, which I think can cover a lot of the same ground (and even more since it can be used on deer too), but I guess they thought we needed a 22 caliber option in this platform as well. Of course, not that long ago they announced the 22 Creedmoor, which would probably be even better than this, and fit into the AR-10 platform, but not the more popular AR-15.
I guess if they are going to be making the newer, longer, heavy-for-caliber bullets anyway, why not have cartridges in both flavors?
I haven’t seen too many bolt guns in 6 ARC or 22 ARC yet… maybe I saw a Howa in 6, but, I just don’t know if I would do the ARC cartridges over the regular short-action cartridges, which should in theory do even better than their “mini-action” counterparts… so I don’t know. Time will tell if it actually gains traction or not.
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Just released my vid on it. Looks cool but also pretty niche—it’s for AR15 coyote hunters mostly. I prefer a bolt. Could also have some match application for the tactical divisions.
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Yes, thanks for that video! I hadn’t seen anyone do the drops/drifts tables for it yet so that was nice
I’m not sure a comparison to a 22-250 is a good way to think of it. I shoot 40gn 22-250 at 4400 fps. Your not going to approach that with the 22 ARC. Also you can build an AR-10 in 22-250 already. I think this is largely a Hornady marketing exercise. They need to change every cartridge that ever existed to have a Hornady flavor. Its cluttering the market and neither ammo manufacturers or gun manufacturers can (or want to) keep up with it.
@Rhombo, not having seen any real data on the 22 ARC, I tend to agree. It’s the Hornady logo on one more cartridge.
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Like most of Hornady’s offerings it’s the turnkey factory supported option. People don’t have to like Hornady but it is a smart strategy. Will it replace the 22-250? I don’t know but I do know that many of the dedicated predator hunting channels that I watch are ecstatic about this cartridge being standardized.