Often, we can trace fundamental changes in cartridge composition to a single component. If we go back to the mid-1800s, we observed the transition from paper-wrapped “cartridges” that were little more than consumable speedloaders to the metallic-cased, self-contained rounds that were more like what we use today. Fast-forward a few years, and the invention of modern primers spun us away from larger rimfires and toward the centerfire model that most of us associate with today’s rifle rounds. From here, the next largest change is undeniably the switch from blackpowder to smokeless propellant. As smokeless powder can generate higher pressures with lighter charges, cartridges started to shorten in length, shrink in width and their bore diameters gradually tightened. Considering the notable cartridges that have been around for the past 100 years or so, we seemed to have the self-contained cartridge concept down. Except one component has yet to reach its zenith: the bullet.
Until recently, bullet design has generally been reactionary. So, long guns are capable of better accuracy? Better make a projectile that can keep up. Powder now pushes it so fast that the lead smears? Go ahead and add a copper jacket. Most modern cartridge designs were developed largely in this fashion, as reaching a target velocity or skirting a hunting or match rule was often the driving development criteria. Once those were hit, most manufacturers would just look to their existing bullet library and pick what fit the final product best.
With the working part of the cartridge being an afterthought for so long, Hornady decided it was time to flip the script and work from the “tip of the spear,” as it were. Not too long after the turn of the 21st century, the company started working with “long ogive” designs. By making bullets longer and sleeker, higher ballistic coefficients could be achieved, but with two major problems: stability and feeding. Streamlining a bullet at the expense of bearing surface means a longer overall cartridge length, often requiring more bolt travel or the larger version of a given platform to fit magazines. This puts riflemakers in a position where smaller guns with shorter actions are more desirable. The second problem is that these designs require a faster twist rate to stabilize, so if existing rifle barrels had too slow of a barrel, all the shooting public would get are expensive musket balls, as far as accuracy was concerned.
Lines like the ELD Match, ELD-X and A-Tip were Hornady’s proverbial toe-dip in the water, as they stretched things out, yet still performed superbly in existing firearms. Based on the success of these designs, the Nebraska-based manufacturer determined that consumers would respond well to a cartridge made explicitly for a projectile. The result of that determination is the 22 ARC with its 62-grain ELD-VT bullet.
That’s a lot of alphabet soup to digest, so let’s begin there. The “ARC” stands for Advanced Rifle Cartridge, joining the 6 mm ARC released just a few years ago. That mid-velocity 6 mm cartridge fulfilled a request by the U.S. Dept. of Defense and went on to become extremely popular in long-range shooting sports. Derived from the 6.5 mm Grendel, the 22 ARC shares the same parent case and, therefore, also carries over the 0.441" bolt head. As with bullets in similar families, the “ELD” stands for Extremely Low Drag, with the ”VT” standing for Varmint Target. Built for coyotes and game of comparable size, this sleek, polymer-tipped bullet features a thin copper jacket and an enlarged internal cavity to help it fragment the moment it encounters resistance. This is done by positioning the lead core to the rear of the bullet, balancing it in the process. In its 0.224" incarnation, it reaches a G1 BC of 0.395, putting it on par with the heavier 75-grain hollow-point match bullet of the same diameter. Designing the VT primarily as a varmint bullet, the company knew that driving it to speeds rivaling the .22-250 Remington would help hunters realize its full terminal potential, while the flattened trajectories will make it alluring to competitors engaging unknown-distance targets.
Odds are, you’re now reading this and wondering, “Hasn’t it been done before?” and thinking of Federal’s .224 Valkyrie. While the two share a similar design concept, a closer look illustrates the differences. The Valkyrie was based on the 6.8 mm SPC case and, therefore, has less powder capacity than the 22 ARC. On average, the 22 ARC can safely hold about 5 additional grains of Hodgdon’s CFE 223, a common powder used to load both. That might not sound like much, but it’s enough to push a 62-grain projectile nearly 250 f.p.s. faster. Using Hornady’s published data, we see a prospective safe maximum charge of 27.5 grains of this powder will take the Valkyrie to approximately 3,160 f.p.s., whereas 32.3 grains will boost the same bullet to around 3,400 f.p.s. in a 22 ARC. Interestingly, the 22 ARC manages to do this at a maximum average pressure (MAP) of 52,000 p.s.i., which is 3,000 p.s.i. lower than the .224 Valkyrie’s MAP.
Three 22 ARC loads were introduced at launch, but five are now being offered: a 62-grain V-Match; a 70-grain CX; a 75-grain ELD Match; an 80-grain Precision Hunter; and an 88-grain ELD Match.
Hornady’s creation also shares the benefit of the bullet and cartridge coming from the same hands, eliminating the probability of miscommunication in specifications when it’s time to ramp up production and chamber rifles. One piece of history that they both share is that both were designed to fit in a standard AR-15 magazine, enabling shooters to send rapid follow-up shots, a benefit that can only truly be realized through the cartridges’ low recoil.
So, the claim is that the 22 ARC pulls .22-250 Rem. performance out of the AR-15 platform. Some elements of that claim are true, but only if compared appropriately. In many ways, we’re taking away from the 22 ARC by comparing it to the old varmint cartridge, so we need to be careful. If we tighten our view solely to velocity, it appears that the claim is false. Velocity on a 50-grain bullet from a traditional 26"-barreled bolt-action chambered for .22-250 will reach up to around 3,800 f.p.s. The same bullet fired from a 24"-barreled gas gun can only expect to travel at about 3,450 f.p.s., and a barrel of that length isn’t exactly a fair representation of the average AR-15. The numbers are close but certainly different. However, when you consider 55 grains to be about the heaviest bullet you can expect to launch from a conventional 1:12"- or 1:14"-twist .22-250 Rem. barrel, the playing field starts to level out. Additionally, the longer cases of this legacy cartridge cannot be loaded with modern bullets like the ELD-VT, as they may not fit into a standard chamber or, at the very least, the magazine. When you start to factor in the reduction in drop and wind deflection, the 22 ARC, despite leaving the muzzle at a lower velocity, will actually beat the .22-250 at extended distances. As with most things in life, it’s imperative to zoom out and take in the entire picture.
Although the 22 ARC was the vehicle for the launch of the ELD-VT bullet and the V-Match line of factory ammunition, it’s still a formidable foundation for several existing projectiles. The 0.224"-diameter bullet is one of the most popular in America, and Hornady offers reloading data for bullets between 52 and 90 grains, extending the cartridge’s role to deer and antelope use. For those not interested in rolling their own, Hornady has also released a load under its Black line topped with a 75-grain ELD-M (G1 BC of 0.467) as well as a Match line expansion loaded with the 88-grain ELD-M (G1 BC of 0.545). Long-range shooters used to fantasize about firing these from the AR-15, but until cartridges such as the 22 ARC hit the scene, it meant loading them singly, as they couldn’t fit into a standard-length AR magazine.
Prior to his range testing of Hornady's new cartridge, the author put its 62-grain ELD-VT load to good use during a predator hunt in Wyoming, eliminating coyotes out to 206 yards.
With ammo demand as high as it is, I was only able to get the 75s to pair with my 62-grainers, but the duo would serve as an excellent base for my testing. Being that I could only throw them so hard, I recruited the help of an AR-15 made by Uintah Precision. Sold under its UP-15 line, this rifle is built with an 18" 416R stainless-steel barrel from Preferred and cut with a fast 1:7" twist rate. An ambidextrous charging handle ensures it plays nice with optics, while the 3-lb. Vitrum trigger helps to reduce the amount of shooter error that transfers into a group. To that end, Uintah offers a sub-m.o.a. guarantee with each of its rifles and even lists the ammunition it makes this claim with; as luck would have it, the 62-grain ELD-VT V-Match load was among them. I topped my rifle with a 1-6X Burris RT-6. Although on the low end, I felt this magnification range is more conducive to the medium-game hunting for which I feel the overall package would be best-suited. Setting it into one of Burris’ PEPR mounts put it the perfect distance from my eye without having to tweak the stock to gain a proper cheek weld or eye relief. Uintah includes a 10-round Grendel magazine with the gun, which also feeds either ARC offering, as the cases are all close enough for reliable function.
I started my day by zeroing the optic at 100 yards and shooting groups to check consistency. As advertised, I was able to punch several consecutive sub-m.o.a. groups with the 62-grain V-Match load but failed to make it with the 75-grain ammunition. It was close enough on most occasions to not be a cause for concern, so I just kept on shooting, cleaning up my zero with each group. Recoil was light, on par with .223 Rem., but since the UP-15 is built with a Rifle+1 gas system, it’s fair to say it’s even lighter. I finished my close-range work with a few magazines in rapid-fire to confirm that the cartridge fed well. One of the ways Hornady ensures reliable feeding is through the use of a 30-degree shoulder; this angle strikes a balance between ballistic efficiency and reliability, so, as expected, the gun ran just fine.
At 300 yards, I found that, out of this shortened barrel, the 62s and the 75s dropped 7.5" and 9", respectively. This is about 3.5" more than a theoretical 50-grain V-Max (G1 BC of 0.242) fired at 3,800 f.p.s. out of a longer-barreled .22-250 Rem. bolt gun. However, even at this distance, it would be experiencing more than 25 percent more wind deflection. This is an important data point, as elevation is deterministic; as long as you know your conditions, correcting for drop is as simple as turning a dial. On the other hand, learning to read wind takes a lifetime, and even many professionals won’t claim to do it well. Running the 14" gong out to 800 yards was truly eye-opening. At this distance, not only would the 50-grain .22-250 Rem. bullets drop more than the 62-grain 22 ARC ones, they would also experience more than 40 percent more wind deflection. Additionally, at this distance, the 50-grain .22-250 only retained 165 ft.-lbs. of energy compared to the 62’s 327 ft.-lbs. or the 75’s 405 ft.-lbs. Adding this information up, the role of a bullet’s ballistic coefficient becomes abundantly clear, as it has more value than weight and velocity in the decision-making process.
Summing up what I had learned on the range, the 22 ARC is a formidable addition to the cartridge landscape and the logical choice for somebody interested in what the .22-250. has established but doesn’t yet own a rifle chambered for it. Even at lower velocities, the bullets that a 22 ARC rifle is capable of firing outperform the classics at extended distances. I also believe the new cartridge to make more sense in a bolt gun than the .224 Valkyrie or even the 6 mm ARC. Quite a bit of velocity is left on the table when we download to a delicate gas system and abbreviate the bullet’s runway with a dwarfed barrel. Making these changes will fully bring it into its prairie-dog-popping glory. However, if you are on a more agile hunt, such as for coyote or antelope, a lightweight rifle like my test Uintah is where it’s at.
I guess at the end of the day, that’s why they make 64-gun safes. And the way Hornady is going, more and more of the rifles they contain are likely to be fed from boxes of ammunition adorned with a familiar family name in red.
