Hornady's New .22 ARC: Full Review

Fast, lightweight, and with low drag, the new .22 ARC from Hornady is great for both hunters and fans of AR pattern rifles.

December 11, 2024 By Tom Beckstrand

The Hornady .22 Advanced Rifle Cartridge (ARC) exists for those desiring a fast .22-caliber cartridge designed for use with Very Low Drag (VLD) bullets. The riflemen who should be interested in such a combination are hunters, precision rifle shooters, and those teaching newbies. The reasons why the .22 ARC is so appealing are the low recoil, great barrel life, and inexpensive factory ammunition loaded with VLD bullets. This cartridge is equally at home in AR-pattern and bolt-action rifles.

gaad-hor-hornady-22-arc-02-1200x800 — (Photo by Mark Fingar)

It's Old and New...

The .22 ARC originally carried the developmental title of “.22 Coyote,” which dates back to 2010. Neil Davies, Hornady’s vice president of sales and marketing, had just returned from a coyote hunt where he was shooting an AR-15 in .223 Remington. His friend was shooting a rifle in .22-250 Remington. Davies noticed there was a big difference in lethality between the two cartridges.

When Davies returned to the office, he grabbed Hornady Director of Engineering Mitch Mittelstaedt and asked him if it was possible to get .22-250 performance out of an AR-15. Mittelstaedt said, “Maybe,” and then went to work. The two hot AR cartridges of the time were the 6.8 SPC and the 6.5 Grendel. Mittelstaedt favored the Grendel as a parent case because it offered more powder capacity. With the parent cartridge selected, the next step was to design the chamber, and that is where the project stalled. There were a lot of other high-priority items in development at Hornady, so Mittelstaedt didn’t have much time to devote to this one. Another glaring issue was the lack of bullet choices that offered something better than a .22-250. Sticking the same bullets in both cartridges would have doomed the .22 Coyote to second place in terms of velocity and down-range performance. The .22-250 has greater powder capacity and would always outrun the new cartridge when shooting the same bullets.

The opportunity to create a new-and-improved .22-caliber cartridge didn’t happen until 2017. A combination of increased ballistic education among riflemen and the explosive interest in precision rifle competitions created unprecedented demand for bullets with high ballistic coefficients (BC). Manufacturers responded with bullets in all calibers — including .22.

gaad-hor-hornady-22-arc-03-1200x800 — The .22 ARC (above, right) is shorter than the .22-250 Rem. (above, left). Both originate from necked-down parent cartriges; the .22-250 from the .250-3000 Savage, and the ARC from the 6.5 Grendel. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

When designing a rifle cartridge, one of the first decisions is to decide what bullet weights the new cartridge will shoot. Light bullets require slow twist rates to stabilize; long, heavy bullets need fast twist rates. While some think there’s no such thing as “too fast of a twist rate,” putting light bullets through one can cause a bullet’s revolutions per minute (RPM) to exceed 300,000. Projectiles that do so are likely to come apart in flight.

This is where the .22-250 Remington was vulnerable. The cartridge originally had a Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturing Institute (SAAMI) standard 1-in-14-inch twist rate. Manufacturers have since chambered rifles in .22-250 with twist rates as fast as 1-in-10-inches. While the .22-250 was originally designed for use with 40- to 55-grain bullets, factory ammunition is available with 60-grain bullet weights. This is a result of the cartridge’s original intent to be a speed demon with light bullets, a task that it handles well.

The problem is that light and fast bullets shed velocity quickly because they are not very aerodynamic. Hornady designed the .22 ARC to use heavy-for-caliber bullets with weights between 62 and 90 grains. The piece of technology that made the .22 ARC a viable contender to take on the .22-250 was the ELD-VT bullet concept developed in 2020. ELD-VT bullets are long bullets that have a hollow cavity in the nose. The design creates a high BC for which VLD projectiles are known, while still keeping weight low.

gaad-hor-hornady-22-arc-04-1200x800 — Hornady V-Match ammunition uses 62-grain ELD-VT bullets, which feature a hollow cavity behind the polymer tip. This approach reduced its weight. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

Since the concept of the .22 ARC came from trying to figure out how to put .22-250 performance into an AR-15, allow me to compare two factory-loaded offerings of these cartridges. Hornady’s .22-250 round with the 55-grain AMAX bullet — the heaviest available — produces a good blend of speed and high BC for this cartridge. Muzzle velocity out of a 24-inch barrel is 3,680 feet per second (fps) with a G1 BC of .255. The SAAMI maximum chamber pressure for the .22-250 is 65,000 pounds per square inch (psi). The closest .22 ARC load is the 62-grain ELD-VT. Muzzle velocity out of a 24-inch barrel is 3,300 fps, and the bullet has a G1 BC of .395 and a SAAMI maximum pressure of 52,000 psi. I realize I’m throwing out a lot of numbers, but it’s necessary for those who wish to verify the conclusions that come next.

Versus

At a standard atmosphere (sea level), and in a 10-mile-per-hour crosswind, the .22-250 drifts .9 inches at 100 yards. The .22 ARC drifts .7 inches at the same distance. At 300 yards, the .22-250 drifts 9.3 inches while the .22 ARC only moves 61/2 inches. Even though the .22-250 bullet travels faster, it never beats the .22 ARC for minimal wind drift due to the BC advantage of the .22 ARC. Botched wind calls are why most misses occur. The speed advantage of the .22-250 helps it shoot flatter than the ARC, though. At 300 yards, the .22-250 drops 7.8 inches while the ARC drops 8.9 inches. I’m not sure how much that inch matters, but they have the same drop at 550 yards. From beyond this range and farther, the .22 ARC has less drop.

gaad-hor-hornady-22-arc-05-1200x800 — Heavy 88-grain bullets appear in .22 ARC Match ammunition. The core is wrapped in AMP bullet jackets and capped with Hornady’s Heat-Shield tip. (Photo by Mark Fingar)

Ballistics aside, there are a couple of other important considerations with these cartridges. The .22-250 is known to be a barrel burner. Each Hornady-produced cartridge has about 38 grains of powder loaded to higher pressure, with the SAAMI maximum at 65,000 psi. More powder, heat, and higher pressure quickly erode the rifling in a bore. Each .22 ARC cartridge has about 30 grains of powder and factory ammunition is loaded to gas gun pressure, meaning a maximum of 52,000 psi. The .22 ARC barrel will last thousands of rounds longer than a .22-250 barrel. Also, the .22 ARC generates about 20 percent less recoil when both cartridges are fired from rifles of equal weight.

Taking It to the Field

During Fall 2023, I tested the .22 ARC on a Wyoming antelope hunt. This is when and where I fell in love with both the cartridge and a rifle: Proof Research Elevation MTR, which was custom barreled to fire it. The bullet I used for the hunt was Hornady’s 80-grain ELD-X, handloaded in .22 ARC. While the 62-grain ELD-VT is an excellent bullet for predator hunting, I wanted something more robust for antelope; the 80-grain ELD-X seemed perfect.

My chance for a nice buck came a few days into the hunt. I fired one shot from 188 yards when the buck, who was feeding from right to left, paused between two large sagebrush. I didn’t have much time to prepare for the shot, so I extended the legs of my MDT triple-pull CKYE-Pod, knelt on both knees, and pulled my backpack on top of my thighs. The stock’s toe rested on the backpack creating a stable shooting position. However, the position wasn’t good from a recoil management perspective. I was so high off the ground that I couldn’t put much body weight behind the rifle. Even with the poor recoil management, though, the .22 ARC generated so little recoil that I saw the round impact high on the shoulder and the buck drop in his tracks — all of this through the scope.

When I got to the downed buck I noticed the bullet passed through one shoulder and out the other, completely traversing the body. Antelope aren’t huge, but this one had a large body and I was impressed by the bullet’s performance. When I told Seth Swerczek, Horandy’s marketing and communications manager, that I expected some fragmentation from a small bullet moving so fast, he responded, “We put the thickest jacket we could on that bullet while still keeping it concentric.” The 80-grain ELD-X had a muzzle velocity of 2,989 fps, smoked through both shoulders, and shot into tiny groups. I would have no problem using that bullet in a .22 ARC for whitetail deer or anything smaller.

While I spent most of my time with the .22 ARC hunting and think it’s an exceptional choice for that, I also think it’ll make a fine Precision Rifle Series (PRS) match selection for the East Coast where steel targets are almost always within 900 yards. Its low recoil, high BC, and great barrel life will give thousands of rounds of service before barrel replacement becomes necessary. Inexpensive match ammunition appropriate for this application makes it even more attractive. The .22 ARC will be the first centerfire rifle cartridge my kids hunt and shoot rifle matches with due to its high performance and low recoil. It is an easy rifle cartridge to live with, that’s for sure.

I’m thrilled at the continued development of cartridges designed for use with VLD bullets and high BC. These cartridges make it easier to hit the target when the wind blows and carry velocity to distant targets far better than predecessors. With the advent of the .22 ARC, all of these benefits are now available for .22-caliber shooters in 62-, 75- and 88-grain loadings.