Scorching-shooting 22-caliber cartridges are nothing new, so what would possibly newcomers just like the 22 ARC or 22 Creedmoor provide that’s totally different? In any case, basic medium-sized cartridges just like the .243 Win., .250 Savage, .25/06, and others have thrived alongside .22 powerhouses just like the .220 Swift and .22/250. What, if something, do these new .22-caliber cartridges do higher than their predecessors, not to mention the big-game/varmint crossover cartridges? The reply would possibly shock you. I’ve a sense that cartridges just like the .22 ARC are going to show their versatility and skill to serve hunters—and sure, achieve this higher than among the outdated favorites.
The Delicate Cartridge Candy Spot
Medium-sized and smaller calibers have been well-liked amongst hunters for greater than 100 years, particularly for deer-sized recreation. Early on, the .25s had been fairly prolific, and Jack O’Connor considered them as prime selections for varmints and smaller large recreation. Within the Nineteen Fifties, the .243 chiseled out a outstanding place on this class.
Medium-sized .24- and .25-caliber cartridges usually fireplace 55- to 125-grain bullets at wonderful velocities with gentle recoil. Till the comparatively latest introduction of laser rangefinders, the flat trajectories of those cartridges provided hunters a whole lot of forgiveness at longer distances in comparison with different cartridges of the time.
For a lot of hunters, the .243 grew to become the final word possibility in versatility, and it has been used with nice success for bigger animals like black bears, sheep, and moose. Because it seems, correct, smaller-caliber cartridges which can be simpler to shoot are inclined to do exactly effective at killing recreation successfully.
What Do Cartridges Just like the 22 ARC Need to Provide?
One of the crucial widespread criticisms of newer cartridges is that they’re merely re-hashing an outdated thought to re-invigorate gun gross sales and hold the advertising machine turning. Although firearm and ammunition corporations are definitely within the enterprise of maintaining enterprise going, they’re additionally motivated to achieve a aggressive edge and enhance merchandise. When contemplating the attributes of a brand new .22-caliber scorching rod, it’s simple to have a look at one or two traits and assume that it could’t do something that the .22/250 can’t do. Nevertheless it’s not that easy.
As with every of the latest cartridges developed with the ideas of modern cartridge design, the advantages are about greater than uncooked pace with a given array of bullet weights. In 1925, evaluating cartridges on velocity and drop made sense, however contemplating the precision rangefinders and optics that shooters have at their fingertips, these velocity numbers are now not of main significance. With customized chambers, tight-twisted barrels, and handloaded ammunition, many elderly cartridges can definitely be elevated, however as an entire, they merely don’t match the entire suite of advantages that a few of these new rounds provide.
For instance, the 22 ARC, which was designed to offer .22/250-like efficiency from a .223-length cartridge with heavier bullets is cool, positive, nevertheless it’s the bullets it’s designed to shoot that make it particular (you may learn in regards to the particulars in capturing editor John Snow’s evaluation of the 22 ARC). Even I didn’t actually begin to see the potential within the 22 ARC till I constructed a few them and began capturing at distance.
The day I noticed that there could be one thing to it, I used to be capturing a 20-inch-barreled fuel gun that I’d put collectively. It was a fairly normal barrel nut design with a button-rifled barrel, nevertheless it printed surprisingly small teams. I used to be capturing targets out to 1,000 yards, alternating with a 6.5 Creedmoor utilizing 140-grain Sierra MatchKing bullets. Firing Hornady’s Black 75-grain ELD-M load, which I recorded at 2,938 fps, in a ten to 12 mph crosswind, the 22 ARC had a flatter trajectory and was a one-to-one match for wind deflection with the heavier 6.5. The place stretching the .223 to that distance can change into fairly tough, I simply made first spherical impacts and fast follow-ups, watching the hint arc into the goal. And keep in mind that is out of a fuel gun, not utilizing essentially the most environment friendly bullet within the cartridge.
I’ve lengthy thought {that a} .22/250 would make a hell of a sheep rifle, and legendary market hunter and predator management agent Frank Glaser touted his .220 Swift as killing hooved recreation faster than another cartridge he’d tried. However in comparison with my long-favored .25/06, the newer 6.5 Creedmoor, and others, selections in .22-caliber bullets merely gave up an excessive amount of wind drift for my liking. That’s now not the case. Hornady’s 80-grain ELD-X is a thick-jacketed, extraordinarily environment friendly .22-caliber bullet that gives some clear ballistic benefits over some bullets, and matches traits of others — all with basically zero recoil.
Pursuit of the Excellent Rifle Cartridge
An ideal looking rifle cartridge would ship a projectile that creates an sufficient wound cavity to shortly kill quarry, and achieve this with a superbly flat trajectory, zero wind drift, and 0 recoil — however after all no such cartridge exists and we should compromise on these qualities. Within the case of the .243 to .257-class of cartridges, I’ve no qualms about capturing a moose, sheep, and even grizzly bear underneath the precise circumstances, with an excellent, stubby 90-, 100-, or 110-grain bullet. I’ve taken a whole lot of recreation with them. So why not undertake an 80-grain bullet of comparable properties, however with higher sectional density, equal or higher trajectory, and equal or higher wind drift? The truth is, I feel that as bullet expertise continues to offer us hyper-efficient, heavy .22s, the one factor we’ll be giving up is recoil.
