With a wordplay that is reminiscent of a past and revolutionary (at the time) cartridge, Hornady introduces the Double Deuce: or, the 22 ARC - Advanced Rifle Cartridge. The reference is to the venerable Triple Deuce, or .222 Remington, introduced in 1950 as the very first commercial rimless .22 cartridge made in USA. And it was, in short, a revolution – after all, the .222 Rem was the parent case to the ubiquitous .223 Remington.
The new 22 ARC has been carefully engineered for perfect function in semiauto designs, and the AR-15 platform specifically. Both the cartridge and the chamber have been designed in unison by Hornady to achieve the best possible performance using modern high-BC bullets: consistent accuracy, great velocity spreads and an outstanding shooting experience, making it able to outperform any other AR-15 compatible cartridge up to and exceeding the 1000-m range. The reference point would be the .22-250.
.224 Valkyrie, this is actually addressed to you
The 22 ARC will offer the best performance from barrels up to 24” long with a 1:7 twist rate. This new compact cartridge has an OAL of 2.260" (57,4mm), making it perfectly compatible with the standard AR magazine. All that is needed to make the round work in a standard AR-15 is a bolt and a barrel.
Hornady will have three ammo loads of the 22 ARC available in the last quarter of 2023: a 62-gr varmint load with the ELD-VT bullet, a Hornady Black AR round with a 75 ELD match bullet, and a long-range 88-grain ELD match bullet.
The V-Match load uses the interesting new 62-grain ELD-VT (Varmint|Target), with a unique weight to length ratio due to the construction that includes an air pocket between the polymer tip and the lead core to keep weight down and push center of gravity rearwards, making it very long to boast an impressive G1 BC of .382 and G7 BC of .191. This is unofficial data that will have to be confirmed as complete ballistics are still unpublished. At the rated pressure of 52,000 PSI, this load will supposedly feature a muzzle velocity of 3,300 fps in a 24” barrel.
The Hornady Black load, a popular choice for semiauto AR guns, features a more traditional construction 75 gr ELD Match bullet, with a muzzle velocity of 3,080 fps, while the Match load with the heavier 88 gr ELD Match bullet is geared towards the longer ranges target and competition use, with a muzzle speed around 2,840 fps.
Obviously, Hornady will also make available a full set of reloading tools and supplies for the 22 ARC, including dies, bullets and unprimed cases.
To wrap up, the 22 ARC is only the last of a long streak of extremely popular cartridge designs that Hornady introduced to the market, 6.5 Creedmoor, the PRC series, the 6mm ARC just to name a few, all of which use super accurate and modern bullets with great BC due to the extremely low drag designs, and there’s no doubt that the 22 ARC will follow suit. A quite extensive number of partners are listed in the Hornady web sites that will support with hardware, barrels and finished guns chambered in 22 ARC.
No date has been set yet for availability in EU of loaded ammo, reloading components or complete guns chambered in 22 ARC – but do continue following all4shooters.com as we will promptly publish all updates as they become available.
For more info: www.hornady.com; www.hornady.com/22arc#!/
