Deciding on a 22 and is the ARC really that great?

[nuffgun]

If I was going to exclusively reload, I would definitely choose the 22 arc. If I wanted to get a ton of practice in with factory ammo and possibly reload for hunting, it would definitely be the .223.

 

[nm.otter]

A suppressed .223 lever action would be very cool! I could see myself buying one for the John Wayne Red Ryder toting 10 year old that still lives inside me…

A tad unconventional, but there's this.

 

[The Guide]

A tad unconventional, but there's this.

That's even an 8 twist barrel! 77TMK from a lever action, that could be some fun!

Jay

 

[Hornseeker]

A tad unconventional, but there's this.

Thats what I'm talking about. They have one called the long range, dude pings steel at a mile with it.

 

[Hornseeker]

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[Hornseeker]

Ok, it takes a lot of shots... and I never did figure out how big the target is, BUT... still insane. Sweet rifle.

 

[bruceleroy]

Notice the moose kill took more than one shot. If a lot of your hunting is in timber there are many better cartridges to carry than the 223 or 22 ARC. None of the newest plastic tipped wonder bullets give the penetration say a 7-08 or 308 can give with properly constructed cup and core bullets. Also at virtually any range the 223 and 22 ARC do not make as wide or as deep a wound channel as similarly constructed bullets from 7-08/308 class cartridges. Shot placement is very important, meaning placed perfectly through the lung/heart area from broadside. I am a big fan of both the 223 and 22 ARC but they have limitations.

Did we watch the same video? That animal would have died from any one of those shots. And a .223 will leave a comparable wound channel, as well as penetrate as well. First hand observations on large game have confirmed.

 

[ACHILLES]

Thanks, I don't hand load, probably won't for a long time, and was thinking a bolt action. There's probably a thread on this already, but what's the path to a 6m ARC on a Tikka platform?

You need to get a t3 223bolt opened up from .384 to .445” or get a .473 bolt bushed to .445”. Then get an ascension industries 6ARC Mag kit for $40 to run 22,6,or 338arc for factory plastic tikka bottom metal or for aics bm use an mdt 6ARC mag or ppl say an unmodified aics .308win magazine works also.

 

[ACHILLES]

Ok, I have read a lot about the 22 ARC and with the recent AK Bull moose kill on youtube, combined of course with the 223 for deer, elk, moose, sasquatch, etc thread, I've been seriously considering stepping Up ;0) to a 22 for hunting. Very quick background, 2 years ago I switched from the trusty old 06' to a 6.5 Creed, wife from 308 to 6.5 Creed... in those two years we've put down 5 deer a bull and a cow elk. All with same results we ever got from the 30s.

Back to the 22s now. If the 223 is effective, and wowsa, it obviously is, out to absurd distances (lets say 700 yards with shorter barreled rifles and staying near that 1800 fps minimum with the 77 or 80s)... then the ARC with the 88s should just be pure death. I think 22 creed, then look at it shooting the factory 80s compared to the ARC shooting factory 88s and the ARC actually overtakes it at about 800ish yards. This blows my mind. I'm only going by internet/google research, but ballistics seem to indicate this is the case! Really?

It's also not super clear whether the ARC is a great bolt gun cartridge due to possible feeding issues??

Love to discuss this for a bit and hear from those with first hand experience!

I run multiple 5.56ars and 223rem bolt guns, 22creed bolt gun, a 22arc ar, an 18” 22arc tikka bolt gun, and I’ve had a 16 & 20” 22arc ruger gen2 bolt guns. Reloaded and shot factory ammo for all.

I say life’s to short not to get a cheap 16” 22ARC ruger bolt gun to run factory 88s. If I had to get rid of them all and choose one it’d probably a 22arc or 223rem bolt gun. I think the 22arc is a great cartridge. With Handloads I could run 80gr eldms at 2980fps with cfe223 getting over 10firings per case using Hornady once fired brass in the the 16” ruger bolt gun.

 

[BLJ]

That is hummin with the 80’s.

 

[ACHILLES]

In the 20” ruger when pressure testing with Hornady brass I didn’t see an ej mark until
3215fps with the 80s and cfe223. My same cfe223 load in that rifle ran 3080fps with the 80eldm.

 

[Nomosendero]

In that same line of thought, so was the 223/5.56 so no need for the RSS bolt guns either...

If you load a 22 ARC to bolt gun pressures (go from factory gas gun pressure @55k psi to bolt gun pressure @65k psi) you have a cartridge that rivals the 22CM and will shoot the 75gr to 90gr bullets with the 7 twist barrel SAAMI calls for. While the 22 ARC does require a non-typical bolt face it does very well as a bolt gun and will get longer barrel life based on the overbore of the case when comparing it to the 22CM.

Jay

I have a good deal of 223/556 experience, but no experience with the 22CM or 22 ARC.
Guide, looks like you have a lot of experience to make accurate comparisons.
I watched one video that stated the vel difference between the CM and ARC to be 200-250FPS with the heavies. Is that close?
It was stated the barrel life to be 1500 or so with the 22CM and 2500-3000 with the 22ARC. Do you think that is correct? I like velocity but if these 2 things are true, I think it makes sense for me to build a 22ARC on the Howa Mini action.
Thanks

 

[FredH]

Did we watch the same video? That animal would have died from any one of those shots. And a .223 will leave a comparable wound channel, as well as penetrate as well. First hand observations on large game have confirmed.

No a 223 does not leave a comparable wound channel with similar bullets and cartridges like a 308 or 7-08. Nor will it penetrate as well comparing the TMK or ELDM .224 bullets and regular cup and core bullets designed for big game hunting from a 7-08 or 308. Yes that animal would have died from any one of those shots. But in fact was shot more than once. Moose for some reason take a while to die. Still when using either a 223 or 22 ARC broadside lung and heart shots are the way to go. Same for deer. I have looked at plenty of wound damage and killed many deer and feral hogs using 223 and 22-250 rifles. Never have I seen wound damage that compared in volume or depth to larger cartridges. Especially with similar bullets. With very good hits it really made little difference. In more open country it often made no difference because you could keep the animal in sight. Hunting hogs at night or deer in thick cover the bigger guns have an edge. A larger cartridge that has equal or greater impact velocity, a bullet that expands quickly, maintains a large frontal diameter while retaining most of it's mass will in the overall scheme of things be a more reliable killer under varied conditions. For sure a bullet that loses a lot of it's mass, as long as this happens in a vital area will kill well but what is left of the bullet will not be very big and especially if that bullet was small to begin with. That piece of bullet will not be making a wide wound channel. Take a look at some of the threads about larger cartridges and what the people using them have observed.