Hornady announces 22 ARC (22 Grendel)

[Casswick]

So they fixed the 224 Valkyrie?

[Bob R]

I called Saturn Tuesday afternoon and ordered the 22 ARC Barrel. It is a 20 Inch Barrel, .750 at the Gas Fixture, with Rifle Length Gas, and a 5/8-24 Muzzle Thread.
I was totally shocked when it was delivered today (Thursday). FedEx must still have shipping expedited from Christmas. I have had Midway orders that were not processed and shipped that fast, let alone being delivered.

I had a Sportsman's Club Election Meeting this evening. I am still Club President . So I did not start on the rebuild yet. I may start on it after work Friday, so that I can shoot it this Weekend.

THE PLAN

I plan to tear down my 204 Ruger AR15, and rebuild it into a 22 ARC. I just got done doing a face lift on the 204, swapping Scopes, Bases, Handguards, Butt Stock, Grip, and the Gas Fixture. I built the 204 Ruger using a 24" White Oak Barrel In 2007.
The Upper & Lower are a Matched Set from Rock River.
Pretty sure the Bolt, Lower Parts, and Charging Handle are also Rock River.
It has a Jewel Trigger.
It has a MagPul MOE Fixed Stock and MOE Grip.
It has a Seekens Precision .750 Adjustable Gas Fixture.
The Forend is a Geissele Automatics MK4 x 13.5
The Charging Handle has the Original Large Badger Latch.
Badger Picatinny Conversion for the Harris Benchrest Notch Leg Swivel Bipod, which has a Pod Loc.
Leupold MK AR 30mm Cantilever Scope Base.
SWFA 20X Fixed Power Super Sniper Scope.
30mm Anti Cant Device that mounts over the scope tube.
I plan to just swap out the 204 Ruger Barrel with Rifle Gas and the Bolt for the 22 ARC Barrel and Bolt reusing most all of the original parts.
I have a new 5/8-24 A2 Flash Hider and 5/8 Shim set ready to install.
I have 60 rounds of Hornady Black Box 75 grain ELD Ammunition to get it up and running.
I should have my Hornady Two Die Set in hand this coming Monday. I would prefer Redding or RCBS Dies, but I guess I will see how well I like Hornady Dies as my options are limited at the moment.

I have a CustomARDustCover.com Dust Cover ordered marked 22 ARC in small print on the Right Panel Inside as well as Outside. I just ordered it Wednesday, so it will probably be next week before it shows up. I have the same style on all of my AR15's.

The reason for the Badger Picatinny Conversion of the Harris Bipod. The Geissele MK IV x 13.5 M-Loc Handguard comes to the front edge of the Seekins Adjustable Gas Fixture, so I can access the Gas Adjustment Screw as well as the Lock Screw with the Handguard in place. The MK IV x 13.5 Handguard has a Picatinny Rail Section on the forward Three Inches. It being a 13.5 Inch Length, it is a little on the short side to start with. All of my other rifle length AR's have 15 Inch Handguards with M-Loc Bipod Studs as far forward as possible. I want to mount the Harris Bipod as far forward on the 13.5 inch handguard as possible. The Badger Bipod Conversion was the most solid option available to accomplish this.

With luck the weather will cooperate this weekend allowing me to get a Zero with the 75 grain ELD-M Ammunition and to Chronograph the factory ammunition through a 20 Inch Barrel and see what it will really do in a real AR15. Hornady's listed Velocity Numbers are using a 24" Test Barrel. I expect to get numbers a solid 100 FPS slower than the advertised velocity numbers through the 20" Saturn Barrel.

More to come.

Bob R

[Bob R]

The 22 ARC is pretty much together. Still waiting on the 22 ARC Marked Dust Cover. Also I am leaving the Saturn Barrel in the White until I am happy with it.
I had a great day to shoot after Church Sunday (01-07-2024) however the wife had other plans for my afternoon. The Weather has not been good for Shooting or Chrono graphing since, and looks to not improve for several more days.
I will get to shoot it sooner or later.

Bob R

[Bevo]

Anyone know the length of the 62gr ELD-VT bullet?

EDIT: Found the answer elsewhere... 1.055"

[SDguy]

Hornady said they should have load data on their website by the first of the year. And would add 22 ARC to their ballistic apps.

How is this coming along?

[A.D.D. AR]

SDguy- so far all I see is Hornady added the 62gr ELD-VT bullet to the 4DOF app, I don't see any data for 22ARC on the Hornady reloading app yet - but I'm "assuming'' they collaborated with Hodgdon on the new 22 ARC data on the Hodgdon site- just guessing.

[Bob R]

I managed to get a little time to sight in the 22 ARC last Saturday. Not the best day to shoot, Blue Cold, and Windy.

I was shooting on the Upper Range at the Sportsman's Club. This is our newest Range and has Targets at 100, 150, and 200 yards. We have 12 concrete Bench's with Bench Tops poured using the St Louis Benchrest Club's Metal Mold on this Range. It has a concrete floor and an 18' X 60' Foot Metal Cover. It is a very nice Range to shoot on.

I started out with One Target at 100 yards made using a 3" X 3" Bright White Target with heavy Aiming Lines. This square is centered on a Cardboard Color sheet of Card Stock. I had confidence that the scope setting for the 204 Ruger Barrel would be close enough to hit the 8.5" X 11" Card Stock.

I was shooting using a Harris Notch Leg, Bench Rest, Swivel Bipod with the Badger 1913 Rail Conversion to get the Bipod as far forward as possible on the MK IV x 13.5 Handguard. Under the rear of the MagPul MOE Rifle Stock I had a small Squeeze Sand Bag.

I attached the Brass Catcher, and I was ready to shoot.

I got lucky and the first shot fired was low, but hit on the bottom of the 8.5" X 11" Card Stock. Two more rounds had the 22 ARC pretty much on target. I fired Three more doing a little more fine tuning. The fine tuning part was affected by the wind.

Cold and Happy I relocated to the Club House to clean the barrel, and warm up. My brother showed up and we talked and warmed up more. I had planned to call it a day after the Six Rounds, however now that I was warmed back up, I went back to the upper range for a few more shots. When I got back to the upper range I had three shooters using the Range. They had painted the 100 and 200 yard steel. I asked if I could put one round on the 200 yard steel. It was ok, and I took aim on the Bolt Head holding the Left Chain, knowing with a 100 yard Zero I would shoot under the bolt. I fired, and heard the metal Clang. One of the other shooters asked where I had hit. I told him I was aiming at the Top Left Bolt Head. The bullet had impacted approximately 1.5 Inches below the aiming point. Probably a little luck involved, but a great shot nun the less.

I fired another Five rounds on paper at 100 yards producing two clusters, with all shots under one inch. I was happy with the first Twelve Rounds down range. I believe the Saturn Barrel will be a shooter.

I will break it back down between now and Tuesday and install the 22 ARC Marked Dust Cover. I plan to either take the barrel to Hunts Long Range for Cerakote or do a Rattle Can finish on it. Not totally decided just yet. I have had great luck with Rattle Can finish on barrels over the years.

No good weather to Chronograph for a while. We have lots of rain to look forward to. I might run it down to Hunts Long Range and shoot three from his indoor shooting bench using his new Garman Xero C1 Chronograph to get a reading at 70 degrees. I may have to own one of the Garman's. Sky Screens on the one I currently own are a little unhandy, requiring some planning for weather.

I now have a Hornady Die Set, and I have 100 of the Hornady 75 ELD-M Bullets that my factory ammunition is loaded with. I will work with them first. I hope to come up with another 40 rounds of loaded Hornady Ammunition to bring my Brass Level to 100 pieces. That should hold me until Starline gets 22 ARC Brass out. I have both 80 grain Bergers and 80 grain Hornady A-Max Bullets on hand to work with as well.

I need some warmer weather so that I can get in more Range Time.

More to come.

Bob R