In addition to being famous for our wind — seriously not a joke — for the American shooter, Wyoming is truly rifle country. Wyoming is 10th in total land mass, but 50th in population. That’s a glorious combination that means few people and lots of wide open land.
Before you pack up the family truckster and move, though, know this. Winter in Wyoming is six months long with many highways through the mountains being closed from December 1st to Memorial Day the following May. What southerners call “tropical storm category winds” we call Thursday. When the Wyoming Highway Patrol says that Interstate 80 is closed to trucks due to high wind, that’s not a suggestion. I had never witnessed a semi-tractor/trailer flipped onto its side by wind until I moved out here.
However, if you don’t mind the wind, the long winters, and your grocery run being 45 minutes in one direction, Wyoming is fantastic. More so if you love to shoot rifles. And I do.
22 Nosler or .223 Magnum?
Most serious rifle shooters know Nosler for their world class projectiles and brass. Many might be surprised to learn that Nosler doesn’t just making components, they also load premium ammunition and build custom rifles, AND they have a line of suppressors. Brothers and sisters, if we can sue the feds into admitting that the NFA is unconstitutional, you’ll be getting your suppressors over the counter. But that’s another story for another day.
The origin of the 22 Nosler round actually began during the height of the Global War on Terror when Remington Arms introduced the 6.8mm SPC II cartridge as a potential replacement for the 5.56mm NATO. The parent case for the 6.8mm SPC II was the .30 Remington. While it was never fully adopted by the US Department of Defense, the 6.8mm SPC case was necked down by Nosler to .224mm and that became the .22 Nosler round.
As with most serious ammunition makers, Nosler has added its name to numerous cartridges. What the folks in Bend, Oregon did was capitalize on the larger capacity of the 6.8 SPC II case and its established track record of being used in AR-style, semi-automatic rifles. The thought process seemed to be, can we take the plethora of .224 caliber projectiles and launch them at higher velocities, thereby surpassing the venerable .223 Remington in that category?
My original experience in Wyoming was with .223 Remington ARs and .22-250 bolt guns. Both of those cartridges are good rounds. However, we have to admit that .22-250 has the edge in the wind and in the “flatter shooting” category.
Way back when Thompson/Center introduced their Venture bolt-action rifles in 2009 I had the pleasure of spending several days in the field with a .22-250 version. Naturally, the .22-250 Remington is a cartridge designed for bolt-action rifles.
For the folks at Nosler, the idea that they could get results similar to the .22-250 from the autoloading AR platform was indeed attractive. As an example, the 62 grain “Varmageddon” load in .22 Nosler pushes a 62 g. FBHP projectile out of the muzzle at 3250 FPS. That’s about 200 FPS or so faster than the standard loading for the .223 Remington cartridge.
At press time, Nosler has ten .22 Nosler loads available and listed on their website. Bullet weights vary from 55 grains at 3500 fps all the way up to 85 grains, leaving the muzzle at 2750.
Testing 22 Nosler
Several years ago, I assembled an AR-style rifle using a .22 Nosler upper from Midway USA. The barrel on the rifle was 18 inches, heavy fluted with a 1:8 RH twist. The rifle is fed with dedicated 6.8 SPC magazines, not .223.
As all serious rifle shooters understand, when it comes to choosing a load, rifling matters a great deal. Also, my four decades of shooting rifles has taught me that there are few absolutes when it comes to rifle barrel/ammunition compatibility. Some rifles just like certain loads better than others.
Even if the numbers on paper say that such-and-such bullet weight goes with such-and such-rifling, the truest test is deliberate testing and evaluation. That’s half the fun, right? I discovered that, while all the 22 Nosler loads I tested grouped consistently, the one that provided the most consistent sub-MOA grouping was the mid-weight 62 grain load.
Another reason that Wyoming is rifle country is due to its high elevation. The average elevation in the state is 6700 feet above sea level. The area where I hunt most often is 7000 to 7500. Those who have taken the time to use a ballistic calculator and crunch the numbers will know that you can stretch out the practical range for a rifle cartridge at elevation farther than on the east coast near sea level. The air up here is thin and bullets cheat. Consider all of the record setting sniper kills in Afghanistan.
During the last several years, I’ve been taking out my .22 Nosler rifle to shoot varmints and predators here in the Cowboy State. Some of the most challenging shots have been on rock chucks (marmot species and cousins to ground hogs) way up on the side of the mountains.
Such shots are normally a few hundred yards. In the rolling sagebrush, prairie dogs present the challenge of being small targets (the size of a 20-ounce soda bottle) and often presenting only partial exposure. If you can reliably hit a prairie rat at 150 yards, an antelope or mule deer at that range is a chip shot.
Last year I installed the new Vudu X 1-6 LPVO from EOTech on the rifle and have experienced tremendous success during the last two seasons. While love might be a strong word, I have developed a strong affection for this rifle and caliber. Having just returned from a successful outing, the smell of sage is fresh in my nostrils and the field dust clinging to my boots as I type these words.
Is the 22 Nosler everyone’s cup of tea? No. Riflemen tend to be extremely possessive of their favorite rifles and calibers. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a round that offers the ballistics of a .223 Magnum in an AR-platform rifle, the 22 Nosler has much to recommend it.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.