Early this morning I woke to a brand new press release detailing the latest factory produced wildcat-style cartridge offered by our friends over at Nosler. They claim that the new cartridge will boast velocities that rival the 22-250 cartridge while fitting into an AR-15 platform.

The only thing required to swap to the new 22 Nosler cartridge is to swap the upper for one chambered in the new speedy cartridge and switch over to 6.8 magazines (notice I didn’t say Six8.) The new 22 Nosler should perform well against small game, varmints, and even larger game like deer while using a platform that most shooters know and love with a familiar control layout.

I posted the press release at the bottom of this post so that you can read it yourself. CLICK HERE to learn more about the 22 Nosler as well as Nosler’s other offerings.

Bend, Ore—January 17, 2017— Nosler Inc. announced today the release of the 22 Nosler®, a new cartridge designed to transform any standard AR-15 into the fastest, most powerful .22 caliber available for the platform, with the least amount of modification. The new addition to Nosler’s cartridge family, which also features optimized 6.5mm, 7mm, 30 caliber and .338 magnum class rounds, delivers 30% more energy and is nearly 300 fps faster than a 223 Remington/ 5.56 NATO .

Born from the idea of creating the most powerful .22 caliber centerfire cartridge that would readily function in the AR platform, the 22 Nosler’s case design takes advantage of the AR-15’s unparalleled modularity, making the conversion from a standard 223 Remington/ 5.56 NATO to the 22 Nosler® simple, requiring only a swap of the upper to the new chambering and switching out to a 6.8 Rem SPC magazine. This effortless two-step retrofit will allow shooters to experience the 22 Nosler’s lightning fast, hard-hitting performance, while still being able to use their existing 223 bolt carrier group.

Approaching 22-250 velocities in a significantly smaller package, the 22 Nosler® yields nearly 25% more capacity than the 223 Rem/ 5.56 NATO making the round capable of pushing a 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet at 2,950 fps out of an AR-15 fitted with an 18” barrel and a 77gr. Custom Competition® bullet at 2,950 fps.

“The AR-15 is indisputably one of the most popular firearms among shooting enthusiasts across the globe” said John Nosler, Executive Vice President for the company. “While there are other hard-hitting cartridges that exist for the platform, as far as .22 caliber is concerned, nothing compares to the performance of our newly engineered 22 Nosler case. It was important to us that every AR-15 owner could instantly customize their existing rifle to 22 Nosler without any fancy gunsmithing. In keeping with that goal, a simple switch of the magazine and upper will do the trick. With a cartridge innovation this significant, any shooter running other .22 cals in their AR-15, will at the very least, have to reconsider their efficiency.”

The 22 Nosler® is a SAAMI standardized cartridge making for consistent brass and chamber dimensions industry wide. The company will be supporting the new cartridge with Nosler® Brass and ammunition, with plans to chamber their full line of M48 bolt action rifles in 24” barrel configurations in the future. Complete uppers and magazines for 22 Nosler® conversions will be available at major sporting goods retailers nationwide.

22 Nosler® ammunition will initially be loaded in the company’s popular Match Grade^™and Trophy Grade^™Ammunition lines in the following offerings:

• Nosler® Trophy Grade^™ Ammunition— 55gr. Ballistic Tip
• 3,500 fps (24” SAAMI test bbl) | 3,350 fps (18” gas-op semi auto)
• Nosler® Match Grade^™ Ammunition— 77gr. Custom Competition
• 3,100 fps (24” SAAMI test bbl) | 3,350 fps (18” gas-op semi auto)