With the success of the 6.5 Creedmoor, it was inevitable that handloaders would wildcat the case into many variants of caliber and shoulder configuration. Indeed, it was being necked up and down by the tinkering types so ubiquitous in our hobby even before it had achieved anything like its present mainstream success. Hornady had found success with a formula of tall head heights, faster twists and longer throats on a basic short action case with 30 degree shoulders. While it's true that the 6.5 blazed no new trails ballistically-- it duplicates the 6.5x55's performance in many ways-- the Creedmoor was doing it in a short action that could feed from a box magazine and would even function in common semiautos. It added excellent inherent accuracy and factory ammunition that could be replicated by handloaders because the recipe was on the box. In 6mm form, the Creedmoor allowed heavier bullets than factory .243 and 6mm Remingtons could accommodate, ingratiating itself to practical rifle competitors as a sort of higher performance variant of the 6.5. Now comes the 22 creedmoor as the youngest sibling, perhaps representing a return to roots for this case family (it was rumored that the initial Creedmoor development was based on 22-250 cases). If true, it's no surprise that the 22 Creedmoor is sort of a "22-250 for heavy bullets", with a fast twist and long throat optimized for bullets that are among the heaviest in 22 caliber. What the 22-250 did for the 22 caliber with lighter bullets, the 22 creedmoor now does for the heavier ones. With an abundance of good quality brass and a demand established by a decade of wildcatting, the 22 Creedmoor may repeat the success of its forebears.

Inevitably, the 6.5 Creedmoor would be necked down and up. First came a 6mm version and then this 22-caliber version, the 22 ARC. The hype on the latter is wild. This cartridge has exactly one thing going for it, as with the original Creedmoor, dimensional tolerances for both the chamber and cartridge allow factory guns and ammunition to be more accurate and make it easier for handloaders to achieve good results. Every other claim you read anywhere about how the 22 Creedmoor is the biggest, baddest, bestest, and whateverest is nothing but Internet-Nonsense. Loaded to the same pressure with the same length barrel and using the same components, the 22 Creedmoor will do absolutely nothing the Swift will not do. Yes, it does have greater capacity but with available components, it offers absolutely no velocity advantage that anyone could ever notice in the varminting field or in long-range target shooting. The 220 Ackley Improved has about the same capacity as the 22 Creedmoor. I know three serious handloaders and dedicated varmint hunters who spent time and money having a 220 Swift converted to 220 AI. Each reported the same thing, paraphrased here: I was able to get exactly 0-fps more velocity with the improved version of the Swift, compared to the original version using best components in the same barrel. I had the same experience. Chambering in a gun that allows significantly longer loads and with a faster rifling twist-rate does allow use of longer, more efficient bullets. With the highest BC 22-caliber bullets now available, such a combination can do things not possible with a factory rifle in Swift or 22-250 using a short-action and a too-slow twist to stabilize such bullets. But, of course, anyone can get a custom rifle built. A custom gun using a longer action and faster rifling twist chambered in 22-250, 22-250 AI, or 220 Swift and using tight chamber tolerances will do anything the 22 Creedmoor will do. The difference is availability. For some, an off-the-shelf factory gun has advantages over a custom gun. Equally, for others, a custom gun has advantages over a factory gun. To each his own. This does not mean I believe anything is wrong with the 22 Creedmoor. The noted advantages in tolerances matter; likely, it is a fine cartridge. The one problem I can point to is the foolishly short neck. This will result in very limited barrel life before accuracy begins to suffer and the gun can no longer take advantage of the long-range potential the high-BC bullets offer when carefully loaded with the best components. Heritage of this case dates to the 1870s with the introduction of the 40-70 Ballard case.