The 22 Nosler does what it says: it turns an AR-15 into something meaningfully faster than a .223 without changing the bolt. Six factory loads exist and every one of them is made by Nosler, which is the whole story of the cartridge.
The loads
| Brand | Load | Bullet | Grain | BC | Test barrel | Muzzle | 300 yd | 500 yd | Muzzle energy | 500 yd energy | Drop at 500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nosler | Varmageddon ★ | FB Tipped | 53 | — | 18” | 3,450 | 2,480 | 1,937 | 1,401 | 442 | — |
| Nosler | Trophy Grade Varmint | Ballistic Tip Varmint | 55 | 0.267 | 18” | 3,350 | 2,286 | 1,707 | 1,370 | 356 | -41.4” |
| Nosler | Varmageddon | Varmageddon | 62 | 0.251 | — | 3,100 | 2,055 | 1,490 | 1,334 | 309 | -48.3” |
| Nosler | Trophy Grade † | AccuBond | 70 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nosler | Match Grade † | RDF | 70 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nosler | Match Grade † | Custom Competition | 77 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
What it does
The 53 grain Varmageddon is the best coyote load here — 3,450 feet per second, 442 foot-pounds still at 500 yards, and a flat-base tipped varmint bullet built to come apart.
Set that against the .223 page: the best .223 load carries 431 foot-pounds to 500. So the 22 Nosler’s advantage over a .223, in the load that suits it best, is about eleven foot-pounds at five hundred yards.
That is the honest measure of the cartridge. It is genuinely faster than a .223 at the muzzle and the gap has almost closed by the time it matters.
The proprietary problem
One company makes all of it. If Nosler stops loading the 22 Nosler, the cartridge stops, and there is no second source to fall back on the way there is for a .223 or a .22-250 — where Hornady, Winchester, Federal and Remington all compete for the same shelf.
Compare the 22 ARC, which is two years younger, does a similar job, and is already being chambered by several rifle makers with Hornady behind the ammunition. Neither is a safe bet the way a .223 is, but one of them has more room to grow.
If you already own one, none of this is a problem — buy a few hundred rounds when you see them and shoot it happily. If you are choosing a cartridge, this is the risk you are taking on, and it is worth taking on deliberately rather than by accident.
Notes on the data
These are Nosler’s published figures. Source: Nosler 22 Nosler and the Varmageddon line.
The 53 grain’s drop column is empty on purpose. Nosler publishes it at a 100 yard zero and everything else on this table is at 200, so the trajectory is not comparable and has not been converted. Velocity and energy do not depend on the zero, so those are shown and are directly comparable.
Test barrels here are 18 inches, not the 24 used on most of this site. A short barrel is the point of the cartridge, but it means these velocities are not directly comparable with a .22-250’s on the same page.
★ marks a load added in the September 2026 catalog check. The bulk of this table was compiled some years ago and the makers’ current line-ups were re-read while building this page.
† marks a load that exists and whose published figures are not yet on this table. The rows are here so the list is honest about being incomplete rather than looking finished.
Know a load that should be here? Tell me and I will add it. And check your state’s rules before you go.