Any thoughts on 224 Valkyrie?

[Ehunt]

Any thoughts on 224 Valkyrie? 90 grains screaming out to 1k+ yards seems very impressive for a .22 caliber.

[Ronald_55]

I can't get excited about yet another caliber..... I have enough as is. But I am the guy that does not get real excited about the detail specs of the round. So many are so close that practically there is no difference in normal use. Now competition might be different. 

[DaveTN]

I’m with Ronald; I would need to have a real world reason for adding another caliber. No need for another designer round.

.308 is a proven performer at 1000 yards. I don’t think the fact you can put the upper on an AR-15 lower will make it a hit; but we will see.

[Handsome Rob]

Meh, it's not a better mousetrap.

Other than being able to feed out of a standard AR mag, I see no advantage over a .22-250

 

Anyone remember the .223 WSSM? It's reminding me of that. It'll be the best thing in the history of EVAH until once again, everyone realises it isn't.

[MacGyver]

This one runs on a 6.8SPC bolt, right?

While I can see the appeal, I bet it’s hard on brass.  

[tntnixon]

37 minutes ago, robtattoo said:

Meh, it's not a better mousetrap.

Other than being able to feed out of a standard AR mag, I see no advantage over a .22-250

 

Anyone remember the .223 WSSM? It's reminding me of that. It'll be the best thing in the history of EVAH until once again, everyone realises it isn't.

I might have had a 30-378 weatherby mag, at one point . Ask me if I still do ? That rifle taught me a lot about getting excited about theoretical ballistics, so I guess it served its purpose. 

[Ehunt]

I have to echo a lot of what has been said here. the .224 Valkyrie runs off of the 6.8 SPC Bolt and Mags. Just building the upper alone would cost more than the Bolt Action Thompson Center Compass in 30.06 that I have been looking at. That will definitely deliver out to 1,000 yards and won't cost nearly as much as building a Valkyrie upper or building an AR-10. Thanks for the input gentlemen, I was just curious as to what y'all thought.

[jcluff]

Lots of reports of accuracy issues on the 224 Valkyrie. JP rifles first line of barrels will not have an accuracy guarantee.

There was speculation that this was related to 1:7 twist not being sufficient for 90gr but recent evidence seems to disprove the theories around twist. JP, airborne arms and others have been measuring the ogive of the 90gr FGMM and found that the jump from ogive to lands is too great. 60gr Nosler is showing good accuracy and to apprears to be related to this.

Based off of this, I think Federal was buying into their own propaganda and released this caliber prematurely.
Chambers, or maybe bullet design need to be re-evaluated. My hope is that new chamber specs are released so as to come up with a more consistent ogive to lands jump that allows the current 4 factory rounds to all perform well.

So, it’s a bit early to jump on the bandwagon.

Personally, I like semi auto rifles that can perform well at long range and are weight conscious. It’s a bit of a unicorn, but I think this round has the potential to fit that, but still needs some evolution.


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[tnhawk]

On ‎4‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 9:33 AM, MacGyver said:

This one runs on a 6.8SPC bolt, right?

While I can see the appeal, I bet it’s hard on brass.  

My first thought as I started reading, was of the 6.8 SPC sitting in my safe.  I don't want another headache like that was.

[RamTech]

I have a Savage MSR in .224 Valkyrie and, at the moment, cannot recommend getting one. If anyone is interested, I'd be glad to detail the issues I'm having along with what I've checked and done in a vain attempt to correct the accuracy problems I have. I found jcluffs post very informative as I hadn't heard of the ogive to land issue before, so maybe this is the sourse of my woes. 

[mikegideon]

On 4/6/2018 at 10:02 PM, Ehunt said:

Any thoughts on 224 Valkyrie? 90 grains screaming out to 1k+ yards seems very impressive for a .22 caliber.

I may go for one. I have spent some time stretching the legs on .224 bullets. You need to go to 90 grains to stretch to 1000 yards. And that won't fit in an AR mag. I had to run my AR in single shot mode.

This caliber was born with thinking similar to the Grendel and some other reachout calibers. Shorter and fatter case to hold higher BC bullets. In this case, 90 grain .224 ballistics in an AR that works like an AR. I'm good with that. Just wanna play with the 90 grain ballistics some first. Last time I talked to Froggy, he was building a 90 grain gun for 1000 yard competition. Kinda got some faith in it just because of that.

I WON'T build one to shoot deer or hogs. If I do it at all, it will be for precision shooting. 

[mikegideon]

On 4/8/2018 at 11:31 AM, jcluff said:

Lots of reports of accuracy issues on the 224 Valkyrie. JP rifles first line of barrels will not have an accuracy guarantee.

There was speculation that this was related to 1:7 twist not being sufficient for 90gr but recent evidence seems to disprove the theories around twist. JP, airborne arms and others have been measuring the ogive of the 90gr FGMM and found that the jump from ogive to lands is too great. 60gr Nosler is showing good accuracy and to apprears to be related to this.

Based off of this, I think Federal was buying into their own propaganda and released this caliber prematurely.
Chambers, or maybe bullet design need to be re-evaluated. My hope is that new chamber specs are released so as to come up with a more consistent ogive to lands jump that allows the current 4 factory rounds to all perform well.

So, it’s a bit early to jump on the bandwagon.

Personally, I like semi auto rifles that can perform well at long range and are weight conscious. It’s a bit of a unicorn, but I think this round has the potential to fit that, but still needs some evolution.


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Yep, It's early. Not worried about jump. Not worried about doing something lightweight either. The caliber was designed for long range, and that means heavier guns. It's not a sport caliber. 

I haven't read much at all on the caliber, and haven't even checked to see if anybody is shooting a lot of 90 grain in competition these days. I just know that the bullets fly well. And it would be great to shoot t in an AR15 without a Bob Sled. No problem making a semi-auto accurate enough. 

[Ehunt]

4 hours ago, mikegideon said:

Yep, It's early. Not worried about jump. Not worried about doing something lightweight either. The caliber was designed for long range, and that means heavier guns. It's not a sport caliber. 

I haven't read much at all on the caliber, and haven't even checked to see if anybody is shooting a lot of 90 grain in competition these days. I just know that the bullets fly well. And it would be great to shoot t in an AR15 without a Bob Sled. No problem making a semi-auto accurate enough. 

 

5 hours ago, mikegideon said:

I may go for one. I have spent some time stretching the legs on .224 bullets. You need to go to 90 grains to stretch to 1000 yards. And that won't fit in an AR mag. I had to run my AR in single shot mode.

This caliber was born with thinking similar to the Grendel and some other reachout calibers. Shorter and fatter case to hold higher BC bullets. In this case, 90 grain .224 ballistics in an AR that works like an AR. I'm good with that. Just wanna play with the 90 grain ballistics some first. Last time I talked to Froggy, he was building a 90 grain gun for 1000 yard competition. Kinda got some faith in it just because of that.

I WON'T build one to shoot deer or hogs. If I do it at all, it will be for precision shooting. 

I agree that it seems to be excellent for competition shooting, not for hunting.

[mikegideon]

8 minutes ago, Ehunt said:

 

I agree that it seems to be excellent for competition shooting, not for hunting.

It may make a good varmint caliber. May even be a good White Tail gun. Just saying that if you are going to exploit the true benefits, it's a reach out target caliber. The Grendel is probably a better hunter because of the bigger bullets. I own two of them, which is a good reason for me to pass on the 224. 

Both of my Grendels are still supersonic at 1000 yards, and both are match barrels.

Edited May 21, 2018 by mikegideon