224 Valkyrie - Opinion please

[Piobair]

So, I’m working on a 224 Valkyrie build on a lower I bought a couple years ago.
The lower just needs a Magpul PRS stock and it will be complete. Some upgraded components, but not super-premium. I’d just about settled on getting a 24” White Oak Armaments upper. But PSA has a special on a 20” upper plus 200 rounds of ammo that would save me enough for a Vortex Diamondback scope. While I have visions of a 1,000-yard rifle, my local range is only 200 yards, and that’s really probably as far as I’ll ever shoot. Do I build the 24” rifle I planned, or do I settle for 20” and save enough for the scope? For my my situation, will the extra 4" on the barrel make enough (or any) difference?

 

[GSPBirdDog]

With 90gr bullets, you are going to lose about 21 FPS loss per inch of barrel. I think since you are not going out to 1,000 yards, you should be ok with a 20” barrel.

 

[DRob]

Been thinking along those lines also but I would be taking it on a prairie dog trip where you seldom have consecutive shots at the same distance. Unless you miss the little bugger, that is. Just kinda' watching and waiting right now. I've tried ARs in .223 and .204 with limited success. The only one I have now has a WOA 18" 1:7 .223 varmint upper which was intended for heavier bullets. I suspect I could fund the PSA by selling the WOA upper. By all accounts, the lower will need no mods to run the Valkyrie. Magazines.... maybe.

Edit: Just read the reviews of the 3 Valkyrie uppers on the PSA site. Some provide good info. Some are pretty vague and of little value. Don't tell me it's great or that it's not good. Tell me it shot 1/2 MOA with a certain load and you've provided something of value. Tell me it shot like crap with everything you ran through it and you've provided value. Most reviews were positive but a few spoke of very poor accuracy, like 3" or more at 100 yards. To PSA's credit, the negative reviews all got a response advising to contact CS so they could resolve the issue.

 

[ckcollins2003]

If you reload then the barrel length means nothing with velocity. You can always use a faster burning powder to achieve the desired velocity and accuracy.

I've been looking into building the same upper for my AR. If you get the PSA, let us know what you think as far as accuracy goes.

 

[NyleRN]

I wouldn't waste time or money on 224valk. My opinion of course and your money. By your own admission you'll be doing max 200yds 99% of the time. What do you expect to gain by going with the new kid on the block? Out to 600yd I'd easily stick with 77gr SMK and be just as accurate and precise. If I need to go 1000, then I'm not shooting a little 90gr pill. Not trying to be a negative nancy just maybe save you some money and time.

 

[halfmileharry]

I wouldn't waste time or money on 224valk. My opinion of course and your money. By your own admission you'll be doing max 200yds 99% of the time. What do you expect to gain by going with the new kid on the block? Out to 600yd I'd easily stick with 77gr SMK and be just as accurate and precise. If I need to go 1000, then I'm not shooting a little 90gr pill. Not trying to be a negative nancy just maybe save you some money and time.

Agreed 100%.
Even at 300 yds you don't need the 224V. I'm looking to BUY a factory one when I find the deal I want. I only considered the Valk because I do occasionally get to do some long range critter killing.
I took a Remington 788 in .222 to S. Dakota years ago and was pink smoking the scope glass at 400+ on doggies on a regular basis. My buddies were shooting a 224 Weatherby and the other was sporting a 22-250 heavy barrel. I couldn't repeat my shots near as fast due to heating up nor could I reach out to 600+ like they were. I still had a blast and my ammo was cheaper.

 

[Piobair]

Good advice. Thanks.

 

[GSPBirdDog]

I wouldn't waste time or money on 224valk. My opinion of course and your money. By your own admission you'll be doing max 200yds 99% of the time. What do you expect to gain by going with the new kid on the block? Out to 600yd I'd easily stick with 77gr SMK and be just as accurate and precise. If I need to go 1000, then I'm not shooting a little 90gr pill. Not trying to be a negative nancy just maybe save you some money and time.

I agree %100 as well......the only reason i am wanting to build one is to play around with some reloads. Just like the 22 Nosler and 28 Nosler.

 

[55fairlane]

I wouldn't waste time or money on 224valk. My opinion of course and your money. By your own admission you'll be doing max 200yds 99% of the time. What do you expect to gain by going with the new kid on the block? Out to 600yd I'd easily stick with 77gr SMK and be just as accurate and precise. If I need to go 1000, then I'm not shooting a little 90gr pill. Not trying to be a negative nancy just maybe save you some money and time.

I agree......at 200 yards, your run of mill 223 Remington.....for plinking load up some 55 or 62 grain bullets........for accuracy 69 SMK.........

 

[LarryC]

If you intend to do a lot of plinking like me, I would suggest you look at the Grendel instead of the Valkyrie! I looked at all the various calibers when I built my last AR and went with the Grendel due to the available of the Wolf ammo at about $.35 / round.

Also the Grendel has a far heavier bullet and is legal for deer and other game, where most states will not allow the Valkyrie or any 22 cal round for hunting!

There are many more bullet choices for the Grendel (up to 150 grain). There are also more vendors for the Brass, and The Grendel brass also can be made from the 7.62 X 39 brass by sizing the neck down. The downside of the Grendel is that it does have more wind drift and drop past 1K yards and current reports indicate the Valkyrie is slightly more accurate at 1000 Yards.

The Grendel has far more muzzle energy (around 520 - 130Gr bullet Vs Valkyrie 325 - 90gr bullet), and ends up at about 40% more energy at 1K yards. The Grendel also is much less sensitive to barrel length than the Valkyrie. In fact in a shorter barrel the Valkyrie loses almost all the limited advantages it has.

One caveat is that the Grendel has been produced in two Types (1 and 2), you must make sure the bolt and barrel are both of the same type!
I haven't seen any Type 1 parts for sale for some time but be aware mixing the parts can be dangerous!

 

[sgreen3]

I played around with the Valk for a little bit for my channel and reviewed that PSA barrel BCG combo you were talking about. For me and what I do I just dont see the value in the Valk, especially when Id say 95% of shooters never shoot passed 300yrds..

[video=youtube;dGJU3v3rUk4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGJU3v3rUk4&t=12s[/video]

 

[hANNAbONE]

I don't need another caliber to buy.

The .224 V doesn't do much more than what I currently stock in my other rifles.

I can't see me purchasing it...seems to me it's a marketing ploy to get new buyers of the "newest" caliber.

Not for me.

YMMV

 

[Piobair]

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Fargo]

If you intend to do a lot of plinking like me, I would suggest you look at the Grendel instead of the Valkyrie! I looked at all the various calibers when I built my last AR and went with the Grendel due to the available of the Wolf ammo at about $.35 / round.

Also the Grendel has a far heavier bullet and is legal for deer and other game, where most states will not allow the Valkyrie or any 22 cal round for hunting!

There are many more bullet choices for the Grendel (up to 150 grain). There are also more vendors for the Brass, and The Grendel brass also can be made from the 7.62 X 39 brass by sizing the neck down. The downside of the Grendel is that it does have more wind drift and drop past 1K yards and current reports indicate the Valkyrie is slightly more accurate at 1000 Yards.

The Grendel has far more muzzle energy (around 520 - 130Gr bullet Vs Valkyrie 325 - 90gr bullet), and ends up at about 40% more energy at 1K yards. The Grendel also is much less sensitive to barrel length than the Valkyrie. In fact in a shorter barrel the Valkyrie loses almost all the limited advantages it has.

One caveat is that the Grendel has been produced in two Types (1 and 2), you must make sure the bolt and barrel are both of the same type!
I haven't seen any Type 1 parts for sale for some time but be aware mixing the parts can be dangerous!

Also, watch out for which kind of rifling you get, there are quite a few BCA 5r barrels that won't stabilize wolf ammo. Mine prints a 10 in. pattern at 100 yards with wolf.

 

[bgcatty]

With all due respect, .224 Valkyrie appears to me to be just another "fad" cartridge. There are plenty of other time proven cartridges that match or exceed the alleged performance of this round. They have been mentioned in this thread already. Besides, when are you really going to be shooting in excess of 300 yards? Peace. Out!

 

[Piobair]

Besides, when are you really going to be shooting in excess of 300 yards? Peace. Out!

Like I said in my original post, probably never over 200.

 

[Hohn]

If you reload then the barrel length means nothing with velocity. You can always use a faster burning powder to achieve the desired velocity and accuracy.

I've been looking into building the same upper for my AR. If you get the PSA, let us know what you think as far as accuracy goes.

Umm, no. Faster powder means less of it. At some point, barrel length matters. You don't get special laws of physics just because you handload. There many good, accurate fast-burning powders, but you can't gain back velocity by using them. You get pressure.

I wouldn't waste time or money on 224valk. My opinion of course and your money. By your own admission you'll be doing max 200yds 99% of the time. What do you expect to gain by going with the new kid on the block? Out to 600yd I'd easily stick with 77gr SMK and be just as accurate and precise. If I need to go 1000, then I'm not shooting a little 90gr pill. Not trying to be a negative nancy just maybe save you some money and time.

I want to like the .224V but between the horrendous accuracy reports from the earliest rifles, the urinary olympics over the bad reamers and all that, and for what? Just to gain long range capability in a tiny little bullet?

If I want to shoot 1000y, I'd get a proper bolt gun in .243/6mm with a 110smk at 3000fps. A 224V won't even come close to that level of performance. Who needs to shoot in a hurry (gas gun) at 1000y?

 

[NyleRN]

Umm, no. Faster powder means less of it. At some point, barrel length matters. You don't get special laws of physics just because you handload. There many good, accurate fast-burning powders, but you can't gain back velocity by using them. You get pressure.



I want to like the .224V but between the horrendous accuracy reports from the earliest rifles, the urinary olympics over the bad reamers and all that, and for what? Just to gain long range capability in a tiny little bullet?

If I want to shoot 1000y, I'd get a proper bolt gun in .243/6mm with a 110smk at 3000fps. A 224V won't even come close to that level of performance. Who needs to shoot in a hurry (gas gun) at 1000y?

While I agree, I will say that with an accurate gasser you can rain down a lot of hate in short order on a particular target when you have the right dope

 

[phylodog]

I've been very slowly putting a .224V together. Not because I feel it is superior to everything else out there, simply because it's (fairly) new and I'm interested. I had a .223AI put together years ago which was beyond stupid accurate and I had a blast with it. I hope to one day enjoy the challenge of finding an accuracy node and squeezing every smidgen of potential out of the .224V for no other reason than I can.

 

[Hohn]

While I agree, I will say that with an accurate gasser you can rain down a lot of hate in short order on a particular target when you have the right dope

Oh, absolutely true.

For speed, gas wins every time. For speed and accuracy, gas still wins.

But I'm rarely in a hurry when trying to shoot for accuracy and I've lately come to find cycling a manual bolt incredibly satisfying. Easy single feeds. Brass that doesn't burn you, positive control over the bolt. Easy detection of your load pressure limits (sticky bolt). Being able to load into the lands. Those are a few of the reasons I've really come to want a bolt gun.

It is interesting to me that even in PRS where speed and accuracy matter, gas guns still haven't caught on though. Hmm. (I've read it's because it so hard to spot impacts with the gas gun cycling).