Been kicking an idea around in my head. Wanted to hear from .224 Valkyrie shooters on their experiences with this cartridge. Accuracy? Ammo availability? Any particular quirks? Thinking of long range precision AR. Just trying to get an idea about the round. TIA.

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The best I can with what I got

A friend of mine was plagued with coyotes on his horse farm beginning in
April 2019. His teenage daughters hit those critters hard using my PSA AR carbine and Mossberg 500 12 gauge. I loaned them a Remington 700 BDL Varmint .22/250 to pop the coyotes who ran out of range of the AR. The oldest daughter bought a PSA in .224 and has popped a half dozen at 600+ yards. Her gun is extremely accurate, but the girls can shoot often and have laser ranged practically everything in sight of their shooting stations.

Don't know if this is a selling point or not, but all through the ammo shortage and now the shelves were always stocked full of 224 Valkyrie ammo. Just came back from a gun show and there were literally shelf rows of it, good pricing too - about $17.99 per 20.

Last week in a local shop; Bear 223 14.99, Hornady Match 21.99.

Ivan

I have been shooting & reloading the 224V since it’s debut. My primary interest was shooting out to 1000 yds, which I do weekly.
I started with a Savage bolt gun with a 1/7 twist and after trying dozens of loads with 75 to 90 grain bullets, I gave up on it.
Simply could not get the accuracy at any range that was acceptable to me ( moa or less )
Bought a Rock River Arms upper with a 6 1/2 twist two years ago. With Hornady 88 grain ELDM’s or Berger 85.5 VLD’s over a charge of Varget, I have shot several .5 moa or less groups on steel at 1000 yds.
If you are going to buy a 224V and want to stabilize the longer, heavier bullets, do not waste your money on anything with a rate twist slower than 1/6 1/2. Even this rate twist will not stabilize 95 smk’s at 1000 yds in my rifle. I have thought about a custom barrel at 1 to 6 rate twist.
The RRA upper with the 6 1/2 rate twist and my “ go to loads” have been an eye opener for me. I have experimented with 75-80 grain bullets, but the best performance for me at 700 and beyond are the 88 ELDM’s and the 85.5 VLD’s.
The 75 and 77 grainers at 3000 fps would be devastating on varmints.

I have also seen 224 Ammo when the shelves were near empty.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I've had no experience with the .224 but am curious about the ballistics of many cartridges. Based on Sierra data, it appears that the difference in maximum velocities amounts to about a 100 fps advantage with 80 grain MK bullets over the velocity attainable in an AR .223/5.56. Sierra's test guns had barrel lengths of 20" for the AR and 24" for the .224.

With the .223 with a 24" barrel on a Universal receiver, the 95 grain MK gets up to 2,500 fps while the .224 on the same receiver with a 24" barrel has 50 fps more muzzle velocity. It appears the real advantage with the .224 is the capability of using the very long bullets that will function properly within the confines of an AR action, where the long and heavy bullets in the .223/5.56 must be singly loaded to function.

I have never shot one but have watched with curiosity how it was accepted.
Is it just me or has the fanfare and hoopla died down already?
I do not seem to see much on it anymore. But, then again, it has been some time since I have seen any raving about the 6.5 Creedmore.
I think despite legitimate credentials all new cartridges have a relatively short life as the gun writer’s darling.

Since I returned to 1000 yard matches after becoming disabled, I have been using a Rem 700 Long Range in 7mm Rem Mag. It worked for me, but the match accuracy was gone by almost 1400 rounds. When COVID hit, my preferred components disappeared fast.

Since I had assembled an AR upper in 223 with the intention of shooting it at a thousand yards, I figured I'd give the 224 Valkyrie a chance. The 223 with a 26" barrel and bullets seated a bit deeper in order to stay off the rifling just wouldn't stay supersonic much beyond 975 yards, which opened up my groups. My goal was to develop a load that shot under 0.75 MOA, it just didn't come together.

Now with the 224 Valkyrie. I found that the SD on my handloads was about 25 fps with a book maximum of Varget under a Hornady 88gr ELD-M. I went into my first 1000 yard F class match with a solid 300 yard zero, and a calculated 1000 yard zero. First sighter was a non-visable miss using a dead-on center of mass hold. For the second sighter I held 6 o'clock on the aiming black and my shot was a loose 8 at 10 o'clock. I made my scope adjustment to allow for a return to a center of mass hold, and my remaining shots for the 3 - 20 record stages kept within the 8 ring. That said, I have to admit a few facts.

First, the conditions were lousy. For the whole day, we had mostly heavy rain which played havoc with visibility. However, the fact that the rounds stayed within the 8 ring was promising. Second, I haven't had a chance to chronograph that load in order to get critical data, but I am considering kicking the load up a tenth or two in order to tighten the group. My collected brass didn't show any signs of high pressure.

My setup. Keep in mind that I am using an AR platform on a versapod bipod at what is really 1030 yards. I built an upper using a 24" White Oak stainless barrel with a 1:6.5" twist using Hornady 88gr ELD-M bullets. The lower is an original (pre-Remington) Bushmaster with a CMMC single stage trigger. I am using a Gen 1 Vortex Viper PST 6-24x scope. The cases had been shot 4-5x.

My take. Using the NRA LR-F target, the 224 Valkyrie demonstrated (for me) significant potential. The 8 ring on an LR-F target is about 20" in diameter. I can't give a true velocity, but I can say this load was consistently above the supersonic transition. I have been able to purchase the Hornady bullets for under $30 a 100 during COVID without issue (significantly less expensive than Sierra MatchKings). I am using the Remington Small Rifle Benchrest primer with a load of Varget that could be found in a 223 match round. I would guesstimate that my 224 Valkyrie loads are costing about $0.35 a round with my current components on hand. Since I haven't seen Varget or primers on the shelf, I have no idea what the handloads would cost based on prevailing prices. A nice point to keep in mind, is that this round is loaded to magazine length, and magazine feeding can be utilized! Once I tweak the charge and measure the leade, I can build a more precise round that should not only mate perfectly to the chamber and throat, it should come closer to my desired grouping goal. For me, any round and rifle that will hold 0.75 MOA at a thousand plus yards is a keeper. If I were to do the build over again, I would purchase another varmint profile barrel with 1:6.5" twist, but 26 or more inches in length in order to kick up the muzzle velocity.

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Judge control not gun control!

Can't help but think about the forces exerted on the bullet jacket in the 1:6.5 and 1:6 twist barrels mentioned here.

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Release the Kraken

Coyote is a pretty tough customer.... Just asking: has anyone actually KILLED one with any kind of a 223/224 (other than 22-250) out at/beyond 400 yds. (and excluding head shots)?

J.

That's what intrigues me about it. Using Federal's ballistic charts they list for their 90 gr Sierra Match King bullet, at 500 yards, the slug is travelling at 1960 ft/sec. giving it 768 foot pounds of energy which is up to near .44 Mag at the muzzle energy. If the bullet dumps even half that energy into a coyote, in a vital area, I'm pretty sure death will occur. Probably quite spectacularly, especially with the coyotes here in the west.

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The best I can with what I got

The problem, as I see it, is the Sierra MatchKing is a ballistic hollow point, not an expanding hollow point. Do not expect any degree of expansion, and expect a through and through wound. If the shock doesn't immediately incapacitate the critter, expect to track the critter (if you are seeking bounty or to save the pelt), and possibly a slower than desired death.

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Judge control not gun control!

Steve,
By design, the 88gr needs a twist at 1:7" or faster. The fact that the bullets can reach out in tact out to 1300+ yards suggests that the bullet is designed with a somewhat thicker jacket.

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Judge control not gun control!

I have seen maybe 1/2 dozen killed at 450-500 yards with AR’s shooting both .223 and 5.56x45mm, and one each with a Savage 340 .222 and a Mossberg 800 .222 that was re-chambered to .223. These were usually lung shots but the Savage and Mossberg kills were throat shots. None dropped instantly but only one got further than fifty yards. Most shots were taken from elevated positions at known distances.

MatchKings and other target bullets are poor choices for varmints or game if you want consistent results. Sierra recommends against using them for such purposes because they don't expand reliably. I know, the "experts" use them all the time for varmints and deer, but no one tells of the wounded critters that escape when these target bullets are used.

In my ignorance, I used to use MatchKing .22 bullets for coyotes in a .223 because they shot so accurately. About half the time, a well hit coyote would run off as if he had not been struck at all. I finally became aware of Sierra's recommendation and began using a varmint bullet. Big difference; they killed reliably in comparison with the MatchKings and were just as accurate.

I'd like to add an additional point on why the popularity of the 224 Valkyrie appears to be diminishing. Consider how many noobies lunged at the gun writers claims about the accuracy potential of the 224 Valkyrie. There is a very good chance that many first time buyers bought a 224 with little experience beyond 200 yards, expecting to hit a 1000 yard plus target on the first shot! While I can read and call the wind reliably and consistently out to 600 yards, I still find reading the wind at a thousand yards plus to be a challenge, and I've been at the long-range game for over 30 years! Without good glass, some never catch the mirage.

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Judge control not gun control!