TravisC
Silver $$ Contributor
All this began when the 224 Valkyrie was released. I was familiar with the 6.8 cases and thought that the Valkyrie was a standardized version with max capacity but with dies, brass, and Chambers a plenty. False. The capacity was smaller, the Chambers in the beginning varied.. I was too late though, I had bought 1k cases, had a reamer made for 6/224 Valkyrie. And while that was a good running cartridge, it was easily matches with a 6x45.
I had also chambered a straight 224 Valkyrie and thought I could see gains over the AR versions since I was using a Bighorn TL3 bolt action. And was soon disappointed. So I backburnered the whole case for a while.
Fast forward to a few months ago. A friend and I set up a trip to shoot prairie dogs and I went looking thru all my stuff and realized I had enough stuff to try to build something off the Valkyrie case.. neck it down to 20cal, and set the freebore for 40 grain bullets (.040).. and boom.. a firecracker! I went with 20 practical starting loads and watched my cases for marks, and velocity. I merely wanted to hit 3900fps with the 40s, and reloaded my same 5 starline cases to see how long the primer pockets lasted. I got up to 6 firings with benchmark powder, and a super consistent spread. Sd of 15. Fyi, the standard 224 Valkyrie was showing loosening pockets at 4 firings.
End result from last weekend, it is a hoot in the field. Super flat trajectory, little recoil, and I got to use all the components I already had, at the expense of a bushing for my sizing die, and a reamer, plus a barrel. And with this a success, I now can chamber more barrels and take advantage of the prolific brass options. Going to 20cal, really let this case shine in my book.
I had also chambered a straight 224 Valkyrie and thought I could see gains over the AR versions since I was using a Bighorn TL3 bolt action. And was soon disappointed. So I backburnered the whole case for a while.
Fast forward to a few months ago. A friend and I set up a trip to shoot prairie dogs and I went looking thru all my stuff and realized I had enough stuff to try to build something off the Valkyrie case.. neck it down to 20cal, and set the freebore for 40 grain bullets (.040).. and boom.. a firecracker! I went with 20 practical starting loads and watched my cases for marks, and velocity. I merely wanted to hit 3900fps with the 40s, and reloaded my same 5 starline cases to see how long the primer pockets lasted. I got up to 6 firings with benchmark powder, and a super consistent spread. Sd of 15. Fyi, the standard 224 Valkyrie was showing loosening pockets at 4 firings.
End result from last weekend, it is a hoot in the field. Super flat trajectory, little recoil, and I got to use all the components I already had, at the expense of a bushing for my sizing die, and a reamer, plus a barrel. And with this a success, I now can chamber more barrels and take advantage of the prolific brass options. Going to 20cal, really let this case shine in my book.
