223 VS 224 Valkyrie

[DukeDuke]

Enjoyed reading the comments regarding the .224 Valkyrie. I was thinking about ordering an upper in this caliber. However I think I'll stay with my Rock River Arms Predator Pursuit .223/.556. I shoot competition targets (group & score) out to 400yds at my local gun club. Based on what I'm reading I don't think the Valkyrie will compete with what I have. Attached are a couple of examples of the accuracy my RRA puts out. No changes made, rifle is as it came from RRA.

awesome shooting!!!

 

[searcher]

One can get good case life with the Valkyrie and .22 Nosler if downloaded a bit and still enjoy a good velocity advantage over a .223 while maintaining excellent barrel life, case life, almost no additional perceived recoil - and inexpensive brass relative to most of the other choices. For varmints - it provides performance bridging the gap between .223 and 22/250 while still being able to maintain a rather sustained rate of fire on dog towns, ground squirrels, etc. without the barrel heating up too quickly. Neither of these rounds was designed to be the optimum target or varmint cartridge - but rather maximize what can be done with the ".223-sized" bolt face and in A/R's. I too have the Grendels and other variations. For small varmint shooting - they don't hold a candle to .22 Nosler or Valkyrie, nor do nearly all of the 6mm options due to recoil and especially barrel heat - which translates to barrel life and having to swap out rifles to cool. It is doubtful there will be another round that will be introduced by a major arms maker that has a ".223-sized" bolt-face that exceeds the velocity of these and still get bullets in the magazines and can remain cool enough to shoot high-volume at varmints. Basically - these "optimize" varmint hunting for that bolt face. Because of this - one of these will definitely be staying around for a long time. I prefer the .22 Nosler, though I think the Valkyrie might be the survivor due to the ability to make brass from the SPC parent. After my shooting buddies and I tried the first one I bought - we now all have multiple guns - favoring the .22 Nosler for varmints due to the throating better suited to lighter bullets we like to shoot quite fast. The both of these will not go away. I don't target shoot with either - but for varmints - these are the real deal and one only need to shoot a .223 next to someone with one of these for a few hours to see how disadvantaged they become. In my book, a straight .223 has one advantage - cheap brass. I honestly can't think of a second and I shoot them all - a lot.