That could absolutely be true. It's a thing for sure. There's a reason the 6mm BR cartridges are so popular in their niche. Same with the Creedmoor line. Easier to get good results than some other designs. Hornady seems to know what they're doing lately. I've seen several people complain the 22 valk is hard to tune.
22ARC Vs 224 Valkyrie
- Thread starter Iron Worker
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224 Valkyrie ran into issues immediately with some first batch reamers. Then barrel twist questions about 6.5 vs 7 for the 90s Federal was selling. I was an early adopter and built a 20 inch upper with 6.5 twist in 224V - it does well with Federal brass and 80 ELDMs over H4895. 224V seems to work better with 80s vs 90s. I am almost out of 80ELDMs and will switch to 75ELDMs as they seem available.
I just got a great deal on a Craddock 224V upper and plan on using it for "gas gun" matches with the 75 or 80 ELDMs.
I have 223, 224V, 6ARC, and 65 Grendel uppers so I see the strengths and weaknesses of each.
There is another line of cartridges also based on 350 Legend - 6 MAX and 22 MAX. Uses the original 223 bolt. That interests me even more.
I just got a great deal on a Craddock 224V upper and plan on using it for "gas gun" matches with the 75 or 80 ELDMs.
I have 223, 224V, 6ARC, and 65 Grendel uppers so I see the strengths and weaknesses of each.
There is another line of cartridges also based on 350 Legend - 6 MAX and 22 MAX. Uses the original 223 bolt. That interests me even more.
I haven't heard of the max line yet. Quick google didn't turn up anything. Where can I find some info on them! .22 based on the 350L sound like a a 223 Remington!
Home - BC Precision Ballistics - Home of the 6mm Max®
bcprecisionballistics.com
350 Legend converted to 223 = more powder capacity and designed to launch "heavies" like 75ELDM
I've heard that The Valkyrie is hard to tune and hard on brass. However there is a guy in our club that has won the last two Intermediate cartridge matches in a row. It's mostly an AR match but bolt guns are allowed as long as the cartridge is factory loaded in an AR-15 rifle and the loaded cartridge will fit inside a steel AR15 magazine. We shoot increasingly smaller plates from 12" down to 2" at odd ranges from 249 out to 526yds. I've got a sweet bolt action 6ARC capable of 1/2 MOA but I lost to an AR15 Valkyrie by 4-points. I was able to beat him twice in the side match at 722yds, but just by one plate. I'm building a 22ARC just to see how it runs but Kenny from Desert Precision claims he's getting 2940fps with an 80.5 grain Berger from his 22DPC wildcat which just a 6ARC necked down to 224 with a .249 neck bushing. Thats faster than the Valkyrie.
lyle2231
Well-Known Member
Dies and brass availability were the major influences
IHFarmer07
Well-Known Member
I also was an early adopter of the Valkyrie, mine is a remage conversion from a poor shooting .223 Remington. No regrets really there with that switch but I have a love/hate relationship with the Valkyrie as it is finicky.
All the issues that plagued it from the get go wasted me a bunch of time and supplies, although, it was the first cartridge I reloaded…….. I believe I will be selling everything for it soon.
Remage barrel, brass, dies, bolt……everything Valkyrie.
lyle2231
Well-Known Member
If you're going to stay with the gas gun may I suggest the 6mm WOA from White Oak Armament. A 6.8 Spc case necked down to 6mm. I'm rather pleased with mine.
They had a podcast where they discussed it, for the 224 Valk it took them 3 weeks to work up their factory load and to get the accuracy they had to run it 100 fps slower. Then they had to repeat the process for the other two bullets as none of their previous testing translated over to the either of the other bullet.
Inversely it took them an hour to come up with their 22 ARC loads. Could they be embellishing it sure but one of the main reasons I don't own a Valk was due to the reports of poor accuracy and finicky habdloading that came about shortly after the cartridge was released.
They had just legalized semi autos for coyote hunting here in PA and I looked at hard at the Valk but decided to stick with .223 as I didn't want to burn up a bunch of components trying to find an ok load.
22 ARC = effectively 22 Grendel - I would be amazed if Hornady did not essentially just cherry pick known "good" 22 Grendel data to facilitate 22 ARC load development. I am a Hornady fan but the whole "easy to tune" 22 ARC is a stretch.
The "Grendel" and "6.8 SPC" had competing camps for a long time - think Mustang vs Camaro. I have both and was active on the respective internet pages. Lots of wildcatting and experimenting with both.
Hornady is better at designing, manufacturing, and marketing.
The "Grendel" and "6.8 SPC" had competing camps for a long time - think Mustang vs Camaro. I have both and was active on the respective internet pages. Lots of wildcatting and experimenting with both.
Hornady is better at designing, manufacturing, and marketing.
IHFarmer07
Well-Known Member
I built my Valkyrie off a bolt action……don't think I would EVER do a Valkyrie in an AR, not after all the issues I've seen from others. From what I understand you have to run premium barrels and such for the Valkyrie to run right and have accuracy or have someone that has played with it enough they have it figured out where factory ammo is accurate.
Are 22 Grendel uppers only available for AR-10 platforms?
"Grendel" = AR15 not AR10. Grendel/6.8SPC/224V/6ARC/22ARC all designed to work AR15 magazine length
xsn10s
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I'm curious about building a .224 Valkyrie for coyote hunting. I'm considering the Wilson combat 22" barrel and using 75gr ELDM's but i am open to the 80gr ELDM. What kind of velocities with a given powder would you expect and suggest? TIA
