Recent 224 Valkyrie experiences and thoughts?

[smoothy8500]

I wouldn't be shooting that far very often, except maybe for fun, but the round is very capable.

So, really, why do you want it.....other than another "niche" caliber that won't be around anymore and you won't use anyways?

[MrFancyPants]

I'm about to give up on my 224. I have about 160 rounds of FGMM 90gr, Hornady 88gr, and some other ammo that I'm going to shoot and then I'll be converting my 224 upper into a 6mm ARC.

I had high hopes for 224, but it had so many problems. Hopefully 6mm ARC will be better.

From what I've read on other forums, some report inconsistent results even with reloads with the 224, and that it's not easy to work up a load, so that's one of my hesitations. Plus due to bullet size it's very hard to spot at longer range distances, which would make dialing it in yourself a pain. I'm leaning more towards the 6 ARC the more I read.

When the Valkyrie came out I was all excited about its promise. But then reports of lukewarm performance changed my mind.

Then the 6 ARC was announced, and I was "meh". But it did pretty well, and it's an added 15-25 grains of bullet over the Valkyrie in the same magazine and about the same velocity. It does a mile, more or less, out of a gas gun.

Right now I'm waiting for Eagle Eye to announce sales to the public of his barrels, which he's figured out some tricks with in the chambering.

Yeah, optimal bullet weight seems to be about 105-108 gr with the 6 ARC, with the Hornady ELD 108 performing exceptionally well. Also another thing I've been reading is the 224 is tough on cases, since it needs to be loaded to the max to achieve optimal performance with a 90 gr bullet. Seems case life should be longer with the 6 ARC.

Never heard of Eagle Eye. I'll have to do some research into who makes quality 6 ARC barrels. For mass produced barrels I lean towards Ballistic Advantage and Criterion.

So, really, why do you want it.....other than another "niche" caliber that won't be around anymore and you won't use anyways?

Because why not? I have quite a collection of rifles, more than enough to cover any practical use case, so at this point I'm just looking for things to play around with. I have just barely scraped the surface of long distance shooting, but it's something I'm interested in doing more of, so that's why I want another capable AR-15 platform option, other than Grendel as I have a 20" gasser. I also have 308 and 300 win mag options, for hard hitting long distance. What I'm looking for now is a medium to long distance small game caliber. The 6 ARC, 6.5 Grendel and 224 seem to be the farthest reaching AR-15 performers.

[sigstroker]

Never heard of Eagle Eye. I'll have to do some research into who makes quality 6 ARC barrels. For mass produced barrels I lean towards Ballistic Advantage and Criterion.

That's his youtube channel, not his business name. He does gunsmithing on the side I think, but I forget his gunsmith business name. He's messed around with the 6 ARC a lot, including chambering and bullet jump depths. With bolt guns he can push the pressure up quite a bit and gets near 3000 fps.

[sfvshooter]

I started with a 22" 1:7 barrel and had some initial success with 1st gen FGMM 90gr, but then my second batch of same ammo was shooting all over the place. Really inconsistent shooting with 88gr and other issues so I changed to a 20" 1:6.5 barrel because I read 1:7 wasn't fast enough to stabilize 90gr. Mediocre with 1:6.5 barrel as well. I can reuse the bolt if I decide to build a 6.8 SPC AR.

That's what happens when you're an early adopter...live and learn.

[sigstroker]

Or a 6 ARC.