I am looking into building a .224 Valkyrie in a 16.5” barrel bolt gun, using a rem 700 action, which will be my first rifle of this nature. I am more or less looking for input on what caliber would be best optimized for this length barrel, any suggestions? It will be going in a black collar chassis. Would like to be able to reach out to around 6-700 yards. Any insight on this set up or maybe another that might be better suited?
.224 16” bolt gun
- Thread starter Jcase926
- Start date
not sure if the 224 is really the best cal out of a short barrel you loose a lot of what makes them work i have a 24'' i get what to me is decent performance i hear nothing but bad things as you slow them down especialy when 223 is cheaper great to that distance and works nice in a shorter barrel have an 18'' on my ar s&w can shoot 600 like an artillery piece and it works 6.8 spc might be better its small ar 15 ish cartage still think 223 would be cheaper and like the 224 little recoil and just as fun just sugestions . then again if you are hand loading you have tons of possibilities .but as i am really new to shooting i could be totally wrong.
I enjoy shooting my 224 24'' 1/7 twist so far only using the 75 grain pinking round , 88 eldm , 60 grain and the 90 fusion all shot good . Sadly only having a 600 yard range does not really allow me to see what it could do at 1200 yards or more . but saying that i have heard nothing good from the rounds with shorter barrels they seem to loose speed fast in shorter barrels , loosing what makes them neat , not to mention the cost . from what i can figure Im happy with my 24'' barrel no keyholing from 100 - 600 yards just nice clean holes maybe not the greatest precision but i blame myself not the round as im new to it and shooting so I'm sure I make most of the mistakes not the round. 223 is good at the ranges you mention and cheap and accurate if you put in the time to shoot it that way , and better in shorter barrels , 6.8 spc may be better than the 233 or 224 i do not know i have never shot one or seen anyone who had. Its up to you what you want i just really think the barrel length is not going to serve you or the cartage i hope am wrong and it does well for you if you choose it. please write back and let it be known if you do get it and how nice or otherwise so its known.
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I’m not against the .223 at all, but have been reading that the .224 is not as prone to being affected by the wind. Also looking at bullet drop of both rounds the .224 seems to pull ahead there as well. A 77grain BH bullet from .223 is moving roughly 2645fps out of a 16” barrel. The 88grain Hornady .224 is moving 2514fps. So the .223 has the advantage of about 130 FPS. Would that be enough to justify the .223 being better suited? (Disregarding the cost or availability of ammo for the sake of discussion). So basically what I’m looking at is I can shoot a heavier grain bullet out of the .224, which will drop less and be less effected by the wind. I understand that at 1000 yards the .224 will still be supersonic vs. the .223 which, from the information I’ve read, would be subsonic by 950. With that being said, I would rarely if ever push this gun to that distance. So at 6-700 what would the advantages of the .223 be? Why would you rather shoot it vs. the .224? Like I said before, disregarding price or availability of ammo
Seems like you are comparing apples to oranges with your 77 gr 223 vs 88 gr 224v. That's a big difference in small cases in my opinion. If you take cost and availability out of the decision, why not just pick a better round? I pretty much only shoot my 223s because they are cheaper. Pretty much any 6.5 flavor seems better to me. I just don't see the point in the valkyrie outside of an ar15 or shooting 90 grain bullets.
My 16” 223 wylde is pushing a 75 eld at 2800 with 23.6 gr 8208. I put a sub moa four shot group on steel at 1000 a few weekends ago. Sure I benefited from low consistent winds but it was fun. So it’s A) cheap B) fun and C) easy.
That said, the Valkyrie will only do even better. The 223 is capable, the valk is more so.
That said, the Valkyrie will only do even better. The 223 is capable, the valk is more so.
If you're planning on building a 16" .224 bore for the Valkyrie, you might just as well build it as a .223/5.56, because you're probably not going to get much more powder to burn from the Valkyrie than you will from the .223.
Case capacity is a beautiful thing, but bigger cases still need enough barrel length to allow the full case capacity to burn. What you'll likely end up with is a very loud flamethrower.
If it were me, I'd be looking at building it with a 26"-28" barrel. Then, maybe, I'd be getting the full performance the case can deliver.
Greg
Case capacity is a beautiful thing, but bigger cases still need enough barrel length to allow the full case capacity to burn. What you'll likely end up with is a very loud flamethrower.
If it were me, I'd be looking at building it with a 26"-28" barrel. Then, maybe, I'd be getting the full performance the case can deliver.
Greg
My thoughts exactly. I'd go 24" minimum for a Valkyrie. I have a bolt action build with a 26" barrel.
Good question, and I've given a lot of time to figure on it.
I've tried .22-250, and come back to the .223. For 600-700yd, the 223/5.56 chambering is decently accurate (I've fired it at 600 in national level F T/R) under match conditions (figure time restraints and some additional unspecified stresses), and it's just a very nice chambering.
The .22-250 is definitely more accurate out further, but it's another one of those magnum wannabees. The barrel heating is very hard to deal wit, and make it unsuitable for a competitive shooting pace/cadence. Accuracy goes to hell about halfway through the course of fire and it takes so long to cool off that the only really accurate rounds will be the first ten or so in the first stage. Period.
If you want to shoot woodchucks out to 400-500yd, there is no better chambering than the 22-250.
Despite all the options, the .223 turns out to be my goto .223 bore chambering. It's not the ultimate world beater, but in the end, it's perfectly suited for 600yd, and maybe out to 800yd. Folks go to some extraordinary lengths to make it work a lot farther than that, but it's a stretch, and it can get expensive quick.
If you want/need to do more, further; go with a 6.5. Mine has been the 260 since around 2001.
I have five 223 chambered AR's and two bolt guns for it. One of the bolt rifles is a heavy 24", and the other is an 18.5" Mossberg 223 MVP Predator that may well be the most perfectly pleasurable carry rifle I have yet to own. I put this scope on it, and along with an LR600 LRF, it's impeccable. If I ever have to go into survival mode, it will be my carry rifle.
Greg
I've tried .22-250, and come back to the .223. For 600-700yd, the 223/5.56 chambering is decently accurate (I've fired it at 600 in national level F T/R) under match conditions (figure time restraints and some additional unspecified stresses), and it's just a very nice chambering.
The .22-250 is definitely more accurate out further, but it's another one of those magnum wannabees. The barrel heating is very hard to deal wit, and make it unsuitable for a competitive shooting pace/cadence. Accuracy goes to hell about halfway through the course of fire and it takes so long to cool off that the only really accurate rounds will be the first ten or so in the first stage. Period.
If you want to shoot woodchucks out to 400-500yd, there is no better chambering than the 22-250.
Despite all the options, the .223 turns out to be my goto .223 bore chambering. It's not the ultimate world beater, but in the end, it's perfectly suited for 600yd, and maybe out to 800yd. Folks go to some extraordinary lengths to make it work a lot farther than that, but it's a stretch, and it can get expensive quick.
If you want/need to do more, further; go with a 6.5. Mine has been the 260 since around 2001.
I have five 223 chambered AR's and two bolt guns for it. One of the bolt rifles is a heavy 24", and the other is an 18.5" Mossberg 223 MVP Predator that may well be the most perfectly pleasurable carry rifle I have yet to own. I put this scope on it, and along with an LR600 LRF, it's impeccable. If I ever have to go into survival mode, it will be my carry rifle.
Greg
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.22-250 was actually my next thought. Since this will be more of a varmint gun I figured the .22-250 would be a great choice. Im not too worried about heating the barrel up with many follow up shots and considering I already own another, I could keep consolidating ammo. My other question would be besides the .223ai which I am considering, how would the .22-250ai fare in say an 18” barrel? Besides having to fire form my brass, what would the down fall be? Would it be more realistic to just stick with the standard 22-250 or what would the advantages be of the .223ai? I know it seems like I’m going on many different directions. Just trying to figure out what would be the best, most consistent, caliber for this rifle
Slow<223, 223ai, 22-250, 22-250ai>fast
The faster calibers will still be faster in a shorter barrel, they will just have more blast and flash.
The advantages of the 223 over 22-250 is it’s a smaller case, less concussive, super available everything and it’s cheaper.
The advantages of the 22-250 is it’s fucking fast.
Other than fireforming ai the only downside is the same downside as a bigger case in anything. More powder burns out barrels faster.
The faster calibers will still be faster in a shorter barrel, they will just have more blast and flash.
The advantages of the 223 over 22-250 is it’s a smaller case, less concussive, super available everything and it’s cheaper.
The advantages of the 22-250 is it’s fucking fast.
Other than fireforming ai the only downside is the same downside as a bigger case in anything. More powder burns out barrels faster.
after seeing an 18 inch and 16 in barrel 224 early on Sunday they shot fine but as that person stated he shoots steel not for precision just needs to hit anywhere on the plate he does not need the extra speed from the longer barrel at 100 - 800 yards at least that is what he said and showed hitting steel targets with ease. so it may work for you i don't know i do know unless you reload your own ammo cheapest i have found are the pinking 75 grain at 8.25 per 20 round box compared 90 smk at over 22.99 per box of 20 . and they shoot good enough for now for me at up to 600 yards. at least till i can get to reload my own ammo , which is looking better and better all the time.
