.224 Valkyrie bolt gun

[Travis224]

So while not a 224 Valkyrie, I'm shooting a 6mm Valkyrie. I'm not sure if I will see a ton more gains but right now I'm loaded hot with H322 and getting 3275 with 75 grn vmaxes. That's in a 21inch barrel. I'm thinking about trying a straight 224 Valkyrie or maybe a 22-204 to use the .224 bullets I've bought and stock piled. The Valkyrie brass seems tough enough to take the pressures..but I think the 204r does as good or better. Time will tell and when I decide I will update..

 

[flatland1]

I've ordered a reamer, go gauge, & bbl blank to do a 22 Grendel on a Howa Mini action. If your figures on the 204 holding 5-6grs more powder than a std 223 case are correct, I may not gain much by going with the Grendel case. But - and this is enough reason for me to justify using the Grendel case - I'm going to be able to seat 88-90gr bullets in the 22 Grendel to mag length w/o giving up much if any powder capacity. Initially, I ordered a straight 1-7tw bbl from Krieger, since I've had excellent results with Berger 90VLDs out of a 1-7tw 223AI, clear out to 1400yds. But then I got to thinking about improving the stability (and thus the BC) of the 90s, and wound up calling Bartlein to place an order for a 1-6.8tw bbl. If nothing else, I can chamber & fit both bbls at the same time, then run a comparison with them to see if there's any real advantage to the very slightly faster twist bbl while running 90s.

If Howa would see fit to start making bolts with the correct 6.8 SPC boltface, I might've considered going with a 224 Valkyrie instead of the wildcat 22 Grendel, but as it stands right now, I'm pretty comfortable with the choices made so far....time will tell whether it was worth messing with, but what else was I going to do with a Mini in 7.62x39 anyway?

 

[ND Precision Rifle]

Has anyone converted a Ruger RPR .223 to .224 yet?

 

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I didn't think the right bolt face was available?

 

[flatland1]

I didn't think the right bolt face was available?

AFAIK, the only bolts available with the correct 6.8 SPC boltface are M700 or M7 customs from PTG.

 

[rcmigpilot]

I didn't think the right bolt face was available?

Could you open up a 223 bolt bolt face? I think the difference is something like .040".

 

[Mike_in_FL]

Now that the Valkyrie has been out for a while what are your thoughts for those of you who have done one on a bolt gun? Velocities if you have them would be nice. Plenty of info out there for gas guns but I’m only interested in bolt gun information.

Thanks

You can see a bunch of results here: https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/224-valkyrie.6874330/

In my 1st attempt I was pushing the 95 SMK over 2800 and Mexican Matched the Federal 75 TMJ into 77 TMKs over 3100. If you want to go faster look into either .22BR or .220 Thunderbolt. Hot rodding the Valkyrie too much is going to diminsh barrel life which seems to be > 5k from others results.

I think of the Valkyrie in a bolt as a .223 AI without the fire forming. With all this hate some of the Ackley guys must REALLY LOVE doing this. I know there is a member here that fire forms practicing off a barricade so I guess there is some give and take. I would be most likely just dumping good bullets into a berm.

 

[padom]

AFAIK, the only bolts available with the correct 6.8 SPC boltface are M700 or M7 customs from PTG.

And Bighorn Origin and TL3's

 

[Steel head]

AFAIK, the only bolts available with the correct 6.8 SPC boltface are M700 or M7 customs from PTG.

And Bighorn Origin and TL3's

And American rifle company actions.

 

[JC0352]

I saw a video where a guy built one out of a M700 and he sent the stock 223 bolt to be opened up.

 

[padom]

I saw a video where a guy built one out of a M700 and he sent the stock 223 bolt to be opened up.

Keystone has opened up Rem700 bolts to fit the 6.8spc based cartridge

 

[Elite_KG]

I built a 224 Valkyrie bolt gun do my 10 year old daughter could shoot 500 plus yards. The build turned out better than imagined. Stiller Scout action and reamer from PT&G (yes they were delayed and customer service is not on par), Bartlein 7 twist light Palma, Bergara Pro Stock, bedded, and micro bastard brake, Athlon 2.5-15x50 Optic (caught on sale).

The gun shoots Hornady 88 gr ELD-M unbelievably well with near zero recoil. I shot probably the samllest group Ive ever shot with her rifle zeroing the scope. I didnt know how good the group was because we are running the 15x optic and it was a small hole. I knew they were all touching, but was rather surprised when I pulled the target. 4 rounds at 100 yards.

My daughter is routinely hitting 8” and 12” steel at 500 yards. Its pretty awesome to see.

So yeah, a 224 Valkyrie was designed for the AR-15 platform, but for my purposes to have a low recoil, lomg range capable bolt gun for my daughter its perfect.

It may not be the first choice for a more advanced shooter, but its a gem for younger shooters and makes a great long range trainer with the higher bc bullets.

I own the reamer, so I may build another one some day for my son.

 

[flatland1]

I had no idea Zermatt/Bighorn was doing boltheads for the Valkyrie, but if they're doing those, it opens the door for a bolt rifle in 6 HAGAR & 220 Tomahawk - which in my opinion, makes more sense than messing with the Valkyrie, since the HAGAR case is longer than the SPC/Valkyrie case. I own AR15s in both 6 HAGAR & 6 RAT, and have measured case capacity of both rounds to find that they're nearly identical. If I were going to go to the expense of buying a custom action to build a bolt rifle, I'd much prefer to go with the slightly longer HAGAR/Tomahawk case than to be limited by sticking with the shorter SPC-based Valkyrie. The only advantage I can see to going with the Valkyrie is the availability of factory ammo, and that's an advantage only if you refuse to get into handloading.

The notion of building a bolt rifle Valkyrie is - at least in my mind - kind of like someone who already owns rifles chambered for the Dasher & 6x47 Lapua trying to justify building another one chambered for the Gay Tiger. I have a very nice rifle in 223AI, and another in 22 Grendel...do you see my logic?

 

[bgavin]

I had no idea Zermatt/Bighorn was doing boltheads for the Valkyrie, but if they're doing those, it opens the door for a bolt rifle in 6 HAGAR & 220 Tomahawk - which in my opinion, makes more sense than messing with the Valkyrie, since the HAGAR case is longer than the SPC/Valkyrie case. I own AR15s in both 6 HAGAR & 6 RAT, and have measured case capacity of both rounds to find that they're nearly identical. If I were going to go to the expense of buying a custom action to build a bolt rifle, I'd much prefer to go with the slightly longer HAGAR/Tomahawk case than to be limited by sticking with the shorter SPC-based Valkyrie. The only advantage I can see to going with the Valkyrie is the availability of factory ammo, and that's an advantage only if you refuse to get into handloading.

The notion of building a bolt rifle Valkyrie is - at least in my mind - kind of like someone who already owns rifles chambered for the Dasher & 6x47 Lapua trying to justify building another one chambered for the Gay Tiger. I have a very nice rifle in 223AI, and another in 22 Grendel...do you see my logic?

I understand your logic but for me it made a lot of sense.

I have a 8 year old daughter and built one for her to shoot longer ranges without having to hand load. The Valkyrie made perfect sense for me.

My rifle doesn’t shoot the factory 88 as good as the poster above but good enough o don’t have to hand load. Though I worked up a load and shot 50 rounds out to 700 yards.

Ended the day with my best group at distance. 5 shots at 700 yards measured 1.67 inches with calipers. Needless to say it’s a keeper.

 

[Elite_KG]

Ding, ding, ding!!!! Factory ammo for a 10 year old!!!!
Wildcat cartridges don’t shoot too well if you don’t have ammo. I would rather spend time shooting with my daughter than reloading with my daughter (although we do a little of both).

 

[Mike_in_FL]

I had no idea Zermatt/Bighorn was doing boltheads for the Valkyrie, but if they're doing those, it opens the door for a bolt rifle in 6 HAGAR & 220 Tomahawk - which in my opinion, makes more sense than messing with the Valkyrie, since the HAGAR case is longer than the SPC/Valkyrie case.

I think you mean the 240, the 220 is the Thunderbolt. As was mentioned you could get an ARC action as well or a Savage 10 for that matter. Keystone Accuracy would be more than happy to spin up prefits for you.

 

[Smokin7s]

The thought behind the .22-204 vs .222 rem mag would be the improved shoulder angle, a little more case capacity, and ease in finding brass. It would have between 5 and 6 more grains of powder capacity than the standard .223
And should have equal if not a touch more capacity than the Valkyrie. Fact is I will probably stay with my .223ai but it is fun to play around with new ideas.

Did you ever build a 224v it’s heavy on my mind.