I have ordered an upper in .224 Valkyrie. For those who have this caliber, what are your thoughts about it? I looked at 22 Creedmoor and ARC, but they were too much skrilla or not available. I plan to reload for this caliber, but what are y'all's thoughts on this caliber?

What's the intended purpose? That will determine a lot of the advice.

I looked hard at this caliber when it came out, in about 2017-2018.

I set one up with my thermal this week. Very flat shooting in a AR-15 Frame is a good combo for a themal. Had the upper for years and finally decided to put it to use. Only sighted it in at 100m so far.

I think it's mostly used by others for match shooting. Supersonic to 1,200 yards.

I think it's a cool cartridge. I don't have one but I got an old business colleague that hunts prairie dogs in Montana. He is a prairie dog hunting fiend. He bought a Savage 110 Prairie Hunter to try. Said he really likes it.
That's all I got.

Was the hammer of choice for our SD Prairie Dog hunt last summer. Good wind defeat with success at 500+ yds. Also used 223 (good) and 204 (wind made this round useless). In 2025, swapping out the 204 with 6ARC to see how that goes.

Some good reloading info here if you have not already watched it.

Johnny's

swampstander said:

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Some good reloading info here if you have not already watched it.

Johnny's

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I love watching this guys videos. I lot of my reloads are based on his trials and errors.

cupofjoe04 said:

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What's the intended purpose? That will determine a lot of the advice.

I looked hard at this caliber when it came out, in about 2017-2018.

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Intended purpose is hogs, coyotes and the such with the possibility of MAYBE shooting a deer. I would like to get a good shooting round in the mid 70-mid 80 grain weight, as I have other rifles that shoot in the 100 grain and 50 grain weights.

There isn't much factory ammo available for hunting, its mostly match grade stuff, so I will most likely end up reloading to get good accuracy if the Federal fusion 90gr isn't accurate in my upper.

clarythedrill said:

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cupofjoe04 said:

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What's the intended purpose? That will determine a lot of the advice.

I looked hard at this caliber when it came out, in about 2017-2018.

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Intended purpose is hogs, coyotes and the such with the possibility of MAYBE shooting a deer. I would like to get a good shooting round in the mid 70-mid 80 grain weight, as I have other rifles that shoot in the 100 grain and 50 grain weights.

There isn't much factory ammo available for hunting, its mostly match grade stuff, so I will most likely end up reloading to get good accuracy if the Federal fusion 90gr isn't accurate in my upper.

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77 gr Sierra Tipped Matchking if you can find it.

Has a reputation for being extremely finnicky to load for. And that's why it has really fallen hard out of favor in LR comp shooting.

meggy09 said:

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Has a reputation for being extremely finnicky to load for. And that's why it has really fallen hard out of favor in LR comp shooting.

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Yes it seems this cartridge is picky. I hope that I might get lucky with my barrel, which is a 6.5:1 twist, which is supposed to be better for this platform. I have watched MANY videos and they are certainly hit or miss with factory ammo.

clarythedrill said:

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cupofjoe04 said:

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What's the intended purpose? That will determine a lot of the advice.

I looked hard at this caliber when it came out, in about 2017-2018.

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Intended purpose is hogs, coyotes and the such with the possibility of MAYBE shooting a deer. I would like to get a good shooting round in the mid 70-mid 80 grain weight, as I have other rifles that shoot in the 100 grain and 50 grain weights.

There isn't much factory ammo available for hunting, its mostly match grade stuff, so I will most likely end up reloading to get good accuracy if the Federal fusion 90gr isn't accurate in my upper.

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This round could absolutely be used for deer. I shoot a 55gr TSX out of my 22-250 at 3300 fps for cull and doe hunting and have yet to have a deer move more than a few yards. A .224 Valkyrie should perform similarly.
Correction, I looked a chrono data and my load is averaging 3500fps.