224 Valkyrie for coyotes???

losthelegend

losthelegend

New member
Looking at upgrading my AR predator arsenal and have started some research on the 224 Valkyrie. Does anyone have any experience with this caliber in the field on coyotes? What are your thoughts? Where is the best place to purchase a quality upper without breaking the bank? Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions and recommendations!
 
The 224 Valkyrie is designed to shoot long high ballistic coefficient bullets. Those type of bullets do nothing for you until you get over 400 yards. At that point there's probably not enough energy left for them to expand properly. 22 calibers are not intended for killing things beyond 400 yards. If you do go to a bullet light enough to get good velocity they may not shoot well due to the gun being throated for the long skinnies. It most certainly will not be twisted right for the short bullet either. It seems they marketed the valkyrie for people who want to be an internet sniper and claimed to be able to hit steel beyond 600 yards with a 22 caliber weapon.
We have killed probably 60 plus coyotes with the 22 Nosler since it came out and it has proven to be very effective.
 
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So far I like my 224 with a X Calibur 24" 1-6.5 barrel. It shoots the 60gr ballistic tips as well as the 88gr match bullet. Experience is limited to 5 coyotes, all shot with Federal 60gr ballistic tip, 30yd to 254yd. One neck shot at 150yd did have a exit, baseball size. 1 chest and 2 behind front shoulder shots, no exit. 1 shoulder shot no splash no exit. Just facts here nothing from the internet.
 
Originally Posted By: varminter .223The 224 Valkyrie is designed to shoot long high ballistic coefficient bullets. Those type of bullets do nothing for you until you get over 400 yards. At that point there's probably not enough energy left for them to expand properly. 22 calibers are not intended for killing things beyond 400 yards. If you do go to a bullet light enough to get good velocity they may not shoot well due to the gun being throated for the long skinnies. It most certainly will not be twisted right for the short bullet either. It seems they marketed the valkyrie for people who want to be an internet sniper and claimed to be able to hit steel beyond 600 yards with a 22 caliber weapon.
We have killed probably 60 plus coyotes with the 22 Nosler since it came out and it has proven to be very effective.

exactly and I might also add that the valk is a shortened case even from the 6.8 spc. your going to get a decent notch of additional case compacity by choosing the 22 nosler as well. I think they should have used the grendel case because it would not have needed to be shortened but then again. people would probably just shoot the grendel instead.
 
With the lighter bullets it doesn’t do anything that 223 doesn’t do. I only shot one yote with mine and it was with the 60gr NBT factory ammo and after that I wouldn’t use that load again. I was using my thermal clip on at the time so I watched the hit right at the back of the shoulder hit, splash, and the yote took off running and was never found. Almost zero blood trail, just lots of hair and some chunks of meat at the spot he was hit.

I think loaded with an 80gr bullet it would be a viable choice though. It could be light enough to get good velocity, but still take advantage of the higher BC bullet for flatter trajectory at distance.

I didint get mine to yote hunt though, it’s a long range gas gun.
 
I considered it when it first came out, but decided against it. It is neither fish nor fowl. There are short range/coyote calibers that are just as good, there are long range calibers that are just as good or better.
 
Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24With the lighter bullets it doesn’t do anything that 223 doesn’t do. I only shot one yote with mine and it was with the 60gr NBT factory ammo and after that I wouldn’t use that load again. I was using my thermal clip on at the time so I watched the hit right at the back of the shoulder hit, splash, and the yote took off running and was never found. Almost zero blood trail, just lots of hair and some chunks of meat at the spot he was hit.

I think loaded with an 80gr bullet it would be a viable choice though. It could be light enough to get good velocity, but still take advantage of the higher BC bullet for flatter trajectory at distance.

I didint get mine to yote hunt though, it’s a long range gas gun.
My experience with the Nosler ballistic tip is the opposite. If anything they need a bit more expansion. I would question the shot placement being exactly where you thought it was. We have what appears to be some perfect shots in thermal that result in misses on occassion. I'm considering trying the 53 VMAX. I run both 3500.
 
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Originally Posted By: varminter .223Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24With the lighter bullets it doesn’t do anything that 223 doesn’t do. I only shot one yote with mine and it was with the 60gr NBT factory ammo and after that I wouldn’t use that load again. I was using my thermal clip on at the time so I watched the hit right at the back of the shoulder hit, splash, and the yote took off running and was never found. Almost zero blood trail, just lots of hair and some chunks of meat at the spot he was hit.

I think loaded with an 80gr bullet it would be a viable choice though. It could be light enough to get good velocity, but still take advantage of the higher BC bullet for flatter trajectory at distance.

I didint get mine to yote hunt though, it’s a long range gas gun.
My experience with the Nosler ballistic tip is the opposite. If anything they need a bit more expansion. I would question the shot placement being exactly where you thought it was. We have what appears to be some perfect shots in thermal that result in misses on occassion. I'm considering trying the 53 VMAX. I run both 3500.

If it was a miss there wouldn't have been fur and pieces of flesh at the impact site and I'm 100% confident that I saw it hit and splash at the rear of the shoulder. I'm running a LWTS clip on, not your typical thermal setup and it gives a lot of detail on front of a day optic.

Others have experienced this load to splash badly too, I'm not the only one, I've had the same result on the groundhogs I've shot with them. I have ran NBT's in other rifles and haven't experienced this explosiveness on impact despite being higher velocities in other rifles. Many believe it's the super fast twist rate and RPM's with the spec'd Valkyrie barrels that causes this. Regardless though, it's not a good choice for predators with the light fragmenting bullets. Sticking to something a little better constructed like a Berger target bullet is a better idea.
 
Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24Originally Posted By: varminter .223Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24With the lighter bullets it doesn’t do anything that 223 doesn’t do. I only shot one yote with mine and it was with the 60gr NBT factory ammo and after that I wouldn’t use that load again. I was using my thermal clip on at the time so I watched the hit right at the back of the shoulder hit, splash, and the yote took off running and was never found. Almost zero blood trail, just lots of hair and some chunks of meat at the spot he was hit.

I think loaded with an 80gr bullet it would be a viable choice though. It could be light enough to get good velocity, but still take advantage of the higher BC bullet for flatter trajectory at distance.

I didint get mine to yote hunt though, it’s a long range gas gun.
My experience with the Nosler ballistic tip is the opposite. If anything they need a bit more expansion. I would question the shot placement being exactly where you thought it was. We have what appears to be some perfect shots in thermal that result in misses on occassion. I'm considering trying the 53 VMAX. I run both 3500.

If it was a miss there wouldn't have been fur and pieces of flesh at the impact site and I'm 100% confident that I saw it hit and splash at the rear of the shoulder. I'm running a LWTS clip on, not your typical thermal setup and it gives a lot of detail on front of a day optic.

Others have experienced this load to splash badly too, I'm not the only one, I've had the same result on the groundhogs I've shot with them. I have ran NBT's in other rifles and haven't experienced this explosiveness on impact despite being higher velocities in other rifles. Many believe it's the super fast twist rate and RPM's with the spec'd Valkyrie barrels that causes this. Regardless though, it's not a good choice for predators with the light fragmenting bullets. Sticking to something a little better constructed like a Berger target bullet is a better idea.
No I'm not saying you missed I'm just saying your shot may have been a few inches off from where you thought. For me and my 12 twist 22 Nosler I've been getting exit holes on rib cage shots with 55 ballistic tips. We are getting some Runners when we get out close to 300 and beyond. I've had some coyotes that I swear were dead and we went to get him and they were gone. This is why I want to try even more explosive bullet in the ballistic tip. I will agree though that the 6.5 or 7 twist is overspinnig them. It's why the nxs doesnt appeal to me.
I shot one two nights ago under 100 yards that went into the rib cage and came out in the front of the back leg and blue a pretty good-sized hole. The coyote was quartering to me hard. I walked up to get it and it was standing there looking at me and started to run off so I put another one in it. If you run the right bullet through a coyote from the shoulder to the rear leg it shouldn't spend fall down lay there get up and run off.
 
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Originally Posted By: varminter .223Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24Originally Posted By: varminter .223Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24With the lighter bullets it doesn’t do anything that 223 doesn’t do. I only shot one yote with mine and it was with the 60gr NBT factory ammo and after that I wouldn’t use that load again. I was using my thermal clip on at the time so I watched the hit right at the back of the shoulder hit, splash, and the yote took off running and was never found. Almost zero blood trail, just lots of hair and some chunks of meat at the spot he was hit.

I think loaded with an 80gr bullet it would be a viable choice though. It could be light enough to get good velocity, but still take advantage of the higher BC bullet for flatter trajectory at distance.

I didint get mine to yote hunt though, it’s a long range gas gun.
My experience with the Nosler ballistic tip is the opposite. If anything they need a bit more expansion. I would question the shot placement being exactly where you thought it was. We have what appears to be some perfect shots in thermal that result in misses on occassion. I'm considering trying the 53 VMAX. I run both 3500.

If it was a miss there wouldn't have been fur and pieces of flesh at the impact site and I'm 100% confident that I saw it hit and splash at the rear of the shoulder. I'm running a LWTS clip on, not your typical thermal setup and it gives a lot of detail on front of a day optic.

Others have experienced this load to splash badly too, I'm not the only one, I've had the same result on the groundhogs I've shot with them. I have ran NBT's in other rifles and haven't experienced this explosiveness on impact despite being higher velocities in other rifles. Many believe it's the super fast twist rate and RPM's with the spec'd Valkyrie barrels that causes this. Regardless though, it's not a good choice for predators with the light fragmenting bullets. Sticking to something a little better constructed like a Berger target bullet is a better idea.
No I'm not saying you missed I'm just saying your shot may have been a few inches off from where you thought. For me and my 12 twist 22 Nosler I've been getting exit holes on rib cage shots with 55 ballistic tips. We are getting some Runners when we get out close to 300 and beyond. I've had some coyotes that I swear were dead and we went to get him and they were gone. This is why I want to try even more explosive bullet in the ballistic tip. I will agree though that the 6.5 or 7 twist is overspinnig them. It's why the nxs doesnt appeal to me.
I shot one two nights ago under 100 yards that went into the rib cage and came out in the front of the back leg and blue a pretty good-sized hole. The coyote was quartering to me hard. I walked up to get it and it was standing there looking at me and started to run off so I put another one in it. If you run the right bullet through a coyote from the shoulder to the rear leg it shouldn't spend fall down lay there get up and run off.

I’m not a big fan of 22 cals for yotes to begin with, I prefer to punch a 6mm hole in them. I’ve shot a pile of them with 243’s running 105 Berger Hybrids and 80gr Barnes TTSX and I’ve never even had one twitch after being hit. They just crumple and fall when hit by them. The Berger’s leave nasty exits though and the 80gr TTSX isn’t the most wind friendly bullet. I switched to a 6mm Creedmoor and I’m running Barnes 95gr LRX and so far so good. Going back out tonight to try to get some more with it.
 
Originally Posted By: Redneckbmxer24With the lighter bullets it doesn’t do anything that 223 doesn’t do.

This has certainly been my experience with with both in 18” configurations and a chronograph
 
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I'm certain the valkyrie will kill coyotes well with proper shot placement. However there's a reason I don't own one and it certainly wouldn't be something I would build strictly for coyotes. I just don't think anyone here with any experience would argue that in a production AR 15 cartridge the 22 Nosler can be beat. Now if you reload there are more options but none head and shoulders better. I would recommend at least 22 inch barrel length though. 18 inch will push the factory Nosler 55 loads 3300 22 in will push em 3500.
 
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I do reload and am proficient at it. However, I do not want a round that is brass prep intense. I have not conducted much research on the 22 Nosler. Can you recommend a builder for an upper for that particular round? Twist and barrel length? Is there production brass available? Thank you for all of your input!
 
It seems that everyone that has a White Oak barrel is posting good results. They have an option for an extended gas system that helps with ejection timing and is easier on brass. A 22-24" barrel gives the extra speed.

if fluting is an option get it done or it will be heavy.

Nosler makes brass and midway has it private labeled also as "dogtown".

I would recommend running 6mm Hagar brass and 6.8/224valkrye bolt for extra performance and accuracy.

If you plan on using 60gn+ bullets a 1-8 twist will work. If you plan on using 60gn or less then get a 1-12 twist which is less picky.

If you can find a 1-10 it would be perfect but no barrel builders seem to care enough to to this caliber correct.

I run a White Oak 24" with 12 twist, 6.8bolt and Hagar brass. It is outstanding and not picky about bullet selection.
 
Woa 12 twist varmint contour in 22" with rifle +2 gas length is what I would recommend and what my buddy and I both shoot. We use Factory brass and 55 Nosler ballistic tips with 33 grains of cfe223 and 450 primers. It shoots same POI as the factory 55 grain Nosler loads and shoots them both very accurately. I know another guy who shoots 50 bts at 3550 very accurately with h4895.
As far as a build I don't see any reason that everyone shouldn't be able to assemble their own AR-15. I highly recommend the BCA side or dual charge uppers. I think they're still on sale at Bear Creek arms but I think the only ones currently available are with a 7.62 bolt so you would have to add another bolt to the mix. They regularly have them for $119 which is a heck of a deal I've had six of them with no complaints. No bolt slamming on stands with the side charges. It is closing up like an 1100 or 1187 Remington.
I also have a 22 in standard Contour black hole Weaponry 22 Nosler in 1/8 twist. It was quite a bit pickier about what bullet it wanted to shoot but man does it shoot 53 Vmax with 33 CFE. I think I'm going to move my Trail xp50 to it and give it a workout for a while to compare that bullet.
If you've got a torque wrench a vice with some soft jaws you can certainly assemble your own upper with the guidance of a couple YouTube videos. The only thing I do to mind before assembly is lap the front of the receiver with the wheeler engineering lapping tool.
 
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