Hello, I am new to this forum, but have been reading on hear for a couple of years . I am looking at getting started in the local prs matches hete in south texas. I am very interested in the 224 valkyrie. I have been reading a lot about this round on this site and many others. I have never owned an ar-15. Any help would be greatly appreciated on a parts list for a build , a complete upper, or complete gun. I have reading that rock creek barrels seem to run a little faster. If this is not the case, please advise. I also was thinking about a left side charging upper .
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PRS Talk 224 valkyrie for prs
- Thread starter Jr28763
- Start date
It's possible to play in PRS matches but Texas in general is a bit windy for the Valkyrie compared to a large frame AR caliber. Can it be done? Hell yes. Will it be much harder than a 6.5 Creed? Also hell yes.
I believe there are a few excellent review articles written by the site Jefe of JP rifles in 224 Valk. If you like left side charge and want a quality Valk that's for sure what I'd suggest. Side charge will spoil you for any future AR, it's very, very useful. For the Valkyrie I would also strongly suggest going complete gun. Building is a great way to learn the system but its best done in a 223 or 300BLK as those are far more established and use standard parts (bolt, mags).
The South guys are great and I believe one of them runs a Valk but in a bolt. They will definitely at least have you shoot their rifles. If you make it up to Central you're more than welcome to shoot my gas guns. They are all 6.5 Creed but you can get a feel for the side charge and other features you might want on an AR.
Depends on why you’re interested in Valkyrie.
Are you more concerned with being very competitive or with barrel life with a cartridge that can still do fairly well?
Why specifically a gas gun?
Are you more concerned with being very competitive or with barrel life with a cartridge that can still do fairly well?
Why specifically a gas gun?
These are the right questions.
Personally, I would steer new PRS shooters away from semi-autos as a whole unless it's what they already have and can't afford a whole new rifle.
I got mine for some low wind 600 yard local matches. TX might be rough on it if you aren't a wind whisperer.
That being said we can all see Frank's video of it hitting way out there so.... Maybe!
That being said we can all see Frank's video of it hitting way out there so.... Maybe!
The reasons a gas gun : 1 i have never owned 1. It will be something for me to learn with. I am not interested in being competitive at this point. Just being a better shot. 2. I my be wrong, but running a gas gun should be faster than a bolt gun. I am intrigued by the 224 valkyrie .
I am sure you are correct about the caliber. A 6 or 6.5 would be better. I may look into one of those. Thanks for the help.
I built a .224 valkyrie gas gun as well purely because I was intrigued by the cartridge also.
i also starting shooting PRS last year.
Personally, I wouldn't go that route. a GAS gun won't make you faster. only practice will make you faster.
if you are serious about starting PRS type shooting - build a bolt gun in 6mm or 6.5mm cartridge. then build a .224 as a side/fun gun if you really want to.
you could always build a .224 bolt action - if you are really pressed on .224v. but most on here will tell you there are better caliber for the job in a bolt action.
i also starting shooting PRS last year.
Personally, I wouldn't go that route. a GAS gun won't make you faster. only practice will make you faster.
if you are serious about starting PRS type shooting - build a bolt gun in 6mm or 6.5mm cartridge. then build a .224 as a side/fun gun if you really want to.
you could always build a .224 bolt action - if you are really pressed on .224v. but most on here will tell you there are better caliber for the job in a bolt action.
I think it is viable even in an AR platform, you just have to be on your game.
Inside 600 the round is very similar to a 6.5CM, it's just a tick off, it's after 600 where the wind reduces it to a 168gr/308. So if you can make your money inside 600 and then don't blow it completely beyond, you'll be competitive. Sure might take you a few matches to get the swing of things, but it's still a cheap and easy option.
Once you understand the wind it's not an issue.
I Shot Guardian with my JP, and I just got the factory 88s the week of. I barely had time to shoot anything and the wind on our range was 18-24MPH that day. In fact, my 100 yard zero was .8 off in just windage. I trued the load that the Guardian on Friday and managed a Top 15 showing with it, and I was not aware of the wind drift as well as I should have been.
Inside 600 the round is very similar to a 6.5CM, it's just a tick off, it's after 600 where the wind reduces it to a 168gr/308. So if you can make your money inside 600 and then don't blow it completely beyond, you'll be competitive. Sure might take you a few matches to get the swing of things, but it's still a cheap and easy option.
Once you understand the wind it's not an issue.
I Shot Guardian with my JP, and I just got the factory 88s the week of. I barely had time to shoot anything and the wind on our range was 18-24MPH that day. In fact, my 100 yard zero was .8 off in just windage. I trued the load that the Guardian on Friday and managed a Top 15 showing with it, and I was not aware of the wind drift as well as I should have been.
In PRS matches, being faster on the gun itself isn't really a concern - you will be timing out due to gear management, position building, speed of picking up and engaging targets, etc - not because you couldn't run the gun fast enough. The flip side is that the recoil impulse from a gas gun (firing recoil, the BCG running to the rear then stopping, then slamming forward again) will make it more difficult to stay on target during recoil to spot your own shots, especially from barricades and such.
Personally, unless you just really have the itch for an AR-15, I'd suggest looking at one of the reasonably priced bolt action rifle option in something like 6.5 Creedmoor as a starting rifle for PRS.
All of you are probably right about what i have in mind. I have a savage lpr in a 260 i should start with . I just need to find a good scope that doesn't break the bank. I have been looking at the althons. Any thoughts on those?
i'll vouch for the nicer Athlon Scopes. (Ares ETR/Cronus BTR)
just got a midas tac for my .224 yesterday. haven't shot it yet though.
just got a midas tac for my .224 yesterday. haven't shot it yet though.
I'd stick with the Savage and upgrade/rebarrel parts as/if needed.
Personally not a big fan of Athlons, but I only have a little time behind their nicer models. I am a big time Bushnell fanboy, however. What is your price range?
I would like to stay under 2000.00. I spoke to althon and was told there cronus btr will have a floating dot for 2019 like the etr. Again I am new to this. I have never owned a ffp scope, but if like the idea of the floating dot. What i have read, the etr dot is .03 the btr should be .04.
Personally, floating dot does absolutely nothing for me. If you can, play with a couple optics that do and don't have it (ideally at a range) and see if it's something you feel like you have to have. If you can live without it, look at the DMR2 Pro - street price is just under $2k, and the glass is on par with any of the other high end optics in the $2-3k price range - you're only giving up magnficiation (3.5-21x). That said, it's also got a very generous eye box, which for some people makes up for the lower magnifciation. I have both the Pro and the XRS2, and I am kinda on the fence on which I will be using at matches this year.
If you're willing to stretch your budget (or you have access to Expert Voice), the XRS2 would be my other suggestion. The same excellent glass as the DMR2 Pro, but in a 4.5-30x optic. I've been running a pair of them on my PRS rig and my trainer for the past 15 months or so, and I have been very impressed with the glass and build quality.
I have been working out of town for a while. But , I only live about a hour from rifles only range. I need to go to some of the matches around my area and ask to look through some of there scopes . Red beards guns is only a half mile from my house . But if you are not there it does no good.
It's a members-only website that a lot of different outdoor-related companies sell through. Generally, you can only get an account if you're employed in retail, LE, military, first responder, etc. There's other ways to get in, I'm sure, but those are the main ones. Some companies also offer access to the site (but for a limited list of brands) as an incentive. Bushnell, Vortex, Trijicon, RCBS, Hoppes, Mountain House, and tons of other companies are part of the website, but what brands you get access to is determined by how you got access to the site. For example, military gets something like 100+ brands they can order from.
In addition to limited access, they also have restrictions (depending on brand) on how much and how often you can buy, and all of the brands involved have a rule that you are not to disclose the discounted prices/discount percentages. In some case the discounts are just OK, and in other cases they're rather impressive - just depends on what you're buying.
If you’re set on a gas gun, go for it. It does take more skill to drive/shoot a gas gun well vs a bolt. With three recoil impulses and such. Also, depending on the handguard, when loading into it hard, there can be some flex which can touch the gas block and throw things off.
If you care more about barrel life, 224
Care more amount performance vs the rest of the field 6.5creed
Also keep in mind if you shoot a match which has a tactical division, Valkyrie does not fall into this category. So you’ll be in open class with all the 6 and 6.5s.
Overall, Valkyrie should be fine. I’m currently building on on a bolt platform so I can have something for non points club matches which is still fairly competitive, while having cheap ammo and great barre life.
If you care more about barrel life, 224
Care more amount performance vs the rest of the field 6.5creed
Also keep in mind if you shoot a match which has a tactical division, Valkyrie does not fall into this category. So you’ll be in open class with all the 6 and 6.5s.
Overall, Valkyrie should be fine. I’m currently building on on a bolt platform so I can have something for non points club matches which is still fairly competitive, while having cheap ammo and great barre life.
Im a bolt gun guy, but how so? I know plenty of guys that run gas guns and believe me, they rarely leave rounds in the mag by the end of a stage where a lot of bolt guns do.
Nah, most of my shooting consists on paper at 100 working on fundamentals. I'd love to stretch out past 600 on steel but no ranges here...
If I am not mistaken, there is a prs match every weekend in this area. Go by red beards in Portland. They also offer classes .
I'll try to stop by and ask. I really don't wanna get into prs now as I feel I am not even the slightest bit prepared. Perhaps they know of a place to go shoot at steel just for the hell of it.
Do you have a rifle capable of 1MOA and a scope with adjustable turrets? Data to 1,000 yards, or a ballistic calculator on your phone? A rear bag? Ammo?
If you answered 'Yes' to all of those questions, you're ready to shoot a 1 day PRS match.
Missing the scope and the rear bag so far lol. Don't have data to a 1000 but have a ballistic calculator on my phone. I also don't have a rangefinder but you didn't mention that so I'm guessing PRS matches have known target distances and those distances are made known to the participants.
It's been rare that I have seen unknown distance targets at PRS matches the last few years, and the handful I have seen specifically stated no LRFs allowed - you had to range them by your optic. Even then, the last one I saw (2017 Alabama fall match) gave you a fairly small range that the UKDs were in (they gave distance to the center of 5 targets, and the other 4 were +/- 50 yards or so, per the stage brief) - so a LRF wasn't needed at all.
Getting good velocity on your data with a chrono and feeding it into a quality ballistics calculator on your phone will handle your data pretty well. Get the local temp and density altitude from another shooter with a Kestrel and you should be good, assuming you fed good data to your app.
Im fairly new to this world of "long range shooting" or "precision rifles" so i don't have much other than my rifle. My scope was sent in for warranty but just got an email saying it'll be sent out later today or early next week. With that said, I don't have a chrono and I wish I had one. I took a break from work for the holidays and for hunting season but I'm going back very soon and plan to start making some purchases as soon as the money starts coming in. I think chrono and reloading equipment will be things of interest for me.
Fig???
Im going to assume you meant rifle.
It's a Howa 1500 in 6.5 CM 24"
Had a temporary Tango6 4-24x50 while my primary scope (Bushnell LRHSi) got some warranty work done to it but I ended up breaking my Sig and now I don't have a scope. My Bushnell should be here pretty soon though!
If you go to a match, you can probably find someone willing to let you use their chronograph. I'm a big fan of the Magnetospeed V3, especially since MagnetoSpeed has done so much to support the PRS. I've been using a V3 for a few years now, and it's a great product.
How do you like your bushnell? That a good looking set up. I am a very similar situation, l have a savage lpr 260. I have some reloading equipment, i want a chono. Or, i tell myself i need a chono.
Rifles Only on the 20th @ 8am is the next club match down here
rifle and 100 rnds of ammo will be enough to get started
people will have any gear you need/want to borrow including chrono's and we'll be close enough on your dope
rifle and 100 rnds of ammo will be enough to get started
people will have any gear you need/want to borrow including chrono's and we'll be close enough on your dope
It's a very good piece of glass, especially for the price. When I looked through it, the image was crisp and clear but I really shouldn't talk much about it as I have never put it to actual use. When I got it, I sent it back for warranty right away. Once I put in some real time behind it I can make a more experienced evaluation on it.
Yep, this is the guy to get a hold of. Just show up. There's plenty of good dudes to help you out
@Jr28763, don’t hesitate to get a .224 Valkyrie AR if you are interested in it. If you follow the advice above and buy one made by a good company, like JP, Craddock Precision or similar, you will not regret it. It is not the ideal rifle for PRS, but it is so much fun to shoot that I doubt you’ll go out to a range without at least bringing it along. As a varmint rifle, it excels. I have a Bushnell LRHSi 4-18 on mine and think it’s a perfect match.
Thank you sir. You are thr second person on this thread that is running a LRHSI , how do you like it in comparison to other scopes you have owned?
For this application, it is a great scope. I think that the glass is better than the older HDMR that I own. All three of the various Bushnells I have track really well, mine have relatively forgiving eyebox (in other words, I don’t have trouble finding my picture even when in odd shooting positions) and I personally like the reticle very much for both hunting and quick shots at the course.
It is no do it all scope, but then I believe that the optic should be paired to the rifle and the purpose of that rifle. I do not think that it would be my match scope on a bolt for long range PRS style matches, for example. But for the price, I think that it punches above its class.
It is no do it all scope, but then I believe that the optic should be paired to the rifle and the purpose of that rifle. I do not think that it would be my match scope on a bolt for long range PRS style matches, for example. But for the price, I think that it punches above its class.
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