What’s the Grendel’s max range? From what I’ve read, the Grendel drops below supersonic speeds a couple hundred yards before the Valkyrie. (1100yds compared to 1300yds, depending on the ammo)
The 224 Valkyrie goes the distance:
It’s capable of a lot. It’s flatter with less wind drift (ballistics more closely aligned to 6.5CM than 6.5G). It was hyped up initially then scared a lot of people off due to some barrel manufacturers reaming chambers poorly which led to “my Valkyrie sucks” (mainly from bargain brands......CMT, JP, Craddock, and other quality brands were not experiencing these issues).
You don’t need as much barrel length on the Grendel to maximize your performance with it. I’d say it’s also a better choice for hunting larger animals as well (not that the Valk can’t kill predators, but I’m sure this point speaks for itself)
From what I’ve seen, the Grendel is easier to load for (less picky) and there are some fairly inexpensive factory options whereas the Valkyrie doesn’t really dip below 50cpr and that’s with a 75gr TMJ that’s hit or miss (pun intended). The best use for the AE 75gr TMJ’s are either breaking in a barrel and saving the brass OR making “Mexican match” rounds by pulling the 75gr bullet, neck sizing the case again and re-seating a 75gr or 69gr or 77gr TMK. The owner of JP rifles did this very thing and turned 1.5-2MOA ammo into sub MOA performance moving nearly 3100fps for around 80 cents per round all in.
The recoil on the Valkyrie is like a stout 5.56; rapid follow up shots are easy and with timed events, the Valkyrie might provide an advantage.
Another two reasons I personally wanted the Valkyrie was my own suppressor selection. I have a .30 cal can but it’s a beast. With my variety of 5.56 cans, I can run a suppressor that’s at most 75% of the weight down to 37% of the weight of my .30 cal can. I also had a fairly large supply of 77gr Tipped Match King rounds that I wasn’t really using in my 5.56 that would be perfect to use in a Valkyrie
Again, this was a PERSONAL decision for me and my needs.
I feel that now with the bad reamer/bad barrel batches thing out of the way in the 224 Valkyrie world, I’d still opt for a quality barrel/known mfr just to ensure that it’s “right”.
