.224 Valkyrie? Future competitor to the 6.5 Grendel?

[ahillock]

Was unveiled at Big 3 East conference last week. Based off the .30 Remington/6.8 SPC case and is necked down to .22 caliber. As a result, it has similar internal and external geometry to the .22 Nosler.

Although Federal has not released its spec sheet yet, the .224 Valkyrie appears to have a case that is about 1.62″ long, with an 0.240″ long neck. The shoulder is almost certainly 30 degrees (as is popular at the moment), and the case taper is probably similar to .308 at about 0.35 degrees per side. Since I already had a 6.8 SPC case model laying around, this made modeling the .224 Valkyrie in SolidWorks pretty straightforward:

This case model has a capacity of 34.5 grs H2O (2.23 ccs), which is just a bit short of the .22 Nosler’s 35.8 grains (2.32 ccs) or so. The case model’s weight is 6.92 grams. This means, with a 90gr bullet and a 29.6 gr powder charge, the .224 Valkyrie is clocking in at right about 14.9 grams in weight. This is definitely on the lighter end of the scale for AR rounds, though it is still 24% heavier than 5.56mm, thanks mostly to the heavier projectile.

Obviously, the Valkyrie competes directly with the 5.56mm/.223 Remington and .22 Nosler in the .22 cal AR-15 rifle cartridge bracket, but, well, the ballistics really tell the whole story here: