Cheap .224 Valkyrie Build

[Navy Chief]

So there I was, reading all the reviews on the new .224 Valkyrie cartridge and thinkin' to myself that it could be a great round to play with.  Well, I crawled into Ma's office lookin' as pitiful as I could but she saw right through me (after 46 years of "Wedded Bliss" it ain't easy to sneak anything past that girl!) and asked what I wanted to buy.  So after beggin', whinnin', and pleadin' ... er, negotiating ... she allowed me $350 for Christmas and I was off and running!

Picked up a Bear Creek complete upper in .224 for a whoppin' $225 (delivered), an Athlon NEOS 4-12x40 scope for $110 (delivered), and pulled an old cantilevered scope mount out of a Junque box. Ta Da, $15 bucks under my limit so I spent $14.99 for a box of ammo! The upper came equipped with BCG and .224 Valkyrie bolt, 22" SS Fluted barrel, SS birdcage, 17" M-Loc free-float forend, low profile gas block and rifle length tube. The scope was half the price of a lot of Wally World Blue Light Specials and yet, after a thorough test procedure, I found it to be extremely accurate, very clear, and frankly, one of the best value-for-the-money scopes I've ever come across (and I have owned scopes from $25 to $2,500).

OK, so how does it shoot? Well, I mounted it on my Bushmaster lower, slithered out to my range, bore sighted it and put 3 in the black at 25 yards, turned around and fired three 3 shot groups at 100 yards, 1-1/4", 1-1/2", and 1"! Yee Ha! Moved over to the 200 yard bench and shot 3 groups 2-1/2", 2-1/2", and 3"! The cartridge was designed for the 90gr "long for caliber" bullets (long throat) and the shorter 75gr loads are not noted for accuracy but my results were a lot better than I expected, especially from a new rifle that had not been broken in.  I bought some 90gr rounds and as soon as the rain stops I'm going to try them out, I'll post more info when that happens. Cheap guns are so much fun!

[hipower]

"...Cheap guns are so much fun!" I have to agree with you.

All of my ARs are pretty much "parts guns." I only have one that was relatively expensive, and that was for the time. A Colt 6920 bought years ago at retail.

The others pieced from many different sources. But sounds like you are far more experienced than me.

I will say that your comment is especially true for me on the pistol level.

I have spent from 250 to 1500(once, and it ate at me so much I sold it. lol) Anyway, I seem to get just as much enjoyment from my cheap Rock Island 1911 as my Sig. 

Both shoot far better than I'm capable of, so I just keep at it until I find I'm just as bad with either one.

 

 

 

 

 

  

[RC3]

I have been eyeing BCA 458 soccom uppers. Just have to get caught up in everything else before I can do a new build. But BCA has some really great stuff. All of my uppers are from them, everything else is still PSA, but man, side charging....... it was the point of no return.

[Navy Chief]

Woke up to a bright and sunny day! Spent a couple of hours at the range running the Federal 90Gr Fusion rounds through the Valkyrie at 100 and 200 yards. Groups at 100 yards ran from a low of 0.758" (0.75 MOA) to a high of 1.389" (1.4 MOA). The 200 yard groups actually suprised me, smallest was 0.693" (0.35 MOA)and largest was 1.624" (0.82 MOA). OK, so why were the longer shot groups actually tighter? The only thing I can come up with is the old adage "Aim small, miss small". I use the same 2 " bullseye aiming point (2 MOA at 100 Yards, 1 MOA at 200 yards) so maybe I simply held on target better at the longer range.

Whatever, I had fun, the rifle has now had about 50 rounds down the tube, the accuracy is well within my requirements for factory rounds, and I think I can get tighter groups with a bit of tweaking and some good handloads.

[RC3]

You need to push it further. The .224 is meant for distance.

[Magiccarpetrides]

Awesome results....hard to believe you got such an accurate upper for so little $$ !!