.224 Valkyrie

[Varminterror]

The 224 Valk is a long ways from “starting from scratch.” It’s a SAAMI standardized cartridge, with published data available for the bullets he’s shooting, with comparable cartridges standing in history.

 

[ATLDave]

Sorry, I just meant for a cartridge that one has not previously loaded. What's your method for working through the variables?

 

[farmerboy78]

with the 80eld I'm getting 2880fps and 5/8" groups of 10 shots

 

[Varminterror]

There's nothing secret or special about how I develop loads. I start with the bullet, before I even order the barrel. I decide how fast I want to push it, which tells me twist rate I need in front of the bullet, what case size (powder charge) I have to stick behind it, and how much jump I need (or don’t). For cartridges like the Valk, where data is at hand, I pick a powder which should coincide with my bullet weight, case capacity, and target velocity, identifying a few back up powders. Life is a lot easier today than it used to be, there are forums and social media groups with hundreds or even thousands of other reloaders and shooters from which to draw insights and experiences to bolster the published info. Every now and again I will run Quickload as I’m picking my powders. There really is no "starting from scratch," there are too many combinations of cartridges, wildcat or standardized, which duplicate or bookend "new" rounds.

One particular disconnect in this case is loading to mag length without knowing the throat. It will be unfortunate if the barrel manufacturer didn’t understand how to throat the barrel properly for the bullet which the cartridge was designed.

The differences in group sizes, and the sheer size of groups the OP is posting don’t make any sense. And it’s very unfortunate to think he might have ran about a third of his barrel life and still hasn’t found a load.

 

[azureoval]

Folks,
I am struggling here trying to find some accuracy. Now 6 powders tested with 5 charge weights each and cant find anything close to accurate with the 90gr SMK. Anyone have any ideas, suggestions or shooting .224 accurately? It seems there are many people struggling with .224 valkyrie. Take a look below and please let me know your thoughts. All loads shot with a CCI 41 primer, 2.260", FC brass on its second firing all trimmed perfectly to the trim to length.



Thanks for the help,
Dom

Dom,
Have you measured the distance to the lands with that 90 SMK ? A lot of barrels were produced with longer than spec freebore ( Thanks to Constructor for figuring that out) . On my barrel (a long freebore version) that 90 SMK has about 60 thou of jump loaded at 2.260 . I have not used this bullet yet so I'm not sure how this bullet likes to be loaded .
Also that 88 ELD would have about 100 thou of jump in my barrel loaded to 2.260. (2.361-2.362 to the lands in my 20").
Just some thoughts, good luck.
Josh

 

[Toprudder]

I'm unable to play videos since my internet connection at times sucks = 24k dial up speeds. If a simi auto (can't tell by the lighting) may try single feeding them. I was talking to a engineer on the 224 Valkyrie on their bolt. As I'm in the process of profiling a Shilen 1:7 SS blank and had a question on their bolt. He told me I may have to open the barrel extension up to keep it from gouging the brass as it enters. I had already dehorned it, so I checked for that. Sure enough the bullet was getting scraped as it entered.

If the bullet is going in, it has to come out. Just make sure the scrape marks you see are not from it exiting the chamber. The ejector will push it against the lugs as you extract the cartridge unless you hold it off of the lugs with your finger. I had an issue where I was sure the bullet was getting gouged when chambering until I figured that out.

 

[Blue68f100]

I did this test with the barrel setting on the bench, not even mounted into the upper. Hand feeding the bullets like it would go up the ramp.

Now where it was hanging kind of surprised me for I have never had a problem there. It's these long pointed bullets fit between the lugs as they feed.

 

[Blue68f100]

Any update TheDomFarther with the 90gr pills?

I got to shoot mine last week and started load development this week. Since I have to deal with barrel break-in, I loaded some cheap ($0.07) 55gr FMJBT from Hornady use CFE-223. I picked the middle of the load since I'm not planning to shoot this round in this gun. I was averaging over 3300 fps at 15' using 29.2 gr of the CFE. It was hot 96F, but don't have any temp data on this powder. It was pushing the 69gr HPBT-M bullet 2953 fps with 26.9grs of CFE-223. Did the OCW test this week using CFE and Varget and the 69gr HPBT-M bullets. Will post my findings on another thread. Just getting back into shooting since my wrist surgery. Recovery is going real slow, not getting full range of motion and a lot of pain with it.

 

[Toprudder]

Good luck with your recovery, @Blue68f100 .

 

[TheDomFather]

Any update TheDomFarther with the 90gr pills?

I got to shoot mine last week and started load development this week. Since I have to deal with barrel break-in, I loaded some cheap ($0.07) 55gr FMJBT from Hornady use CFE-223. I picked the middle of the load since I'm not planning to shoot this round in this gun. I was averaging over 3300 fps at 15' using 29.2 gr of the CFE. It was hot 96F, but don't have any temp data on this powder. It was pushing the 69gr HPBT-M bullet 2953 fps with 26.9grs of CFE-223. Did the OCW test this week using CFE and Varget and the 69gr HPBT-M bullets. Will post my findings on another thread. Just getting back into shooting since my wrist surgery. Recovery is going real slow, not getting full range of motion and a lot of pain with it.

No update yet, It will be another week or so from me, I finally got the right drill bit and the right tap to make a modified case so I can measure my distance to the lands before I reload my next batch. I will make that case then make my cartridges over this weekend and shooting will be the following weekend. I will post a video of the results shortly after (usually when I get back from the range)
Thanks,
Dom

 

[TheDomFather]

Folks,
My latest .224 Valkyrie results here: The struggle continues but there is a glimmer of hope off in the distance



Comments, Thoughts, suggestions are always welcome!

 

[Blue68f100]

A couple of questions. How long are you waiting between shots and what is your ambient temp in which your shooting? If you have the capability to monitor barrel temp I would do so. The barrel temp can jump very surprising upwards once a soak time has been met. I noticed on my 6.5 CM that I shot last week, it took 5 shots to get some heat in the barrel. I could see the temp jump 5-10F after every shot if you waited for the temp to migrate through the steel. Putting a cooling fan on right after the shot and started cooling you could turn the cycle around in less than 5min. If you think it maybe temp sensitive, single shoot and cool between shoots. With a heavy barrel 0.9" OD you should be fine up to 20 shots without cooling. As far as bullet jump, I have found that Sierra like a bullet jump, not near the lands. I think this is pretty true with most of the ELD bullets since they have a longer bearing surface, and have no problem aligning. Have you checked to see if your getting any bullet jump in the magazine? How many do you load in a magazine for testing? I've found its better to just single load, which slows the shoot rate down. And keeps the heat away from the rounds in the magazine.

You may try a quick test to determine the best OAL for that round. Pick your best load then play with the length in 0.005" increments. Then use the best one for the rest of your testing. I normally use this test as last to fine tune, but since yours seams to be jumping around, may be worth the try.

As far as targets (dots). You mentioned that you have a hard time with the retitcle on your scope. Try going to the diamond targets which will help you align using the corners too. This works very well with heavy lined cross hairs. Also going to a black BE so you can't see your holes help on that 5th shot syndrome.

Does your upper have a adj gas block?

I have my 224V second test loaded and ready to shoot once I fine the time and when it's not scorching outside.

Note: I switched ISP this last week and can now view videos.
Your video is pretty good but a little winded.

 

[TheDomFather]

A couple of questions. How long are you waiting between shots and what is your ambient temp in which your shooting? If you have the capability to monitor barrel temp I would do so. The barrel temp can jump very surprising upwards once a soak time has been met. I noticed on my 6.5 CM that I shot last week, it took 5 shots to get some heat in the barrel. I could see the temp jump 5-10F after every shot if you waited for the temp to migrate through the steel. Putting a cooling fan on right after the shot and started cooling you could turn the cycle around in less than 5min. If you think it maybe temp sensitive, single shoot and cool between shoots. With a heavy barrel 0.9" OD you should be fine up to 20 shots without cooling. As far as bullet jump, I have found that Sierra like a bullet jump, not near the lands. I think this is pretty true with most of the ELD bullets since they have a longer bearing surface, and have no problem aligning. Have you checked to see if your getting any bullet jump in the magazine? How many do you load in a magazine for testing? I've found its better to just single load, which slows the shoot rate down. And keeps the heat away from the rounds in the magazine.

You may try a quick test to determine the best OAL for that round. Pick your best load then play with the length in 0.005" increments. Then use the best one for the rest of your testing. I normally use this test as last to fine tune, but since yours seams to be jumping around, may be worth the try.

As far as targets (dots). You mentioned that you have a hard time with the retitcle on your scope. Try going to the diamond targets which will help you align using the corners too. This works very well with heavy lined cross hairs. Also going to a black BE so you can't see your holes help on that 5th shot syndrome.

Does your upper have a adj gas block?

I have my 224V second test loaded and ready to shoot once I fine the time and when it's not scorching outside.

Note: I switched ISP this last week and can now view videos.
Your video is pretty good but a little winded.

So take a look at my first group which is federal factory fusion. 5 shots and .427" group this is the bottom left group on the target. The next group I shoot is the one to the right of it and it opens up to 3.207" I cant explain this. Now I am going to do another whole round of testing. This is a pretty heavy barrel so I don think this is heat related. See the big game groups which are .946 and .792 and they were shot back to back. This shows some promise,

 

[Blue68f100]

I've seen that before with loose mounts. Would not hurt to recheck every thing. When I shoot from a rest I position the front support at the same place every time, normally under the gas block. Make sure your base is not on the front hand guard. 90% of the hand guards I've seen are not that solid. And some of those were not the cheap ones either, just poor engineering on securing it to the barrel nut. Then again I have had my share of bad scopes that would not hold zero, or bad parallax. I know you spent some big money on that upper (I like the specs), but I would recheck every thing, including the barrel nut. A loose barrel will give you fits.

Don't know what kind of trigger your using in your lower. But I like light triggers with clean release. All of my match gun trigger are set to 3 lbs. The first time a friend shoots mine they say it went off before they were ready. I always warn them but they still blow the first shot. Once they shoot it a few times they fall in love with it.

The way its shooting I'm thinking something is loose.

 

[TheDomFather]

I've seen that before with loose mounts. Would not hurt to recheck every thing. When I shoot from a rest I position the front support at the same place every time, normally under the gas block. Make sure your base is not on the front hand guard. 90% of the hand guards I've seen are not that solid. And some of those were not the cheap ones either, just poor engineering on securing it to the barrel nut. Then again I have had my share of bad scopes that would not hold zero, or bad parallax. I know you spent some big money on that upper (I like the specs), but I would recheck every thing, including the barrel nut. A loose barrel will give you fits.

Don't know what kind of trigger your using in your lower. But I like light triggers with clean release. All of my match gun trigger are set to 3 lbs. The first time a friend shoots mine they say it went off before they were ready. I always warn them but they still blow the first shot. Once they shoot it a few times they fall in love with it.

The way its shooting I'm thinking something is loose.

I am using a Gieselle SSA-E 2 stage trigger, I am going to recheck everything again before I head back to the range!