...Interesting Post on 224V Accuracy Issues

What's your perspective on WOA barrels? I got this one, and I'm still struggling with accuracy.

WOA is good in 223 Wylde, & I'm waiting on another SPR that I just ordered from them during the holiday sale & I would highly recommend them, but I do have to say I do not have a barrel from them in 224 V & I don't know if they have it figured out yet or not. Paul Craddock at Craddock Precision surely does.

WOA is good to deal with& will stand behind their product, so if you're not happy with their upper, I'd talk to them.

Also, you can't completely rule out Lowlight's comments about the shooter factor either as it's a real thing.

MM
 
Still searching to solve my .224 Valkyrie "3-MOA-Mystery" ... used an endoscope and saw something I've never seen in my limited experiences. Gas block holes are always pretty "crisp" on my other rifles, but this one looks different. The imperfection is on the bolt side. Rest of the barrel looks fine. It's on my relatively new WOA barrel ... only 40-ish rounds through it, and after solid barrel break-in cleanings.

Should I be concerned about this? Or is it a "Nothing-Burger"?

View attachment 7216700

I've seen that on numerous gas ports...thats not abnormal from my experience. I have a .5moa 6.5cm cut rifled barrel from a top smith with a gas port that looks identical to that. It's a fucking lazer.
 
Still searching to solve my .224 Valkyrie "3-MOA-Mystery" ... used an endoscope and saw something I've never seen in my limited experiences. Gas block holes are always pretty "crisp" on my other rifles, but this one looks different. The imperfection is on the bolt side. Rest of the barrel looks fine. It's on my relatively new WOA barrel ... only 40-ish rounds through it, and after solid barrel break-in cleanings.

Should I be concerned about this? Or is it a "Nothing-Burger"?

View attachment 7216700

Totally normal. I’ve had wear twice as long as the diameter of the gas port and the barrel still shot.
 
Totally normal. I’ve had wear twice as long as the diameter of the gas port and the barrel still shot.


Well, maybe...................but that's a new barrel with 40 rounds down it, so that's not wear...............that's a burr with copper now attached.

Not an unheard of thing for a barrel to have a slight burr on the inside of the gas port but truly, it really shouldn't be there, but I can't say it is or is not affecting accuracy since I've never done an A/B test on that condition.

But I'd remove it by using a bronze brush & then lightly polishing the bore with JB.....................or since it's a new barrel / upper, then just send it back if you choose to do that.

MM
 
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Still searching to solve my .224 Valkyrie "3-MOA-Mystery" ... used an endoscope and saw something I've never seen in my limited experiences. Gas block holes are always pretty "crisp" on my other rifles, but this one looks different. The imperfection is on the bolt side. Rest of the barrel looks fine. It's on my relatively new WOA barrel ... only 40-ish rounds through it, and after solid barrel break-in cleanings.

Should I be concerned about this? Or is it a "Nothing-Burger"?

View attachment 7216700
If you only have 40 rounds down the barrel and have cleaned it repeatedly that might be your problem. Most of my rifles take atleast 10 rounds to be settled back in after a cleaning. Keep reading posts and not just ones on semi auto rifles. You'll see that cleaning is a loose term, and when to clean varies widely.
 
Not trying (consciously) to sound stupid. Just trying to figure out if "brand" ... like the difference between those two barrels ... will have a greater difference than the combination of multiple other entering arguments.

This is just my opinion for what that's worth. There's many reasons why you should pay more for a premium barrel vs. bullet hose quality.

If it's a button rifled barrel, how many previous barrels were cut using the same button? How crisp is the rifling and is it of correct depth, bore vs. groove? is the twist rate consistent or what percentage can it vary to what is marked on the barrel?

Is it a company where barrel after barrel is banged out and QC is just a random sample at this point because X are sold and no complaints are received? Is Jimmy running the machinery hungover this morning and really doesn't give a crap if the steel sang a little differently while the tooling was run through it or profiling it? Was the barrel properly heat treated or stress relieved?

Is the company known as producing accurate barrels used by good shooters at distance or known for churning out 5.56 bullet squishers used at distances less than 100 yards?

Is the barrel actually lapped or air gauged when finished? Ultimately you're paying more for the time and quality control the manufacturer can put into it. That and the fact that when it's assembled into an upper you have high confidence that it will actually shoot respectably. Hearing about cheap barrels that actually shoot on the internet is like hearing somebody won the lottery, one out of many.

It would be interesting to see what your 18" barrel would do with 60 grain bullets or even using Mexican Match Federal 75, pulling the TMJs and seating 77 TMKs in their place.

I would put at least 100 rounds through a WOA barrel before judging. If it still won't shoot, strip all the copper out of the barrel and start over using less aggressive cleaning. I hope you find a solution, this can be a frustrating journey.
 
can we get a list of who has good barrels and who has junk barrels? i'm thinking about getting a Valkyrie and only want to buy once

good barrels
craddock -all blanks or just the bartleins and rock creeks?
jp
woa?
keystone
who else?

bad barrels
ballistic advantage
psa
who else?
 
My guess is that the Ranier website of 7.5 twist is a misprint. Both Criterion's wedsite & Craddock's site for Criterion barrels only list a 7 twist & I really can't imagine much logic for going any slower than 7 on a Valkyrie.
 
My guess is that the Ranier website of 7.5 twist is a misprint. Both Criterion's wedsite & Craddock's site for Criterion barrels only list a 7 twist & I really can't imagine much logic for going any slower than 7 on a Valkyrie.


Nope. It's a 7.5. Have one, reviewed it for them at their request, came from Craddock. Told me they are now using Criterion blanks and Craddock does the work..





 
Well... I’d like there to be light shone on this subject. It’s really just a guessing game about the accuracy issues so far. Pretty much only speculation. My 90g shoot horrible. Look at Jonny’s reloading bench on YouTube... he can’t get the thing to group using multiple powders and bullets. Didn’t JP update the reamers they used? I’d love to save time playing the load development game if it’s as simple as a bad reamer.

Hey guys,
First time posting here. John Paul has been running his “Mexican match rounds” to obtain some ridiculous degree of accuracy. He has a video on you tube outlining his process. But I do believe he is running somewhere in the 70-80 grain weight range.

I have had some moderate success with the 70-75 gr range. The top and bottom pic are of 70 gr nosler vld with varget. The mid pic is Berger 75 gr vld Tgt and H4895. Unfortunately I won’t have mv, es, and Sd until a few weeks from now. I finally sprung for a magneto!

I also haven’t gotten to run range here in Savannah because it doesn’t exist unless you want to pay $700 a year to shoot. So... it’s all I’ve got for the moment.

When I did grab this jp, it was with their second run barrels. The first was not producing the accuracy they wanted so they asked each customer if they wanted to wait for a second or not. I am no expert, but I think Federal got ahead of themselves with the weight to twist ratio.

Hope that helps some
 

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I continue to struggle with heavier bullets in my .224-V build with a WOA 6.5-twist barrel. Shoots sub-MOA with 60gr Hornady Varmint loads, just OK with 70gr, and lousy with 88's and 90's. Gave up, and just bought a couple of cases of H-60's. Shoot really well out to 1,000 yards, so I'm (sort of) satisfied.
 
Why does the 88 work and the 90 not then ?
The ogive length is not the only variable. The Hornady 88 has a polymer tip which moves the center of gravity towards the base which aids in stability. A bullet of the same weight but all lead & copper will have a CoG further forward which will tend to cause it to wobble & yaw easier.
 
Still searching to solve my .224 Valkyrie "3-MOA-Mystery" ... used an endoscope and saw something I've never seen in my limited experiences. Gas block holes are always pretty "crisp" on my other rifles, but this one looks different. The imperfection is on the bolt side. Rest of the barrel looks fine. It's on my relatively new WOA barrel ... only 40-ish rounds through it, and after solid barrel break-in cleanings.

Should I be concerned about this? Or is it a "Nothing-Burger"?

View attachment 7216700
I about fell outta my chair when I saw this. Just bore scoped my 22" JP Supermatch barrel; that I have had for 3 weeks and am getting really bad results with, looks exactly like this picture at the gas block. Not sure if this is an issue but definitely interesting.

Anyways I emailed Dave at JP today to ask him about my issues. Will reply back when he does.
 
I about fell outta my chair when I saw this. Just bore scoped my 22" JP Supermatch barrel; that I have had for 3 weeks and am getting really bad results with, looks exactly like this picture at the gas block. Not sure if this is an issue but definitely interesting.

Anyways I emailed Dave at JP today to ask him about my issues. Will reply back when he does.
Mine looks just like that. Shoots half MOA.
 
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I about fell outta my chair when I saw this. Just bore scoped my 22" JP Supermatch barrel; that I have had for 3 weeks and am getting really bad results with, looks exactly like this picture at the gas block. Not sure if this is an issue but definitely interesting.

Anyways I emailed Dave at JP today to ask him about my issues. Will reply back when he does.
Our 6.5 large frame barrel had a burr at the port and it definitely mattered. When I first got it it shot 1/2 moa with random loads. Cleaned, tuned a load, shot, and then it started throwing flyers. Chased my tail a bit and finally borescoped and found a large chunk of copper stuck to the far end of the port. I cleaned and pushed a soaked patch to it and left it for hours, repeated and finally got it all off and it was back to normal. Kept the copper cleaned off for a few hundred rounds and now it’s smoothed out and hammering. I posted a thread about it I’ll see if I can find it. I won’t say it always matters but it definitely can matter.
 
 
It's just erosion from the gas, all barrels get it but stainless gets it a lot faster.
Erosion is standard for sure but when a burr on a newer barrel starts dragging copper it’s no bueno. That’s what his pic looked like to me. My guess is it would eventually work itself out but it was nice to find mine and fix it overnight.
 
can we get a list of who has good barrels and who has junk barrels? i'm thinking about getting a Valkyrie and only want to buy once

good barrels
craddock -all blanks or just the bartleins and rock creeks?
jp
woa?
keystone
who else?

bad barrels
ballistic advantage
psa
who else?

The Rainier Ultramatch is freaking amazing with the 80elds and h4895 in both of mine. They also shoot the FGMM 80.5gr load well.

22” WOA 6.5t has worked well with the Fed AE 75’s, FGMM 90’s, and 80 eld handloads. It was my first 224Valkyrie, but it doesn’t get shot as much as my RA ultramatch as of late.
 
The Rainier Ultramatch is freaking amazing with the 80elds and h4895 in both of mine. They also shoot the FGMM 80.5gr load well.

22” WOA 6.5t has worked well with the Fed AE 75’s, FGMM 90’s, and 80 eld handloads. It was my first 224Valkyrie, but it doesn’t get shot as much as my RA ultramatch as of late.
Have you tried the 88 elds or the 85.5 bergers?
 
The photo I was talking about is 7216100 that rustyinbend posted, that is erosion.
If we’re talking about the same photo this one looks like erosion with a blob of copper on it to me. There’s definitely a gold color to it. Either way if I was having issues I’d be pushing a patch to it to make sure!
 

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