Gunsmithing Opening a Howa Mini Bolt Face?

[Marksman]

I'm wondering how much I could expect to get a Howa Mini 223 bolt opened up to a 224 Valkyrie. They come with an M-16 style extractor already, that would need to be re-worked as well.

 

[fdkay]

might be easier to buy a grendel model and load the .224 grendel.
Handloading option only, but it would certainly simplify the build process.

 

[BurnOut]

Gonna throw my $.02 in here... .223 AI will run right along with the Valk with projectiles on the shorter/lighter side of things. If you want to get the most out of the Valk with heavies, you're going to need to load long and single feed... and again, the .223 AI will be right on its heels.

The difference is that the Valk is available on the shelf while .223 AI isn't (though the .223 AI also has the advantage of being able to shoot what is probably the most commonly found CF cartridge in the US).

 

[blackblue]

I'm wondering how much I could expect to get a Howa Mini 223 bolt opened up to a 224 Valkyrie. They come with an M-16 style extractor already, that would need to be re-worked as well.

By the time you buy one and spend money on all the work you could nearly buy a origin or nucleus.

 

[mcfred]

A friend of mine used a .223 Howa Mini action for his .30 Carbine-based wildcat. All he did was to shave down the extractor hook so it'd seat closer to bore center. The rim difference is .018" nominal. You might be able to do the exact same thing with a 7.62x39mm Mini and use the .224Valk. Difference between those rims is only .025".

Just a thought.

fdkay's probably right though. There's a couple grains more water capacity in the PPC/Grendel cases over the Valk without having to mod the bolt at all.