Took my tikka 6.5 ctr out to 1k yesterday. did 100,500,600,750 and 1k. Man that was fun and the Athlon ares ETR tracked perfectly and was easy to see my hits at 1k. This spring should be fun. I'm planning on getting out there a bunch.
So how have you liked the.224? There are a lot of decently priced uppers available in the Valkrie right now and I'm thinking about picking one up. Do you think there will be a huge difference between a 22" barrel vs a 24?
From what I have gathered about the Valkyrie is that unless you are pushing the 90gr SMK above 2900fps, its kind of a waste of time because it doesn't stabilize, thusly the accuracy suffers. There were a few people shooting them locally for PRS matches, and I know one for sure abandoned it. He's been shooting a 22 Creedmoor and is much happier with it. I think a lot of it depends on what you're going to use it for.
I had been hoping that the Valkyrie was going to help with the proliferation of 6.8 magazines and bolts but so far not too much. I"m guessing that in the next year as folks try it and find it lacking (depending upon their use) more stuff will come up on the second hand market. The better 6.8 mags are expensive compared to magpul 5.56 mags, but most of these guys are coming from AICS mags, so $50/ for PRI or Barrett mags is fine. lol. not sure if I posted in this thread but around thanksgiving I put a PVA John Hancock on order. I assume I won't see it for a while (about the same time my 22 and 45 cans get out of jail lol) but will be my first foray into longer range shooting. 6.5CM so gives me time to buy dies, brass, bullets, etc. any of you guys do any PRS matches around the SE? I might try to go to one of the one day MPA matches after I get the rifle and some instruction on how to shoot the thing.
I haven't done it yet. I kept hearing mixed reviews (like Chad said) and decided to wait a bit and let the early adopters work the bugs out. It sounds like some of the factory rifles were not shooting well, and it has taken some time to get good cartridges going. I still plan to do it. I plan to build an upper. I'm thinking JP bolt, Rainier Ultramatch barrel (I have good luck with them and they seem to have a great .224 barrel). Otherwise it would be just buy a JP upper. It sounds like people are really liking the Hornady 88gr ELD the most, or loading their own. As mentioned, it depends on what you want to do with it. I spend a lot of time with a .223 wylde chambered AR shooting 77gr SMK and it's a blast to shoot but I want to push it farther so another upper in .224V is the easy button to accomplish that. It won't beat my bigger caliber rifles, but I'm not trying to replace them. What upper are you looking at?
Bear Creek Arsenal has a 22" and 24" on sale for around $230. I know very little about them but I bought a 7.62x39 upper from them this past week for $200 and they shipped it to me in two days. I'm impressed by their service...now I need to see if it's a decent upper. Haven't even received my mags for it yet so haven't tried it. The.224 upper is stripped but the 7.62 I got was complete. AR15 stuff is so cheap right now that I'm buying it up because it can't last. Looking at a little bit of everything available.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only guy that's into gun/shooting, but doesn't own an AR, and don't really have a desire for one.
Ain't that the truth! I've resisted so many good deals lately. I need to stop looking because I have other things that I have to spend money on right now. Yes you are.
anyone have a mangeto speed? If so is it worth it? I feel like I'm reloading a little bit blind without one
I have a Sporter version. I think a Lab Radar is a much better option as opposed to the V3 or whatever the one is other than the Sporter, but the Sporter is a good value.
I've got a sporter with a mount for the pic or arca rail. Works well enough for me to do load work ups.
You are not alone. To me, a gun needs to be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. Plastic just doesn't do it. My Mini 14 will do any task I might ask of an AR15 without the cereal box Transformers toy vibe.
Need a coyote gun for the weekend, AR is getting some upgrades. Since I’m not keeping the hides was thinking going overkill with a 308.