224 Valkyrie AR-15 barrel advice

Wkillette

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I am building my wife a 224 Valkyrie in an AR-15 platform for shooting steel matches out to 1000 yards. I will reload for this setup and plan to use the heavy bullets. I am at the point of barrel selection. I know you pay for quality and don’t mind that, but there is a point of diminishing returns. I am seeing all types of match barrels at many price points. I understand the marketing of declaring a barrel as a match barrel, when it probably is not.

Are there any barrel manufacture suggestions? Or any other advice

Wilson arms has a barrel that meets the specs I want:

Match Grade Barrel, 224 Valkyrie, Super Sniper, 20", 1-6.5 Twist, Stainless. 0.875 gas port, rifle length

I am not familiar with them and even unsure of the source of the barrel blank, I have asked them but got no response yet.
 
THIS... ^^^^^^^

Craddock Precision's quality is second to none. They provide gun-drilled blanks and turn-key barrels to MANY of the popular barrel companies/brands.
 
Wilson arms supplies blanks to several big name AR builders for service rifle matches, White Oak being one of them. Unless you are willing to jump up in price for a cut rifled barrel, a Wilson blank machined by anyone reputable should be a good shooter.
 
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If you are planning to shoot out to 1000, why the short barrel?
Especially if you want to use heavy bullets, the extra length of 24-26 will give you better velocity.
If you are are on Facebook, join Valkyrie Ascending, and follow the advice of CJ James religiously.
 
the AR platform can not support barrels safety with length past 22". Adding thickness is even worse. The lower at the Take Down Pin area was never designed for that type of force.
 
Lots of 24+ out there. I have a DTech ,with a 26" bull It shoots like a dream, but then I treat it like a Target rifle, not a sledgehammer.
 
Lots of 24+ out there. I have a DTech ,with a 26" bull It shoots like a dream, but then I treat it like a Target rifle, not a sledgehammer.

I know, its not a good idea. Lol it will be interesting to see the wear in the buffer tube area.
 
Craddock vs Wilson?

Wilson is garbage.

Bear Creek vs Wilson?

Bear creak is garbage?

Bear Creek vs PSA?

Draw
I ordered a Bear Creek barrel, when I put a bore scope through it, you would not believe the marks and voids that I saw. I contacted them and complained, they promptly replaced the barrel, and the replacement wasn't much better. My PSA Wylde barrel is MUCH better than the Bear Creek (which really isn't saying much). For what I paid for my PSA, I have been very happy, but I would love to get a Craddock barrel in 224V.
 
I ordered a Bear Creek barrel, when I put a bore scope through it, you would not believe the marks and voids that I saw. I contacted them and complained, they promptly replaced the barrel, and the replacement wasn't much better. My PSA Wylde barrel is MUCH better than the Bear Creek (which really isn't saying much). For what I paid for my PSA, I have been very happy, but I would love to get a Craddock barrel in 224V.

Cheap ain't good..... Good ain't cheap....

Craddock Precision makes all of Wilson Combats barrels, Ranier Arms barrels, and several others. Paul Craddock used to be the shop foreman at White Oak Armament and finally took the plunge and invested in 2 gundrilling machines and several CNC lathes and started his own shop. He is a top notch machinist and it shows in his products and his OEM clientele.
 
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Cheap ain't good..... Good ain't cheap....

Craddock Precision makes all of Wilson Combats barrels, Ranier Arms barrels, and several others. Paul Craddock used to be the shop foreman at White Oak Armament and finally took the plunge and invested in 2 gundrilling machines and several CNC lathes and started his own shop. He is a top notch machinist and it shows in his products and his OEM clientele.
Good to know. Thanks!
 
Criterion is another excellent brand.
JP and CMT also but unsure if they just do barrels or if it’s a complete rifle/upper

I’m using a 20” Rainier Ultramatch Mod 2 but hand loading for it. Shoots extremely well however factory loads like the FGMM 90SMK is around 1MOA. Haven’t tried the factory Berger 80.5s or 85gr Fullbores

Shooting 80gr ELD Handloads at 2910fps versus 88gr ELDs at 2645fps....8 extra grains for about 250fps slower not worth it in my book

Just started loading Berger 80.5gr Fullbores to see what I can come up with but I’m not sure if the price per bullet will be worth the increase in accuracy unless I’m shooting one hole groups or something

FWIW if I replaced my RA barrel I’d go with a 24” Craddock
 
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