Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 224 Valkyrie issues

My son and I both have 224 Valkyries and we have practically identical problems with them at the moment . I thought some of the smart fellas here would have some advice on how to deal with these issues.

On both of our rifles, after firing they don't extract and once fired it is extremely difficult to remove the brass using the charging handle most of the time unless the rifle has a few minutes to cool, then it comes out but with a bit of effort. We both have Radian barrels and my son has a Radian BCG and mine is from Right to Bear, but can't remember the manufacturer at the moment..

Would an adjustable gas block handle this issue or is something else going on here? Any help appreciated

TIA,
Bob

There's not much body taper in that case. I can see where it would be prone to that type of problem, especially in a semiauto.

Never had any issues with mine.
Maybe lucky?

Couple thoughts came to mind but I need some input as I'm pretty new to ARs in general. Would a polish job on the chamber make any difference with this issue? And does anyone make a Small Base die for the Valkyrie?

Sounds like a rough chamber issue.
A rough chamber in the summer months can easily be caused by surface rust (even in gun SS) in the chamber, going from cold to hot (AC to 100 degrees) will get you sweat or condensation. Check the fired brass for a sand blasted look, or rings either indicate a rough area in the chamber. Light oil, 0000 steel wool on a loop jag with an electric hand drill, to polish the inside of the chamber then clean throughly, going chamber to muzzle.

Used to see this all the time here in FL during the summer, an hour or so trip to range in vehicle with AC, get out in the heat. A fired round will not release from inside the chamber.

Maybe the guns are undergassed and partially extracting cases and jamming them back in? Or maybe the extractor spring is weak and the extractor is slipping off the case? Maybe a sticky/weak ejector problem too.

Checked the brass closely and these are brand new rifles we just finished putting together. Dry weather here for at least the last couple months and not a lot of humidity to cause internal rust and no visual rust indications so I think that is probably not a big possibility. Polishing the chamber might hold some merit though, even though the brass wasn't showing any signs of issues except for no extraction, by gassed bolt or by manually pulling the charging handle until the brass cooled for a bit.

Not a weak extractor spring or extractor grip as when the loaded rounds are inserted and removed everything works smoothly- except for a few bullets of a different style I need to seat deeper as they were jamming into the lands and stuck. Very difficult to extract manually. Once the rounds are fired, the BCG can't be manually pulled back because they are locked onto the brass so tightly.

One positive though, is that both of these rifles are very accurate so far. Once we get this issue figured out I'm confident these will be great coyote getters....

Anyone else had this problem? I found that RCBS makes a small base die for the Valkyrie- worth a try?

Bob

I think I'd talk to the barrel manufacturer before doing anything else. They might be aware of some issue they've experienced lately, like a bad reamer or something of that nature.

Another possibility is a brass problem. Maybe it's too soft. Have you looked closely at a fired and extracted case? You say "Checked the brass closely" but we can't exactly be sure what you mean by that.

Using Starline brass in my AR and my son bought several different brands of ammo, mostly Hornady for his and both have the same problem. You might be onto something with the barrel- both are Radian barrels, which are regarded usually as excellent, but anything could happen. I ordered an RCBS small base die set and I'll give that a try before moving to any other more aggressive measures for now... the wait begins

That makes me suspect that maybe it's a headspace issue, not a bullet seating issue. The brass should be sized down enough so that 10 (empty) pieces out of a sample of 10 should smoothly chamber & eject manually.

Could be a trim length issue too.

ETA: The chamber may be cut small in some way. Usually, they are small in the headspace dimension.

Pretty sure it isn't a headspace issue. Unfired rounds load and extract just fine and fire just fine also. Fired rounds in my son's don't eject and are difficult to pull out manually with the charging handle until they have cooled a bit. Mine is the same symptoms, but fired rounds will pull out manually with the charging handle a bit easier most of the time.

I'm thinking Montana Marine has a good idea of what is going on, but a little experimenting is about the only way to find our for sure. If the small base die doesn't clear this up, the rifles will both be going back to the barrel manufacturer to see what is happening and hopefully, get them fixed...

Another thing I didn't consider is my son was using factory ammo with new brass and I was using new Starline brass loaded without resizing, as I usually do. In any case, some fiddling is needed and I'm a great fiddler sometimes... other times I invent new adult words...

I don't think the small based die is going to help...but I've thought wrong before.

Good luck with it. Update us us along the way!

That's right. If unfired cases chamber & eject smoothly by hand, it's not a sizing or brass/chamber size issue of any sort.

I think I'd spend the measly few $$ on a Teslong and take a peek at the chamber.

What length barrel & what length gas system?

Pull the barrel, polish the chamber & measure the gas port size in the barrel & report back.

Everything points to being under gassed, IMO.

MM

I dropped a couple fired cases in the chamber and they manually extracted just fine. I'll pull the barrel in the morning if I have time and check those items along with polishing the chamber a bit. It may be a few days before I get out to fire it again though.

Barrel is an 20" from Radian Rifles and we are both using rifle length gas tubes. Both seemed to fit fine when installed- no cause for head scratching putting these together. But I have been wondering about the gas port issue a bit so I'll be looking at that closely and report back.

Bob

Rifle length buffer tube?

MM, I've never shot a AR with it's gas system disabled, but they do that in Europe. I haven't heard reports that extraction is difficult because of that. Do you have first hand experience with this?

I have when adjusting gas blocks, only a couple of weeks ago. I had no difficulty extracting fired cases by pulling the charging handle back.

don't dismiss headspace problems. if that case stretches out, jamming the bolt lugs tight against the extension, and the shoulder is jammed in the throat, it's going to be hell extracting via charging handle. i have built around 15 .224 Valk's and quit using Radians.
check extracted case dimensions carefully. another chambering that suffers this same thing is the .458 socom. have had this problem about 50/50 with the 458.

Lesson learned the hard way!
On a DIY build, BEFORE you install a barrel, scrub the living daylights out of the barrel, especially the chamber area!
Apparently, when they "mag-phos" the barrel, they don't plug the bore or chamber. I go in with a bore brush wrapped in 0000 steel wool and liberally soaked with WD40 chucked up in a drill.
Remember, WD40 is a solvent first, a lubricant second.
Clean the barrel thoroughly inside before installation.

I've know guys who swear they only use FL dies when loading for a semi automatic!
I've NEVER had any luck doing that! 😖
For all my semi auto's, I use RCBS "SB" dies. (SB = Small Base) SB dies return a case to factory dimensions.

MuleDeer told me one time he only neck sized cases for a No.1 Ruger.
I have a No.1 in .270. If the case is only neck sized, it won't chamber easily....and it WILL NOT extract without a cleaning rod. All cases have to be full length sized for that rifle.