Valhalla Tactical Supply?

[FortTom]

Has anyone dealt with this company? I ordered a Spikes Tactical NIB M16 BCU from them, and received an email that they were out of stock, but told I could have an alternative; a Fail Zero instead, and they were in stock for the same exact price.
I ordered it, and got a confirmation of the transaction by email, apparently from the owner. I called today and asked what the status was, that I noticed by card had not been charged. Mail box was full (voice mail) so I emailed to see what was up. I was then told that the Fail Zero, he said he had in stock, was out of stock, wait time 2 to 3 weeks, but offered me another "alternative", a Ranier Arms NIB BCU. I don't know if this guy is jerking me around, or what. I am not going to judge him one way or the other, but if I order a Ranier Arms BCU, I'm wondering if I will have to wait and get another email that they were out of stock. I'm hesitant to do that.

The guy may be a stand up guy, but offered no explanation as to why he told me to order the Fail Zero, indicated it was in stock, then want to divert me again, to another BCU.

Anyone know anything about this company? Is this normal for them? At this time I'm not worried about the money, he has NOT charged my credit card. But these switching tactics have me a little hesitant.

Thanks,
FT

[GOST]

I would cancel my order and buy the Rainier from Rainier. My Rainier NiB BCG is a lot nicer than any Spikes or Fail Zero I've seen.

[FortTom]

I received a message from the owner, and agreed to take the Rainier. Due to the fact that he engaged in an email convo where he answered immediately, each time. I get the impression that all is cool, if he was that eager to help me, or let me cancel my order. As stated earlier, the owner did not charge my credit card due the item not having been shipped. I think things will be fine, and that's why I reserved judgement until he had a chance to resolve the issue.

I've only had one issue, ever, with an online seller, and that was for an LMT upper. Long story short, I have 2 first cousins that are lawyers, and good friends, and the dude got hit from every angle. I almost felt sorry for him, except he was an ass and would have ripped me off without a second thought.[:D] Eventually, I got my money back, but that left me with a little bit of apprehension when dealing with other than large companies, such as BCM, etcc. etc.

Gost, as to your observation, and considering I haven't seen a Rainier BCU, from strictly and engineering standpoint, I own both a Spikes and a Fail Zero, and the machining and other factors that I can observe, are both first rate. The Rainer will have to be mighty good to leave them in the dust. It's also been brought to my attention, either correctly or incorrectly, that all three are coated by the same company. If all goes well, I should have a Rainer in my hands within a week or so, to compare them to.


Thanks for the help,

FT

[Jerry R]

FT, I will be very interested in your comparison of the three units. Please post impressions and photos.

[FortTom]

FT, I will be very interested in your comparison of the three units. Please post impressions and photos.
I was waiting for the BCM KMR upper to become available, and use it with the lower I've just built. I can always take two rifles to the range and swap them out (BCU's), however, right now I'm stuck with an indoor range, and it would be impossible to put 500 - 1000 rounds through either or both. It's been record breaking weather here with constant freezing weather, and lows in the negative single digits at night, nothing to those Viking's and Green Bay fans, but colder than hell for us Ky-ians. But I'll do a preliminary inspection of all three, side by side, as far as parts, fitment, finish, machining, etc, and hold off for warmer weather to put the Rainier through it's paces. I have high hopes for that one. So far, I can tell you I have absolutely no qualms with the Fail Zero or the Spikes. So I'm real interested in seeing the Rainier myself.

If you have any experience with any of them, I'd like to hear your's also. As an aside, I've been touting NIB bolts around here for quite a while. Got a lot of long yawn's, and disinterested looks. Seems like everyone around now are scrambling for them, at a time that they stay pretty much on back order. Don't know what lit a fire under everyone's butt, but people don't seem to be yawning as much as they used to. Maybe it's because I can scrape boat tails with some Gun Scrubber, a small piece of T-shirt, and my thumbnail.[BD]

FT

[GOST]

I like NiB also. If your BCG is anything like mine your gonna love it. The only nicer machined BCG I've owned is a JP.

[FortTom]

I like NiB also. If your BCG is anything like mine your gonna love it. The only nicer machined BCG I've owned is a JP.
Ghost, me too. I actually learned of such things in engineering school, but only noticed them (NiB BCU's) in the last three or so years, however I don't really know when the trend started. After 20.5 years in the military of scraping phosphorus coated BCU's of carbon, soot and God only knows whatever other crap was caked on, I found NiB to be worth it for none other than ease of cleaning them. That's aside from the lubricity properties of NiB and other advantages. Plus, and I verified this once, I took my Fluke meter to the range with a friend, put about 90 rounds down range as fast as I could, and measured the heat with the temperature probe, with a phosphorus and then again a NiB bolt. I may have posted the results here, I don't remember, I'll search it, but the temperature difference was significant. The NiB ran quite a bit cooler. Try it sometime if you have a meter with a temp probe.

I will now have it In all four guns (4 when I get my BCU and new upper), and will probably continue to use it until something better eventually comes along. NiB is nothing new, really, and I'm not quite sure why it took so long to catch on in the gun community. Now, I'm hearing the military (don't know which branch) are ordering replacement bolts that are NiB coated, but I can't really confirm that. Maybe someone still on active dury here can confirm that.

Have a good one.[:D]
FT