I recently was able to put together a 224 Valkyrie build.

UWone set me up with a 20” Rainier Arms 224V Ultramatch Mod 2 barrel and a 15” Midwest Industries M-Lok rail and it was off to the races

One interesting thing about the barrel (to me) is that it’s a rifle length +2” gas system. I knew WOA had used longer than rifle gas systems but haven’t personally used one until now. Should I not run a suppressor, I probably wouldn’t have opted for an adjustable gas block.

I’m running some new parts that I haven’t used before, namely a Magpul Bipod (talked about this briefly on here before), a Geissele Airborne charging handle, and a CMC 2.5# flat trigger.


I was slightly curious at Rainier’s choice of twist rate and even emailed their tech support over it a while back. While a lot of high end barrel companies have chosen to produce nothing SLOWER than 1:7, and some say to make the most of the 90/95gr bullets you really should opt for the 1:6.5 twist, Rainier is sticking by the 1:7.5 twist rate (at least for the time being). And honestly, I was surprised at the results I got with 88gr Hornady ELD bullets (1.245” length) since the 90gr SMK is shorter at 1.171”.

This is an extremely busy time of the year for work and family stuff but with the couple range trips I’ve made, Ive been able to do some testing already and I see a TON of promise with this caliber with a wide variety of bullets and powders.

I will likely be sticking with either 77gr Tipped Match Kings or 80gr Hornady ELDs for the long haul but I’m testing (in no particular order) 60gr Ballistic Tip, 69gr SMK/TMK, 70gr Barnes TSX for hunting, 73gr Hornady ELD, 75gr Hornady BTHP, 77gr SMK/TMK, 80gr Hornady ELD, 88gr Hornady ELD, and 90gr SMK.

Powders are: CFE 223, RE15, Varget, and 2000-MR. I’ve already tried (and ruled out) 8208XBR; it may be better for this cartridge running 60gr Varmint bullets (3200-3400fps prairie dog exploders) but with heavier bullets it’s been a dud.


Here are a few photos to start off with. I will be continuously updating this thread with new posts, pictures, and data.



During assembly I became aware at just how snug the slim profile Midwest rail was with the +2 gas system and the gas block on the .875” seat.




The total package as it sits: