stampeed valkyrie
.22LR
Thanks to the weather cooperating, and some free time today I was able to get back out with my 5.56 MVP Patrol rifle. For those that have been following me already know this rifle has been off to a rocky (at best) start.
The rifle was originally picked up, to demo against several other patrol carbines for possible Departmental use. Long story short due to the initial issues it missed out completely as Mossberg had it for 3-4 months for possible repair. When I received the rifle back absolutely nothing was done to it and Mossberg support blamed it on 5.56 ammo, which at the time was PPU M193, PPU 62 grain, Federal Lake City XM855
Initially I set the rifle up like this.. Leupold AR Mod 1 3-9 Firedot with a Leupold AR mount.
and the rifle was consistently doing this.. @ 100 yds.
With the original intent of purchase now pretty much negated.. I left the rifle in the meantime with our range officers so others could get a feel for it.. The results I started hearing were not pretty, I was getting mixed reports of the bolt riding over the next round, Very sloppy magazine lockup, and issues when using the rifle from various shooting positions used to simulate real world situations.. prone, supported, unsupported.. etc. And lastly 1 unconfirmed report of the bolt not resetting the trigger while cycling.
Next I went to work on the rifle myself.. I swapped out the magwelll with a Tromix made aluminum version, and replaced the trigger guard with an aluminum trigger guard since the plastic one was gonna get broken.. eventually.
This resolved the sloppy magwell issue which in turn seems to resolved the bolt riding over the next round in the magazine. I also swapped the mount to a set of medium height Leupold Quick detachable rings.. and this required I remove the rear sight so the scope would sit properly. The new positioning of the scope gave me a more natural cheek weld and may explain some of what happened today.
So today...
I took the rifle back out to 50 yards.. the 100 yard range was a mud pit and will have to be followed up in my Part 2.
The rifle as it sits now...
Take note of the height of the scope as it sits much closer to the bore..
Also worth noting is the removal of the rear sight to allow the scope to clear using these rings.. just an FYI that possibly tall rings would allow it to clear.
Next onto the fun part..
The Ammo used in my test today..
I tried a wide selection.. just to see if anything changes.. PPU M193, Federal 55 gr. Remington UMC .223 55 gr. Federal Lake City XM855 62 gr. And lastly for Giggles and S***s! WPA .223 55 gr. Military classic.
First off after a quick check of boresight and scope alignment I fired off a 5 shot group of PPU M193 55 grain. And much to my surprise I pulled out a decent group.. this was cold bore first 5 shots.
I was hitting high about 2-2.5 inches roughly elevation and just about perfect windage.
Satisfied I decided to use this to check how other ammo types grouped.. no adjustment to the scope was made so remaining will all be High about 2-2.5 inches.
Next up Remington UMC .223 55gr.
Federal American Eagle MSR 55gr.
WPA .223 Military Classic (Steel Case Wolf)
And unfortunately I did not grab any Pictures of the Lake City 62gr XM855
But it shot the widest group.. and while not terrible.. it opened up noticeably.
So now I am thinking.. Was the other mount just too high for a proper cheek weld? Or is this just a fluke?
It's shooting where I expected it to be now.. but keep in mind 50 yards.
The rifle was originally picked up, to demo against several other patrol carbines for possible Departmental use. Long story short due to the initial issues it missed out completely as Mossberg had it for 3-4 months for possible repair. When I received the rifle back absolutely nothing was done to it and Mossberg support blamed it on 5.56 ammo, which at the time was PPU M193, PPU 62 grain, Federal Lake City XM855
Initially I set the rifle up like this.. Leupold AR Mod 1 3-9 Firedot with a Leupold AR mount.
and the rifle was consistently doing this.. @ 100 yds.
With the original intent of purchase now pretty much negated.. I left the rifle in the meantime with our range officers so others could get a feel for it.. The results I started hearing were not pretty, I was getting mixed reports of the bolt riding over the next round, Very sloppy magazine lockup, and issues when using the rifle from various shooting positions used to simulate real world situations.. prone, supported, unsupported.. etc. And lastly 1 unconfirmed report of the bolt not resetting the trigger while cycling.
Next I went to work on the rifle myself.. I swapped out the magwelll with a Tromix made aluminum version, and replaced the trigger guard with an aluminum trigger guard since the plastic one was gonna get broken.. eventually.
This resolved the sloppy magwell issue which in turn seems to resolved the bolt riding over the next round in the magazine. I also swapped the mount to a set of medium height Leupold Quick detachable rings.. and this required I remove the rear sight so the scope would sit properly. The new positioning of the scope gave me a more natural cheek weld and may explain some of what happened today.
So today...
I took the rifle back out to 50 yards.. the 100 yard range was a mud pit and will have to be followed up in my Part 2.
The rifle as it sits now...
Take note of the height of the scope as it sits much closer to the bore..
Also worth noting is the removal of the rear sight to allow the scope to clear using these rings.. just an FYI that possibly tall rings would allow it to clear.
Next onto the fun part..
The Ammo used in my test today..
I tried a wide selection.. just to see if anything changes.. PPU M193, Federal 55 gr. Remington UMC .223 55 gr. Federal Lake City XM855 62 gr. And lastly for Giggles and S***s! WPA .223 55 gr. Military classic.
First off after a quick check of boresight and scope alignment I fired off a 5 shot group of PPU M193 55 grain. And much to my surprise I pulled out a decent group.. this was cold bore first 5 shots.
I was hitting high about 2-2.5 inches roughly elevation and just about perfect windage.
Satisfied I decided to use this to check how other ammo types grouped.. no adjustment to the scope was made so remaining will all be High about 2-2.5 inches.
Next up Remington UMC .223 55gr.
Federal American Eagle MSR 55gr.
WPA .223 Military Classic (Steel Case Wolf)
And unfortunately I did not grab any Pictures of the Lake City 62gr XM855
But it shot the widest group.. and while not terrible.. it opened up noticeably.
So now I am thinking.. Was the other mount just too high for a proper cheek weld? Or is this just a fluke?
It's shooting where I expected it to be now.. but keep in mind 50 yards.
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