Released: The F4 Enhanced Battle Rifle in .224 Valkyrie
F4 Defense is proud to announce the release of the F4-15 Enhanced Battle Rifle (EBR) chambered in .224 Valkyrie. Some very bold statements were made last year concerning the performance of the Valkyrie; a cartridge based on a .30 Rem/6.8 SPC case necked down to accommodate a .224 projectile. We rarely jump on “new fad” calibers, but we had to test and evaluate whether this cartridge could live up to the hype surrounding it. We can confidently say it’s a damn good cartridge. The fact that shooters can buy off the shelf ammo is significant as most do not hand load.
After testing various twist rates and barrel lengths, optimized for the 90gr Sierra Match Kings and now with the long anticipated Hornady 88 Grain ELD Match ammunition; F4 Defense settled on a 20” 1×7 twist because it just plain works. The “need” for a tighter twist is simply not correct and we’ve proven it, it’s not surprising that you see manufacturers now jumping off the tight twist and going with a 7. A tighter twist than necessary lessens barrel life and can also restrict you from using a wide range of projectiles. Our F4 EBR consistently shot ½ MOA with pre-production Federal Gold Medal Match. So……that brings us to today and how different the production ammo is from Federal, compared to the fantastic pre-production lots. To put it bluntly, it’s just not that good and wildly inconsistent. We have 1/2 MOA rifles that turned very inconsistent with the new production ammo and starting shooting 2 and 3 MOA, which is completely unacceptable. Shooting handloads brought the accuracy right back down to sub 1 MOA. Federal needs to get this issue fixed and fixed fast. The Hornady 88 Grain ELD-Match is fairing much better at this time, even if it’s just a bit underpowered. We shoot suppressed most of the time and didnt notice it at first, but that is not a show stopper and can be dealt with. Working with one of the top barrel manufacturers, it was discovered that the production Federal ammo had as much as .020″ difference from tip to ogive in some of the lots we measured. That is very inconsistent and led us to believe it may also be an issue with the Sierra projectile or combination of the two. Nevertheless, we’ve seen what Federal and Sierra are capable with the pre-production lots of ammunition and it was top notch all around. Let’s hope they swallow their pride and tighten up their QA and produce the same level of quality in production runs going forward. We believe in the caliber and the potential of the 90 Grain Federal Gold Medal Match, but until we see some change, we’ll be loading our magazines with Hornady.
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SF-10: Small Frame .308 / 6.5 Creedmoor Update
We had planned to have the Small Frame .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor ready this past spring but ran into some issues with manufacturing capacity and that forced us to shuffle the schedule, which of course takes time which triggers the inevitable delays in release. After months of churn, we’re happy to report that production has stated and delivery will begin in full this October and we’ll start filling the long list of pre-orders and Law Enforcement contracts. While it has taken longer than anticipated to bring this platform to market, it doesnt change the fact that it’s going to transform the AR10 market. Having an equally performing and accurate AR10 platform in a package that dishes out less recoil and weighs considerably less overall, just makes sense. What’s not to like about a soft shooting 6.4lb .308 that is every bit as accurate than its big brother, the AR-10. Sign up on the website to get updates on new product releases and the release of the SF-10. We are still taking pre-orders via email at info@f4defense.com.
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