I'm slowly collecting funds to assemble a mid range (400-600 yd) bolt action PD rifle. Will probably be in 22BR. I'm at a point where I can start purchasing some of the components if I find a good deal on them. On that note, I'm trying to decide what stock or chassis I should try to focus on. My current PD rifle is a Savage Mod 12 in .223. I've had it in a Boydes At-One thumbhole stock. For that rifle, that stock would have been fine except that it had a blind mag and I was always scraping my knuckles while loading ammo. I switched to an Oryx chassis and like it a lot better just because I can feed from an AICS mag.
At home in Indiana, my shooting will be done off a concrete bench, but out west I'll be sitting in a bag chair shooting off a tripod or laying prone. Even though we normally do some walking while we hunt, I don't mind the weight of the Oryx. Not sure I'd want to go much heavier though. My only real complaint about the Oryx is that it didn't have any M-Lok on the sides of the forfend, or any convenient way to add a QD Sling socket to the sides of the rifle. I was able to fill part of the fore end with JB weld, and then do some simple machine work to add what I wanted, but if I'm spending money on something more expensive than an Oryx, I would expect it to already have this feature. I do want a mostly vertical palm swell, an adjustable cheek piece, and some way to adjust the LOP (shims are fine). My ball head fits an ARCA rail, but I have an M-lok adapter already (and they are inexpensive), so a built in ARCA rail is nice, but not a must have. I normally bed all of my actions (even chassis), and I'm not completely set on getting a chassis instead of a stock. I just know that a chassis is normally going to have all the features and adjustments that I want. I'm leaning mostly towards an MTD chassis only because I can normally find them in stock at some of the bigger retailers meaning there's a better chance of finding one on sale. If there's a reason to look at another brand instead, I'm all ears. I don't have my heart set on a specific model because I don't really know or understand they differences between all of them. The only one I've used has been the Oryx, and aside from the whole sling mounting issue, I'm very satisfied with it. Most of the other MTD chassis appear to be about the same weight, or at least close enough that it shouldn't negatively impact my application if they are a little heavier.
I'd love to hear thoughts from others on this subject. Why do you use what you use? Pros and cons of the stuff you've tried.
Thanks,
Mark
At home in Indiana, my shooting will be done off a concrete bench, but out west I'll be sitting in a bag chair shooting off a tripod or laying prone. Even though we normally do some walking while we hunt, I don't mind the weight of the Oryx. Not sure I'd want to go much heavier though. My only real complaint about the Oryx is that it didn't have any M-Lok on the sides of the forfend, or any convenient way to add a QD Sling socket to the sides of the rifle. I was able to fill part of the fore end with JB weld, and then do some simple machine work to add what I wanted, but if I'm spending money on something more expensive than an Oryx, I would expect it to already have this feature. I do want a mostly vertical palm swell, an adjustable cheek piece, and some way to adjust the LOP (shims are fine). My ball head fits an ARCA rail, but I have an M-lok adapter already (and they are inexpensive), so a built in ARCA rail is nice, but not a must have. I normally bed all of my actions (even chassis), and I'm not completely set on getting a chassis instead of a stock. I just know that a chassis is normally going to have all the features and adjustments that I want. I'm leaning mostly towards an MTD chassis only because I can normally find them in stock at some of the bigger retailers meaning there's a better chance of finding one on sale. If there's a reason to look at another brand instead, I'm all ears. I don't have my heart set on a specific model because I don't really know or understand they differences between all of them. The only one I've used has been the Oryx, and aside from the whole sling mounting issue, I'm very satisfied with it. Most of the other MTD chassis appear to be about the same weight, or at least close enough that it shouldn't negatively impact my application if they are a little heavier.
I'd love to hear thoughts from others on this subject. Why do you use what you use? Pros and cons of the stuff you've tried.
Thanks,
Mark