I have a factory fitted one on a Howa 1500 Mini Oryx. As others say, this is a very well made and finished design. It is rock solid - very rigid indeed - and I imagine immensely strong, from its one-piece machined out of a solid billet construction.
It is a true 'inline' design - you could put a straight edge along its top surfaces - giving a low boreline to shoulder / eye position. If your arms are any length, MDT's extra-purchase butt-spacer kit is essential. Likewise. I had to relearn lessons I first learned on Gary Eliseo's tubegun designs that for me at any rate, high, better still, extra-high scope mounts are needed to get my head above a neck-wrenching over-low position.
When people say it's a 'basic design', they're correct if what is meant by that is that if you need all the PRS and faux special forces weaponry 'must-have' features - folding buttstock, super fancy latticework butt, tubular forend with Picatinny rails on four surfaces for accessories or just looks, acres of Cerakoated surface finish - then you don't get any of that. You get a flat forend bottom with M-Lok slots - easy and cheap to get a Picatinny adaptor for a bipod or anything else you need to bolt on underneath. Add what seems to be a tough anodised or similar matte-black finish on the visible metalwork, and that's it.
The only thing I do miss is the ability to use a top mounted Fortmeier or similar design bipod, like here:
http://www.targetshooter.co.uk/?p=1831
(I bought the same bipod design but in its alternative type set up for the traditional 6 o'clock mounting attached via a short M-Lok to Picatinny rail instead - and this is a very stable combination between the stock and bipod designs.) I need to look into the JAMRS rear bag rider too that
@Old Tanker mentions in an earlier post.
The Oryx is pretty heavy - can't comment as to how it compares to fancier full-of-artistic-holes designs, but I suspect it would be regarded as quite heavy by comparison. However, that's hardly a problem as the latest all the bells & whistles PRS designs now have optional add-on weights to increase theirs as well as altering the c of g. Ergonomics / balance in the Howa Mini application are excellent, but it's only a 20-inch barrel. The forend
looks longer than those in many fancier designs but that may be just 'looks' because of the short barrel. Nevertheless, I'm sure that a possible future rebarrel to 26 or 28-inches won't increase length and front-end weight too much.
My Howa Mini is chambered for 6.5mm Grendel, so recoil is hardly an issue, but the set-up does cope easily with it offering little sight disturbance and excellent stability.
