Looking for a 6.5 or .308 bolt action @ Brownells...

[Cdub_NW]

MDT has an excellent and long-standing reputation in the PR world. It’s a very flexible modular and purpose built design. @Cdub_NW has at least two.

Nothing wrong with Magpul, just not a company I think of first for a long range rifle, based on their previous mediocre offerings. To be fair I have not tried their new chassis.

Agreed, nothing necessarily 'wrong' with magpul. But if the goal is to build an ideal rig for the precision rifle world the first two chassis that I would suggest would be MDT and XLR. Magpul wouldn't break my top5 list for the PR game. Both are top notch with countless accessory options. Having had both for years, I more recently purchased an XLR envy pro for my latest project, at the time it was the best bang for the buck and checked all the boxes. MDT is the only other option I'd spend my money on (and have)

[wrmettler]

In another thread, someone referenced Eric Cortina on Youtube. I've been a follower of his for a long time.

He has a recent multi-episode regarding the purchase of 2 stock Remington 6.5 rifles.
Without doing much, he made them into 1/2 moa rifles with just a tuner on the stock cheap Remington barrel.
Interesting series.
He did use a very expensive scope, that was probably worth 3 times the value of the rifle.

[ccmdfd]

In another thread, someone referenced Eric Cortina on Youtube. I've been a follower of his for a long time.

He has a recent multi-episode regarding the purchase of 2 stock Remington 6.5 rifles.
Without doing much, he made them into 1/2 moa rifles with just a tuner on the stock cheap Remington barrel.
Interesting series.
He did use a very expensive scope, that was probably worth 3 times the value of the rifle.

Love his channel.

Been considering reloading, and his videos on that are very educational. Not that I'm planning on PRS competition.

[Nephrology]

Agreed, nothing necessarily 'wrong' with magpul. But if the goal is to build an ideal rig for the precision rifle world the first two chassis that I would suggest would be MDT and XLR. Magpul wouldn't break my top5 list for the PR game. Both are top notch with countless accessory options. Having had both for years, I more recently purchased an XLR envy pro for my latest project, at the time it was the best bang for the buck and checked all the boxes. MDT is the only other option I'd spend my money on (and have)

Gotcha, thanks for sharing. To be clear I will not be competing in PRS - just don't have the time - so I don't need anything that is specific to the PRS competition but generally looking for features that will make it easier and more comfortable to shoot well.

Between the two options the XLR seems more interesting. Will keep doing my homework - eventually will land on something.

[Cdub_NW]

Gotcha, thanks for sharing. To be clear I will not be competing in PRS - just don't have the time - so I don't need anything that is specific to the PRS competition but generally looking for features that will make it easier and more comfortable to shoot well.

Between the two options the XLR seems more interesting. Will keep doing my homework - eventually will land on something.

Makes sense. Can’t go wrong with XLR. I’ve had 4 of them (3 elements and 1 envy pro) if long range shooting is the intended goal then weight is your friend. If you might be packing it around you might consider the element and then add weight kits if/when needed.

Good luck!!

[ccmdfd]

Finally took it out yesterday - will post pics later on.

I do think that I will end up upgrading the stock sooner than later. Not that happy with it overall and it seems like I can probably sell it for $300 or thereabouts.

What do people think about the Magpul Pro? Primary Arms has them on sale, $725 for fixed $800 for folding. weighing that vs. a KRG of some kind.

The magpul does seem a lot more feature rich for only $350 more or so. Any thoughts?

Anything specific about the stock that you don't like?

[Nephrology]

Anything specific about the stock that you don't like?

The adjustment of the cheek piece was rough and the screw to lock it into place was inconsistent and difficult to lock/unlock. Felt like plastic-on-metal was grating no matter how carefully I tried to keep the two bolts together. LOP adjustment was crude with the spaces and none of them really seemed to work well for me. On removing the action from the stock, it was pretty rough and didn't really seat the rear recoil lug fully. Also generally reminded that I definitely prefer a pistol grip for rifle shooting as my shorter fingers have a hard time even with the relatively vertical grip on the bergara OEM stock. Was never able to stably mount my Harris bipod with the QD swivel without torquing the shit out of the tension screw.

It's still a big leg up over the bell and carlson on my Howa 30-06 and definitely better than most oem stocks but I figure the going rate on these is just over $300 on ebay, would rather flip it and turn it into a chassis than remain dis-satisfied. This gun is a graduation gift for 8 years of hard work, I am OK spending a little more to be happy with it.

[SecondsCount]

Check out the KRG Bravo while you are shopping.

I had a Magpul Hunter stock for a while and grew to hate it but the Pro is a different animal.

[TOTS]

+1 on KRG anything!!

[Nephrology]

Well, I ended up pulling the trigger on the Magpul Pro 700 chassis. Looked around at competitors from KRG, MDT/Oryx, MPA, XLR, Cadex, even AICS. Thought carefully about what was most important to me, and ultimately nothing really touched the Magpul's features at the price. Its only real disadvantage seemed to be weight. The closest competitor product I could find with similar features was the KRG Whiskey 3, which was about 1lb lighter than the Magpul almost $500 more.

On receiving the package it was clear the Magpul product is build like a brick shithouse. While it has exterior polymer panels, these are are cladding designed for comfort only and are not structural. The aluminum chassis is clearly beefy and over-engineered, down to the folding mechanism lock which is extremely solid. Zero play when locked up in the extended position.

Installation is, of course, uncomplicated. The chassis comes with a 5-round AICS magazine and an extra pistol grip that has more of a curved rake to it. Having long preferred the K2 pistol grips on my ARs, I left the more vertical pistol grip that came installed in place. Plenty of MLOK rails to attach whatever you want; eventually will consider something fancier to upgrade the Harris QD swivel attachment on my bipod but I am in no rush. The picatinny MDT looks pretty nice and probably will be what go with long term.

The adjustability of this chassis is superb. Tool-less adjustment of cheek riser and buttstock stock LOP was a big plus, but I underappreciated the utility of the folding stock, which finally helped me fit this into my Pelican 1740 for easier transport to/from the range. Also made bore-sighting and cleaning a breeze. I also really appreciated the adjustable length of pull on the trigger; using a long allen key, you can loosen the bolt holding the grip in place and it will slide fore/aft about 2 inches. I found this very helpful for improving my grip; I always struggle with single stage triggers and the adjustable trigger LOP helped me get the pad of my finger in place for a repeatable 90 degree pull.

Took it to the range and tried it out a couple weeks ago now. Very happy. Rifle appeared to group slightly better - maybe due to improved mating with a real chassis, or maybe because I just sucked a little bit less, hard to say. Also zero'd the Brownells MPO 5-25 that I ended up getting for it - the Vortex had an issue that required warranty work, ultimately decided to return it for refund and put the cash towards the MPO. Very happy I did - the PST2 is very nice for the money, but nothing beats Japanese glass. I did note while shooting that the gun feeds much more smoothly now - not sure if the HMR stock just didnt like my Magpul AICS mags or what, but feeding was butter-smooth all day, a noticeable improvement from my first outing with the gun

Anyway, probably not going to get any likes on the Gram or whatever, but the chassis does what I want it to do and nothing I don't. Its biggest drawback - weight - is not such a big deal to me as I will not be rucking this gun around and it does make it more pleasant to get behind. Would definitely recommend to anyone in a similar boat.