AG Composite Gen 2 Tikka Stock Review

[Ucsdryder]

I imagine many on here saw my post on OMR - Oregon Mountain Rifles and the bad experience I had. One of the big issues I had with the semi custom gun that he built was that it had significant feeding issues. Unfortunately the owner of OMR had zero desire to try and make things right, but the guys and gals at AG composites, specifically Matt and Pam, were awesome throughout the process. In the end, I was able to make my stock work by milling out the inlet a little more and sanding down my bottom plastic. It wasn’t ideal and it wasn’t what I wanted, but at least my tikka wasn’t a single shot!

I sent Matt and Pam a lot of pictures and videos and I was told they were working on a new mold, a gen 2 stock. Last month they sent me a foam stock to check the barrel channel and it looked like a perfect fit. Today the box showed up with the real deal!

FINISH - no different than the gen 1. Everything is perfect. The paint is sharp, the edges are smooth, there are no blemishes, no rough spots, nothing unsightly. The barrel channel is even all the way down with excellent clearance for a free float. It looks fantastic!




GEN 2 TWEAKS - this is the big part. One of the main issues with the gen 1 was the thread engagement on the bolts. I could get about 2 full rotations, and some guys complained they couldn’t even get that much. The gen 2 gave me 4.5-5 full rotations of the screw driver on both the front and rear bolts.

The gen 2 is on the top of each picture below, you can see how much more bolt it sticking out after thread engagement.




The other issues, and the big one for me was the depth of the stock at the magazine well. This caused the magazine to seat farther from the action and didn’t allow the bolt to grab the cartridge reliably. It’s hard to explain but pictures are worth a 1000 words. The picture below shows the depth of the stock, from action to mag well. As you can see the gen 2 is about .1” shallower than the gen 1.


In the pictures below you can see the red circle shows the gen 2 seats the magazine up against the action where the gen 1 had a gap. By moving the magazine up against the bottom of the action, the bolt was able to “grab” more of the rim of the cartridge, making for 100% reliability in my testing.


I ran both the tikka factory magazine and the latest generation mountain tactical. In my old stock the tikka mag was about 90% and the mountain tactical was about 20% feed reliability. I ran both multiple times and both were 100 reliable.

 

[Cahunter805]

Looks like the Gen 2 solved your problems. Just curious was the Gen 1 stock bedded? Are you going be bedding the Gen 2 stock?

 

[Ucsdryder]

It’s going to be a bit before I can shoot it with the holidays coming, but I’ve shot the gen 1 plenty and this one is almost identical.

Anybody on rokslide unfortunate enough to consider a tikka magnum has seen me post on their thread telling them what a bad idea a magnum is in a tikka. My semi custom rifle started it’s unfortunate life as a 300wm. It was great to carry up a mountain, it was terrible for everything else. The recoil was debilitating for me. I never practiced shooting, I would go to the range just long enough to shoot a 1.5” group at 100 yards and call it good enough. I thought I needed a big magnum in a light gun for Colorado elk.

Maybe I’m a little sissy snowflake but this was a week after sighting in my 300 last fall. 14 shots was all I could handle before I started getting twitchy. I should have take a picture the next day, it looked like a got kicked by a mule.


On that range session my last 4 shots were at a milk jug at 400 yards. I missed all 4. I’m not sure if I was high or low or right or left. I could have been all of the above. My effective range was probably 250 yards. All because I refused to shoot enough to be proficient with the gun or even get a solid dope chart out to 400 yards!

I thought I had a caliber issue. I was wrong. I had a stock issue. That small, undersized, flimsy stock on the tikka is crap. Pure junk. I had never shot a custom stock and the first time I shot it, I immediately realized what a difference the stock was going to make. My buddy described it to me as “it just feels full in your hand”. I told him that was a terrible description but it’s right on. The pistol style grip fills your hand, puts everything in the right spot and just soaks up recoil. Sure, I added a suppressor and am shooting a 7saum, but even unsuppressed that stock is a game changer.


I almost went with a chassis when I was building my semi custom tikka. I’d never shot one and the tacticool factor of a folding chassis was off the charts! My buddy bought a sig cross and I realized quickly, the chassis is cool looking, but you can’t beat a good carbon fiber old fashioned gun stock! The chassis is cold as can be, noisy, and for me just doesn’t fit me well. The pistol grip feels cheap and uncomfortable and while the adjustable cheek piece adds that ability to micro tune, it still doesn’t feel as solid as the cheek piece of the AG composite.


I’ve had multiple 25-40 round range sessions and the only reason I stop is fear of running out of components and barrel life! My effective range went from 250-300 yards to a really long way and I can bang my 12” gong at 1000 all day long.

My bull from this year. 575 yards…tight to the shoulder, right in the golden triangle.

Here’s a picture of my antelope this year. 834 yards, tight behind the shoulder. It took out the top of his heart and both lungs.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I can’t remember exactly how far this target was now, but I want to say around 750 yards. .46moa 5 shot group. I’ll tell anybody that’ll listen. Being able to practice is going to double or triple your MER. Having a good fitting stock is going to make you a better shooter and going to make you a more accurate shooter!

 

[Ucsdryder]

Looks like the Gen 2 solved your problems. Just curious was the Gen 1 stock bedded? Are you going be bedding the Gen 2 stock?

I did not have it bedded. I don’t plan on having this one bedded either. Assuming it shoots as well as the gen 1!

 

[mxgust]

Do you happen to know if AG is going to sell these directly? Through their own website/store?

 

[83cj-7]

Your story about stocks somewhat mimics mine. I got two AG privateer Tikka stocks at the same time and neither one of them would work for the same reasons. I called AG and basically got no help and they told me that everything is test fitted and something must be different with my rifle. They told me to send them back to OMR. I really like the stock design and feel so I decided that I would fix them myself. I spent probably 4 hours on each stock, milling pillars sanding and glassing. They fit now but I don’t think I will ever buy another stock from them.

 

[tam9492]

Any difference in weight on this one?

 

[2UP]

I ordered a Privateer for a Tikka last week. Hopefully it’s all Gen 2’s now.

 

[Grumman]

Thanks for the update. I’d like to give one a try now.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[MattiG]

Just to be clear, are you saying 7SAUM in an aftermarket stock has better recoil than a 300wm in the factory stock? Or do you have an apples to apples experience with the latter?

Only asking because I didn't even shoot my 300wm Tikka before replacing everything and adding a brake. I'll remain curious about how badly the original gun would have hurt me until I go shooting with someone who has one.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

 

[BAKPAKR]

I ordered a Privateer for a Tikka last week. Hopefully it’s all Gen 2’s now.

Were you able to order directly from AG Composites or do you still have to go through a third party?

 

[Ucsdryder]

Your story about stocks somewhat mimics mine. I got two AG privateer Tikka stocks at the same time and neither one of them would work for the same reasons. I called AG and basically got no help and they told me that everything is test fitted and something must be different with my rifle. They told me to send them back to OMR. I really like the stock design and feel so I decided that I would fix them myself. I spent probably 4 hours on each stock, milling pillars sanding and glassing. They fit now but I don’t think I will ever buy another stock from them.

The issue is that OMR is building rifles and then sending them out as fast as possible. They aren’t doing the bare minimum, making sure they load! I personally put the responsibility on OMR since he could have done the 4 hours of work that you were forced to do and delivered a working firearm. It does suck that the gen 1 required gunsmithing and wasn’t a true drop in stock, but I believe the gen 2 will be a drop in and shoot!

 

[Ucsdryder]

Do you happen to know if AG is going to sell these directly? Through their own website/store?

I reached out and asked.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Just to be clear, are you saying 7SAUM in an aftermarket stock has better recoil than a 300wm in the factory stock? Or do you have an apples to apples experience with the latter?

Only asking because I didn't even shoot my 300wm Tikka before replacing everything and adding a brake. I'll remain curious about how badly the original gun would have hurt me until I go shooting with someone who has one.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to shoot the 7saum through the crappy factory stock. The 7saum has less recoil than the 300wm regardless, there’s no arguing that. Here’s a video that mimics my experience with the tikka stock.

The relevant part starts at 9:10.

 

[2UP]

Were you able to order directly from AG Composites or do you still have to go through a third party?

A Third party AG recommended . Nielsen Custom Rifles.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Any idea why they are not selling direct? I am getting the itch to restock a tikka and this seems like a pretty cool option.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Any idea why they are not selling direct? I am getting the itch to restock a tikka and this seems like a pretty cool option.

Matt said he would get on next week.


I won’t speak for AGC but when they built my stock there was a lot more that went into it than I thought. I expected them to ask my barrel contour and send me a stock. Instead they had me take measurements every 1” down the barrel with my calipers.

I would GUESS that their stocks are more custom built than many of their competitors. Like I said, this is just a guess but the positive is the stock is custom fit to your gun versus getting “close” by having a handful of stocks on hand. I know that my barrel channel was spot on the whole way down the barrel.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Were you able to order directly from AG Composites or do you still have to go through a third party?

At this time it doesn’t sound like they’re doing direct to consumers.

“We are selling the new version through our distributors. People can contact our office to get the distributor’s information. Our number is 1-833-AGSTOCK or email [email protected].”

 

[Ucsdryder]

Any difference in weight on this one?

This is a cheap kitchen scale. New stock on top. I had to put the sling screws back on to make sure it was apples to apples