Chassis vs custom stock?

[freediver111]

Contemplating a build. Got a smith that's mostly convinced me to take an action off a gun, spin a Benchmark barrel on, and do some work to it.

My biggest question is stock choice. Do I go custom built stock, made by him, for around $650 or drop into something like an XLR Element chassis? Both options are around the same price.

I'm not concerned with looks at all. I know some guys hate the look of chassis, but they don't bother me at all. My only requirement is that it has an adjustable cheek piece. That's a must, or at the very minimum I would add a slip on or bolt on one to a conventional style stock.

Weight, performance, and ergonomics, which would you choose? I started using a kifaru gun bearer and like it a lot, so the gun would be carried in that for hunting purposes, if that matters.

Chassis seem a little on the heavier side, but not sure. I plan to check out this guys custom stocks when I'm in his neck of the woods next month. Chassis also look like they can get hung up in brush and be a bit more of a pain to carry, but that's all subjective as I've never really played around with any except for shooting the occasional gas gun at a buddies range.

Thoughts?

 

[zeroforhire]

I'm a big fan of the chassis. I have a mdt lss on my Howa 6.5 mini action. It doesn't weigh too much more than stock and it allows for my young son to shoot it by adjusting the butt stock.

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[Apollo117]

I'm interested in this as well. It seems like all of the chassis systems I look at start at around 32 oz without adding an AR15 style stock. The lightest adjustable stock I have seen is the Luthar and it's close to a pound. So, total weight of most of the chassis systems is close to 3 pounds. It's hard to justify that when there are several composite rifle stocks around 24 oz, or half the weight of total chassis systems.

 

[Formidilosus]

The lightest worthwhile chassis are going to be 3lbs. The KRG X-Ray is right at 3lbs, and actually has the benefits of a chassis. A lot of the AR15 add-a-part chassis are severe compromises.

What chassis offer over most conventional stocks is stability, adjustability, and shoot-ability. They are not hard to carry, just different. Unless you are hunting swamps there aren’t any issues with getting hung up on the stocks.


Weight is the biggest compromise with a chassis. Unless you go with the Q Fix rifle at 6-7lbs, you are looking at around 9.5-10lbs for a rifle with a chassis and solid scope.

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

I like both. Currently contemplating a 22 inch 30-06 build in an MDT chassis for a "light enough" chassis based hunting rifle. I've had incredible success and joy shooting my RPR at the range. Prior to that I experimented with an MDT chassis and Ruger hawkeye barreled action, loved the concept so went to dedicated platform in the RPR (5.56). I also just picked up a Ruger Precision 22LR, unfired as of yet however.

That said, I still love my traditional stock rifles, but am sold on the benefits of the chassis for certain applications. The adjustability is nice and useful for setup, but I don't really mess with it too much now. I'm sure when my little kiddos are big enough the benefit of adjustments will be more pronounced. But what I really really like is how much more stable the platform is to shoot from, particularly at odd angles.

I do a lot of mountain bike hunting here in Oregon so carrying the rifle will mostly be a hands free affair, little extra weight isn't much of a penalty especially when I'm setting up for a shot 500 yards across a clearcut.

 

[freediver111]

The lightest worthwhile chassis are going to be 3lbs. The KRG X-Ray is right at 3lbs, and actually has the benefits of a chassis. A lot of the AR15 add-a-part chassis are severe compromises.

What chassis offer over most conventional stocks is stability, adjustability, and shoot-ability. They are not hard to carry, just different. Unless you are hunting swamps there aren’t any issues with getting hung up on the stocks.


Weight is the biggest compromise with a chassis. Unless you go with the Q Fix rifle at 6-7lbs, you are looking at around 9.5-10lbs for a rifle with a chassis and solid scope.

The XLR is 3.5 lbs, and I was leaning towards that one. The more I think about it, the more I like the adjustability of a chassis. My rifle is already on the heavy side and it didn't bother me on the last bear hunt I went on. I may just suck it up and go that route. This gun isn't designed to be light, so an extra pound may just have to be dealt with for the added features of a chassis.