MDT HNT26

[Dan Davis]

This is a short review of my feelings on the HNT26 stock for a Tikka T3 7MM. Do not waste your money and time.. Dealing with them was great and can’t say the stock hurt or helped accuracy. What does piss me off is buying a stock made for lightweight hunting and then having to buy a metal five shot clip. First they said they couldn’t make a polymer clip. But then they came out with one for the Remington stock. So they can produce the product. I was told they didn’t have the demand for a clip. Then don’t sell your stock as lightweight.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

Sounds like you jumped into a specialized product before verifying the support was there for your needs.
There are many of us that use the HNT 26 and absolutely love the performance, features and weight.

 

[rifletuner]

Ive got 3 HNT26 stocks and have been very happy with them. I bought mine as soon as they hit the market, so had them for a couple of years now. No issues whatsoever and the only time I spoke to MDT with a query about mag feeding, they sent me some magazine catches no questions asked for 5 of their stocks (including some ACCs as well), and I had them from Canada to Australia in a week.

 

[JohnJohnson]

For those wondering, I think OP's problem is only an issue for long action Tikka inlets.

 

[NSI]

For those wondering, I think OP's problem is only an issue for long action Tikka inlets.

There’s a lightweight 6.5 prc or 300wsm mag?

-J

 

[JohnJohnson]

There’s a lightweight 6.5 prc or 300wsm mag?

-J

Unsure what qualifies as lightweight. Is something like this too heavy?

https://mdttac.com/300-wsm-6-5-prc-mdt-metal-magazine-med-3-rnd/

 

[Jon_G]

I love mine. I only wish I had gotten the green lol

 

[bojangles808]

For those wondering, I think OP's problem is only an issue for long action Tikka inlets.

yea its mostly an issue limited to the tikka la but im right there with op, unless somethings changed recently they need some better mag options. by the time i added spacers for a normal lop and the metal mag my tikka la folder was 39 oz.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I love mine. I only wish I had gotten the green lol

Does yours happen to be a SA REM 700 Arca/Folder? I wish I had a black one

 

[Jon_G]

Maaaaaan you almost had a trade! Lol it's everything you asked for except for the arca lol I had no need for one so I went without it. It is a folder though lol

 

[Dmoua]

This is a short review of my feelings on the HNT26 stock for a Tikka T3 7MM. Do not waste your money and time.. Dealing with them was great and can’t say the stock hurt or helped accuracy. What does piss me off is buying a stock made for lightweight hunting and then having to buy a metal five shot clip. First they said they couldn’t make a polymer clip. But then they came out with one for the Remington stock. So they can produce the product. I was told they didn’t have the demand for a clip. Then don’t sell your stock as lightweight.

I’m sure you can shave weight somewhere else. You’re complaining over 1lb at most.

 

[Fever Buck]

I have the same complaint with the XLR. As soon as you go into a long action all the mags suck. All the short action dudes have a much better product. But still love my chassis. @XLR please tell me y’all have something in the works for better mags on the LAs.

 

[XLR]

I am going to try and cover a lot regarding the magazines here. I am sorry about the novel, but hopefully, it helps clarify some stuff. The majority of your aftermarket chassis and stocks will use AICS pattern magazines. Could look at this as a industry standard.
Now for Tikka's for many years you would NOT find aftermarket stock or chassis for the long action options. Tikka action's are the same action no matter if the rifle is chambered in a SA or LA cartridge, and it is more of a "medium" length action. About 10 years ago, we looked at seeing if we could offer a LA option, which is the same inlet as the SA since it has the same action, but you could not use the shortest AICS magazine length, which is 3.715" due to the magazine being longer than the load port on the bottom of the action. If anyone were to run too long of COAL, quite a bit of the bullet would be hung up under the action. The next thing is due to so much of the magazine being under the receiver, it caused feeding issues even if the COAL was short enough. So we took a tikka action and milled out the bottom to see if we could then make it work and considered offering that as a free service for anyone wanting a chassis for them. That also led to complications, so it was a NO for any tikka-long actions.

Then, eventually, someone made an AICS-type magazine for long-action Tikka rifles, and that was MDT with the 3.56" magazine. So companies could start offering that option. Unfortunately, over the last few years, no other companies have made any magazines for them. So, the MDT 3.56 magazines are the ONLY magazines available for the aftermarket crowd. We have asked quite a few other magazine manufactures if they would and no luck so far. We and others have also considered using factory magazines, but that is an entirely different conversation, and there are always trade-offs.
XLR DOES NOT MANUFACTURE MAGAZINES AND, AT THIS TIME, HAS NO INTEREST IN GETTING INTO THAT MARKET.

Now, other than only one option, let's discuss Tikka's actions. They are a smaller diameter than most of your other receivers, and the load port (cutout on the bottom to accept magazine) is narrower than others also. So if you have a short action chassis, there are other SA magazine options, BUT if you try to use a polymer magazine, it will not work. This is NOT a chassis problem but rather an action to magazine fitment issue due to the feedlips thickness. There "supposable" have been some people that have modified the plastic magazines to work with a Tikka, but I know some that have also ruined the magazine doing so.
We worked with Hawkins Precision to make a lightweight flush aluminum magazine, and they only wanted to do short action options. Guess what? When that was finalized, they, too, would NOT work with the Tikka action due to the feed lips and the bottom of the action. They work with every other action but not Tikka's.
So even if any of these magazine manufacturers wanted to make a 3.56 in polymer or aluminum to save an estimated 1.5-3 ounces, they actually might not be able to as there is not one offered for the short action options either.

Now we would love nothing more than "somebody" that manufactures magazines to do exactly that for both SA and LA magwells offered on Tikka actions but there is also a chance it will be specific to just Tikka actions. Which for many is a deal breaker as they want it to work for as many options. The argument for the 3.56" magwell and having a Tikka-specific magazine that saves some weight (most likely 2 ounces) is the best as ONLY the Tikkas use the 3.56 length magazine, of my knowledge. So we can only hope that will happen.

No matter if we are looking at aftermarket chassis or other hunting gear, many things will have certain pros/cons to take into consideration. For us, on certain options, a few ounces in a magazine are outweighed by other benefits of the system such as design and fitment, foldability, integrated features, rigidity, etc. For others, certain things are deal breakers. That fine! Everyone should way those out and find what works best for you. Hope this helps clarify some things and please let us know if you ever have any questions on chassis.

 

[wind gypsy]

Now, other than only one option, let's discuss Tikka's actions. They are a smaller diameter than most of your other receivers, and the load port (cutout on the bottom to accept magazine) is narrower than others also. So if you have a short action chassis, there are other SA magazine options, BUT if you try to use a polymer magazine, it will not work. This is NOT a chassis problem but rather an action to magazine fitment issue due to the feedlips thickness.

Helpful synopsis but I think the quoted part is over generalized. I have a 223 tikka and a 6 creedmoor tikka that feed just fine from polymer MDT magazines in a chassis. I know the magpul mags are said to be a no go but the MDT polymer ones work for me.

 

[NSI]

Helpful synopsis but I think the quoted part is over generalized. I have a 223 tikka and a 6 creedmoor tikka that feed just fine from polymer MDT magazines in a chassis. I know the magpul mags are said to be a no go but the MDT polymer ones work for me.

Agreed, my comp gun Tikka feeds fine from plastic 223 MDT AICS.

Mag adjustment on XLR stocks is dead simple.

-J

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

I am going to try and cover a lot regarding the magazines here. I am sorry about the novel, but hopefully, it helps clarify some stuff. The majority of your aftermarket chassis and stocks will use AICS pattern magazines. Could look at this as a industry standard.
Now for Tikka's for many years you would NOT find aftermarket stock or chassis for the long action options. Tikka action's are the same action no matter if the rifle is chambered in a SA or LA cartridge, and it is more of a "medium" length action. About 10 years ago, we looked at seeing if we could offer a LA option, which is the same inlet as the SA since it has the same action, but you could not use the shortest AICS magazine length, which is 3.715" due to the magazine being longer than the load port on the bottom of the action. If anyone were to run too long of COAL, quite a bit of the bullet would be hung up under the action. The next thing is due to so much of the magazine being under the receiver, it caused feeding issues even if the COAL was short enough. So we took a tikka action and milled out the bottom to see if we could then make it work and considered offering that as a free service for anyone wanting a chassis for them. That also led to complications, so it was a NO for any tikka-long actions.

Then, eventually, someone made an AICS-type magazine for long-action Tikka rifles, and that was MDT with the 3.56" magazine. So companies could start offering that option. Unfortunately, over the last few years, no other companies have made any magazines for them. So, the MDT 3.56 magazines are the ONLY magazines available for the aftermarket crowd. We have asked quite a few other magazine manufactures if they would and no luck so far. We and others have also considered using factory magazines, but that is an entirely different conversation, and there are always trade-offs.
XLR DOES NOT MANUFACTURE MAGAZINES AND, AT THIS TIME, HAS NO INTEREST IN GETTING INTO THAT MARKET.

We've looked at it. Said no. Looked again, maybe? No.

Its assuming you have the market for it then funneling a ton of R&D into making it work.

Making mags SUCKS. We do the contract manufacturing for mags. We've had good luck with it, but everything we do is aluminum. We can't compete on price or OAL length if your talking stamped steel.

I'm typing this as we're working on a tikka dbm and mag, but that's its own thing, it only has to work with the DBM and a tikka action. The more functionality you want to add is where it gets complicated.

Ken

 

[bojangles808]

Huh both the 223 and 308 mdt polymer mags work fine in my sa tikka krg bravo. The 1 oz 3rd flush mdt polymer mag worked fne in my sa tikka hnt 26. Just sucks to pay a 6oz penalty to shoot a la Tikka with the metal 3.56 mag. Unfortunately I think if mdt could do it (polymer Tikka la mag) it would have been done already

 

[XLR]

@bojangles808 @NSI @wind gypsy Well, then I stand corrected!! For a few years, I can say confidently they did not, and if you went to the MDT's site on any polymer magazine page, they would have a disclaimer that they would not work with Tikka's actions. I just checked and sure enough no disclaimer anymore! Which is awesome news. I want to point out again all we want is more options also, and being they have made their SA magazines compatible, hopefully, they will make a 3.56-length magazine.

I was not trying to come across as solely negative, just sharing some history of dealing with a LOT of frustrated customers on the Tikka side, and trust me, it makes us frustrated also. We can only hope more options continue to arise, and I believe they will as these systems are only becoming more popular in the hunting world, which will only grow the demand for more options.

I did look at the Polymer magazine pictures also, and it does appear to be changed compared to older and the Magpul magazine regarding thickness, curvature, and length of the feedlips.

@Salmon River Solutions 100%, Which is why we have stayed out of the magazine game. They are obviously needed for our chassis, and maybe someday we will invest in manufacturing our own, especially to cater more towards the hunting market. But for the foreseeable future, we will leave those frustrations to you LOL