Tikka Bullpup Chassis

Sadler

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I never knew MK Machining made Bullpup type chassis and now they’re making a tikka version. Anybody ever use one of their R700 versions? Are they worth buying? From what I’ve gathered they’re 3.5lbs, which isn’t horrible and having such a compact package in my already short 16” PRC is very tempting.
 

z987k

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I like the idea especially for suppressor use and keeping a 24" or so barrel. They're just way too heavy for my use while hunting.
 
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Cool idea. I have always loved the idea of bull pups and the ones I have owned and shot have been very handy. the Tavors and styers are bad ass tactical guns. the dessert tech precision rifles are the only ones I ever shot and handled that had a decent trigger. They start at 8# so not exactly a back pack hunting weight but they shoot well and the are Compact.

I would love to hear how these things handle. The weight doesn’t seem that bad but I bet it would go up a bit more with rail covers and what not.
 
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Sadler

Sadler

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I like the idea especially for suppressor use and keeping a 24" or so barrel. They're just way too heavy for my use while hunting.
Yeah the weight aspect is a big downside.


Cool idea. I have always loved the idea of bull pups and the ones I have owned and shot have been very handy. the Tavors and styers are bad ass tactical guns. the dessert tech precision rifles are the only ones I ever shot and handled that had a decent trigger. They start at 8# so not exactly a back pack hunting weight but they shoot well and the are Compact.

I would love to hear how these things handle. The weight doesn’t seem that bad but I bet it would go up a bit more with rail covers and what not.
I talked to them yesterday and they said it’s around 4 lbs. I’ve never handled Tavor or Styer but I have handled a dessert tech and I immediately wanted to buy one.

There’s got to be a company out there that can make a Bullpup chassis around 2-3 lbs with carbon/titanium/magnesium type materials. It won’t be cheap but nothing we all like ever is.
 
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Am I seeing it right as it’s $2000??

Damn I’d be all over it if it was any cheaper.


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Aug 17, 2023
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It looks awkward. Any real application for it? I can't see the design being superior for anything at range.
MKMachining here. Other than the reduced length, there isn't anything superior to other stuff that is out on the market already. The V-Bed system ensures really good accuracy and it acts just like any other chassis system on the market... but reduces the overall length by a lot, nearly a whole foot. Still has a great trigger with .5-2.5lb adjustment (do that Desert Tech :))

Most of the people who have bought these from us are for western area Backpack hunting where you are doing a lot of moving or are really big into Coyote hunting from a tri-pod.

We are really close to shipping this current batch. We have all the pieces ready to go, but our tester Tikka rifle we use to QC every one of these is stuck in German Customs from a trade show. We should have that back over here fairly soon.

$2,000 is a lot, but trust me its not just an inflated price. Some of the internal linkage pieces go through 5 ops on the mill and there are 7 per chassis. This is actually a low margin product for us, but it is a labor of love.
 

z987k

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MKMachining here. Other than the reduced length, there isn't anything superior to other stuff that is out on the market already. The V-Bed system ensures really good accuracy and it acts just like any other chassis system on the market... but reduces the overall length by a lot, nearly a whole foot. Still has a great trigger with .5-2.5lb adjustment (do that Desert Tech :))

Most of the people who have bought these from us are for western area Backpack hunting where you are doing a lot of moving or are really big into Coyote hunting from a tri-pod.

We are really close to shipping this current batch. We have all the pieces ready to go, but our tester Tikka rifle we use to QC every one of these is stuck in German Customs from a trade show. We should have that back over here fairly soon.

$2,000 is a lot, but trust me its not just an inflated price. Some of the internal linkage pieces go through 5 ops on the mill and there are 7 per chassis. This is actually a low margin product for us, but it is a labor of love.
The reason I've thrown around the idea of one is for hunting suppressed, but with a long barrel. The downside is it's a boat anchor compared to what I normally hunt with for weight. I can't imagine taking it on a backpack hunt.
And if I'm not hiking it around, probably don't much care how long the barrel is... idk. We'll see if I ever come to a decision without seeing one firsthand.
 
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Had a desert tech SRS a1 for a while. It was very accurate and the cartridge swap is slick and very convenient for getting new barrels. I never could warm up to the ergos. The balance point is completely different (in a bad way) for supported shooting. Since it was a type of gun i wanted to put volume on at the range, I wanted something that would more directly correlate to my other rifles so I parted ways with it.

Sure, they are nice from a transport standpoint but i much prefer a traditional configuration from a shooting standpoint.

Edit to add: looked at the MKM model, looks very nicely done. I remember seeing the rough prototypes back in the day that were a pretty "unpolished" design. Nice work @Tony R-MkMachining
The other thing with the ergos - where is the balance point for carrying them? looks like all one would have is the little gap between grip and mag? I also wonder if a scope mounted to the chassis is going to hold zero as reliably as one attached to the receiver.
 
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Had a desert tech SRS a1 for a while. It was very accurate and the cartridge swap is slick and very convenient for getting new barrels. I never could warm up to the ergos. The balance point is completely different (in a bad way) for supported shooting. Since it was a type of gun i wanted to put volume on at the range, I wanted something that would more directly correlate to my other rifles so I parted ways with it.

Sure, they are nice from a transport standpoint but i much prefer a traditional configuration from a shooting standpoint.

Edit to add: looked at the MKM model, looks very nicely done. I remember seeing the rough prototypes back in the day that were a pretty "unpolished" design. Nice work @Tony R-MkMachining
The other thing with the ergos - where is the balance point for carrying them? looks like all one would have is the little gap between grip and mag? I also wonder if a scope mounted to the chassis is going to hold zero as reliably as one attached to the receiver.
The Gen1 bullpup was before my time here and I give the owner flack every time it was brought up. While it did function, it sure was not pretty to look at. The balance point really depends on what barrel you throw on it. With a 26" barrel, it balances right around the Mag Well, but that also depends on what contour your barrel is.

A lot of people were skeptical on the scope mount as well, but we haven't had any zero shift issues with decent optics. The hardware that mounts the Scope Hood to the chassis main body are 6 tapered head screws which really locks it down. I used our chassis for several months at our local club matches just to show it off and took home gold most of the time so I have decent experience with our current rendition. I would not recommend them for competition, but the ergos really aren't that hard to get use to and are second nature to me now.
 
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