Considering moving from McMillan A3/5 to XLR carbon

[BigBuckeye]

Looking for some comments/feedback. I currently have a Rem 700 AAC SD in 308 with a McMillan A3/5 stock and Surgeon bottom metal. It is a very accurate shooter...certainly better than me. I am considering making a change to the XLR carbon chassis to try something different.

Anyone made this kind of change before? Comments? Is this a downgrade?

[BigBuckeye]

Here is the current setup.

[ess45]

I like your current setup more. No experience with XLR carbon chassis though.

[taliv]

i switched from mcmillan A5 to xlr. the xlr is high quality and pretty cool, but i just didn't shoot that well with it. i tried rock solid for a while and then went back to fiberglass stocks (the sentinel).

it's pretty much personal preference, and aside from obvious differences like weight, adjustability and construction, i doubt anyone can tell you whether you'll like it or not. you're just going to have to try it and see.

i will mention a few things to pay attention to though
1. grip angle. with typical bolt gun trigger, you want the trigger to move straight to the rear which means your hand needs to be pretty much level and that means the grip angle needs to be vertical. ar15 pistol grips usually have an angle that is great for carbines, but suboptimal for bolt guns. the BCM grip was the most vertical one i could find. if i were going to use an xlr again, i would probably make my own grip to do it right.

2. bottom of the butt on traditional stocks is usually wide, so i like a rear bag that is maybe 50% to 70% full. with chassis like the xlr, it's like a dull knife on the bottom. it will cut right through a half-full rear bag and there won't be anything but two layers of canvas between the butt and ground. i found the armageddon gear brick worked better with the chassis than the wiebad/str8laced style. the brick is thicker canvas, etc and doesn't squish down as easy. YMMV

3. metal is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. just sayin if gloves aren't in your kit now, they will be

4. the cheek piece on the xlr is floppy. i think that's good and it works well, but it bothers some people.

[joedirt199]

Don't know about the stock cutting up rear bags. My xlr has the tac light stock and it works fine with a rear squeeze bag. Cheek riser is also rock solid so not sure where the flopiness is coming from. 4 screws lock it down, 2 on each side. I had a fiberglass savage sharp shooter stock before and wanted a little modularity that the xlr elemnt offered in a compact light setup. Works good for the 100 or so rounds that have been through it since the change. Xlr people are very helpful and will get you taken care of.

[taliv]

I didn't mean it actually cut the bag. I meant it pushes the fill to the sides and makes its way to the ground. It's not a problem per se. It just means a different type of bag/fill works better.
The cheek piece mount is tight. But the part that touches your cheek will move with a little bit of force. I like that. Makes it comfy. Some don't. Not a big deal .
Sorry for any confusion.

[joedirt199]

The bottom of the stock is thinner than a fiberglass stock so I can see it settling into a bag easier. Only thing I have heard about the cheek piece foam is that it has a tendency to curl on the corners as it loses stickiness.

[mark5pt56]

I didn't mean it actually cut the bag. I meant it pushes the fill to the sides and makes its way to the ground. It's not a problem per se. It just means a different type of bag/fill works better.
The cheek piece mount is tight. But the part that touches your cheek will move with a little bit of force. I like that. Makes it comfy. Some don't. Not a big deal .
Sorry for any confusion.

Mine has the two screws per side and have no movement at all.

[joedirt199]

He was talking about the foam on the cheek riser. Unless they use a new style it is thin enough it doesn't move around. I will be running mine through a precision rifle level 2 class at the end of the month so we will see how it does out to 700 yards

[taliv]

do they have a new style? mine looks like this and is pretty old. one screw per side

i'm talking about the part with the foam that touches your cheek. the witness mark i have on the screw has never moved.