MDT ESS chassis and rings unboxing 《picture heavy》
- Thread starter TheM4chef
- Start date
TacticalTeacher
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Georgian Bay, ON
Pure gun ####.... 
MDT sells a grip with a beavertail on their site and it does actually fit on the ESS chassis. I know because I have one on mine. When you tighten the screw, it bends the beavertail our of the way and it's actually pretty comfy......
Got my two chassis last week, they were waiting here when I got home from vacation with the family. I have to say of the chassis I have tried in the past, Tac 21, HS3, Cadex Competition, AIAX, XLR, this is likely the one I have liked the best. Very simple to assemble, very clean and simple, I got both with the 15" hand guard and no rails, I have no need for them so why clutter the already slim profile?
I am using Accurate Mag 10 round mags, they insert easily and drop clean, I really like the position of the mag release, it is perfectly in line with the bottom of the trigger guard and easily reached with an extended index finger. Function of the adjustable cheek piece and length of pull is simple, they both require tools but I am okay with that as I always carry a tool kit and I rarely change those pieces anyways. I do notice a tiny bit of wiggle in the length of pull on both chassis though, however by simply tightening as hard as I dare on the small allen screw, then turning the thumb wheel until it is tight against the aluminum of the butt stock seems to have removed all of the play. I think they could have added a second guide rod and allen screw to the top of the adjustable butt assembly and made it even easier to accomplish though with out the risk of over tightening and possibly stripping the threads on the one small allen screw.
Both chassis I had to play a bit with scope mounting height to get it just right. Even though the hand guards are cut away to (supposedly) allow low mounting of the scope, my Golden Eagle that has been on my Tikka for some time now would not fit in this chassis where I was comfortable with it. I could fit one piece of paper between the objective lens of the scope and the chassis hand guard but not two pieces, this is much too close for my liking, so I pulled that scope out of the rings and went with a Viper PST 3-15X44 which allows perfect mounting height...unless you want to install flip caps! These issues could easily be resolved by simply opening up the cut away just a few more thousandths of an inch, simple and easy and would save people from buying new rings. This is of course only a potential issue if you are bringing a barrelled action with a mounted scope over from a different stock, maybe your rings are high enough already...mine were not. If you are doing a new build, you should be able to figure out what you need right from the start and have no issues. One other minor issue related to scope mounting, the rings on my custom Stiller (Remington clone) allowed me to drop right into the chassis with out needing new rings for my Razor 4.5-27X56, but I could install the sun shade, the cut away was not long enough. Even though I did not change rings, which I think would solve the issue by getting the scope higher than the hand guard, I mention it here in case any one else has this scope and wants to mount it into one of these chassis. I will be getting my sunshade cut down at my local machine shop to fit, rather than cutting the chassis.
On the Tikka chassis, I am going to consider bedding the recoil lug into the chassis as I feel there is too much play there. The lug drops in and has enough room to rattle around a bit when the action is not installed in the base. I know once the action is installed, it should all line up and do what it is supposed to do, but why take the chance? Bedding it will be a simple job, and will give the added confidence of a rock solid installation.
In spite of these minor shortcomings, I think these chassis are superb! Ergonomics are stellar once everything is set up right, and I love the thumb shelf above the trigger position, it allows me to rest my thumb there so I do not have to wrap my thumb all the way around the pistol grip for each shot. And even though I run muzzle brakes on both rifles, I noticed a definite reduction in recoil with these chassis, I am not sure how they accomplished that, but they are both barely even noticeable now. Fit and finish is excellent, as is the colouring, not sure if it is anodizing or Cerakote but they did a very nice job on it. Weight is very reasonable, in fact the Tikka Tactical (TikTac) is down in weight from the previous Boyd's Pro Varmint laminate stock.
All in all, I think these are a solid buy, the fact they are Canadian is an added bonus! If I could figure out Flickr I would post up some pics, but writing this used up the vast majority of my computer skills!
I am using Accurate Mag 10 round mags, they insert easily and drop clean, I really like the position of the mag release, it is perfectly in line with the bottom of the trigger guard and easily reached with an extended index finger. Function of the adjustable cheek piece and length of pull is simple, they both require tools but I am okay with that as I always carry a tool kit and I rarely change those pieces anyways. I do notice a tiny bit of wiggle in the length of pull on both chassis though, however by simply tightening as hard as I dare on the small allen screw, then turning the thumb wheel until it is tight against the aluminum of the butt stock seems to have removed all of the play. I think they could have added a second guide rod and allen screw to the top of the adjustable butt assembly and made it even easier to accomplish though with out the risk of over tightening and possibly stripping the threads on the one small allen screw.
Both chassis I had to play a bit with scope mounting height to get it just right. Even though the hand guards are cut away to (supposedly) allow low mounting of the scope, my Golden Eagle that has been on my Tikka for some time now would not fit in this chassis where I was comfortable with it. I could fit one piece of paper between the objective lens of the scope and the chassis hand guard but not two pieces, this is much too close for my liking, so I pulled that scope out of the rings and went with a Viper PST 3-15X44 which allows perfect mounting height...unless you want to install flip caps! These issues could easily be resolved by simply opening up the cut away just a few more thousandths of an inch, simple and easy and would save people from buying new rings. This is of course only a potential issue if you are bringing a barrelled action with a mounted scope over from a different stock, maybe your rings are high enough already...mine were not. If you are doing a new build, you should be able to figure out what you need right from the start and have no issues. One other minor issue related to scope mounting, the rings on my custom Stiller (Remington clone) allowed me to drop right into the chassis with out needing new rings for my Razor 4.5-27X56, but I could install the sun shade, the cut away was not long enough. Even though I did not change rings, which I think would solve the issue by getting the scope higher than the hand guard, I mention it here in case any one else has this scope and wants to mount it into one of these chassis. I will be getting my sunshade cut down at my local machine shop to fit, rather than cutting the chassis.
On the Tikka chassis, I am going to consider bedding the recoil lug into the chassis as I feel there is too much play there. The lug drops in and has enough room to rattle around a bit when the action is not installed in the base. I know once the action is installed, it should all line up and do what it is supposed to do, but why take the chance? Bedding it will be a simple job, and will give the added confidence of a rock solid installation.
In spite of these minor shortcomings, I think these chassis are superb! Ergonomics are stellar once everything is set up right, and I love the thumb shelf above the trigger position, it allows me to rest my thumb there so I do not have to wrap my thumb all the way around the pistol grip for each shot. And even though I run muzzle brakes on both rifles, I noticed a definite reduction in recoil with these chassis, I am not sure how they accomplished that, but they are both barely even noticeable now. Fit and finish is excellent, as is the colouring, not sure if it is anodizing or Cerakote but they did a very nice job on it. Weight is very reasonable, in fact the Tikka Tactical (TikTac) is down in weight from the previous Boyd's Pro Varmint laminate stock.
All in all, I think these are a solid buy, the fact they are Canadian is an added bonus! If I could figure out Flickr I would post up some pics, but writing this used up the vast majority of my computer skills!
I had originally planned on doing the same for my Rem 700, mainly so that I could strip the action from the chassis and reassemble and stay zeroed (or close). I had it all apart the other day though (about 950 rounds after it was installed) and when I went to re-zero it, It was only off by 0.1mil to the right. Suffice it to say I'm not going to bother bedded the lug!
Yes mine came with a recoil lug but it was loose, not glued in.
I am not going to sweat it. If I bed it with Devcon it will be exactly where the action needs it to be.
Apparently they all come un-epoxied now. Gives people the option of replacing the lug.
Is it shooting well? If yes, then leave it alone.
So a little update here, I now have the 15" fore end installed and got to spend some time up at the range last week. Shooting the recipe I used for my Remington I got some great groups (at least what I considered good for me) shooting 5 round groups @250yds with heavy mirage. I'm excited to start load development considering the promise this rig is showing so far
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