I've had a Bravo for a while now, and a MDT XRS showed up at my door recently.
I considered the Oryx, but it had a couple downsides that I couldn't get past. the first is the rear stock - with the giant hook it's not rear bag friendly at all. for PRS it's fine, but for those of us who like our Protektor/bunny ear bags off a bench it's not. and it doesn't look like there's any way to easily attach a bag rider to the base. second is looks - I'm sure it's solid as hell, but I'm just not a fan of the lines or the color.
I also considered a Cadex strike nuke, but that short fore end was a deal breaker for what I wanted.
I'll give a bit of a comparison between the XRS and Bravo, it may help someone with their decision, as they're pretty similar.
XRS:
when it comes to fit and finish everything forward of the grip is perfection, but the bolted together clamshell buttstock doesn't perfectly line up. it's close, better than Hitzy showed in another thread, but I can catch my finger nail on the seam where the two halves meet and there's a tiny gap between the two halves just behind the tang. mine also has the injection hole at the front/bottom of the buttstock that Hitzy noted, but it's been filled in somewhat and is in a place where nobody will ever notice or care. fit and finish is quite good, but it's not perfect. I'm still giving it a big thumbs up for $500.
my Tikka CTR fits perfectly in the chassis. that being said, the mag well does not play nice with my Tikka CTR. the spring tension on the CTR mag release is higher than anything else I've played with, and the front of the magwell on the XRS isn't chamfered. I simply cannot insert a mag straight up, like every other AICS rifle I've ever held, as the stiff CTR mag release naturally pushes the mag forward and the front of the magazine hits the chassis instead of feeding into the magwell. to change a mag I need to do it AK-style, by inserting the front of the mag first before rocking it backward and up. I didn't have the same issue at all running the CTR in a Bravo, because the front of the mag well on the bravo is angled/chamfered and doesn't tend to catch. it's not a big deal, but will take some time to make it second nature. I only run metal mags, which are pretty tight in the XRS. no idea how poly mags would fit.
barrel channel is huge. the barrel of my CTR looks tiny, the XRS should be able to fit a truck axle with room to spare.
the fore end on the XRS is the same length as a Bravo with a spigot. this was a big selling point for me. it's flat, unlike the Oryx. at some point mine will be getting an arca rail.
the fore end on the XRS is quite shallow, which makes it less top-heavy off a bipod/barricade than the Bravo (if you aren't shooting off the spigot). the base of the fore end of the XRS is as close to the barrel as the spigot mount is on the Bravo. it's relatively shallow, but stiff as hell.
weight - I didn't weight the two on a scale, but the XRS feels heavier than my Bravo + spigot + tool-less buttpad adjustment. if I were to guess, I'd say 1/4lb heavier. both are Tikka inlets.
action screws - captured in the chassis, needing an extended bit to reach. the slot above them is exactly the same width as the allen wrench needed to tighten them. none of my extended allen bits will fit through those narrow slots, so I need to buy one somewhere so that I can properly torque the damned things. less than impressed by that, MDT could have given us a little more width.
I like the overmolded grips, and like that I can run either an angled or vertical grip. I put the vertical grip on right away, but the angled grip felt good offhand. the chassis isn't light, but if you want to hunt off-hand it's nice to have the option.
I don't mind the LOP spacer system. not having to completely unscrew the buttpad to add spacers eliminates dropped bolts and cross-threading.
really wish the buttstock had a bag rider option, or that MDT made a base that filled in hook like KRG does. that being said, there are two screw holes at the bottom/rear of the stock (roughly 1-5/8" apart), which no pictures online show anywhere, so we have the ability to bolt on a bag rider if we want. hopefully MDT makes one for the XRS, as they make them for their other chassis.
the Bravo:
it's better finished than the XRS, no mold lines, no sharp edges of any form. the lines on the fore end don't perfectly match those on the back half of the rifle, which everyone has #####ed about since day one. I don't even notice it TBH, but you will if you're OCD.
the chassis is lighter than the XRS, and feels more "hollow" and plasticky, but I couldn't detect any flex anywhere. it's not light enough that I'd take it sheep hunting, so the weight difference isn't important to me.
KRG makes tons of accessories for it. I bought a tool-less butt pad kit, which I really like for when I shoot prone, as well as a spigot. you can bolt on a Whiskey stock if you want, tool-less reach adjustment ($$$), as well as different fore ends. it's basically Lego, except more expensive. but when you start doing that, you get close to the cost of an ESS or ACC pretty quick.
the short fore end really does need the $125-200 spigot if you're shooting off a bipod IMO. without the spigot my Tikkas both felt unbalanced front to rear, as well as top heavy.
the grip lacks overmolding, but is textured and not slippery. the palm swell is slightly larger than the vertical grip on the XRS. I don't like the vertical grip for off-hand shooting, so I consider the XRS design more versatile.
the magwell is chamfered, making it faster and way more brainless to insert mags. especially if your mag release spring tension is on the high side, like my CTR. it holds mags slightly looser than the XRS, but no more than anything else. I've never had feeding issues with any of my Accurate Mag or MDT AICS steel mags.
action screws are captured, and you'll need an extended allen bit to reach the front one. KRG makes one, and Tom at GBT sells them. if you don't have one, make sure you buy the stupid thing when you order the chassis so that you can properly torque them. I didn't, because some days I'm just not that bright, but Tom had one in my hands a few days later because he's awesome.
if I were to be starting from scratch today, I'd pick the XRS over the Bravo. it's nearly $200-300 cheaper if you factor in a spigot for the KRG, but with similar build quality and a few features that I prefer over the Bravo.
my $0.02, as someone who owns those two. hope this helps someone.
