A little while ago my buddy 'Jefferson' - a fellow CGN'er and erstwhile F-Class competitor - advised me of a new-to-me company in Manitoba that makes a specific for F-Class chassis and bipod. The company in question is Xtreme Gun Shooting Centre and they can be found online at http://xtremegunshootingcenter.com/ and, of course, I was pretty interested; I mean specific to f-Class and made in Canada what isn't there to like about that ?
Well, a couple of emails and a phone call with Jayson the owner of Xtreme and I had in my hands two products for review - a F-Class chassis for the Remington 700 S/A and their bipod which is trade named as the Gear Box Bipod and so without further ado here are m thoughts about these locally made products starting off with the Chassis which retails at $949.99 plus tax(es) and shipping when applicable:
After opening the box and removing all the bits from the bubble wrap what you have to play with is what is pictured below:
Notice something missing ? Yep, there isn't an instruction sheet to be found anywhere. For some this isn't a big deal but for others it is and I feel that when one is pending serious money the manufacturer ought to be providing something in the way of a manual or product sheet. The good news is that when I raised this issue with Xtreme the said that such material is being worked on and so future buyers will likely get this material.
Now that personal peeve is out of the way let's look at the product in more detail: made of aluminum and available in black, red, green and blue this product is beautifully finished with not a single mark to be found anywhere on the sample I had. The finish looked to be applied evenly and consistently and the product simply felt like a quality piece of equipment - which when one is spending close to a thousand dollars is what you are entitled to expect.
Putting the chassis together was actually quite easy but it certainly helps to have a picture of the finished product in front of you ( I kept a pic on my laptop screen when assembling ) as some of the pieces didn't leap out as being obvious bits of, for example, the stock assembly.
The stock was perhaps my favorite part of the chassis - allowing for a wide range of adjustability it not only looked good but to my mind made good use of the available pieces to keep weight down ( an important feature in any product designed for the F-Class game ).
Like all the chassis systems that I'm aware of the Xtreme chassis uses a (supplied) AR15 style grip - the one supplied is quite basic but it gets the job done though were I to own this chassis, I'd be replacing the grip with a model more ergonomically suited to me - and this attaches to the stock via a supplied aluminum adapter.
Whilst this stock was designed to be a drop fit for the R700 S/A it didn't really work as advertised with my particular 2012 Remington R5 - the supplied action screws didn't work and I ended up using one of the supplied screws and one of the Remington screws but I still got a fair bit of play which was disappointing as I wasn't able to really do any meaningful (ie accurate) shooting. If I owned the chassis I could have likely solved the issue with some bedding but of course this wasn't my chassis to play around with. I spoke to Xtreme about this fit issue and was assured that they had tried their chassis on a number of Rem 700's without a problem but readers will see that my R5 didn't quite fit which was disappointing as this particular rifle fits AICS and MDT without issue. Anyway, it is what it is and I can only write what I experienced.
Notwithstanding that my test rifle didn't marry up to the chassis as hoped, I feel that this is a good product that is well finished and was certainly comfortable to get behind.
Finally, this chassis strongly reminded me of the (more expensive) Dolphin chassis out of the UK and so for those shooters for whom Dolphin has an appeal them the Canadian made product from Xtreme may well be a viable alternative.
Next up is Xtreme's gear box bipod. Now I've written reviews on nearly every bipod out there except for Atlas ( Quick Version: yeah, got one - it's good but ain't no LRA ) and yet I am still seeking that perfect balance between weight and function. The Gear Box is made from 6061 aluminum, weighs a svelte 27 oz and is adjustable to a max height of 5 1/4".
Attaching to a rifle via an Anschutz-type rail the bipod is adjusted via an aluminum rod which DOES NOT add to overall weight so long as it is removed from the bipod.
Called the Gear Box due to the bearing adjustment system this bipod does, indeed, adjust super smoothly - the rod fits neatly ( and magnetically ) into the bipod and actual adjustments are made via an aggressively knurled knob.
When assembled and attached to the Xtreme Chassis I ran through the full range of adjustments with no difficulty at all. I found this bipod to be responsive and easy to use yet it appeared solid enough to give me confidence that this was a bit of equipment that would hold up to the demands of match shooting. I loved the idea of a separate adjusting rod which doesn't add weight and it also made adjusting a breeze without moving from shooting position. Conceptually this is a winner.
Were there things I did not like about the bipod ? Well, yes there were things I didn't like but the issues I had were only cosmetic; on the one sent to me for review there were machining marks and the engraving looked like it could have been better done. Small matters granted but ones which, if addressed, would really make the product look better and more worth the retail price of $450 plus tax(es) and shipping where appropriate which puts this bipod right in the wheelhouse of the excellent but heavy Remple and the outstanding LRA and on neither of which will you ever fiind a belmish or tool mark. Interestingly, the finishing comments that I make about the bipod were not issues with the Chassis so Xtreme is certainly capable of finishing off a product so that the end result speaks of quality.
Overall, I liked both products - the bipod in particular seemed to be very good and did the job quite admirably. While the chassis couldn't be given the workout I had hoped I believe it to be a good product and should be strongly considered by those F-Classers who feel their needs are best suited by a chassis system. Best of all, both products are Made in Canada !
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Jayson at Xtreme for lending me nearly $1500 work of gear to play with and write about. Throughout this process Jayson was a gentleman who happily answered questions and gave me a sense that anyone who bought from him could expect great customer service.
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Returned when done. Like you, I prefer more meat on my rifles LOL.
