School me on aftermarket stocks

FoxAlpha

FoxAlpha

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As of recently, my interest has reemerged in my 308 bolt gun and I'm contemplating upgrading the stock on it. I'll start off by saying I'm in no way a "precision shooter", always been more of a minute of badguy shooter but I'm looking to really narrow my past groupings down. Best I've managed to date is .80"-.75" 3 shot group at 100m with a mostly stock rem 700 AAC 1-10 twist and commerical 168gr match ammo.

Now I know the factory hogue stock is typically regarded as junk and it's what I'm looking to upgrade. Here's where I run into some issues.

Am I really going to notice a difference in performance with a new rigid stock vs my current wet noodle?
Am I going to see a relative difference between a choate tactical stock vs a McMillan model?

Essentially from what I've looked at the ones I visually like are HS Precision, AICS 2.0 (folding or not), or the McMillan A5's or something simalir.

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated.
 
You will most definitely see an upgrade going from the Hogue to pretty much anything else.

A very common path is getting a HS Precision take off from a 700P or something like that. The bottom metal should fit and it can be upgraded down the line to a DBM type set up. I had a HS for a while and it was OK.

I would say a a McMillan is better than a Choate - it is like several times the cost but the wait can be brutal. I have heard the choates are decent.

If I were building up another 700 I think I would go with a Grayboe Renegade (Just got into an argument on AO about it). It looks like a good value and all the reviews I have read have been positive. You can order with either the factory bottom metal set up or with an M5 inlet. The A5 shape is very popular and copied by pretty much everymody.

I see you are in Calgary (sometimes), if you want to try an AX chassis let me know - I like mine quite a bit.

Edited: Also have a Manners T3 to try as well if you want. It is more of a combo hunter/tactical stock but I like it.
 
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It all depends on how you currently shoot your rifle. I have pretty much the same one although I turfed the Hogue stock before ever shooting it. Loading the bipod the stock flexed enough so that it would touch the barrel, hell, you could do it by hand. Now if you regularly shoot your rifle off bags near the mag well, you probably won't see a huge difference in accuracy. If you're shooting off a bipod, it will definitely tighten things up. I bedded mine in a Boyd's Pro Varmint and installed a Stiller DBM, about the cheapest good stock you could put on. It reliably shoots .75 moa 5 round groups. As far as I can tell, provided you properly bed your rifle to the stock and it's stiff enough, there isn't much if any accuracy boost from the more expensive stocks. It's more of an improvement in ergonomics or the ability to adjust the stock to fit you. For what it's worth, I put a cheek pad/riser on mine and installed some flush cups and it's great. To be honest, once you factor in the cost of the stock, dbm, cheek riser, flush cups (about $600) you're not far off the cost of a chassis like an MDT (say about $800 with there adjustable stock and a pistol grip) and that gets you something more adjustable and no need really to mess around with bedding. It's all about how much ya wanna spend, like anything, haha. I'd rather spend a lil less on the stock and swap out that factory barrel with the ridiculously long throat!
 
Previous advice to use a take-off HS Precision stock is excellent. You may also consider the Bell and Carlson stocks - substantially less money than McMillian and really very good and then again thee re the various Chassis-type stocks to consider; I have used AICS, Cadex and MDT and all have merits and demerits ( fyi, I currently have AICS and Cadex ) and come to the market t various budget points.

By the way, does anyone know where that really annoying term "school me" came from - ####, it piddles me off lol.
 
a stock is the interface between you and the task which is to shoot the rifle accurately, consistently and precisely. There are many shapes, styles and material all geared towards a particular end use and what the manf feels is the better "mousetrap".

The first step is to define what you plan to do with the rifle.

Then look at styles and shape that cater to that task... Get behind as many as possible and see what FITS YOU!!!!

Then choose the one that offers the features with a cost that fits your budget and tasks.

When a stock can support the barreled action properly, securely and give consistent results, it is has served its job. The Shape is what makes it easier to perform your desired tasks.

From a 2X6 (where the heck is that video from the guys at Gunsite or similar LR tactical school) to the latest greatest wonder chassis, it can all work.

More info

To answer your two questions... if a stock flex in a way that prevents consistent firing, going to a rigid stock will help BUT a flexi stock can be made to shoot very well.

There is no accuracy difference between the Choate and the McMillan. Both are plenty rigid to do the job. Both are very weather proof (here the Choate is better but we don't shoot underwater for very long). The limitations will be the barreled action, bedding, ammo, optics, rests and the shooter.

Jerry
 
Your current 3/4 MOA is fairly reasonable from the stock stock. :). If your shooting technique is not great then all the upgrades in the world aren't really going to improve your groups.

FWIW three shot groups won't really tell you enough. Five shots is better indication of accuracy.
 
Ideally I'm thinking a second hand HS Precision stock is going to be the way to go. For some reason I just don't like the aesthetics of the MDT chassis. From my perspective, I gather that I won't see much of an improvement between an HS vs a McMillan at my current skill level, and as nice as the CADEX modes are, I don't see the value in ponying up 2k for a chassis system.

I would say it's now a toss up between an HS and the AICS. What would the pros and cons be of going either route? The most obvious to me is going to be the AICS will come already with a DBM system whereas the HS would require that on top of the cost of the stock plus installation. It seems to me, to get the two stocks at a comparable level (i.e. Stock + DBM) I'm going to be roughly in the same ballpark cost wise of 800+

Anything else noteworthy I should know?
 
The difference is pretty big b/w an AICS and a HS. I really like the ergos on my AX and it is quite adjustable (LOP, cast, cheek piece) so getting it to fit me is quite easy. The HS will also need some sort of cheek piece as the comb is still too low.

My rifle is an AX so I don't know the bare chassis weight but I would hazard a guess it weighs more than the HS so that might matter to you.

You should really try to get behind each before laying down the dollars.

Jerry is right as well - upgrading from a crappy stock to a good one will help things. There are a lot of stocks that will do the trick out there.
 
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