Accuracy: Chassis rifles vs Manners Mini Chassis

[A5scott]

I have MPA and XLR built chassis rifles and they shoot very well. I'd say 1/3rd MOA with hand loads is no problem. I also have rifles built on Manners Stocks with the mini chassis built in, and they shoot 1/3rd MOA with hand loaded ammo as well.

I feel like both platforms are equally accurate, but I also feel like if I'm going Manners, I mostly want the action bed in the stock without a mini chassis. I say this at the same time I have a T2A GAP with mini chassis on order lol. I wanted the ability to share the stock among different barreled actions if needed.

Anyone with both types see any accuracy differences?

Scott

 

[JR1200W3]

I've owned all of those. Been a while for the XLRs tho. My experience is that the inlet design on the MPA requires no bedding. Not sure on current Manners production but as of a couple of years ago the Manners mini chassis has a floating tang and they spec 45ft/lbs for the rear action screw because of this. If you tighten both action screws down to 65 you will banana your action. A lot of people won't notice this but the way you can tell is to tighten both action screws down to 65, then stand the rifle up on it's butt, barrel pointed at the sky, and watch the front of the action where it disappears into the stock while you slowly loosen the front action screw. If the front of the action begins raising up out of the stock slightly it's flexing in their V bed/ floating tang design. The fix is to just skim bed a very small pad in the chassis under the rear tang.

I've gotten accuracy improvement out of every XLR chassis I've had skim bedded. (3). I just sold all my MPA chassis and bought two of the new Envy Pro chassis and an ATX AICS. I'll see how the new XLR chassis do unbedded. I can confirm the inlet design on the ATX requires no bedding.

Swapping barreled actions around in stocks would be my last course of action. And I wouldn't randomly bed a chassis unless I thought it needed it. And not just by accuracy but by first round flyers. That is often the symptom of an unhappy action bound into an ill-fitting V bed. If you don't have accuracy or group POI consistency issues, just run what you got. No need to skim bed right from the start.

 

[Rob01]

There is no need to bed a Manners Mini Chassis. I have had a bedded Manners, a bedded mini chassis and now all I use is standard mini chassis stocks as like you I like the ability to move it to another barreled action if need be. All the above were accurate and the bedded mini chassis was no more accurate than the barreled action dropped into a mini chassis. That bedded mini chassis was done back around 2012 and I'd never bed another.

 

[A5scott]

Thank you for the replies...

I must have been confusing.

When I said this in the original post: "I also feel like if I'm going Manners, I mostly want the action bed in the stock."

I meant bedding the non-mini chassis version of Manners stocks.

I don't bed my MPA or XLR chassis, and I've only owned one Manners Mini chassis rifle that was skim bed, but I bought it that way. It was an Accurate Ordinance build that shot excellent.

My newer Manners mini chassis rifles have that little square on the rear tang screw hole area to take care of the banana.

I'll distill my question to this:

Does anyone notice an accuracy difference between Manners Mini chassis vs pure chassis rifles such as but not limited to XLR and MPA.



Scott

 

[JR1200W3]

Thank you for the replies...

I must have been confusing.

When I said this in the original post: "I also feel like if I'm going Manners, I mostly want the action bed in the stock."

I meant bedding the non-mini chassis version of Manners stocks.

I don't bed my MPA or XLR chassis, and I've only owned one Manners Mini chassis rifle that was skim bed, but I bought it that way. It was an Accurate Ordinance build that shot excellent.

My newer Manners mini chassis rifles have that little square on the rear tang screw hole area to take care of the banana.

I'll distill my question to this:

Does anyone notice an accuracy difference between Manners Mini chassis vs pure chassis rifles such as but not limited to XLR and MPA.



Scott

I think it would be extremely difficult to tell. I'm sure there are some guys out there that have compared a few and they're super sure about it. But I think that we have so much margin for performance in all the other components that it would be very difficult to pinpoint it to one particular V bed system. Between people arguing about which suppressor brand is more accurate ( I don't know how they even justify that) to load development, chasing lands, supposed inherent accuracy of a particular case design, the.25 caliber craze..... I would be very suspect of anyone that says they can see an appreciable difference from this chassis to that chassis over multiple rifles.

My preference would be to choose a pillar bedded manners LRH over a mini chassis for a long range hunting build. Especially since you have to BYOBottom metal anyway. But that is more of an extra weight concern. I see now what you're saying about being able to use that stock on other rifles in the future. Having that compatibility could be handy. I would not hesitate to do it out of an accuracy concern.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

There is no accuracy difference between stocks or chassis, all things being equal. The difference is shooter fitment and how your body interfaces with the gun. This is why chassis are so much more popular, as they can be made to fit just about any body shape and shooting style. Traditional stocks like Manners or Foundations are much more limiting and unless you have the body that matches the stock, you are adapting to it instead of other other way around.

 

[A5scott]

I'm of the mind that there is no discernible accuracy difference, but I was curious about what others thought.
Chassis do have the benefit of modularity, and I shoot both chassis and stocks equally well. I do prefer the angled butt of a nice stock like a T2A that can ride a wedge bag.

Yes I'll always keep a chassis and a Manners mini chassis in the lineup for Rem 700 clone compatibility.

Scott

 

[Mauser48]

My barreled action in a mcmillan a3-5 seems to shoot fine without bedding. I'm considering swapping to an mdt chassis eventually just for the amount of adjustment. Never really used a chassis so I need to get behind some first.

 

[Newbie2020]

 

[JR1200W3]

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Not even relevant to his question.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

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You do know that data is from like 2019. A whopping 5 years ago.

Today MDT and MPA dominate the market. Probably 60-70% of shooters are running one of those 2.

 

[1911Shootist]

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How old is that? I didn’t even see one JAE at a match last year and couldn’t find an ACC Premier or Elite farther than 20ft away.

 

[A5scott]

How old is that? I didn’t even see one JAE at a match last year and couldn’t find an ACC Premier or Elite farther than 20ft away.

probably from 2018 or so.