Accuracy International stock differences AW/AE

[Wisconsinshooter]

I've been doing my research on all of AI's previous models. Just when I think I have it figured, I see a picture of one that throws me off again. I know there's different things you can do with the skins, which just muddies the waters even more. Curious if you guys can help me nail this all down as I hope to be an AI owner in the coming years and want to be fully informed when it comes time to buy one.

1.) what exactly are "old" skins or "legacy" skins, and how do they compare to the "new" skins? What years do they correspond to? Or perhaps it's really an "old" chassis that determines it? What's that all about?

2.) I've seen a chassis labeled as 2.0 that looks like this

as well as one that looks like this, also called 2.0.

are they both 2.0?? or is one "old" style and one is "new" style?

3.) I've seen many AI MKIII's seated in the tan chassis above. Was that chassis issued on all MKIII's? Also, were I to find a MKIII that had the tan chassis would I be able to swap it out for the style of the green one? I prefer the shape of the green chassis, and am curious if that preference somehow narrows down my AI options....i.e. if I like that stock style than I'm limited to Mk1's and MkII's/AW's, for example.

4.) I believe 2.0 vs 1.5 means folding vs non-folding. Is that correct?

5.) Were the AW's all manufactured with a stock similar to the green one above?

I'll post back if I think of anything else, but that's mostly what's been confusing me. Feel free to include any helpful distinctions that you have discovered over the years as well, I'm all ears! Including pics in your responses would be very helpful, if applicable. Thanks!

 

[Supersubes]

1. What you show there are both “legacy”, the tan one is just newer. You could argue there is some overlap, but to me they’re the same. Both R700 AICS. What came next were pistol grip skins for legacy guns, both by viper skins and AI.

On that note, It might help to think of the various generations based upon the actual AI rifle variations, not AICS variations. When the AX came out(not AXMC or AX308), everything previous became known as “legacy”.

2. Both are 2.0, the green one is just older and has a few less features. Note the aluminum boss where the bolt handle goes. That disappeared later as seen in the ran chassis, and typically prevents reverse comparability with newer gens. Also note the plugged holes on the tan chassis, for mounting stuff to the gun in various ways.

3. I think the answer is yes, because the bolt cutout in the Ae/AW is the same. There might be a difference in the ejection port cutouts of the AE older skins and the AW skins. I’ve owned them all, but I can’t remember now.

4. Yes. technically those are AICS terms though. For the rifles they were “folder” or “fixed” for the AI rifles.

5. To my knowledge, yes. My 2009 AW is exactly like that except for the bolt cutout. No bolt handle boss, small half moon cutout for the round handle. Note the tan chassis is for a flat bottomed and swept factory Remington handle.

Might be more useful to determine which gun you want first. Work towards getting that vs concerning yourself with what parts will Mr. Potato Head on other guns. My .02.

 

[Wisconsinshooter]

Thanks for the info Supersubes! That helps clear things up. I noticed the difference between the two bolt cutouts, but didn't realize it didn't look the same on AI rifles. Good to know. So if you own an AI, it's important to NOT get AICS skins if you were looking for an additional set because of those structural differences.

Also, I found I'm able to look at most of the configurations of the AE and AW rifles on Eurooptic in the discontinued section. I'm mainly wanting to see in what configurations these things came from the factory, so that I have a better idea of what's original and what's not when I'm looking at someone's ad that's selling one.

 

[Supersubes]

The AICS skins won’t fit the AW due to the bolt handle area. You could probably alter them.


Here’s the AW/AE cutout

 

[Wisconsinshooter]

Thanks, I see what you mean. Looking at the absence of the pic. rail in the second picture you posted - is that an older model? Do you know when they started adding picatinny rails? I saw a 90's era AW with a similar mount as the one in green.

 

[Supersubes]

Those are “dovetail” guns. That’s how they were originally designed/sold. Adding a pic rail was cost option, which was fairly common here. The pic rails were screwed and glued onto the receivers at the factory.

I prefer the dovetail on the short action guns.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Supersubes has a lot of good information here. I would like to point out something else that is different between generations and models. The aluminum frame/chassis is different on all these too.

If you're going to get an Accuracy International rifle then the stock/chassis is going to be different than the AICS.

The AE model has a round action but I don't know if it has a Rem 700 footprint.