AIAT bag rider project

Rumblingdwarf

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 19, 2018
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116
SLC...ish
I have been working on a bag rider that is made to fit the AIAT rifle and AIAT chassis. It attaches to the lower butt pad screw and fits very snugly Into a recess of the factory stock.

The prototype is only 3d printed as of now. I may look at having one made from aluminum in the future. Even being printed it is very sturdy. It does not flex at all.

The skins do have to be trimmer quite a bit to attach them. Constructive criticism welcome!
 

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Just started messing with one for a AX (rail mount), I don’t have a 3D printer though.
Im playing with one that is sloped, so I can adjust elevation with forward back movement, easier than messing with bag constantly.
I bet there is a Mkt for both types...I’d be on the list.

Looks good so far.
 
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I have always wondered why bag riders were not angled up slightly.

Elevation changes would then be a matter of pushing forward or not on the rifle.

I would find this helpful with magnum calibers where the left hand needs to be on the forend.

The Blaser line of tactical rifles has an upward angle to the forend which accomplishes the same purpose.
 
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Just started messing with one for a AX (rail mount), I don’t have a 3D printer though.
Im playing with one that is sloped, so I can adjust elevation with forward back movement, easier than messing with bag constantly.
I bet there is a Mkt for both types...I’d be on the list.

Looks good so far.

Beat me to the slope idea by two minutes.
 
This one has a slight slope to it. Maybe a 1/2 inch of slope over 3 inches of length.

Also this prototype has traction on the bottom and I think a smooth bottom is better for making adjustments like you guys mentioned.
 
Beat me to the slope idea by two minutes.
My wife says that all the time...lol

All stocks used to have a slope then chassis came about and the AI became available.

Fclass got real popular years ago and that is on a flat range so no adjustment needed (look at mcmillen a5 etc).

Funny part is a real pure benchrest stock (free recoil) is slightly sloped so it drops away from your cheek/face.

Everybody started squeezing the rear bag for elevation and here we are.
 
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@Rumblingdwarf nice job. I've thought about this as well, and I think attaching to that buttstock screw is the only way to do it. Unfortunately, like the B&T rear monopod, you have to cut off part of the skins to do it.

@brianf I have an AX bag rider in the works, which will have the option of flat or angled. Still working on it but I'll have a prototype soon.
 
Shooting shed UK has been making one for years,simple concept.



looked at those before,
didnt want to pay for a "flat" one and then fabricate my own anyway
planned on using a QD rail mount on the bottom of the AX, toolless removal
bought 2 of these on amazon $14 bucks.
the 2 screw let you adjust the angle.
figure make a rider attach to the rail or mill the rail off and it should be good to go
flatten it out for some guys and adjust for guys "like me"

any ideas..
i dont have a 3d printer so i was going to hack and chop my way through it

Rumblingdwarf
can you attach you current idea to something like this?


1554814446318.png


7058002
 
@brianf that's actually a great idea, I like the idea of an adjustable angle vs. having two different versions (flat and angled).

I've been working on a couple different ideas, that's why it's been a bit slow going. One idea is to attach to the picatinny rail like you have shown above. The other idea is similar to the ones from the UK where the rear buttplate is replaced, but with a different (more refined) bag rider than just a rod with one screw. I have like 4 different designs modeled right now, and can't make up my mind.

Now that I've got a third idea with the adjustable angle, I'll never get this thing done haha!

I can go from my head, to CAD, to printed prototype in a day, so if you're looking to test something out let me know. I already have an idea in mind on how to get the angled AX bag rider to work. I have the whole AX buttstock measured and in CAD, so it won't be too difficult to get designed.

I sat down on Saturday and finally modeled up the 2-piece AT RRS (Arca) forend rail that's been in my head for a while. It fits perfectly flush with the angled portion of the chassis in front of the magwell, and doesn't have that gap that all the other rails have. Oh, and I tied in a sweet internal weight that bolts to it if you want an extra 14 oz on your match rifle.
 
you sound like a busy man...my wife would kill me if i actually had that much fun

the Uk ones are a good idea just not a fan not being able to remove it, if you really trash/bend the bar.
wind up being stabbed or not being able to get the butt low enough etc.

if you want to take to take a look at the mount that i picked up (bought 2 in case i screwed up the first one), ill ups it to you

as for the forend:

been playing with the idea of a circulating water over the barrel like old school 30 cals.

tired of waiting for barrel to cool down especially on sunny days (would also be great for a Pdog hunt)

picked up a few small fountain pumps and fish tube

the pumps are submersible so i plan on making a rail mount reservoir pumping water over the barrel

stick 2 o-rings on the barrel fore and aft

let the water feed from bottom rail to the top of the forend with 2-3 injection sites

runs over the barrel

"drips" down to the bottom of the forend, tube back in to the reservoir

1 way valve on reservoir, so you can move around and not get soaked or use the QD on the rail mount etc

that the jist of it

this is mainly a idea for chassis rifles but something ive been thinking about

open to ideas or criticism

if its not a total joke, what the possibility of printing me a solid forend for the AX, so i can play a bit
prototypes cost $...i understand
 
I like the idea of being able to adjust the angle of the bag rider. Maybe i will look into that for my next one.

@samb300 I like the sound of an integrated spigot / full length RRS dovetail for the AIAT. The current RRS dovetail mounting option is very nice but it is a little short out front and sits a little taller than i would like.
 
@brianf yes it definitely keeps me busy. Usually the time I get to work on things is late at night when the kiddo and my wife are in bed. So my wife only wants to kill me when I can't get out of bed the next morning because I only got 3 hours of sleep haha.

Not sure I can do much to help with the watercooled forend. You'd have to show me some sketches with approximate dimensions, unfortunately my 3D printer has a fairly limited print bed so I wouldn't be able to print something that encapsulated the entire forend in only one print.
 
Since you have the attachment to the chassis already figured out.

I was thinking just the “attachment” plus a cylinder at the same diameter as the original ax forend.

Length is irrelevant as long as it’s s few inches long to play with.

Paper towel roll with ax attach ability.
 
I like the idea of being able to adjust the angle of the bag rider. Maybe i will look into that for my next one.
I feel like the ultimate bag rider for any chassis would be a flat one (maybe a small incline (5 degrees) where you can push a button (like at Atlas bipod) and move it up to a larger angle for quicker/field use type situations. The bag rider would be a \_/ design with a flat bottom of 3/4" and sides sloped up at 22 degrees. This will allow you to use the same rifle for ideal situations like load development or F class utilizing a perfectly shaped rear bag as well as use it for PRS or hunting with the push of a button. I had to have a friend make one for my KRG X Ray out of wood just so I could have a legit bag rider for my F Class rear bag instead of just a rectangle that they sell. The bag rider optimized for bunny ear bags doesn't make it any less viable for a squeeze bag.

Maybe one day I will find someone willing to make a legit bag rider for the MDT ACC.
 
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I feel like the ultimate bag rider for any chassis would be a flat one (maybe a small incline (5 degrees) where you can push a button (like at Atlas bipod) and move it up to a larger angle for quicker/field use type situations. The bag rider would be a \_/ design with a flat bottom of 3/4" and sides sloped up at 22 degrees. This will allow you to use the same rifle for ideal situations like load development or F class utilizing a perfectly shaped rear bag as well as use it for PRS or hunting with the push of a button. I had to have a friend make one for my KRG X Ray out of wood just so I could have a legit bag rider for my F Class rear bag instead of just a rectangle that they sell. The bag rider optimized for bunny ear bags doesn't make it any less viable for a squeeze bag.

Maybe one day I will find someone willing to make a legit bag rider for the MDT ACC.

Good thoughts. I don't know how feasible a push-button angle adjustment would be, but what I'm thinking for on the AX would have a couple positions (say 5°, 10°, 15°) and be adjustable by loosening a bolt and then re-tightening. Is there really any situation where you'd need to adjust the angle of the bag rider on the fly, versus taking a minute to adjust with a couple screws?

I'm not up to speed on F-Class rigs, is the 22° side angle of the bag rider a standard design meant to fit bunny ear bags?

I don't have a CNC of my own, but I'm pretty dangerous with a computer and 3D printer haha. If you have something in mind for the MDT chassis shoot me a PM. From what I can tell it's a simple M-Lok attachment, so I can envision a bunch of different designs working. If there was something that made sense I could definitely see pursuing it, as the MDT chassis is very popular. I'm not opposed to designed and printing a prototype to get some feedback, too. I don't personally have the ACC chassis (or the bag rider), but if I got my hands on the bag rider alone that's probably all I'd need.

Sam
 
Good thoughts. I don't know how feasible a push-button angle adjustment would be, but what I'm thinking for on the AX would have a couple positions (say 5°, 10°, 15°) and be adjustable by loosening a bolt and then re-tightening. Is there really any situation where you'd need to adjust the angle of the bag rider on the fly, versus taking a minute to adjust with a couple screws?

I'm not up to speed on F-Class rigs, is the 22° side angle of the bag rider a standard design meant to fit bunny ear bags?

I don't have a CNC of my own, but I'm pretty dangerous with a computer and 3D printer haha. If you have something in mind for the MDT chassis shoot me a PM. From what I can tell it's a simple M-Lok attachment, so I can envision a bunch of different designs working. If there was something that made sense I could definitely see pursuing it, as the MDT chassis is very popular. I'm not opposed to designed and printing a prototype to get some feedback, too. I don't personally have the ACC chassis (or the bag rider), but if I got my hands on the bag rider alone that's probably all I'd need.
I am not sure if the push button is necessary. Maybe someone would want to quick switch from 5° to 15° if their course of fire was say prone transitioning into shooting off a barrel. Where the 5° would give more stability for prone shots but for a barrel where you are bringing in the bipod and needing to do faster adjustments in a more awkward position. But I don't shoot PRS (yet) so I don't know if that is a realistic thing someone would want to do. As long as they had the option to swap by loosening and re-tightening a bolt would give people a chance to try out which position they prefer as well as go to the 5 degrees for load development (or the few people like me who do F Class would want a 0°)

There is a guy named Alex Wheeler who frequents accurate shooter and is a gunsmith. He makes a bag rider to be attached to benchrest stocks that allows the user to adjust the forward to back cant with shims as well as adjust the side to side to fix any tracking issues with the stock and he used 22.5°. My buddys tools only allowed whole number adjustments so he made it 22° and it fit perfectly in my protektor rear bag (mine is .5" wide flat spot on the bottom) and it fit perfectly, there was nowhere for that bag rider to go. Snug as a bug in a rug. They make different sized flat spots (stitch seam) for the bags, I think 1/2", 3/8" and 3/4" are common.

This was for my X Ray, I don't have an ACC and the thing stopping me from getting one is the bag rider.

The big difference between the X Ray and ACC is that the X Ray has plastic on the stock to absorb any force on the bag rider, whereas the ACC only has a small spot to attach to so there would be (I assume) a fairly large torque force on a plastic or wood home made bag rider if only the front of it is touching the rear bag. Probably not an issue unless the person if smashing their face on the stock but you never know.

Keep in mind that I am a massive minority, the number of people who shoot F Class with a PRS style rifle is probably extremely low, in fact the community here seems to hate on F Class because of the effort put into removing the shooter from the equation, which is what a better bag rider does. So it probably isn't worth your time. I asked MDT directly and it wasn't worth their time either. There is even a guy on youtube (mark and sam) who makes bag riders for the MDT stocks and when I asked him about it he said I could purchase one of his and grind down the sides to the angle I want (which I don't have the tools to do). So I am almost guaranteed to be stuck trying to find a machinist willing to make a one off, which will be difficult. And require me to commit to buying the chassis and bag rider to get measurements from, which I am not willing to do at the moment.
 
looked at those before,
didnt want to pay for a "flat" one and then fabricate my own anyway
planned on using a QD rail mount on the bottom of the AX, toolless removal
bought 2 of these on amazon $14 bucks.
the 2 screw let you adjust the angle.
figure make a rider attach to the rail or mill the rail off and it should be good to go
flatten it out for some guys and adjust for guys "like me"

any ideas..
i dont have a 3d printer so i was going to hack and chop my way through it

Rumblingdwarf
can you attach you current idea to something like this?


View attachment 7058002

View attachment 7058002

Played around last night:

Little bit of jb weld for the prototype.

Plan on using it tomorrow, I think it will work out pretty well

BC2DFD4B-529D-43D4-986A-43871700B7D5.jpeg
C3AF7EBA-C00B-4AEA-8912-78E61C024232.jpeg
 
I’m in the the “minority” as well... planning a dual purpose approach... F-TR and PRS... while in Canada next summer. Using my AX... swap 20” suppressed 308 for 30” Proof carbon... should sneak in under 18.1 pounds... I would really like to find a “flat” rail mount... following with interest... thanks!