Grayboe Renegade, a review and start of a long term test.

[Vargmat]

Background:
I have been into shooting sports in one form or another since I was 14 years old, now im turning 36. For the last few years, I have turned my attention to precision rifles. Since then, I have had a few Remington 700 both custom and stock, Tikka T3 and a Sauer 200 STR. I have used stocks/chassis from manufacturers like AI, KRG, McMillan, XLR, GRS and Magpul to name a few, and I have had my greasy hands on more than a few others. I load my own ammunition and I shoot around 1500 rounds a year.
In the text below you will read about my newly bought (and modified) Grayboe Renegade. This is a sample of one, take it for what it is:


So, in the middle of 2017 I got myself a Remington 700 Police, chambered in 300 Winchester Magnum. It was brand new, out of the box. I had done a lot of reading on the various American service rifles and wanted to start putting something similar to a M24 together for myself, so I went ahead and got the R700 police model, as I figured it would make a decent starting point.
While I really like the looks and the "no nonsense" style of the M24 rifle. In short order, I found out what I kind of already knew, the ergonomics were shit and it turned a hard kicking cartridge like the Win Mag into something that only a true masochist would enjoy on the shooting range.

On my current match rifle I run a McMillan A3-5 with an adjustable recoil pad and comb, I like the feel and the ergonomics of it a lot. But a McMillan rifle stocks costs a pretty penny, and there is a decent delivery time, which is understandable but anyhow. I wanted to change things up, at least a bit. So I looked at the offerings from KRG and AI and while I am still intrigued by the KRG Bravo, a long action version of it will take some time to get over the Atlantic. Mind you, I live in Sweden. And I could not stand the H-S Precision stock another moment. So I started looking for other alternatives; Enter, the Grayboe Renegade.
It was looking good, and online reviews were stellar. So after some pondering back and forth, along came black friday and I managed to score a Renegade stock at a very good price from Brownells.
It was delivered about 10 days later and after unboxing it, I found the familiar feel of the McMillan A5 (which I have used before), and I have to say that the Grayboe, beeing made of a composite material has a "warmer" feel to it, rather than the cold hard surface of the McMillan stocks. To me, it actually feels a bit more like a good quality wooden stock. There are aluminium pillars installed from the factory and the composite material is tough as nails.
The finish of the stock was good, but not great. The fit of the inlet was ok, not great and not completely without issue. Let me elaborate; While it was possible to just bolt your action to the stock and go shoot, much like any info, instruction video or review online says. The bolt did not bind and the barrel channel was decently centered in the stock, the barrel was free floated. However, the bottom metal was a tight enough fit in the stock to make the paint chip along the sides. And around the front part of the bottom metal, where the front action bolt runs through, there was roughly a 2mm gap all around. I am using the factory Remington 700 bottom metal, and I have to say that this looked a bit sloppy and even the H-S Precision stock it replaced had a much better fit than this. There was also small chipps of composite material missing around the aluminum pillars that are factory installed in the stock, both front and rear, top and bottom.

So, I figured that something had to be done.
For a while I even thought about sending it back to Brownells for a refund. But then again, it was a black friday deal, so I did not have that much money in it. So I figured that this is as good a time as any to learn how to bed the stock myself and also make some alterations to it, to make it fit better for prone position shooting. I did some research and bought some epoxy and other things that I figured would come to use.

Step one, glass bedding:

And since it turned out as good as I could possibly have hoped for, I went ahead and did some work to the fit around the bottom metal too.
(Yes I used a rough grit sandpaper, but as it will all be repainted, I figured it would not matter much, so stop cringing)

The epoxy package said it was supposed to be grey, but I think it looks more white (irony). But since it would be painted either way, so I never cared much about that little aspect.

If you are still reading, there will be more.
Sorry for any bad spelling or weird words, English is only my second language.

 

[Vargmat]

Part 2:

I knew I needed to move the recoil pad up, and using my A3-5 as a guide I figured I needed it to come up 20mm. And the easiest way to do that was to make a spacer. So I removed the original recoil pad, which was a bit of a pain in the neck. As it turns out, it was both bolted and glued on to the stock. Nothing a good knife cant fix, but I still cant figure out why it was glued. Anyhow, it also turns out that the stock was hollowed out, with a big drill and a mill by the looks of things:

Which also made me rethink the plans I had for the adjustable comb. Since if I had used a hacksaw to cut into it, I would have cut into the void in the stock and then I would have to fill it out with something, in order to fit anything there. More on that later.
I wont bore you with the details, but I made a spacer plate from 6060-T6 alloy, and with all things said and done, it looked like this from the side:

Its none adjustable, but on the other hand, it puts the recoil pad right were it needs to be. And I am happy about that.

Next up was the comb riser, which is needed to get a good cheek weld so that I can look through my Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM2. The comb riser it self could probably fit in a thread on its own but I will keep it short and sweet. I figured I would do a "saddle style" cheek riser, and I wanted to mould it. So I started out with laminating epoxy and jeans fabric to get a feel for it. It was pretty easy and if it did not look right the first time, a new try was made in the matter of 10 minutes, and then cured in a few hours. It was a pretty fun process, so I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I should get some carbon fiber cloth and try making a combriser from that material.
So I ordered some cloth from an online retailer and went to work. I wont go into details, and the comb itself wound not compete with factory made carbon fiber products. But it gets the job done for me, and I made it at home. With cling film, tape, laminating epoxy, carbon fiber cloth and lots of trial and error. I still have to sand it smooth. But like I said. It gets the job done.

Here it is. Its now mounted to the stock with dubble sided tape, which seems to work.


And finally. A range picture from today. From a windy, rainy and cold Southern Sweden.

This is the best that it has ever shot, during load development with the superb Hornady ELD-X 212 grain bullets and NORMA brass.

I know, only 3 rounds. But it was load development. come on guys. Shot at 100 meters.

 

[Vargmat]

Last but not least, some final thoughts:

I plan to use the stock all through 2018. I will do updates in this tread during that time. I have to say that the difference in the feel and ergonomics in this stock compared to the H-S Precision stock is night and day. Anyone that has used a McMillan A3-5 or A5 stock will feel right at home. The composite material used is rock solid, and like I wrote before, it has a little bit different feel to it, which is better, much better than comparable priced stocks like the GRS Berserk and Magpul hunter 700. Next step will probably be a suppressor, once the paperwork is done.

Also; Would I advice anyone else to get a Grayboe stock, you might ask yourself?
I would say yes, but expect to do a little work to it. There is no need to go full retard on it, like I did. It will still fit just fine. I just think that the BDL inlet could be a bit better.
But then again, this is a sample of one, and maybe I got a stock that was a little bit of a lemon. It did not stop me, and it should not stop you either.
Do you want a rock solid, and comfortable stock for your precision rifle? Dont want to take out a second mortgage on the house to get one? Grayboe will provide.

 

[JMGlasgow]

I bought a short action Renegade stock when they were first released. The PTG bottom metal fit great, nice and tight. I shoot left handed so I had to modify the stock to take a LH action. It took a bit of work, but I think it turned out very well. Obviously I had to bed the action, and fill in the right side of the stock (bolt handle cutout and safety). Eventually I want to install a McMillan style adjustable butt pad, as well as a cheek riser. For now it has a Bradley adjustable cheek riser and it works great.

I haven't figured out how to post pictures yet, otherwise I'd post a pic.

 

[stereo.pete]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

[Vargmat]

I was at the range to try the Hornady 208 grain HPBT bullet out. And while I think I can tweak the load a bit and definitely practice more with this rifle, here is a 7 shot group, shot at 300 meters.
The Renegade is rock solid and the rifle feels great.

 

[cager03]

I recently picked up a renegade stock and am very impressed. More importantly I can not say enough about Jeff and the guys at Grayboe, their customer service is top notch!!

 

[TonyTheTiger]

Are you positive that English is your second language? You seem more familiar with it than most of the Americans on this site...

 

[Billl223]

I recently restocked my Remington LTR with a Grayboe Renegade. I bought the BDL version but used my old style H-S Precision DBM bottom metal. Light filing required to fit it and had to shorten the front action bolt .050". Shot two 5/16" 3 shot groups during sight in.

 

[Vargmat]

Tony: I guess I should write thank you. I guess that beeing an avid fan of American literature has made some mark, somewhere.

Bill: That looks nice! I have a friend that has an LTR and he is thinking about getting a Renegade stock for it as well. He runs a McMillan A5 on his match rifle so he should be familiar with it.

 

[drum13]

I like how you set up your sling

 

[...]

i dont know if theyve changed things....it looks like they might have......but the epoxy base on my stock is lime green, yours looks black......kind of annoying when the paint started to chip and wear.

easy enough to cover with krylon, though

 

[Vargmat]

Drum13: I dont use the sling when I shoot prone, as you can tell, so I usually unhook the rear so that it does not get in the way. If I shoot sitting down on the ground or standing, ill sling up every time.

Mcameron; There are some lime green in there too, but the main material is dark grey. It kind of looks like the lime green is some kind of paint primer.

 

[Bandaid]

Very Nice work. looks like a viable affordable solution. Thanks for posting picks of the buttstock and how its made.

 

[Forrest84]

It’s a hell of a stock for the price point. I love mine so far and I’ve been running it off and on since early last year. The only thing I’ve noticed that I wasn’t fond of but not a big deal comparing it to my manners is the forend does have a lot more flex to it but it doesn’t effect the accuracy so no biggie really.

 

[Vargmat]

Bandaid: There will be more, I just need to finish the carbon fiber comb riser and paint the complete rifle. But I wont do too much to it right now, since I have two competitions coming up and lots of things to do at work. When the paperwork is done for the suppressor I ordered, I am sure the tinkering with this rifle will speed up again.

Forrest84: Not that I have ever had or even held a Manners stock, but I do find the Grayboe to be plenty stiff for bipod use.

 

[Vargmat]

Time for an update.
Things has been going slow this winter, I have been waiting for the paperwork on another suppressor, then I had to get the barrel threaded, but fast forward to just the other day, and the gun smith called and said it was all done.

So this is the result. I have done some more work to the comb riser, I cut it down a bit, and now I can remove the bolt without it interfering with the comb. The suppressor is a Swedish made Stalon Victor L, its not optimized for the win mag, but it is strong enough for it and it does a pretty good job. I am very happy with it. I shot 26 shots today, most of them from the 300 meter line.

The Grayboe Renegade performs well, even in the blistering cold Swedish winter.

 

[Dvando20]

Part 2:

I knew I needed to move the recoil pad up, and using my A3-5 as a guide I figured I needed it to come up 20mm. And the easiest way to do that was to make a spacer. So I removed the original recoil pad, which was a bit of a pain in the neck. As it turns out, it was both bolted and glued on to the stock. Nothing a good knife cant fix, but I still cant figure out why it was glued. Anyhow, it also turns out that the stock was hollowed out, with a big drill and a mill by the looks of things:
View attachment 6879600

Which also made me rethink the plans I had for the adjustable comb. Since if I had used a hacksaw to cut into it, I would have cut into the void in the stock and then I would have to fill it out with something, in order to fit anything there. More on that later.
I wont bore you with the details, but I made a spacer plate from 6060-T6 alloy, and with all things said and done, it looked like this from the side:
View attachment 6879601
Its none adjustable, but on the other hand, it puts the recoil pad right were it needs to be. And I am happy about that.

Next up was the comb riser, which is needed to get a good cheek weld so that I can look through my Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM2. The comb riser it self could probably fit in a thread on its own but I will keep it short and sweet. I figured I would do a "saddle style" cheek riser, and I wanted to mould it. So I started out with laminating epoxy and jeans fabric to get a feel for it. It was pretty easy and if it did not look right the first time, a new try was made in the matter of 10 minutes, and then cured in a few hours. It was a pretty fun process, so I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I should get some carbon fiber cloth and try making a combriser from that material.
So I ordered some cloth from an online retailer and went to work. I wont go into details, and the comb itself wound not compete with factory made carbon fiber products. But it gets the job done for me, and I made it at home. With cling film, tape, laminating epoxy, carbon fiber cloth and lots of trial and error. I still have to sand it smooth. But like I said. It gets the job done.
View attachment 6879602
Here it is. Its now mounted to the stock with dubble sided tape, which seems to work.


And finally. A range picture from today. From a windy, rainy and cold Southern Sweden.
View attachment 6879603

This is the best that it has ever shot, during load development with the superb Hornady ELD-X 212 grain bullets and NORMA brass.

I know, only 3 rounds. But it was load development. come on guys. Shot at 100 meters.

That is kind of odd due to I messaged Grayboe and they said the butt stock of the renegade is supposed to be solid and only the Terrain and Outlander are hollowed out. Maybe they changed the design since this thread?

 

[Dvando20]

Emailed them yesterday after reading this regarding the hollowed out stock. This was their response.

 

[VargmatII]

They might very well have changed it since my review. Its been some time.
And as a follow up, I sold the Renegade after about a years time. Got an AICS AT for it and had the rifle rebuilt to look like a Mark 13 mod 5, and ran that up until recently.