Help me decide AI AXMC or a custom made gun (For PRS Matches)

[harry_x1]

I am confused between buying ai axmc vs going for a custom gun by a highly recommended gunsmith at my local range. Can experienced shooters point out the pros and cons of going for a big manufacturer vs a local gunsmith. I am primarily looking to get something that I can use in PRS competitions. It is a very open ended question, but hopefully your experience might help, make me do the right thing. Thanks

 

[Jrb572]

Why buy another AXMC if you already have one? Just buy barrels

 

[harry_x1]

Why buy another AXMC if you already have one? Just buy barrels

two reasons 1) want to have more 2) support the industry

 

[FatBoy]

You need to ask yourself what you want. The fact that you have an MC and your asking the question seems to indicate you feel its somehow lacking, but if you have an itch only you know what's gonna scratch it.

 

[harry_x1]

You need to ask yourself what you want. The fact that you have an MC and your asking the question seems to indicate you feel its somehow lacking, but if you have an itch only you know what's gonna scratch it.

it is not lacking anything at all...love the rifle. I just experienced one problem, extraction issue once I changed the barrell to 6.5 creedmoor (from 338 lapua). AI has good CS and they asked for me to ship the rifle back so that they can investigate. I presume, the rifle will be gone for 1-2 months....hence got me thinking, maybe I should get another backup one. An excuse to buy one more

 

[DAMNKID]

Buy both and sell the one you don’t like to one of us for a good price.

 

[Newbie2020]

Dibs!

 

[harry_x1]

Buy both and sell the one you don’t like to one of us for a good price.

Lol... the first one might happen, not sure about the sell

 

[FatBoy]

So if the AI was running tip top, would this thread exist?

 

[brianf]

Liked my Mc so much that i bought a axsa shorty after.

Mc feels bigger and heavier (more than it should) for some reason than a axsa.

tried a few other big names over the years...sold them or let my brothers take them.

havnt shot my custom heavy/tactical rifles since

Buy a axsa, and just buy barrels like suggested.
Or wait a while but a new AI that’s not bonded, there will be 1,000,000 chassis inlets by 12 months from now

 

[-Fozzy-]

You could always grab a used AT and get in on the Obsession chassis group buy.
https://www.snipershide.com/shooting/threads/aftermarket-ai-obsession-chassis-group-buy.6984036/

 

[harry_x1]

PRS with an AXMC? That's like off-roading with a jacked up Suburban. Definitely expand your experience with a custom.

Hi Reubenski - can you please elaborate a bit more on pros/cons...seems your vote is custom...but trying to understand the reasoning...thanks for your time and attention

 

[yej0001]

How about buying an AT/AXSA in 308/260/6.5CM and leave your AMXC for big calibers?

 

[harry_x1]

How about buying an AT/AXSA in 308/260/6.5CM and leave your AMXC for big calibers?

are the barrels and bolt of AT/AXSA interchangeable with AXMC? just checking if someone knows that answer...thanks

 

[brianf]

No the axmc barrels only fit a axmc

 

[kthomas]

If I was in your shoes, I would consider getting a non-folding AI AT, get the AXMC butt, and put on the accuracy obsession chassis forend and you will have an AI that's about as competition/PRS ready as it will ever be.

I love custom rifles, but you need to know what you want in a rifle. There's so many options for all the parts, that it can be really hard to nail down a rifle that's a good fit for you if you don't know what you want in a rifle. You also have stacking tolerances working against you, with each part made by a different manufacturer, unlike AI. So having a good gunsmith that can get everything fine tuned to work together could be important depending on what parts you select.

Sounds like you don't really know what you want, so I would lean you towards option #1 in my post.

 

[LawnMM]

Get a TL3 in an XLR Envy or MDT ACC chassis, you can get 223 barrels and bolt head for practice and whatever caliber under the sun including magnums for matches and all you need to change em over is a barrel vice and action wrench.

With the leftover money you could buy a scope before you get up to AX money.

 

[kthomas]

Ha ha, debonding an AT chassis, bedding in another and then whatever Doc Sawbones operation it takes to put the AX buttstock on is A LOT easier than setting mag height using an MPA adjustable mag latch and timing a muzzle brake!

That wasn't necessarily the point I was trying to make - just that it's hard to optimize a custom rifle to your wants and needs if you don't even know what your wants and needs are.

A gunsmith can do all of the above to the AI if the end user wasn't comfortable doing so.

 

[kthomas]

Oh, that does make more sense. I would agree that folks go through a lot of things until they find what they like. But it's the same with pistols, boots and running shoes, reticles, and trucks. Who knows... maybe that AXMC was that false start once he shoots a comp gun for a while...

It took me many iterations and thousands of dollars to get my match rifle where I'm now happy with it.

You're right though, he could very well jump into a custom and think it's everything he wants.

Really hard to say with how little we know about the OP, and the OP seems to be fairly new about all of this, so I doubt he's got his preferences dialed in.

So, hard to say where he should end up.

 

[harry_x1]

One of the interesting things about long guns and competitive PR action shooting sports are the variety of guns, stocks, scopes, reticles, and in short, solutions out there. An AXMC is a big gun to get around. Kind of like just how big an AR10 feels to an AR15. When you're moving your rifle from position to position, under time you may significantly feel the cumbersome bulk of it. Additionally the weight in the rife isn't puut in places to enhance balance, it's engineered into different places for a different reasons. So a 20lb comp rifle will feel much more balanced and likely even lighter than a 20lb AXMC. I have an AT in an MPA chassis. Weight and balance wise it feels very similar to my TL3 in the MPA. Both have the same chassis, bipod and scopes. But when shooting the TL3 with tuned mags and the crisp single stage trigger and light bolt lift and close, it just feels so much more refined. The bolt on the AT action is very smooth front to back but the hard lift and heavy "clunk" on close is just a different feel. I like to experiment with different cartridges and things. So just getting a feel for a different rifle might be interesting for you. Imagine this, two different multi-cal rifles, done in two different ways. Custom action with swappable bolt heads or bolts allowing you to capitalize on the smaller cartridges like 6BR, 223, 6GT, etc and a larger AXMC shooting 338, 300PRC, and some crossover to the smaller 308/ Creedmoor based cartridges.

Hi,
First of all, my thanks for replying in such detail. It is super helpful and I appreciate your time/attention. Can you please also share what is your current favourite setup/rifle that you use for PRS? Is it custom or factory? what kind of chassis, barrell, brake, trigger, any other detail that is important etc...thanks again !

 

[Sniperwannabee]

I am confused between buying ai axmc vs going for a custom gun by a highly recommended gunsmith at my local range. Can experienced shooters point out the pros and cons of going for a big manufacturer vs a local gunsmith. I am primarily looking to get something that I can use in PRS competitions. It is a very open ended question, but hopefully your experience might help, make me do the right thing. Thanks

i would think the axmc is too heavy for a prs match, get a AT or AX

 

[karagias]

I am confused between buying ai axmc vs going for a custom gun by a highly recommended gunsmith at my local range. Can experienced shooters point out the pros and cons of going for a big manufacturer vs a local gunsmith. I am primarily looking to get something that I can use in PRS competitions. It is a very open ended question, but hopefully your experience might help, make me do the right thing. Thanks

harry_x1,

This is Ted, owner of American Rifle Company. I encourage you to look at out products. We make actions that are substantively different than the same old, same old Rem700 clones offered by all our competitors. We also make the most feature rich and best executed chassis in the industry for the R700 platform which features a properly placed ambi level vial that guys over forty can see as well as a pistol grip giving the chassis the feel of a bolt gun, and not that of an AR rifle. It also offers two inches of on-the-fly length of pull adjustment which is awesome for transitioning between positions such as seated and prone. But wait, there's more (beginning to sound like a TV commercial) like the dial-your-head rack and pinion adjustable cheek-piece. This is perfect for micro-adjustments between positions or user-to-user macro adjustments. The rack and pinion provides the mechanical advantage to raise and lower the weight of your head. Come up or down until you see the bright circle within your scope.

As for actions, our Archimedes is currently in stock. It's levering bolt handle makes stuck case a historical footnote. Our Mausingfield incorporates Mauser functionality in the R700 footprint, the only action to do so. Either way, we offered the best extraction solution in history, that of the Mauser 98, until we introduced a better one in the Archimedes, the action that completes the bolt action solution.

We also make the excellent M10 Scope Rings that have now served thousands of shooters extremely well. The cool thing about our M10 Scope Rings is that they use only a single scope clamp screw placed at 12 o'clock that will not rotate your scope within the ring when tightened. It is without a doubt, the easiest scope ring to use and as rugged as the best, and again, without the installation hassle.

If you're considering a departure from AI, check us out. AI makes excellent products but I think our products can out run them and I'm not sure that's true of anyone else. Again, we offer products that I, and many others, believe are the most innovative in the industry.

Here are some photos of a rifle with an Archimedes action and a Xylo chassis that we keep in the shop. If you can find more innovative products offering substantive performance improvements within the bolt gun space, let me know about them. Good luck. We're here if you need us and you can contact us at either 206-226-4387 or at [email protected]

Ted

 

[harry_x1]

I'm using three near identical configurations. All three are based on Zermatt actions; two being TL3's and the third is a RimX. All three are bolted into MPA BA Comp chassis's and TT Diamonds. The .22 and one of the TL3's have front weight kits in them. The third rifle has no additional weight added to it but has the folding stock version of the chassis. The two TL3's share barrels but the lighter folding version gets the larger cartridges and suppressors for prone, field-match buissness. The non-folder with the weight kit gets the BR variants and muzzle brakes for barricade intensive PRS matches. Both wear NF ATACRs w/ T3 reticles. The RimX has a S&B PMII 3-20 with a T2. So all the shooter interfaces are identical across the rifles but the barrels, weights, cartridges, and muzzle devices are specific to their use. There's no way someone needs to get that hyper specific, it just kinda evolved that way. Simply put: TL3 in a MPA, M24 or Heavy Palma barrel contours, TT Diamond, Brake stands for barricade and Suppressor stands for sniper-golf.

Cannot thank you enough, for your guidance and attention. This was super educational for me. Grateful.

 

[harry_x1]

It took me many iterations and thousands of dollars to get my match rifle where I'm now happy with it.

You're right though, he could very well jump into a custom and think it's everything he wants.

Really hard to say with how little we know about the OP, and the OP seems to be fairly new about all of this, so I doubt he's got his preferences dialed in.

So, hard to say where he should end up.

Hi Kthomas! - can you please share details on the match rifle that you finally landed. Chassis, action, calibre, barrell etc. Learning from what experienced shooters use, will be super helpful. Thanks for your time and attention.

 

[kthomas]

Hi Kthomas! - can you please share details on the match rifle that you finally landed. Chassis, action, calibre, barrell etc. Learning from what experienced shooters use, will be super helpful. Thanks for your time and attention.

My rifle is as follows:

- Mausingfield action
- 28" HV Krieger 1:7.5 twist, chambered in 6BRA
- JAE chassis, with bag rider, ARCA rail and NV bridge
- BNA Tacsport 2 stage trigger
- Khales K624 scope with SKMR3 reticle
- ARC M10 rings
- Ckye-pod

 

[harry_x1]

My rifle is as follows:

- Mausingfield action
- 28" HV Krieger 1:7.5 twist, chambered in 6BRA
- JAE chassis, with bag rider, ARCA rail and NV bridge
- BNA Tacsport 2 stage trigger
- Khales K624 scope with SKMR3 reticle
- ARC M10 rings
- Ckye-pod

thanks a ton. Really appreciate the help/guidance.

 

[FatBoy]

My rifle is as follows:

- Mausingfield action
- 28" HV Krieger 1:7.5 twist, chambered in 6BRA
- JAE chassis, with bag rider, ARCA rail and NV bridge
- BNA Tacsport 2 stage trigger
- Khales K624 scope with SKMR3 reticle
- ARC M10 rings
- Ckye-pod

21-22#? Maybe the scope and rings choice cut that down 1-1.5#?

 

[kthomas]

21-22#? Maybe the scope and rings choice cut that down 1-1.5#?

I think it sits right around 21lbs