Re: Manners Mini Chassis Bedding????
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: css</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've got an MCST-A with the Mini Chassis and just received a Barreled action (SAC) I bought here.
After sanding the barrel channel out and opening the trigger area for a Timney trigger I screwed things together.
When snugging things down something seems off.
When I tighten both action screws then loosen the front, the action/barrel raised well over 1/8". Tighten front back down and loosen the rear and it pulls away on the tang almost 1/8".
It's like the action or chassis is bowed in the middle.
With everything tightened down, the barrel is freefloated 4x paper thickness.
Using what I have for a stright edge(not much), things seem square.
What am I missing.
Thanks for any advise. </div></div>Hi CSS, The mini chassis did just what it was supposed to do, any V block chassis will do this. The MCS-mini chassis is a V block design system, which in our opinion is the best design to fit the original purpose of the mini chassis. The original purpose of the mini chassis was to develop a high end drop in and go DBM system for a tactical/hunting stock with ability to be used with a wide varity of actions that did not require bedding. The key word here is “ wide Varity of actions”. This was the hardest part of the design. . Even actions from the same manufacture will not always be of the same diameter, shape, or even straight. To correct some of this difference, we designed the chassis so that it actually contacts the action in about five different points. First - the back of the lug area, Second/Third - about 1” contact on both sides of the action from the lug area backward, Fourth/Fifth – both sides of the tang area from the back action screw forward. The complete tang does not float only the very tip of the tang. The reasons that the bottom of the action and the tip of the tang float, is that not all actions are the same diameter and we want to make sure that the action is draw down and centered in the chassis. I would much rather have the action setting centered in a V block than one that is rocking side to side on the bottom of the action. In a perfect world the best chassis design would be a 100% machined, contoured, and matched fit to each action, but its not a perfect world.
I think what happens is that guy’s loose site on what the mini chassis was designed for. During the first test on the prototype chassis we took one of my older Rem 700 6mmBR guns and used it as a test bed. This gun will easily shoot in the very low .200” groups all day long. The first groups where shot in the fully bedded 100% carbon fiber bench rest stock. Then we droped it into an MCS-T4A with a mini chassis. The groups opend up about .100”. Was the .100” due to the chassis or because we went from a full bench gun riding in mechanical front/rear rests/bags, which was shot free recoil to a tactical stock shot off a bipod and a rear bag? Being a stock maker I got a pretty good idea on what caused the groups to open up, not all of the difference, but a lot was due to the way the two stocks road the bags or lag of.
Bottom line is, do what gives you the most confidence in your rig. You can have a million dollar rig, but if you don’t have confidence in it, you aint going to hit shit. Some guys will bed the chassis just like they do a AI, others will do just the lug. But most ( 99% ) will just bolt it up and go. The chassis are proven shooters. Keep in mind the purpose of the chassis when I say, I dont think you are going to gain anything by doing a full bed job on a chassis, if you are building a gun that you plan on bedding, do a full pillar bed job from the start. When I build my own personnel guns, if it is a tatical comp gun I use a chassis. On the other hand, if I am doing a full blown F-class, or bench gun, where I am going to gain all the advantages of the stock and other equipment, I do a full stress free pillar bed job. Again do what gives you the most confidence.
