I recently purchased my first 22LR bolt gun, a CZ 455 Tacticool 22LR. I wanted to see first, how accurate this rifle was out of the box and second, how accurate it could be with the proper upgrades and tweaks before installing an aftermarket barrel.
It shot pretty good out of the box but not the kind of accuracy I wanted. I decided to install pillars and bed the factory Tacticool (Boyds Pro Varmint) stock to see if accuracy would improve. I also reached out to the guys over at MDT who sent me their LSS-22 chassis, stock, folding mechanism, picatinny and ARCA rails for testing.
A big thank you to @MDT_Josh and Kyle over at www.MDTTAC.com for making this happen!!
The MDT LSS-22 chassis is made from billet 6061-T6 aluminum and comes cerakoted in either black or FDE. It has a V-Shaped bedding block and free floated forend accepting barrels up to 1” in diameter.
Compatibility
The LSS-22 now also fits 17 HMR or 22 WMR versions.
The LSS-22 will fit all heavy factory barrels.
MDT has many accessories for the chassis as well. Picatinny rails in 2.5”, 5.0” and 6.5” and ARCA rails in 3.3”, 7”, 9,5” and 10.25” that attach to the bottom of the forend making it very easy to attach your existing bipods, barricade stops and other accessories.
The stock they sent me is their Skeleton Carbine Stock. The stock is also CNC from 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum and also comes cerakoted in black or FDE. Its nice and heavy which I like on this little/light rifle. The options on this stock are endless, you can get it in 4 different LOP’s to adapt it to any rifle. Adjustable/locking cheek riser, adjustable buttpad, 3 QD attachments, and attachment points for 2.5” picatinny rails.
In the box was MDT’s Folding Stock Adapter as well to test. I really like this folding adapter. One of the nicest Ive ever played with. It is extremely well made and durable. The biggest concern with folding adapters is the lock up. This adapter locks up rock solid, no wobble or play for a solid, stable cheek weld without movement. It also comes in 1-way or 2-way locking.
Test Configuration
CZ 455 22LR 16.5” Tacticool Factory Barreled Action
MDT LSS-22 Chassis
MDT Skeleton Carbine Stock
MDT Folding Stock Adapter
MDT 10.5” ARCA Rail
ERGO Tactical Deluxe Grip
Area419 30moa base
Anarchy Outdoors Swept Bolt Handle
Spiral Fluted Bolt knob
YoDave trigger spring 13oz
DIP Aluminum Magwell and Mag block
DIP Extended Aluminum magazine release
CZ 10rd mags with +2 mag extensions
Vortex PMR 34mm 1.1” Rings
Athlon Cronus BTR 4.5-29x56 FFL MIL
Area419 ARCALOCK w/Harris Adapter
Harris 6”-9” S-BRM Bipod with Podlock
Hawk Hill Harris Spiked Feet
Installing everything was super easy and straight forward. Everything comes with easy to read instructions. Barreled action dropped right into the chassis and bolts were torqued to MDT spec.
Now let’s talk performance. I was able to adjust the stock very quickly and easily to fit my smaller frame which is why I prefer chassis over traditional stocks. Got the cheek riser adjusted and everything felt natural behind the rifle. I tested the rifle from the bench at both 50yds and 100yds with the Harris bipod and rear bag. I shot various types of match grade ammo at 50yds and Federal Gold Medal Match at 100yds which I find the best price/performance ammo in this rifle while way cheaper than the Wolf Match Extra, Eley Tenex, Lapua Center-X or Polar Biathlon. SK Rifle Match and Standard + or a close second and third in accuracy at 50yds. But at distances of 100yds and beyond the Federal GM Match shoots the tightest in my rifle and was purchased at less than $50 a brick. Ive shot it consistently to 300yds and fairly consistent at 400yds on steel.
In my testing, the MDT LSS-22 is shooting more accurately and consistently than the pillar and bedded Tacticool (Boyds Pro Varmint) stock. The Tacticool stock in its factory configuration doesn’t even compare to the LSS-22 chassis in the accuracy department. I found the factory stock had lots of flex and the barrel channel was not 100% free floated back to the action, only the first 2/3 was 100% free floating. Any pressure on the front of the stock caused the barrel to make contact with the stock. If you are handy, have the tools and time you can install pillars and bed your factory stock which should show you a noticeable improvement in accuracy. Most people don’t have the time, tools or know how to do this themselves so they will end up paying someone to do this for them.
With the LSS-22 chassis starting at $399.99 without a buttstock, it makes sense for most people to buy the cheapest CZ 455 Varmint they can find. It uses the same barreled action as the more expensive Tacticool and Precision Trainer. You can either trash or sell the factory stock and drop your barreled action into the LSS-22 chassis for an immediate accuracy improvement and better ergonomics and adjustability. No hassle with milling out your Boyd’s stock for pillars, messing with bedding compound, making sure you properly coated your action with release agent and packing the holes with clay, so it releases from the bedding compound, cleaning up and milling out excessive bedding. Or, by the time you pay a smith to do all this for you, plus the downtime of sending them your barreled action and the wait for it to come back you can have a drop-in chassis shipped to you and installed in minutes at roughly the same cost.
The initial testing was done at 50 and 100 yards. I plan to take the rifle out to 200, 300, 400 and try for 500 next on steel. With the pillar and bedded Boyd's stock I could make consistent hits on steel out to 300 and 70% hit rate at 400. We will see what I can do in the LSS-22 chassis at distance.
50yd Ammo Testing - MDT LSS-22
100yd 5-Shot Groups with Federal Gold Medal Match
My final conclusion is this chassis is very well made, has tons of adjustments to fit any size shooter and lots of accessories to configure the rifle exactly as you want it. The MDT LSS-22 provides a drop in upgrade that shows instant accuracy improvements for your factory CZ 455. The other positive is you can use your existing butt stocks like a Magpul CTR or PRS if you so choose.
It shot pretty good out of the box but not the kind of accuracy I wanted. I decided to install pillars and bed the factory Tacticool (Boyds Pro Varmint) stock to see if accuracy would improve. I also reached out to the guys over at MDT who sent me their LSS-22 chassis, stock, folding mechanism, picatinny and ARCA rails for testing.
A big thank you to @MDT_Josh and Kyle over at www.MDTTAC.com for making this happen!!
The MDT LSS-22 chassis is made from billet 6061-T6 aluminum and comes cerakoted in either black or FDE. It has a V-Shaped bedding block and free floated forend accepting barrels up to 1” in diameter.
Compatibility
- Ruger American
- CZ 455
- CZ 452
- Browning T-Bolt
- Savage MK II – Compatible with 93R17
- Anschutz Match 54- compatible only with models 1710 and 1712
- Anschutz Match 64- compatible only with models 1416 and 1417
The LSS-22 now also fits 17 HMR or 22 WMR versions.
The LSS-22 will fit all heavy factory barrels.
MDT has many accessories for the chassis as well. Picatinny rails in 2.5”, 5.0” and 6.5” and ARCA rails in 3.3”, 7”, 9,5” and 10.25” that attach to the bottom of the forend making it very easy to attach your existing bipods, barricade stops and other accessories.
The stock they sent me is their Skeleton Carbine Stock. The stock is also CNC from 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum and also comes cerakoted in black or FDE. Its nice and heavy which I like on this little/light rifle. The options on this stock are endless, you can get it in 4 different LOP’s to adapt it to any rifle. Adjustable/locking cheek riser, adjustable buttpad, 3 QD attachments, and attachment points for 2.5” picatinny rails.
In the box was MDT’s Folding Stock Adapter as well to test. I really like this folding adapter. One of the nicest Ive ever played with. It is extremely well made and durable. The biggest concern with folding adapters is the lock up. This adapter locks up rock solid, no wobble or play for a solid, stable cheek weld without movement. It also comes in 1-way or 2-way locking.
Test Configuration
CZ 455 22LR 16.5” Tacticool Factory Barreled Action
MDT LSS-22 Chassis
MDT Skeleton Carbine Stock
MDT Folding Stock Adapter
MDT 10.5” ARCA Rail
ERGO Tactical Deluxe Grip
Area419 30moa base
Anarchy Outdoors Swept Bolt Handle
Spiral Fluted Bolt knob
YoDave trigger spring 13oz
DIP Aluminum Magwell and Mag block
DIP Extended Aluminum magazine release
CZ 10rd mags with +2 mag extensions
Vortex PMR 34mm 1.1” Rings
Athlon Cronus BTR 4.5-29x56 FFL MIL
Area419 ARCALOCK w/Harris Adapter
Harris 6”-9” S-BRM Bipod with Podlock
Hawk Hill Harris Spiked Feet
Installing everything was super easy and straight forward. Everything comes with easy to read instructions. Barreled action dropped right into the chassis and bolts were torqued to MDT spec.
Now let’s talk performance. I was able to adjust the stock very quickly and easily to fit my smaller frame which is why I prefer chassis over traditional stocks. Got the cheek riser adjusted and everything felt natural behind the rifle. I tested the rifle from the bench at both 50yds and 100yds with the Harris bipod and rear bag. I shot various types of match grade ammo at 50yds and Federal Gold Medal Match at 100yds which I find the best price/performance ammo in this rifle while way cheaper than the Wolf Match Extra, Eley Tenex, Lapua Center-X or Polar Biathlon. SK Rifle Match and Standard + or a close second and third in accuracy at 50yds. But at distances of 100yds and beyond the Federal GM Match shoots the tightest in my rifle and was purchased at less than $50 a brick. Ive shot it consistently to 300yds and fairly consistent at 400yds on steel.
In my testing, the MDT LSS-22 is shooting more accurately and consistently than the pillar and bedded Tacticool (Boyds Pro Varmint) stock. The Tacticool stock in its factory configuration doesn’t even compare to the LSS-22 chassis in the accuracy department. I found the factory stock had lots of flex and the barrel channel was not 100% free floated back to the action, only the first 2/3 was 100% free floating. Any pressure on the front of the stock caused the barrel to make contact with the stock. If you are handy, have the tools and time you can install pillars and bed your factory stock which should show you a noticeable improvement in accuracy. Most people don’t have the time, tools or know how to do this themselves so they will end up paying someone to do this for them.
With the LSS-22 chassis starting at $399.99 without a buttstock, it makes sense for most people to buy the cheapest CZ 455 Varmint they can find. It uses the same barreled action as the more expensive Tacticool and Precision Trainer. You can either trash or sell the factory stock and drop your barreled action into the LSS-22 chassis for an immediate accuracy improvement and better ergonomics and adjustability. No hassle with milling out your Boyd’s stock for pillars, messing with bedding compound, making sure you properly coated your action with release agent and packing the holes with clay, so it releases from the bedding compound, cleaning up and milling out excessive bedding. Or, by the time you pay a smith to do all this for you, plus the downtime of sending them your barreled action and the wait for it to come back you can have a drop-in chassis shipped to you and installed in minutes at roughly the same cost.
The initial testing was done at 50 and 100 yards. I plan to take the rifle out to 200, 300, 400 and try for 500 next on steel. With the pillar and bedded Boyd's stock I could make consistent hits on steel out to 300 and 70% hit rate at 400. We will see what I can do in the LSS-22 chassis at distance.
50yd Ammo Testing - MDT LSS-22
100yd 5-Shot Groups with Federal Gold Medal Match
My final conclusion is this chassis is very well made, has tons of adjustments to fit any size shooter and lots of accessories to configure the rifle exactly as you want it. The MDT LSS-22 provides a drop in upgrade that shows instant accuracy improvements for your factory CZ 455. The other positive is you can use your existing butt stocks like a Magpul CTR or PRS if you so choose.
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