I picked up my X-Ray after work this afternoon. Right now, I am too lazy to take photos and get the hosted up somewhere. However, here are my (photoless) initial impressions...
Bad - Some relatively minor fitment issues with the grip panels. They both protrude below the grip section by enough to be noticeable. It took a little tweaking and tightening before I got the grip panels lined up everywhere else. The remaining slight misalignments are nothing that some sugru and/or my dremel tool can't fix. That's if they eventually annoy me enough to fix.
No instructions for the proper backer plate to use for the bipod mount. It took a little trial and error to figure out that the small stainless backer plate is the one to use if you put the bipod stud all the way forward.
Same lack of documentation for the barricade stop. That one was easier to figure out, at least.
Default cheek piece is pretty hard, and not the most comfortable. I see either a Wiebad cheek pad or the KRG overmold cheek piece in my near future.
The bolt and nut that hold the top of the grip panels in place sticks out a bit too much on the nut end. Again, nothing a little dremel work or a dab of Sugru to cover it won't fix.
As other users had stated before, I had issues with the safety pin on my Timney trigger not clearing the inside of the chassis. That's not the chassis' fault, and it was nothing a little hand file work on the offending pin didn't fix.
Using a Harris bipod all the way forward, and the barricade stop all the way to the rear doesn't leave enough room on the fore-end for a skid pad to be installed. Since I plan on picking up a spigot for the bipod some time soon, that problem should be solved once I get the spigot installed.
Spacers were a pain to deal with, mostly because the rubber recoil pad doesn't always want to let the screws back out.
The small grip panels are a bit too small for me. I see a set of the large panels in my future.
I wish the phillips screws that hold the stock together were a little more recessed.
Now, on to the good stuff:
Holy crap, this thing is light. Light in a good way. The balance is fantastic with my AAC edition, Bushnell ERS 6-24x, Vortex anti-cant, Harris BRM-S and AAC Brakeout.
The barricade stop I ordered looks to be just the ticket for working off barricades and out of the window frames at K&M.
The adjustable cheek riser is very easy to work with, and the o-rings function beautifully as a simple reset method. With the straight spine of the stock, I barely had to pull the riser up to get perfect cheek weld.
Once dialed in, the spacers are solid, and integrate well with the rear bag. I am running the butt height all the way up, so the bag rider blends in beautifully with the rear of the stock.
The entire stock just feels solid once everything is dialed in. I was also surprised that while the distance from the trigger to the end of the stock (with 2 spacers installed) is shorter than my old B&C stock, it's more comfortable by far. I was expecting the LOP to come out LONGER on the X-Ray, not shorter. I get the feeling the vertical grip (and the fact that it's much closer to the trigger than the grip area on the B&C) has a lot to do with this.
The stock itself is quite slender - barely wider than the receiver. I don't like bulky stocks, and this one really fits the bill for me.
The molded in mating surface for Harris bipods on the front of the foreend is a very nice touch.
The action seems to run even smoother with the X-Ray than it did with the B&C, which was a massive improvement over the crappy Hogue stock that came on the AAC edition.
Alpha magazines do work just fine in my X-Ray with my rifle. I have noticed that inserting them can be a big janky, but that seems to be due to the gap between the aluminum spine and polymer handguard in the front area of the mag well. A slight adjustment to my mag insertion method has helped that issue already.
The wrap-around magazine release rocks, as does the oversized trigger guard.
The KRG Bolt Lift I have been running on my 700 looks great with the X-Ray.
Overall, I think my complaints are VERY minor, especially compared to the benefits I am already seeing to the stock. I will have the rifle back out on the range this weekend, and the X-Ray will be getting some live-fire workout. I will try to remember to take photos this weekend and post them some time next week, along with a more detailed review.
I do see another order with KRG in my near future, though - Spigot mount, flush sling mount, sling cup, large grip panels, and possibly the overmold cheek piece.
Bad - Some relatively minor fitment issues with the grip panels. They both protrude below the grip section by enough to be noticeable. It took a little tweaking and tightening before I got the grip panels lined up everywhere else. The remaining slight misalignments are nothing that some sugru and/or my dremel tool can't fix. That's if they eventually annoy me enough to fix.
No instructions for the proper backer plate to use for the bipod mount. It took a little trial and error to figure out that the small stainless backer plate is the one to use if you put the bipod stud all the way forward.
Same lack of documentation for the barricade stop. That one was easier to figure out, at least.
Default cheek piece is pretty hard, and not the most comfortable. I see either a Wiebad cheek pad or the KRG overmold cheek piece in my near future.
The bolt and nut that hold the top of the grip panels in place sticks out a bit too much on the nut end. Again, nothing a little dremel work or a dab of Sugru to cover it won't fix.
As other users had stated before, I had issues with the safety pin on my Timney trigger not clearing the inside of the chassis. That's not the chassis' fault, and it was nothing a little hand file work on the offending pin didn't fix.
Using a Harris bipod all the way forward, and the barricade stop all the way to the rear doesn't leave enough room on the fore-end for a skid pad to be installed. Since I plan on picking up a spigot for the bipod some time soon, that problem should be solved once I get the spigot installed.
Spacers were a pain to deal with, mostly because the rubber recoil pad doesn't always want to let the screws back out.
The small grip panels are a bit too small for me. I see a set of the large panels in my future.
I wish the phillips screws that hold the stock together were a little more recessed.
Now, on to the good stuff:
Holy crap, this thing is light. Light in a good way. The balance is fantastic with my AAC edition, Bushnell ERS 6-24x, Vortex anti-cant, Harris BRM-S and AAC Brakeout.
The barricade stop I ordered looks to be just the ticket for working off barricades and out of the window frames at K&M.
The adjustable cheek riser is very easy to work with, and the o-rings function beautifully as a simple reset method. With the straight spine of the stock, I barely had to pull the riser up to get perfect cheek weld.
Once dialed in, the spacers are solid, and integrate well with the rear bag. I am running the butt height all the way up, so the bag rider blends in beautifully with the rear of the stock.
The entire stock just feels solid once everything is dialed in. I was also surprised that while the distance from the trigger to the end of the stock (with 2 spacers installed) is shorter than my old B&C stock, it's more comfortable by far. I was expecting the LOP to come out LONGER on the X-Ray, not shorter. I get the feeling the vertical grip (and the fact that it's much closer to the trigger than the grip area on the B&C) has a lot to do with this.
The stock itself is quite slender - barely wider than the receiver. I don't like bulky stocks, and this one really fits the bill for me.
The molded in mating surface for Harris bipods on the front of the foreend is a very nice touch.
The action seems to run even smoother with the X-Ray than it did with the B&C, which was a massive improvement over the crappy Hogue stock that came on the AAC edition.
Alpha magazines do work just fine in my X-Ray with my rifle. I have noticed that inserting them can be a big janky, but that seems to be due to the gap between the aluminum spine and polymer handguard in the front area of the mag well. A slight adjustment to my mag insertion method has helped that issue already.
The wrap-around magazine release rocks, as does the oversized trigger guard.
The KRG Bolt Lift I have been running on my 700 looks great with the X-Ray.
Overall, I think my complaints are VERY minor, especially compared to the benefits I am already seeing to the stock. I will have the rifle back out on the range this weekend, and the X-Ray will be getting some live-fire workout. I will try to remember to take photos this weekend and post them some time next week, along with a more detailed review.
I do see another order with KRG in my near future, though - Spigot mount, flush sling mount, sling cup, large grip panels, and possibly the overmold cheek piece.
