all, a while back i posted a surprisingly long list of chassis systems that i came across as i was researching stocks for my remington 700 barreled action. here is the thread in case anyone would like to see it.
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...rue#Post3405282
out of that, i decided to get something different and bought a roedale raptor. here's a brief review and some crappy camera phone pictures.
summary: it's nicely made, very stout, and i'm very happy.
pete lincoln and his crew were pretty good at answering (most of) my emails. in fairness, buying across an ocean worried me and i pestered the good people at roedale with a lot of emails.
ordering was straightforward. roedale is very clear on what the process is to ship from germany to the US. first step is a customs application to ship out of germany. this took about two weeks to complete. once that was received, they shipped me two boxes - one via DHL and one via deutsche post. the reason for this, as i was told, is just in case the box is x-rayed by an over-zealous customs inspector.
well, the front half of the rifle arrived. the back half of the rifle did not - after some investigation, it was found that it had been shipped back to roedale because a customs inspector decided that the back half looked like a sub machine gun on an x-ray. i understand pete used very strong language with DHL on this - pete said that this kind of handling by DHL is very rare. i do not hold roedale responsible for this snafu in any way. i just got "lucky."
to prevent this from happening again, pete's crew took the back half and broke it down into even smaller pieces and shipped them in 3 boxes. this time, all arrived without any problems. about 8 weeks total (would have been 6 weeks if not for the problems with DHL) from ordering to last piece arriving. not bad, considering.
coming out of the box, the machining is first rate. no burrs, no scratches, every screw hole is very cleanly tapped. the parts all mate very nicely. there is a mixture of metric and SAE hex bolt sizes so have both sets if you order one. the handguard tube is thick walled and very robust.
the receiver drops into the receiver block with the included action screws. one of the many questions i asked pete was the recoil lug maximum thickness. this was before the current chassis rant came out about not being able to fit recoil lugs. happily, pete said that they can accommodate a lug that is 0.366", more than enough for my custom action.
i neglected to ask about the maximum depth of the recoil lug they could handle. the action i put in was made many years ago by the late jack davis (NRA match rifle and palma shooters may remember him) and recently modified by ken breda (who trained with jack and does excellent work). jack used a very tall recoil lug and i did not know to tell ken to take a little off the lug. as it was, the action fit the receiver block perfectly, but i could not fit the handguard block to the receiver block because of the lug interference. i milled off 0.025" from where the handguard block wraps around the lug and all fits nicely.
the "kit" comes with a set of shim washers, the purpose of which is to adjust the height of the handguard tube so it can clear a variety of barrels. there are 4 screws connecting the handguard to the handguard block. on my light palma barreled action, with all 12 washers in place (3 per screw), i have about 0.15" clearance between the barrel and the top inside edge of the handguard. i tried to fit an M40 profile barreled action inside the handguard and there is no clearance - a few more washers would be needed. it would take only a few minutes to put more spacers in, so this is not a handicap.
once the handguard assembly is bolted to the receiver block, it's very solid with no play. i shoot NRA high power and CMP service rifle and i sling up tight - there's no discernible give in the handguard under sling pressure.
because the handguard completely surrounds the barrel, i needed a set of higher rings for the bell to clear the handguard. i put the old rings on with the glass and did some measurements. i figured rings with 1" height would do, but went 1.265" (nightforce intermediate) in case i switch from the USO to the NF which has a bigger bell and for when i raise the handguard up a bit for the M40 profile barrel.
in the pictures, some may note that the barrel is not centered in the handguard. this is not a design flaw. what this arrangement does is lowers the top of the handguard tube which lowers the height of the top of the tube which lowers the height of the rings required to mount glass.
rails went on the handguard without drama. i splurged for an atlas bipod. roedale includes a threaded sling stud that screws down on the handguard if you prefer to use a harris-type bipod.
i got a few minutes to test the system after a junior's .22 event that our rifle club puts on each month. i was zero'd in 3 shots and used 2 more to verify. my target was a square block of 3/4" pasters to give me a square 1.5" on a side. distance was 200 yards, and i shot from the prone position using a bipod and sandsock. first 5 shot group was just over 1" C-to-C. second group was just under 1" C-2-C. i need more time with the rifle so until i get a block of time don't hold me to those numbers. i like what i see, tho.
minor issues - the raptor uses a cheekpiece very similar to the one found on the AICS. the two legs that go down into the stock were bent at a slight angle. this put an upward cant (front edge was notably higher than the rear) which was a bit annoying. a bit of bending fixed that. the stock also came with a set of thumbscrews as well as the flush hex screws to hold the cheekpiece in place. i cannot get the thumbscrews down tight enough to hold because they bottom on the stock side - the flush hex screws work fine, however.
i think the handguard could be shortened a couple of inches. the handguard is a robust beast, but that adds to the weight - if they trimmed 2-3" off, it would help a bit with weight and balance.
the rear of the stock uses has two eyes, one on each side in the same manner as AICS stocks, for use with HK hooks. i knew this when i purchased it, but i have to say i am not a fan of HK hooks. i prefer QD swivels - pete, it would be nice if you could get a QD mount on the rear of the stock.
overall, i'm pretty happy with the raptor chassis. i'll shoot it under rule 3.3.2 at a high power match this saturday to get some more time with it and see how it feels. i hope to get some bipod time after the position match is over, as well.
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthre...rue#Post3405282
out of that, i decided to get something different and bought a roedale raptor. here's a brief review and some crappy camera phone pictures.
summary: it's nicely made, very stout, and i'm very happy.
pete lincoln and his crew were pretty good at answering (most of) my emails. in fairness, buying across an ocean worried me and i pestered the good people at roedale with a lot of emails.
ordering was straightforward. roedale is very clear on what the process is to ship from germany to the US. first step is a customs application to ship out of germany. this took about two weeks to complete. once that was received, they shipped me two boxes - one via DHL and one via deutsche post. the reason for this, as i was told, is just in case the box is x-rayed by an over-zealous customs inspector.
well, the front half of the rifle arrived. the back half of the rifle did not - after some investigation, it was found that it had been shipped back to roedale because a customs inspector decided that the back half looked like a sub machine gun on an x-ray. i understand pete used very strong language with DHL on this - pete said that this kind of handling by DHL is very rare. i do not hold roedale responsible for this snafu in any way. i just got "lucky."
to prevent this from happening again, pete's crew took the back half and broke it down into even smaller pieces and shipped them in 3 boxes. this time, all arrived without any problems. about 8 weeks total (would have been 6 weeks if not for the problems with DHL) from ordering to last piece arriving. not bad, considering.
coming out of the box, the machining is first rate. no burrs, no scratches, every screw hole is very cleanly tapped. the parts all mate very nicely. there is a mixture of metric and SAE hex bolt sizes so have both sets if you order one. the handguard tube is thick walled and very robust.
the receiver drops into the receiver block with the included action screws. one of the many questions i asked pete was the recoil lug maximum thickness. this was before the current chassis rant came out about not being able to fit recoil lugs. happily, pete said that they can accommodate a lug that is 0.366", more than enough for my custom action.
i neglected to ask about the maximum depth of the recoil lug they could handle. the action i put in was made many years ago by the late jack davis (NRA match rifle and palma shooters may remember him) and recently modified by ken breda (who trained with jack and does excellent work). jack used a very tall recoil lug and i did not know to tell ken to take a little off the lug. as it was, the action fit the receiver block perfectly, but i could not fit the handguard block to the receiver block because of the lug interference. i milled off 0.025" from where the handguard block wraps around the lug and all fits nicely.
the "kit" comes with a set of shim washers, the purpose of which is to adjust the height of the handguard tube so it can clear a variety of barrels. there are 4 screws connecting the handguard to the handguard block. on my light palma barreled action, with all 12 washers in place (3 per screw), i have about 0.15" clearance between the barrel and the top inside edge of the handguard. i tried to fit an M40 profile barreled action inside the handguard and there is no clearance - a few more washers would be needed. it would take only a few minutes to put more spacers in, so this is not a handicap.
once the handguard assembly is bolted to the receiver block, it's very solid with no play. i shoot NRA high power and CMP service rifle and i sling up tight - there's no discernible give in the handguard under sling pressure.
because the handguard completely surrounds the barrel, i needed a set of higher rings for the bell to clear the handguard. i put the old rings on with the glass and did some measurements. i figured rings with 1" height would do, but went 1.265" (nightforce intermediate) in case i switch from the USO to the NF which has a bigger bell and for when i raise the handguard up a bit for the M40 profile barrel.
in the pictures, some may note that the barrel is not centered in the handguard. this is not a design flaw. what this arrangement does is lowers the top of the handguard tube which lowers the height of the top of the tube which lowers the height of the rings required to mount glass.
rails went on the handguard without drama. i splurged for an atlas bipod. roedale includes a threaded sling stud that screws down on the handguard if you prefer to use a harris-type bipod.
i got a few minutes to test the system after a junior's .22 event that our rifle club puts on each month. i was zero'd in 3 shots and used 2 more to verify. my target was a square block of 3/4" pasters to give me a square 1.5" on a side. distance was 200 yards, and i shot from the prone position using a bipod and sandsock. first 5 shot group was just over 1" C-to-C. second group was just under 1" C-2-C. i need more time with the rifle so until i get a block of time don't hold me to those numbers. i like what i see, tho.
minor issues - the raptor uses a cheekpiece very similar to the one found on the AICS. the two legs that go down into the stock were bent at a slight angle. this put an upward cant (front edge was notably higher than the rear) which was a bit annoying. a bit of bending fixed that. the stock also came with a set of thumbscrews as well as the flush hex screws to hold the cheekpiece in place. i cannot get the thumbscrews down tight enough to hold because they bottom on the stock side - the flush hex screws work fine, however.
i think the handguard could be shortened a couple of inches. the handguard is a robust beast, but that adds to the weight - if they trimmed 2-3" off, it would help a bit with weight and balance.
the rear of the stock uses has two eyes, one on each side in the same manner as AICS stocks, for use with HK hooks. i knew this when i purchased it, but i have to say i am not a fan of HK hooks. i prefer QD swivels - pete, it would be nice if you could get a QD mount on the rear of the stock.
overall, i'm pretty happy with the raptor chassis. i'll shoot it under rule 3.3.2 at a high power match this saturday to get some more time with it and see how it feels. i hope to get some bipod time after the position match is over, as well.
