Tooley Custom Rifle w/ AICS AX chassis
***LONG POST WARNING***
Well, this build took a lot longer than expected. Finally, it’s all done! Here’s the skinny on my new Tooley Custom .308 rifle with my Accuracy International AX Chassis!
Here are the spec’s on the build:
Tooley Orion action
.308 Win 20” Hart 1-10 barrel threaded 5/8-24 with cap
AI AX Chassis
Trigger is a Rifle Basix set at 2 ½ lbs
Cerakote finish on the barreled action, melanite finish on the bolt
20MOA Badger rail
Total cost for the whole build minus the optics and my suppressor: $3575
I first met the Tooley Custom Rifles sales rep, Gary Springer, at the Southeastern SWAT championships in Spartanburg, SC back in May of 2010. Low and behold, he has some demo rifles with the AX Chassis on the vendor table. I offered to write him a check for one of the guns right there on the spot, but he told me that I would have to include my first born with it. He laughed, I wept silently. I took his business card and went on with the competition. I called him a few days after the competition and asked for Tooley to do a build for me with the AX Chassis as the stock. He said he’d have to run it by Dave Tooley to see if they could sell me one prior to release to the general public. He had to make a phone call to AINA to see if they would be able to provide a chassis for the build. A few days later I got the word, yes they would. So that started what turned out to be a longer than anticipated drama, none of which was Tooley’s fault. AI was taking their time to get the final product done right. It was well worth the wait. I’m nothing short of pleased.
Last June, Gary drove down to Athens, GA from Gastonia, NC just to go over spec’ing the rifle out. He brought a few demo guns so I could go over barrel contour, bolt knobs, and all that other good stuff. Here’s a link to the YouTube video I shot of that (very short).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgW2q5MaD8M
I decided to go with a 20” Hart 1 in 10 twist and one of the Orion actions built to Tooley’s spec. At the time, I was being told that my AX chassis would be ready by the end of July 2010. I wanted to go with a Bartlien Barrel, but the lead time was over 6 months back then. A Hart barrel would be available much sooner and fit better in the timeframe I was looking at getting the whole build finished in. Not to mention there is little, if any, discernable difference between the two barrels. I turned over custody of my Premiere Heritage scope to Gary so he could bring it to Dave Tooley for test firing once the barrel/action work was done. And I waited...
Fast forward to August 2010. As it drew closer to the end of August I was getting ancy about the build. I called Dave and he told me that AI was having problems getting the final version of the AX ready to market as they were adding features and tweaking the general design. I was fine with that with it being a new product line. I was expecting delays. He said most likely September/October time frame and it would be complete.
I gave Dave Tooley a call at his shop near the middle of October 2010 to get an update. He told me the action and barrel were finished, but AI was taking their sweet old time with the chassis as they were still in product development. He was nothing but apologies even though it was something he had no control over. Dave went out of his way in wanting to make me happy. He offered to buy a brand new AICS 2.0 chassis and give it to me as a loaner until the AX Chassis finally came in. I readily agreed.
November 8th I drove up to Gastonia, NC to pick up the gun. I felt like a crack head in a cocaine factory, I was so stoked. Dave’s shop was amazing. His shop was a real shooters wet dream. After picking up my jaw from on the floor I saw this sitting on the bench.
I couldn’t wait to get back to shoot it. Personally, I can’t stand the AICS 2.0. The thumbhole just annoys the piss out of me. If I didn’t have to return the stock to Dave I would have taken a hacksaw to it to make it a pistol grip. The gun flat out shoots. Will consistantly do 3/8” 5 shot groups if you do your part. Wish I had taken grouping pics. I’ll do that later.
Fast forward several months. After numerous “I’m sorry Jon, but….” Phone calls, I was told 2 weeks ago that my chassis was in a shipment from England to AINA which would in turn be sent to Dave. My rifle chassis was coming in. Then Murphy struck, it had been damaged in transport somehow....
So, yesterday I sent Gary a text to check for updates . I’m sure I was bugging the piss out of him since I’ve been doing that since the start of this build. He finally told me yesterday that he had good news. They had another chassis in, problem was it was with black skins. He didn’t have to even ask the question if I wanted to wait for the correct color or not. “Heck yeah, I’ll take it” I told him. He said that he would drive up tomorrow (July 19) to deliver it to me.
So here I am, fondling my now completed gun (glad to be rid of that AICS 2.0). Need to get this sucker out to the range. I’ll try to do that tomorrow. Dave Tooley is a tip top rifle builder and his customer service is top notch. Can’t go wrong having him build you a gun.
Before:
After:
***LONG POST WARNING***
Well, this build took a lot longer than expected. Finally, it’s all done! Here’s the skinny on my new Tooley Custom .308 rifle with my Accuracy International AX Chassis!
Here are the spec’s on the build:
Tooley Orion action
.308 Win 20” Hart 1-10 barrel threaded 5/8-24 with cap
AI AX Chassis
Trigger is a Rifle Basix set at 2 ½ lbs
Cerakote finish on the barreled action, melanite finish on the bolt
20MOA Badger rail
Total cost for the whole build minus the optics and my suppressor: $3575
I first met the Tooley Custom Rifles sales rep, Gary Springer, at the Southeastern SWAT championships in Spartanburg, SC back in May of 2010. Low and behold, he has some demo rifles with the AX Chassis on the vendor table. I offered to write him a check for one of the guns right there on the spot, but he told me that I would have to include my first born with it. He laughed, I wept silently. I took his business card and went on with the competition. I called him a few days after the competition and asked for Tooley to do a build for me with the AX Chassis as the stock. He said he’d have to run it by Dave Tooley to see if they could sell me one prior to release to the general public. He had to make a phone call to AINA to see if they would be able to provide a chassis for the build. A few days later I got the word, yes they would. So that started what turned out to be a longer than anticipated drama, none of which was Tooley’s fault. AI was taking their time to get the final product done right. It was well worth the wait. I’m nothing short of pleased.
Last June, Gary drove down to Athens, GA from Gastonia, NC just to go over spec’ing the rifle out. He brought a few demo guns so I could go over barrel contour, bolt knobs, and all that other good stuff. Here’s a link to the YouTube video I shot of that (very short).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgW2q5MaD8M
I decided to go with a 20” Hart 1 in 10 twist and one of the Orion actions built to Tooley’s spec. At the time, I was being told that my AX chassis would be ready by the end of July 2010. I wanted to go with a Bartlien Barrel, but the lead time was over 6 months back then. A Hart barrel would be available much sooner and fit better in the timeframe I was looking at getting the whole build finished in. Not to mention there is little, if any, discernable difference between the two barrels. I turned over custody of my Premiere Heritage scope to Gary so he could bring it to Dave Tooley for test firing once the barrel/action work was done. And I waited...
Fast forward to August 2010. As it drew closer to the end of August I was getting ancy about the build. I called Dave and he told me that AI was having problems getting the final version of the AX ready to market as they were adding features and tweaking the general design. I was fine with that with it being a new product line. I was expecting delays. He said most likely September/October time frame and it would be complete.
I gave Dave Tooley a call at his shop near the middle of October 2010 to get an update. He told me the action and barrel were finished, but AI was taking their sweet old time with the chassis as they were still in product development. He was nothing but apologies even though it was something he had no control over. Dave went out of his way in wanting to make me happy. He offered to buy a brand new AICS 2.0 chassis and give it to me as a loaner until the AX Chassis finally came in. I readily agreed.
November 8th I drove up to Gastonia, NC to pick up the gun. I felt like a crack head in a cocaine factory, I was so stoked. Dave’s shop was amazing. His shop was a real shooters wet dream. After picking up my jaw from on the floor I saw this sitting on the bench.
I couldn’t wait to get back to shoot it. Personally, I can’t stand the AICS 2.0. The thumbhole just annoys the piss out of me. If I didn’t have to return the stock to Dave I would have taken a hacksaw to it to make it a pistol grip. The gun flat out shoots. Will consistantly do 3/8” 5 shot groups if you do your part. Wish I had taken grouping pics. I’ll do that later.
Fast forward several months. After numerous “I’m sorry Jon, but….” Phone calls, I was told 2 weeks ago that my chassis was in a shipment from England to AINA which would in turn be sent to Dave. My rifle chassis was coming in. Then Murphy struck, it had been damaged in transport somehow....
So, yesterday I sent Gary a text to check for updates . I’m sure I was bugging the piss out of him since I’ve been doing that since the start of this build. He finally told me yesterday that he had good news. They had another chassis in, problem was it was with black skins. He didn’t have to even ask the question if I wanted to wait for the correct color or not. “Heck yeah, I’ll take it” I told him. He said that he would drive up tomorrow (July 19) to deliver it to me.
So here I am, fondling my now completed gun (glad to be rid of that AICS 2.0). Need to get this sucker out to the range. I’ll try to do that tomorrow. Dave Tooley is a tip top rifle builder and his customer service is top notch. Can’t go wrong having him build you a gun.
Before:
After:
