Vandalizing an AT AICS

[VSP968]

Full disclosure: I’m queer for Accuracy International chassis systems.

I bought my first short action AICS 1.5 in 2003 and it’s been in service ever since.

I currently own 3 “legacy” AICS 1.5s and three 2.0’s 3 fixed AT AICS, two folding AT AICSs, a pre 14 AX AICS and a post 14 AX AICS. Some of them even have Remington 700s mounted in them.

At this point I could probably own an AIAXMC with all the money I’ve spent buying and selling AICSs, but I’m digressing.

I did some trading and ended up with a sage green AX butt conversion for an AI AT rifle. My original plan was to graft it to a pre 14 AX chassis. I decided to convert a fixed AT AICS instead.

After removing all the skins and putting the chassis in a vice, I removed the two countersunk screws from tail section just behind the main body and heated it with a heat gun. The tail section came off after about 15 minutes of heating and wiggling it off the main body.




I cleaned all the remaining epoxy off the chassis I installed the AX butt to the chassis. Straight bolt on/epoxy with no modifications:



I added some green skins and checked the hinge lock up.





And added the barreled action and checked function.


I’ve had this .308 since 2003. It’s on it’s third barrel and scope. And now it’s second chassis. I bang steel with this thing at least twice a month at my local 1K yard range. I’ll get out there Sunday and do some final adjustments.

Stay tuned for the vandalization of a pre 14 AX chassis. It’ll be going from a pistol grip to a thumb hole.

 

[Defender3]

Are you going to mess with your 30-06?

ETA - You need to tell the wife to get that lawn mowed.

 

[milprileb]

The center firing points of our 1000 yd line is the AI Parking Lot. Both of the above posters .. they seem to have pallets of AI rifles or rifles bedded in AI chassis. It is not a stretch to say they and others of their AI Mafia are mostly bored early in the shooting day, its no effort for them to ping steel endlessly. Both posters above by the way hit the 1000 yd Milk Jug Challenge target on first shot.

 

[VargmatII]

I am also an AICS fan, even if I feel that KRGs offerings are a bit more refined. The AICS just works and feel like it is built like a brick shithouse.
Ive had an AICS AX before and have been running an AICS AT for a few years on my Mark 13 mod 5 (ish) build.

 

[SirDrinksAlot]

Accuracy Internationals just seem fat and chunky....but I love them dearly.

I've always been very fond of the AI rifles and always wanted one. I've got a VGW V22 in an AICS AT Chassis right now, but an AI AT will be my next purchase sometime in the future. I like your mods, the AX stock is great but I like the lines of the AI AT foreend more.

 

[Ronin_64]

Nothing wrong with fat and chunky according to “The Bear Pit”...just sayin’

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

 

[Fixr]

Full disclosure: I’m queer for Accuracy International chassis systems.

I bought my first short action AICS 1.5 in 2003 and it’s been in service ever since.

I currently own 3 “legacy” AICS 1.5s, 3 fixed AT AICS, two folding AT AICSs, a pre 14 AX AICS and a post 14 AX AICS. Some of them even have Remington 700s mounted in them.

At this point I could probably own an AIAXMC with all the money I’ve spent buying and selling AICSs, but I’m digressing.

I did some trading and ended up with a sage green AX butt conversion for an AI AT rifle. My original plan was to graft it to a pre 14 AX chassis. I decided to convert a fixed AT AICS instead.

After removing all the skins and putting the chassis in a vice, I removed the two countersunk screws from tail section just behind the main body and heated it with a heat gun. The tail section came off after about 15 minutes of heating and wiggling it off the main body.
View attachment 7604152View attachment 7604153

I cleaned all the remaining epoxy off the chassis I installed the AX butt to the chassis. Straight bolt on/epoxy with no modifications:

View attachment 7604154

I added some green skins and checked the hinge lock up.

View attachment 7604155

And added the barreled action and checked function.

View attachment 7604156
I’ve had this .308 since 2003. It’s on it’s third barrel and scope. And now it’s second chassis. I bang steel with this thing at least twice a month at my local 1K yard range. I’ll get out there Sunday and do some final adjustments.

Stay tuned for the vandalization of a pre 14 AX chassis. It’ll be going from a pistol grip to a thumb hole.

View attachment 7604165

Nice work, it looks great! I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to check it out.

 

[cannoncrossfire]

@VSP968 awesome work, I've thought about changing my pre2014 AX to a thumbhole so I'm keen to see you do this - would be the first I know of.

 

[VSP968]

Stay tuned @cannoncrossfire. The first thing you’ll need is a hinged AT AICS butt skeleton like this:

 

[cannoncrossfire]

Stay tuned @cannoncrossfire. The first thing you’ll need is a hinged AT AICS butt skeleton like this:

View attachment 7604760

If you get the chance are you able to please show the 2x stripped backends side-by-side? I havent been brave enough yet to get the plastic off my AX non-folder rear end.

 

[VSP968]

@cannoncrossfire, after seeing your work on this thing, I find it hard to believe you haven’t taken the skins off the tail end of your chassis, lol.


Very nice work! Until just now, I had no idea it existed and had never seen an AX with a fixed butt like yours, let alone one with a mutant LH Tikka action in it. Too cool.
If your fixed AX chassis is like every other fixed AT chassis I’ve seen, I’ll bet your butt skeleton is attached to the main body by two counter sunk screws and epoxy.
The AX I’ll be working on has a folding butt. The butt skeleton looks like this:



Pull your rear skins off. I just know you’ve got a 2.5mm allen bit someplace...

 

[VSP968]

So I bought this really beat up pre 2014 AX AICS from an 0321.


It had been rattle canned a bunch, so I disassembled it and spent about an hour with a fingernail brush and a can of Easy-Off oven cleaner:


The fore end tube had seen better days so I ended up painting it with Alumahyde and hanging it and baking it in the cab of my truck for about six hours on an 85F day to harden the paint.

I had some FDE AT AICS thumb hole skins and got an AT AICS folding skeleton to convert this AX to a thumb hole butt stock.


Top: pre 14 AX AICS folding butt
Middle: AT AICS fixed butt
Bottom AT AICS folding butt

I used a heat gun to break the epoxy to remove the AT AICS folding butt extension in front of the hinge.


And bolted the AT folder to the main body of the AX AICS and screwed it together.



Added the pistol grip skins and thumb hole skins with the female lock mechanism from the AX butt.





Installed the cheek piece and butt pad from the AX butt. Added fore end tube and cap.




I’ll probably put my 223 AI action in this later. It’s currently in an AICS 1.5.

 

[Fixr]

Nice! I am beginning to figure out where your nickname came from......