Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock (4.41 spacing-short action)

As I get into it more, I'll post up my findings, likes and dislikes.

It's heavy !! Scales at 6.5 lbs. Stripped of all add ons, it comes
in at 3.75 lbs. It's a stout piece of plastic. As I mentioned in
another post, I just picked this up for use as a testing stock,
and will be putting it on the mill to make it a better fit for my
needs. Stock itself has a molded in place aluminum v-block,
and another reason I snagged it. Price was $260 to my door and
that included the shipping and taxes.....First initial feel presented
a few problems (for me) right at the get go. The pistol grip itself
is built for a gorillas hand. I have big hands, but this grip is huge.
Second is the trigger guard. this is just the opposite; Seems if was
designed for a youngster with skinny fingers !! The reach is alright
but it's one of the smallest guards, I have ever put a finger thru.
Back to the pistol grip. It has (had) a front lower bulge for the hand.
If the grip was 3/4" longer it would have be fine, but the way it was
it pushed and cramped my hand up under the trigger guard. Belt
sander took care of that.....More later

Adding to the original post is a pic of the parts. Once my son has
the mill cleared I'll get in and start re-contouring. In the mean time,
I'll be adding an aluminum block in the mag well area, glued and
screwed, so I can transfer in the center bolt used for the 3 screw
target action.

In the pic of the parts, Choate throws in two cheek rests (nice touch)
there are 3 mounting positions for each by sliding back and forth the
putting a simple screw back in. One rest is generally for a typical low
mount scope, and a higher model for people using taller rings..... The
butt plate is configurable for raising and lowering the pad itself, if you
need a better position. The adjustment block which mounts first to the
stock is a 1 LB piece of steel !!! I guess the original designer likes "heavy"
I'll leave it alone for the time being knowing it will be an area to reduce
weight, if the rifle warrants it.....There is a riser knob next to the pad.
It's supposed to be for fine elevation adjustments, but it's value would
only be if you were on a hard surface like a bench. Maybe a sniper would
throw a log under his rifle for this purpose in a pinch ??.....Fore end has
a sliding rail to mount bipods and the such on. I personally find it a bit
useless and would prefer the more typical pic rail or m-loc sytem used
in most mil type rifles today. This stock was designed about 24 years
ago by a veteran sniper.

Found an aluminum block in stock not needing any mill work.
I just cut it to length, put two witness marks on it for the
screw holes, then squeezed it in with epoxy. Once it has a
good cure time, I'll drill thru, then flip it over to tap it from
the bottom. Plenty strong enough for an action center screw.

Curious what you have in mind as far as re-contouring. I'm interested in seeing how this turns out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stu

Curious what you have in mind as far as re-contouring. I'm interested in seeing how this turns out.

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At the moment. 4 areas will get cut. The bottom of the butt
stock is 1.75" wide and serrated. I will smooth and narrow it
up some to better ride the bag.....front fore end will have a
large area cut out to install a 4" wide plate to ride in a 4" wide
front rest bag.....Ejection port side will be lowered and tapered
for easier ammo feeding.....And that trigger guard has to have
something done with it. It is annoying on how small it is. All this
I may not get to for another week or so. Action for it my not be
here for some time as I'm told by NSS.

Interesting thread. Thanks for posting

I beat quite a few of my personal bests at the bench with one of these. I loved everything about it except the weight. By the time i put a .223 heavy barrel and sightron 36x target scope on, it was so ungodly heavy that i hated carrying it any further than from the truck to the bench. Pretty sure it outweighed my 110 fcp-hs .338 lm rig lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wide Glide

I beat quite a few of my personal bests at the bench with one of these. I loved everything about it except the weight. By the time i put a .223 heavy barrel and sightron 36x target scope on, it was so ungodly heavy that i hated carrying it any further than from the truck to the bench. Pretty sure it outweighed my 110 fcp-hs .338 lm rig lol

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Purposely I want it heavy for wild cat testing, but still be conventional
enough to do some zip code shooting on critters. A good friend of mine
has a rifle that is competitive in F-class. At 21 lbs, it's one hell of a wood
chuck rifle at his place. 700 yards across the corn and hay fields, and
the ATV's get good use !!

My Heavy Gun weighs 63 pounds ;)

Making work for the shop vac.....

With barreled action in hand it was time to set things together to check
fit and finalize the center screw. I learned long ago to check the threads
on the action first, and glad I did. Two out of three needed a tap run in.
I then made my measurement for the center screw, and drilled that out.
With that done, I set the action and ran in all 3 screws to check for clearance,
and see how much I needed to shorten the new center screw. Front screw
was spot on, center screw needed 1/4" cut down, and the rear screw was
2 threads too much. I made the adjustments, gave them a torquing and went
on to check tang clearance.....And where the fun began !! Tang was hitting,
and by a lot. I dug out the electric die grinder with a course burr, and hogged
away. Tightening things down again, paper still would not slide under, so I took
more out. Nada !! One more, and it was a go. Tang was clear and assured the
action was on the v-block.....Probably cut down almost 1/8th inch !! Well if
you can guess; The action screws are now too long, and need dressed down
some more.....I'll save that for tomorrow. I put everything away, and headed
for the fridge. I think it's time for a cold one or 3......

Well, got the action screws to a proper length. And good thing
I still had the die grinder out. With the action now sitting proper,
the bolt would not close all the way. Had to deepen the pocket
the handle close's into on the side of the stock. Next was the
thinning of the trigger guard strap, then raising the roof of the
guard a good 1/8th inch. It's workable now, but will address this
more at a later date.

Got a few hours in on this project yesterday. While I was on the
mill carving plastic, I put my son to task, tigging up the 4" wide
plate for the forend. The snail crawls another inch !!

Stock is modded enough to start the SA284 testing build.
Stock was registered off the bedding block to assure butt
and fore end are in the same relationship with the bore.
Butt has a 1.75" wide Delrin plate mounted up into a milled
out pocked. Center has the addition of the center 3 screw
bolt hole, and top chamfer by the ejection port. Forend was
deeply cut to install the front 4" glide plate. Gave it an extra
2" in length. It stiffer then it looks, although there is 2 areas
I can use to make it stiffer if need be. The idea in the design
is to be straight back on recoil......Pretty it ain't, and I'm not
buying it any lipstick.

Really good work mate. I really enjoy admiring that stock. I shoot off bags most of the time and it appears to be comfortable


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