Manners T5A Owners Opinons

[FALex]

I am going to get a rifle built by SAC and I am trying to determine whether I want to run the T4A or 5A. Mark believes the T5A is great but he felt follow up shots were not as quickly fired with the thumbhole.

This rifle will be target and mainly a comp gun, so this is a concern for me. The only other thumbhole I have handled is my .17 hmr which is super comfortable to me but probably nothing like the Manners stock.

Is it possible to leave the thumb running parallel along the pistol grip portion of the stock for quick follow ups or is that not ergonomically-sound?

Opinions please?

 

[REL1203]

Re: Manners T5A Owners Opinons

If you call up Manners, and tell them you are trying to decide between that two, they have been known to offer to mail you one of their demo stocks to play with, and see how you like and then mail it back (I think you put a deposit down just as a precation)... Highly recommend that if you are thinking about the Thumbhole and are not sure about it.

 

[Speeddog]

Re: Manners T5A Owners Opinons

Your choice will come down to personal comfort/preference, as noted in many prior threads.

I may be able to shed a little light, however. I have several T5-As on custom builds (take a look at the Chad Dixon thread on the gs forum here) as well as a T4-A on a custom GAP. The T4A and T5A have the same grip angle but the 5A places the thumb across the mid line (through the thumb hole) while the 4A encourages you to rest your thumb behind the bolt shroud on top of the stock. Both work fine but they obviously "feel different" and result in a somewhat different overall grip. For me the T5-A feels more linear and allows me a very straight front to back grip which I like. I have no trouble with follow up shots: I think speed and smoothness become a matter of practice.

I admit to bias: I cut my teeth in competition while shooting an Anschutz free rifle in 3 position smallbore during the 60s (high school and college). I pretty much fell in love with thumbhole stocks then and haven't lost that over the years.

Give Tom Manners a call (or a post). He's incredibly helpful (and helped me greatly with my builds). I'll bet he figures out a way to help you decide

Best of luck: you'll love Manner's stocks whichever you chose

 

[CrazyDonkey]

Re: Manners T5A Owners Opinons

I had a T5A and a T, never noticed an issue with "speed" Between them.

 

[shoot4fun]

Re: Manners T5A Owners Opinons

My T5a included the Mini Chassis option. IMHO that is the only way to buy it.
As for feel, I was already used to the thumb hole because I use several AICS and AI AW chassis. I agree that the T5a feels linear and I like having that prescribed position for my thumb.

 

[Swift]

Re: Manners T5A Owners Opinons

I rarely use the thumbhole on my 5A but there are a couple cases when I do; if I'm on terrain that doesn't allow the rifle to stabilize or I find myself in an awkward shooting position. I like their 4A and TF1 series also, but the thumbhole gives me the fine control when I need it.