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My XLR chassis improvement

D

ddavis

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
May 26, 2011
1,336
229
Texas
I really like my XLR chassis. The adjustability is great, and it is very nicely made. Kyle @ XLR has also been great to deal with, and quick to answer questions. All in all I HIGHLY recommend XLR.

The one and only thing I did not like about my XLR chassis was that the mag-well had no flare. To be fair, I don't think many bolt action mag-wells do have any flare. The only other removable mags I am familiar with are pistols and AR's. Both are very quick and fluid for me. On the other hand I fumble when inserting an AI mag into the XLR chassis. I took the plunge and had a friend with a mill try to solve my problem. It was scary but here are the results:





I've played around with it some today around the house and it does make mag changes easier. My main problem before was getting the front of the mag hung on the mag-well. Now the mag slides in with ease. Of course with proper practice I could have made it work flare or not, but this was easier and should definitely aid when under time stress, etc. It's still no AR, but it's better than it was!

Thanks Kyle and XLR for putting out an excellent product with great customer service. Please take this as constructive criticism to possibly improve upon an already great product if others are interested. Maybe there is no interest, but for me it was definitely worth the trouble.

Regards,
-Dan
 
That looks nice. I assume the mag still has a nice snug fit. Did it make it that much better? I would venture to say that might be a nice improvement for Kyle to take under consideration because even though I rarely have a need to take my mag out (I mostly use it for single shot competitions) my mag well is pretty skuffed up and dinged around the edges from that little bit. Either way, nice job!
 
Nice looking rifle, and nice job on the mod. I'm really liking the XLR chassis, good to see some different setups.
 
bodywerks said:
Of core most will be forced to tackle the trak with a dremel and file. Nice mill you have there!
Click to expand...

I WISH it was my mill. One of these days...

I would have used a Dremel if I didn't have a friend with a mill, and it would have been just as functional. In fact I did take the Dremel to it after it was milled and put a mirror polish to the bevel to make it slick and aid in feeding the mag.
 
That is an issue to me as well. I beveled mine with a Dremel (carefully) and it made a big improvement inserting the mag.
 
good idea there. got two XLR's sitting in garage I need to start tinkering on.
 
Good mod and I love the Krylon. I've wondered why most chassis don't funnel the magwell as much as they could - seems like a no-brainer. Nice work.
 
chainring said:
I've wondered why most chassis don't funnel the magwell as much as they could - seems like a no-brainer.
Click to expand...

For sure. That is one thing I am sure could be remedied quickly and easily during the milling process. I also heated and bent rearward the mag release lever as I found to release the mag, the lever had to be against the magazine. By angling just a bit made releasing the mag much easier and quicker. Those two little things, IMO of course, would make an already great chassis, perfect.
 
Looks good! One thing I would like to see XLR do with this chassis is to mill out 1/4" slits on the 9 and 3 Oclock sides of the buffer tube.

Why?

Because the screws that hold the tactical cheekrest in place are very short and the threading on the inner cheekpiece is very easy to strip out. So my idea to fix this is to create these slits on the sides of the buffer tube so a steel bolt can go all the way through and the cheekpiece can be tightened with a finger adjustable nut on the opposite side.

That was my only complaint after owning an xlr for almost a year.
 
^^That is funny that you posted, that happened to me yesterday. I stripped mine and then tried to open up the screws to 5/16-24 and it stripped it again, as the meat is only 2 threads thick. I committed fully; set my LOP, drilled through the buffer tube and inserted a small piece of 5/16-18 all thread and then washer/nut on each side. Had to open the cheek piece slit a bit, but that shit isnt going anywhere.

Problem with a slit in the buffer tube is there would have to be many of them to accomodate various LOP's. The tube would look like a whiffle ball. Maybe if that block was a little thicker and made of steel.

Kyle has always been supportive and this was my second stock block, so I fixed it on my own.

OP nice job on the mod.
 
Last edited:
roggom said:
^^That is funny that you posted, that happened to me yesterday. I stripped mine and then tried to open up the screws to 5/16-24 and it stripped it again, as the meat is only 2 threads thick. I committed fully; set my LOP, drilled through the buffer tube and inserted a small piece of 5/16-18 all thread and then washer/nut on each side. Had to open the cheek piece slit a bit, but that shit isnt going anywhere.

Problem with a slit in the buffer tube is there would have to be many of them to accomodate various LOP's. The tube would look like a whiffle ball. Maybe if that block was a little thicker and made of steel.

Kyle has always been supportive and this was my second stock block, so I fixed it on my own.

OP nice job on the mod.
Click to expand...

When I had this issue Kyle also mentioned this as being a problem for others. I wasn't referring to a "wiffle ball" setup but rather a 1/4" slit that's say 6" (?) long on both sides of the tube. Follow? It's a hard idea to put to words haha.
 
I got you, length wise so you can still adjust lop, check rest cant can still be achieved at the buffer tube retainer and set screw. ..... trackin'

Perfect job for a mill.
 
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After shooting with the XLR for as long as I did this was the only real problem I came across with the sysyem. Hopefully Kyle can figure something outto remedy this problem.
 
Just so people are clear, the stripped cheek rest issue is not very common. We have had it happen a few times for a variety of reasons but we have had less than .3% failure rate with them. That is 3 for every 1000.

As far as the beveled mag well it is something we will take into consideration. Due to our manufacturing process and the large variety of chassis we offer, it is not an easy thing to add. We do appreciate the feedback however and will consider it for a future improvement.

Thanks, Kyle ~ XLR
 
Last edited:
Kyle,
feel free to use mine as the guinea pig!! LOL I still have 8 weeks to go. It would be a good improvement.
 
Kyle, we spoke today about a chassis I'll be ordering. I'm in agreement with this improvement. It's something I'll end of doing in my garage most likely if not implemented by your skilled craftsmen. Thanks for listening!
 
I had my smith bevel the magwell as well, makes a huge difference in ease of mag insertion, highly recommend it.
 
Exactly what I was thinking about after cussing my mags yesterday during a drill. Its with every bottom metal with two exceptions that Ive ever owned. One was a Surgeon and one was a PTG that I owned for about 2 days. Both of those do not fit flush with the stock (manners at that time). I have since swapped to all carbon XLR's and they are going on a mill today! Kyle would you see an issue (Structural issue) with me also putting a small hole in the trigger guard back towards the adjustment screw on a Timney? I use my gun for a few different things so I do adjust the Calvin elite trigger from time to time and that would keep me from having to pull it out of the chassis to do so and possible having to rezero that extra 10th of a mil here or there...
 
I don't see that being a problem.

-Kyle ~ XLR


Irokcrawl said:
Exactly what I was thinking about after cussing my mags yesterday during a drill. Its with every bottom metal with two exceptions that Ive ever owned. One was a Surgeon and one was a PTG that I owned for about 2 days. Both of those do not fit flush with the stock (manners at that time). I have since swapped to all carbon XLR's and they are going on a mill today! Kyle would you see an issue (Structural issue) with me also putting a small hole in the trigger guard back towards the adjustment screw on a Timney? I use my gun for a few different things so I do adjust the Calvin elite trigger from time to time and that would keep me from having to pull it out of the chassis to do so and possible having to rezero that extra 10th of a mil here or there...
Click to expand...
 
Irokcrawl said:
Exactly what I was thinking about after cussing my mags yesterday during a drill. Its with every bottom metal with two exceptions that Ive ever owned. One was a Surgeon and one was a PTG that I owned for about 2 days. Both of those do not fit flush with the stock (manners at that time). I have since swapped to all carbon XLR's and they are going on a mill today! Kyle would you see an issue (Structural issue) with me also putting a small hole in the trigger guard back towards the adjustment screw on a Timney? I use my gun for a few different things so I do adjust the Calvin elite trigger from time to time and that would keep me from having to pull it out of the chassis to do so and possible having to rezero that extra 10th of a mil here or there...
Click to expand...
When you drill the hole could you post some pictures please?
 
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