Gunsmithing WORLD EXCLUSIVE! KRG Whiskey 3 and Stiller TAC338

[dang472]

With the generosity of Justin from KRG and a case of Coors Light to trade my buddy for use of his mill, I've got a functioning Gen 4 Whiskey 3 chassis wrapped around my SSG/Rock/Stiller TAC338 barreled action. As some of you may know, the TAC338 action is almost a half inch longer than a standard Remington LA. The bolt pattern is the same, just the action is larger in diameter and longer in the tenon. While this is good for strength when dealing with the 338LM, the availability of chassis and stock systems are limited. My initial plan for this build was this Stiller action bolted into an AX AICS chassis. After jumping on the group buy last year, I guess I overlooked the action dimensions. Everyone I talked to said it was a definite no-go with the AX due to the forend. There was one Hide member who had a shop make a Legacy AICS work with the bigger action. Russ from Stiller was helpful but no one really knew what chassis would work without grinding on a $1000-1400 guinea pig. The XLR didn't have the look I was going after and a McMillan A5 would have been a big departure from all my other chassis guns.

Enter Justin from KRG aka Massoud. I simply responded to his thread showing off his new Gen 4 Whiskey 3 chassis. He just started offering a Long Action Rem 700 footprint version and I asked if he had any plans for the Stiller. Since I've been hearing NO for the last year, my expectations were low. Justin was open to the possibility. I offered to just send him my barreled action that's been collecting dust, but without an FFL, he couldn't accept it from me. Within a week a package showed up at my door from KRG. Justin sent me a chassis minus the rear stock portion to give it a go. I've been a mechanic most of my life and run heavy equipment for a paycheck, but I'm no machinist. I've fabricated my fair share of random things with a Dremel, but I really wanted something respectable. I bought off my buddy who has a mill and here are the results from some rank amateurs pretending to be gunsmiths!

 

[dang472]

A few more pics of the block for the recoil lug....

 

[Papa Zero Three]

Nice. The gen 4 chassis is fantastic, I like it even more than my gen 3.

 

[dang472]

In basic terms, the only action required to make this work was to relieve just under a half inch in front of the recoil lug area of the standard LA inlet. Once the necessary material was removed, I bolted the action into the sub chassis. The Whiskey 3 design is much easier to accomplish this than an AICS for example because the KRG has a v-block sub chassis and then a bolt on cover that slips over. This hides the fabricated block and gives more material to fasten the block to.

Everyone I talked to was concerned that the increased diameter of the action would cause it to sit too high and not allow proper magazine feeding. I bought an AI 338 Non-CIP (the KRG LA isn't built for CIP mags yet) and some action proving rounds. Everything worked perfectly. Since this was kind of a seat-of-the-pants prototype just to see if it could be done, I just built a filler block with an old manual mill and hand-me-down bits. If one were to do this for real, I could see running a CNC program and building a bunch dead nuts on. I will also bed the recoil lug area at well to make sure everything is perfectly square and locked into place.

I'm not sure where KRG wants to take this, but at least the many TAC338 owners here on the Hide have another option for their "unique" action. Either way, I'm going to have a stable full of Whiskey 3 equipped rifles at my place.

 

[Massoud]

Awesome! This kind of thing is in a lot of ways the epitome of what I and the other guys love about this sport/hobby/profession. Taking good kit that's a near solution, diving in with the cutting tools, getting your hands dirty, making chips, and coming out the other side with something that works for you exactly the way you want, that is good stuff. We might even be able to scrounge around here and find a back end for that sucker.

Ol' Larry Potterfield would be proud.

Regarding the CIP length mags, we did do a CIP forend for the Bager M2013. The only difference is the magwell is cut forward and additional .120". You could easily do this if you wanted, you'd need to cut the forend and the backbone, don't worry about the taper of the mag, just cut it straight forward. Also we now have a few mag catches laying around that are .080" taller if you find you get feeding issues in the future.


In honor of the OP, Dang472, we'll start incorporating threaded holes into the 700LA chassis to bolt up that recoil lug spacer, and we may even do the spacer ourselves depending on demand. The recoil slot will be all on the customer though.

Justin

 

[dang472]

I've met some really great guys and companies here on the Hide. With this project, all I needed was a piece in my hands to see if it would work. The fact that Justin took the time and sent a random internet poster a pricey chunk of aluminum to grind on is pretty amazing. In fairness I never asked Accuracy International to send me the guts of an AICS AX, but I have a feeling my calls wouldn't have been returned. I never spent a dime with KRG before this project, but now I think I've got 3 chassis' lined up to be sold.