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I have been considering making my own aluminium chassis-esque style rifle stock for a while now. It will be for a bench rest rifle and, for now, is based around a CZ452 action. Once I have proved the concept works, I can easily adapt it with 1 new part for any other rifle. I just want to try it cheaply first.

So below is a very very draft mock up of what I am thinking. Although I have access to a machine shop, I want to complete this at home with hand tools, which is why it looks a little "blocky" and under-refined.
I still need to take a lot of measurements or my other rifles to get the position of everything finalised, but that can all come later when I am happy with the basic design.

The dark grey parts are existing on the rifle, silver parts are aluminium and the red parts will be 3D printed.

Any thoughts on the basic concept before I start actually taking it seriously?

Some provision for a bag rider (adjustable), and a longer fore-end, maybe? Plus knurled knobs for ease of adjustment when wearing gloves and it's sub-zero on the range...
Bedding blocks for specific rifles is a great idea.......one stock fits all!

Pete

Excellent - simple and elegant in a modern sort of way. I would think about some way of making butt length easily adjustable and, as the line of the stock and fore-end are just about the same, I would start with a 1/2"x 2.5" flat bar of aluminium from front to back and mount the action block on top.

Here's one I made a while ago for the grand kids - just made from scraps and a bit of thin walled tube from B&Q with a few 3d printed bits. Bolt cocking and shoots a laser flash at a reactive target.

It looks like my TrueFlite stock!

Pete wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 1:11 pm Some provision for a bag rider (adjustable), and a longer fore-end, maybe? Plus knurled knobs for ease of adjustment when wearing gloves and it's sub-zero on the range...
Bedding blocks for specific rifles is a great idea.......one stock fits all!

Pete

The plan is to put a tapped hole on the bottom for the long piece the butt plate is bolted to so that I can add piece there as needed.

Longer fore-end I think is a good idea. I went with roughly where I would put the rifle on a rest but a bit extra wont hurt. Not to mention I can add something to attach a bipod should I ever want to.

1066 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 2:53 pm Excellent - simple and elegant in a modern sort of way. I would think about some way of making butt length easily adjustable and, as the line of the stock and fore-end are just about the same, I would start with a 1/2"x 2.5" flat bar of aluminium from front to back and mount the action block on top.

The only reason I haven't started with a long flat bar front to back, is to make it easier to change to another action. All of the bedding required is in one block so only 1 piece has to change. I could do it with a very open base plate so that it suits almost everything maybe...

Pippin - if it's for benchrest you don't need a cheek-piece, adjustable butt or that pistol grip - you don't grip the stock in benchrest shooting. But, you do need a rear bag-rider - a simple tube.

I've built one or two aluminium stocks for benchrest and I'm just building one for ELR.

Keep it simple - three-inch wide fore-end, rear bag-rider and a decent support for the action. If you can do it out of one piece of aluminium running front to back, so much the better. Don't forget, all benchrest classes have a weight limit - aluminium is light but a lot heavier than wood!

Have a look on the internet at what an actual benchrest competition stock looks like.

The Gun Pimp wrote: ↑Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:41 pm Pippin - if it's for benchrest you don't need a cheek-piece, adjustable butt or that pistol grip - you don't grip the stock in benchrest shooting. But, you do need a rear bag-rider - a simple tube.

I've built one or two aluminium stocks for benchrest and I'm just building one for ELR.

Keep it simple - three-inch wide fore-end, rear bag-rider and a decent support for the action. If you can do it out of one piece of aluminium running front to back, so much the better. Don't forget, all benchrest classes have a weight limit - aluminium is light but a lot heavier than wood!

Have a look on the internet at what an actual benchrest competition stock looks like.

If this is for NSRA .22lr "benchrest" no rear bag is used so it does dictate the design a little.

Yes it is for NSRA benchrest so as 1066 says, no rear bag. Just a gloved hand under the rear. But as I said, I plan to have a tapped hole under the rear support so I can add anything like that later on.
At the moment, without the action, I am at 1.7kg. Not sure how accurate my action model is on mass but with it I am at 4.5kg.
The cheek rest and butt plate will possibly go unused, but I would rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
I think you're right with the the grip though. I modelled it on my Walther KK300 Prone rifle one. But a simplification of that might not be a bad idea. As its a 3D printed part its easy enough to swap out. I will probably print 2 and see which one works best for me.

Thanks all for your comments. I will keep this updated as and when I start making it.