Gunsmith/stockmaker Alex Wheeler is a very smart guy. Among his many clever innovations is an adjustable bag-rider that fits on the underside of the buttstock at the rear. Alex calls this a “Rudder” because it allows the shooter to align the tracking perfectly. The rudder assembly can swing left and right using an adjustment bolt. You can also adjust the Rudder’s vertical “angle of attack” with simple shims. Some guys like the Rudder’s 3/4″-wide bottom perfectly parallel with the bore axis. Others prefer a slight angle so the stock slides down a bit during recoil.

Adjustable Rudders Now For Sale
Alex has fitted these innovative, adjustable Rudders in the stocks and complete rifles he sells.And now owners of other stocks can benefit from Wheeler’s invention. Alex is offering the Rudders for sale: “I have made my adjustable Rudders for sale. Price including mounting hardware is $125 shipped. These are the same rudders I install in most ever stock I build. They’re the only way to achieve perfect tracking every time.”

Watch how the Wheeler Rudder works in this video. Alex explains: “If you pull your rifle back in the bags and the cross-hair moves, your stock is not straight. The easiest fix is to use an adjustable Rudder. They come standard on all my stocks. The white box on the 1000-yard target is 4″. With a properly-adjusted rudder it’s easy to obtain less than 1″ of cross-hair movement at 1000 yards.”

Rudder-Equipped Stock In Action (with 1000-Yard Champ Tom Mousel)
This second video shows how well a Rudder-equipped stock performs. This shows IBS 1000-yard Champ Tom Mousel running five (5) shots with his 17-lb Light Gun chambered in 6BR Ackley Improved. Note how perfectly the stock tracks. It runs smoothly straight back then comes right back on target when pushed forward by Mousel. Check it out — this is impressive.

It’s relatively easy to install these rudders on most wood and wood laminate stocks. Alex says: “Just notch the stock, and install the anchors for the adjustment bolts.” In addition, McMillan will soon be offering fiberglass stocks with a notch designed to fit the Wheeler rudder. Based on Alex’s Deep Creek Tracker stock design, these new McMillan stocks with have metals rails in the front also.

New Rudder-Equipped McMillan LRB Stock
Alex explains: “The new McMillan Rudder-equipped stock will be a version of the Deep Creek Tracker, most likely called a Wheeler LRB (Long Range Benchrest). It will feature factory installed 1/2″ wide aluminum rails in the 4″ fore-arm. It will come with the rear notch molded in for the Rudders which I will install on each stock. I will be exclusive dealer on these and hope to see the first one in June. I also have got with Edgewood to make 4″ wide front bags that will fit a standard rest top and will cost the same as their standard 3″ bag. I will have some in stock but anyone can order them direct and not have to pay the $125 price for a custom bag.”

This 2010 story is reprinted at readers’ request.
In the past few years, tubeguns have really taken over in high power circles. At many matches you’ll see more tubeguns than conventional prone rifles, and a high percentage of those tubeguns will have been built using an Eliseo (Competition Machine) CSS chassis kit.

Step-By-Step Guide to Stock Set-Up
If you are a new tubegun shooter, or if you are planning a tubegun build this winter, our friend “GS Arizona” has prepared a comprehensive set-up guide for Eliseo tubeguns. Eliseo’s CSS chassis system affords a myriad of adjustments. Initially, one can be overwhelmed by all the variables: Length of Pull, Length to Sights, Length to Handstop, Cheekpad Height, Buttstock Offset, Buttstock Cant Angle, Handstop Angle, and Forearm Rotation.

In his Guide to Configuring the Eliseo Tubegun, GS Arizona shows how to adjust the Tubegun so that a shooter’s prone position is stable, repeatable, and comfortable. The article covers each adjustment, step by step. If you follow the instructions, starting with setting Length of Pull, you should find that your hold becomes more stable, the gun moves less from shot to shot, and your eye position relative to the sights is improved.

About the Set-Up: “Adjusting the stock is a process that you must work at and it builds on itself. As you get one adjustment right, the others begin to fall into place. Our hope is that you take from this article a system for adjusting the stock, not an exact set of dimensions; and that you understand that it will take continuous work over a period of time to really refine the adjustments. Your goal is not to obtain a ‘perfect set of dimensions’ but rather a perfect feel that accomplishes the three objectives of stability, durability and comfort and the knowledge of how to change the adjustments to achieve those objectives under varying conditions such as sloped firing lines or other terrain features.”

CLICK HERE to Read Full Eliseo Tubegun Article

Here’s a cleverly-designed convertible F-Class stock that can be used for either F-TR competition (with bipod) or for F-Open shooting (with front sled). Designed by Brian Fox of Fox Fireams UK, this all-new design features a barrel block, allowing a variety of actions to be used. The “Fox Stock” weighs just 5.7 pounds. This allows the F-TR version to easily make weight with competition bipod and a large scope. Our friend Vince Bottomley from the UK offers this report.

Fox F-Class Stock for F-TR and F-Open
by Vince Bottomley
Brian Fox’s new stock can be used for either F-TR with bipod (EVO bipod shown in photos) or for F-Open with front bag-rider attached via the full-length accessory rail on the underside. The bag-rider is machined from high-grade plastic and is three inches wide to suit most front rests.

Even for an F-TR rifle, the front sled is a useful accessory as it permits load development using a proper benchrest set-up. The stock is a one-piece, CNC-machined item from the tip of the fore-end to the rear of the action, making it very rigid. The barrel-clamp is not circular but a V-section. With this arrangement, a 1.25″-diameter barrel (with at least 5″ straight section) can be clamped without modification. The example shown is hard-anodized and a variety of colors will be offered.”

A Picatinny rail is optional. Brian always wanted to make the Picatinny rail part of the stock but has made it an option. You can order the Fox Stock with or without a Pic rail.

AR15-Type Rear Section Can Mount Various Buttstock Types
The buttstock section is mounted, AR15-style, on a horizontal shaft. Accordingly, you could adapt other AR15-compatible buttstocks if you wish. The Fox-made buttstock shown is designed to hold a vertically-adjustable rubber buttpad; however, the rubber pad is not showm in the photos.

Click Photo for full-screen version:

Charlie Sisk
SISK RIFLES
400 County Road 2340
Dayton, TX 77535
(936) 258-4984
Email: charlie [at] siskguns.com

*The patent is set to issue May 13, 2014, so it may not yet appear in patent databases.

Detachable Hammerhead Wing Section Plus Fat-Bottom Keel
To further reduce torque and improve tracking, the stock features an 8″-wide, detachable fore-end fixture. This “hammerhead” fore-end section has extended “wings” on both sides, making the rifle super-stable. The hammerhead unit can be removed, leaving the stock 3″ wide for use in registered benchrest matches where 3″ is the maximum width. The photos below show Seb’s gun in .284 Win Long-Range (LR) Light Gun mode.

Yes This Rig Shoots … In Both Configurations, Long-Range and Short
Seb has already used his switch-caliber, switch-barrel rig successfully in competition. Seb tells us: “The gun shot and tracked real well either in 6 PPC LV/HV mode or in .284 Win LG mode. I love it! With this gun I placed Top 10 for the Two-Gun at the Harry Madden Championship in Brisbane, Australia just a few days ago and took the silver medal for the 500m Flyshoot with the .284 Win on the next day. So who says a switch-barrel rifle can’t (or doesn’t) work?” And get this, Seb finished the stock just four days before the Brisbane match. He glued-in the action the evening before the match and shot it the next day in competition. Pretty impressive we’d say….

Seb Lambang — Indonesian Innovator
If you don’t know already, Seb Lambang is the designer/builder of the innovative SEB Coaxial rests. These are some of the best joystick rests on the market. The latest version, the SEB Neo Rest, is a brilliant design that folds flat for transport, yet offers extended vertical and horizontal travel and a rest top that can adjust from roughly 2″ wide to over 6″ in width. This Editor uses a SEB Neo for both bench and F-Class shooting and it is my favorite joystick rest. Rest in photos is a SEB Neo MAX.

Photo Courtesy Cloud Peak Gunworks. Custom Hydro-Dip Finish.

McMillan’s Dick Davis explained: “Our tactical stocks — the A2, A3, A4, A5 — are designed as prone stocks. The comb is very high and very straight, and they have very little drop at heel. They’re made to shoot when laying down on the ground. They don’t shoot well standing up offhand as a hunting stock”. Davis added: “The tactical shooters have been bugging [us] for years for a hunting stock they can shoot offhand”. For its new A3 Sporter, McMillan has modified the butt and the fore-arm to create a better platform for hunters. Now, Davis says: “We have a good off-hand stock with a vertical, tactical-style pistol grip that the tactical guys are used to shooting”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Benchrest Stocks — Good for Varminters As Well
In addition to the A3 Sporter, Dick Davis explained some of the differences between the older style McMillan Benchrest stock design, and the more modern Edge stock. Both stocks can work very well in a competitive benchrest gun, but they can also function very well for a varmint rifle shot from a front sandbag or pedestal rest. For a varmint gun, we actually really like the older benchrest stock. It has a comfortable hand grip and the round toe on the buttstock works well for bag-squeezers. Davis confirmed that this stock is quite popular with varminters: “Over 1/3 of McMillan benchrest stocks are used in field varmint rifles”. Shown below is the original McMillan benchrest stock.