When it comes to precision rifle stocks and chassis, most manufacturers have moved to aluminum or composite materials. WOOX has gone in a different direction. They blend the old with the new. Their chassis are a mix of aircraft grade aluminum with the feel of a wood stock. The WOOX Wildman is their entry-level stock while the Exactus has elements of a precision stock. They sent them both in for us to check them out.

WOOX Wildman

The Wildman is an upgrade stock. At the moment they only have them for Remington 700 BDL. They have them for long and short actions. I had them send me one in short action and borrowed my friend Craig’s Remington 700 which you see above.

The WOOX Wildman chassis is braided aluminum with wood stock added to the front and back. As you can see below, the front end has your typical sling stud for a sling and bipod.

The rear end of the stock looks like a traditional rifle wood stock. The walnut is very appealing. Oddly under the stock has a bit of modernity, a QD sling stud.

WOOX definitely focuses on appearances. Check out the packaging. Compare that to the boring plain brown cardboard boxes you get with an HK SP5 or FN SCAR 17.

The mountainscape is a sleeve and when you slide it off, you see this Xray looking image with details highlighted against a black background.

As you lift this cardboard cover off, you find this closed cell foam lid with the WOOX name molded into it.

Remove the lid and the Wildman is nestled in a laser-cut closed cell foam.

The Wildman weighs almost 3 lbs 5 ounces.

 

WOOX Exactus

I will be honest, I am not really a fan of traditional wood stocks. I care more about practicality so I was more interested in the Exactus chassis. The Exactus is a slightly upgraded version of the Wildman. While I said I am not a fan of traditional wood stocks, I have to say I was a little bit disappointed that the Exactus only comes in black or FDE. If the stock was aluminum or composite, sure black or FDE would be ok. But to have wood stained or painted in black or FDE just does not feel right to me. Why cover up the grain of the wood?

Feature-wise, the Exactus has more modern designs incorporated into it. The foregrip of the stock looks similar to the Wildman but now the bottom is flattened and has an aluminum M-LOK insert.

The texture appears to be laser engraved.

 

The WOOX Wildmand and Exactus aluminum chassis appear to be identical. The only difference is the wood pieces bolted to the aluminum.

The Exactus rear stock is very different from the WOOX Wildman. While they both share the same LOP adjustment shims, the Exactus has an adjustable cheek rest. Just insert the included Torx driver into the hole you see on the side. Release the tension and you can adjust the cheek rest up or down.

At the bottom of the stock, WOOX removed the QD sling stud of the Wildman and added a Picatinny rail for adding a rear monopod.

I am not a fan of rear monopods and prefer to use a rear bag. I would have preferred WOOX to have carried over their design at the front end of the stock and inlay a short M-LOK insert rather than a Picatinny rail. That way you can add a rail or leave it alone and the stock could act as a bag rider.

Since the QD sling stud was removed from the bottom of the stock, they added it to the left side of the stock.

Below are comparison pictures of the WOOX Wildman versus the Exactus.

 

Out of the box, without installation, the Exactus weighs 4 pounds 2.8 ounces.

 

Remington BDL? Why?

While the WOOX chassis are nice to look at and try to bring the traditional wooden stock to the 21st century, they somewhat missed the ball when it comes to feeding the Remington 700. The aluminum core of the chassis is cut for Remington 700 BDL spring floor plates. I don’t own a Remington 700 BDL and neither do any of my friends. I had hoped I could use the Magpul bottom metal and use Magpul AICS magazines but sadly it does not fit. Thanks to my friend Paul, I learned about Kwik Klip. It is a bottom metal with a short 4rd magazine designed specifically for BDL stocks.

 

 

The Kwik Klip cost $120 a Cabela’s! It would have been easy to redesign the hole in the WOOX Chassis for a Magpul bottom metal or anything else that uses AICS pattern magazines. Legacy Sports has a bottom metal insert for Remington 700 BDL and it is only $69 with the magazine. I could not find one and did not want to wait for it to be shipped.

 

Toward the rear of the metal stock tang are some textured notches just below the rear of the action.

Woox has told me that they are working on a new cut for bottom metal that will take AICS magazines. They project it will be ready in June.

WOOX Stocks QC Issues

One of my complaints about the WOOX Wildman and Exactus chassis is how boring the metal core is.

I feel the slab sides of the metal receiver is too smooth. They could have embellished the aluminum a little bit with some CNC cuts to match the lines and aesthetics of the wood grip and forearm. Upon closer inspection of the WOOX Wildman and Exactus, you can see some cosmetic issues with the stock.  There are faint scratches.

The Exactus is not immune from the QC issues.

The fitment of my friend, Deven’s Remington 700 had some issues with the Exactus. The bolt handle would bind against the metal chassis on the Exactus.

When asked about these issues, here is WOOX response.

We had a few in the batch that had the blemishes under the anodizing. We have addressed it and it shouldn’t be an issue going forward. As for the bolt handle cut out. You are the 3rd person we’ve had to have this problem. We have designed the next run to have more of an angle so this won’t be a problem.

Final Thoughts On The WOOX Chassis

The WOOX Wildman has the best aesthetics but is lacking in modern upgrades. The Exactus solves this problem but creates other issues. The decision to make the Exactus somewhat tactical by only offering it in black or FDE feels uninspired. Their product line has two beautiful stocks with walnut furniture, the Wildman and Furiosa. I would have preferred they offered the Exactus in a third option, regular walnut as well.

Price-wise the Wildman is on sale for only $449 while the Exactus sells for $539. However, the fact that you are forced into the Remington BDL pattern is a bit silly to me and a bit annoying. I want 5-10 rd single stack magazines for these chassis. At the moment Legacy Sports is the only game in town. But seriously, how hard would it be to redraw and cut the aluminum chassis to accept a Magpul Remington 700 bottom metal?

Another issue I have with the WOOX chassis is the weight. This is a big problem, the WOOX chassis bolt gun is heavier than traditional stocks. And yet designed to look like a hunting rifle. This gun would not be my first pick to go hunting. Typically hunters want a lightweight rifle since they spend most their time carrying it to where they are going and then back. So what else could these chassis be used for? If you use the WOOX chassis as a PRS stock, I think you will find the stock a bit lacking for that role. The wood furniture could easily be scratched from trying to manipulate it quickly for a PRS match which can result in scratching up the wood stock. So that leaves it as simply a bench gun.

If WOOX updates their chassis for more modern bottom metal and magazines it will make for a more practical rifle. I do like the aesthetics of blending the traditional with modern materials but I feel like the aluminum needs a bit of work and further design. For more information go to the WOOX website.