Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire world and its various guns, ammunitions, sports, and history. Precision rifle shooting has taken off in popularity over the last few years and that excitement and enthusiasm have bled through its centerfire origins right on through to rimfire shooters like myself. I attended my first Rimfire Precision Rifle Series (PRS) match in 2021 and since then I’ve been heavily researching the subject to learn all the ins and outs as well as get a read on some of the trends that the niche sport has taken on. I recently had the opportunity to review one of Modular Driven Technologies’ Oryx chassis for the Ruger 10/22 platform. Today we’ll be going over a few of the details and observations I’ve seen with the MDT Oryx chassis and how I think it can be a boon to curious or new rimfire PRS shooters.

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The Rimfire Report: The Budget-Friendly MDT Oryx Chassis for Ruger 10/22

Being budget-friendly doesn’t exactly mean cheap. The MDT Oryx chassis will cost you about $400 for the stock alone, however, for those familiar with PRS chassis systems this shouldn’t be a surprise. PRS rifles tend to fetch a pretty high price and while bolt action guns like the Ruger Precision Rimfire tend to dominate the scoreboard, a handful of match winners do in fact use 10/22 rifles to great effect. Since the 10/22 is a viable option for these types of competitions, it is no surprise that MDT made an Oryx model specifically for the popular rimfire rifle.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• Chassis panels come in ODG
• Weight: 4.2lbs
• LOP: 13 – 13.5″ (Additional LOP can be achieved with our spacer kit)
• Material: 6061 Aluminum
• Finish: MIL Spec Type III hard anodize
• Accepts AR-15 Grips (included)
• M-LOK accessories supported with slots along underside of forend. Great for ARCA or picatinny rails.
• Uses AICS pattern magazines (not included)
• Free floating barrel
• Maximum barrel diameter of 1.250″
• It’s available for many popular rifle actions like the Remington 700 and clones, Tikka, Savage and more.
• M-Lok accessories are easily attached to the bottom of the forend.
• Supports multiple Calibers, from .22LR, .223, 6.5 creedmoor up to .338 Lapua Magnum

Fitting and Installation

The installation process for one of these chassis systems is quite simple. All you need to do is remove your 10/22 from its native stock and drop it right into the Oryx. The chassis features extra internal supports for the receiver and an additional point of contact at the rear of the receiver by way of a clamping system on the chassis.

If you’re still trepidacious about installing this thing without a guide, MDT has provided a simple instruction manual with a detailed guide on the entire installation process, including torque specs. This is one of the more simple installation processes I’ve had with a rifle and no additional adjustments or alterations to the rifle were made in order to get it to fit inside the chassis.

The MDT Oryx chassis makes itself much more affordable than the leading competitors’ stocks because of a few different factors. First, the chassis is made in British Columbia, Canada as opposed to the United States. Second, the chassis is made from a single piece of 6000 series aluminum making it both insanely durable and it’s very simple in its design. The design is so simple in fact that the MDT Oryx can fit over 20 different barreled actions. It’s likely that if you’ve got a rifle you’d like to stuff in a chassis then the MDT Oryx has a fit for it.

The aluminum core is protected by some nice high-quality ODG polymer panels on either side of the forend which will help protect the anodizing from any scrapes, bumps, and dings your rifle is likely to receive at a rimfire PRS match. The overmolded grip that the Oryx comes with is very nice and has a decent-sized palm swell which compliments the rear of the chassis where there is a small shelf to rest your thumb on either side of the grip. This is a small feature but I felt that it was worth mentioning as a lot of customized grips have a feature like this and the Oryx simply just includes it as part of its design.

Adjustments

Working our way from the back to the front of the chassis, the MDT Oryx has both length of pull and comb height adjustments, although the length of pull cannot be easily changed in the field and increasing the length of pull requires the purchase of an additional spacer kit (about $30). Meanwhile, the comb height adjustment requires an Allen wrench but this is doable if you keep a small set with you.

As mentioned earlier and seen in the specifications, the Oryx can accommodate any type of AR-15 style grip that you choose but it already comes with one. I found the included grip to be quite comfortable and I never felt at any point I was being hindered by its design. Just above the grip sits a screw where you can tighten or loosen the clamping action that keeps the rear of the 10/22 receiver secure within the chassis.

The remainder of the chassis has M-LOK attachment spots on the underside of the forend which is completely flat. This has the dual purpose of allowing you to have a more stabilized shooting position off of barriers and the like but also allows you to attach a bipod if that is more your style. I’ve seen competitors do both and I’m still personally working out whether or not I like one way or the other.

Does it increase accuracy?

I’ve got a pretty good handle on my Ruger Precision Rimfire and I’m able to squeeze out groups a little over 1 MOA in size. My 10/22 on the other hand usually struggles to get about 2-MOA on a good day but in the end, that really has nothing to do with your chassis or your stock. The MDT Oryx will not make your rifle more accurate, however, it may help you become more accurate because of its design features.

When I took the MDT Oryx to the range to test it, I used two types of ammunition CCI 40-grain Standard Velocity and SK 40-grain High Velocity match ammunition. As many of you will remember from my testing of the SK Match ammo, I wasn’t getting any clear difference in accuracy over the CCI Standard Velocity which is considered by many competitors to be the best choice for rimfire PRS. However, I saw a drastic increase in group consistency with the SK High Velocity match, and the Oryx chassis made the rifle feel much more balanced and solid rather than lightweight and handy.

This is important as when you are moving through different shooting positions during a course of fire, your rifle’s weight can actually aid in your accuracy by giving you a more stable shooting platform. In addition, it takes the usually front-heavy 10/22 and puts its center of gravity somewhere just in front of the magwell. This design feature should help you when you’re moving from target to target.

The Bottom Line

Pros

The MDT Oryx is affordable, easy to install, comes with a simple set of adjustments, and has all the features you’d need to get into rimfire PRS Shooting with a 10/22. The polymer panels are great for protecting the chassis and over the couple of months that I had the Oryx, I didn’t notice any separation of the panels from the aluminum chassis. The one-piece aluminum construction gives the whole rig a super solid feel and this inspires confidence when shooting. The grip is extremely comfortable and I’d be surprised if anyone actually swapped out the included grip for anything else.

Cons

There are a few things I wasn’t so keen about when using the MDT Oryx. First, I didn’t like that I needed to bring tools along to adjust the length of pull or comb height. While you generally shouldn’t be messing with stuff like this in the field, having a tool-less adjustment system is great for when your situation changes and you need to make a quick change. In addition, if you need to increase the length of pull, this requires you to spend an extra $30 when these spacers could have easily been included in the box. There is also a lack of any sort of sling swivel studs if you’re accustomed to running with a sling.

Conclusions

So who is the MDT Oryx 10/22 Chassis for and what is the bottom line for it? I think the MDT Oryx is most certainly for those who are curious about using a chassis system over a traditional stock and don’t want to spend $500 to $700 on one of the higher-end units just yet. Based on online reviews and conversations I’ve had over the last couple of months. I’ve seen people who have started out with the MDT Oryx and then moved on to more complex and more feature-rich chassis and also people who own 3 or 4 of the Oryx Chassis for each of their rifles. With the price point and feature list, I’d highly recommend the MDT Oryx chassis for newcomers to the sport, especially if they are on a budget. With a standard 10/22, a decent piece of glass, and this chassis, you can definitely get out of the door and into your first rimfire PRS competition for less than $1000.

As always, I’d like to hear your thoughts and comments on the MDT Oryx chassis. If you’ve had experience with one, what are your thoughts on it and how do you use yours? Thanks for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report! We’ll see you next time!

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