When I was first building out this 10/22, I had my eye on the Oryx but ended up buying a Magpul X22 Hunter stock just for cost reasons (review here). The Oryx Sportsman Rifle Chassis is well suited for getting started in precision shooting, like PRS for centerfire, or precision 22LR shooting competitions like ORPS in Canada or NRL22 in the US.
Oryx asked if I wanted to try one of these for my 10/22 and I emphatically accepted.
Build & Features
Oryx is a sub-brand of MDT. While MDT stocks (read my review on the MDT HS3 stock here) are generally a bit more pricey and can be built with a variety of grips and stocks, the Oryx is more of a “one and done” complete stock solution. I weighed the stock at 1650 grams (3.6lbs)
The Oryx is available for a wide variety of centerfire actions as well as for rimfire actions like the Tikka T1X, CZ455/457, and the Ruger 10/22 (pictured.)
Oryx Features & Specs
- Room to free float a 1.25″ barrel (loads of space for standard 0.920″ bull barrels on a 10/22)
- Weight: 4.2lbs
- Aluminum skeleton with plastic colored panels (you can get new color sets for $45)
- Includes palm swell pistol grip
- MLok slots on the flat bottom forend (they also sell a full length ARCA rail that’ll fit the bottom)
- MLok slot on the bottom of the buttstock if you want to run a rear monopod, sling QD cup, or other accessory
- Adjustable cheek riser
- LOP can be adjusted with stock shims
- On some centerfire rifle actions, it enables use of standard AICS mags
- There’s a bit of a shelf on both sides just above the grip that you can use as a thumb rest
Shooting the Oryx Chassis
The cheek riser is nice in use. It’s not quick adjustable like some stocks: you’ll need to loosen 2 allen bolts on one side to adjust the cheek rest for height, and then tighten them down. But just having some adjustment ability is nice. Oryx sells a $12 adjustment knob set, highly recommended if you want to change your cheek riser height somewhat often.
Even at its lowest, the cheek riser is high on the gun due to the straight recoil design so you can’t run super low-mount optics. You probably aren’t anyways if you’re gearing up a rifle for precision shooting.
The length of pull is adjustable through installing plastic shims. It comes with one shim in there already, so you can take it down shorter, but you’ll need to purchase a shim kit if you want some adjustability in length of pull. If you’re cheap/lazy/don’t care if it doesn’t exactly match up, you could chop the nubs off Magpul shims and use those. Buttpad cant is not adjustable.
I think an obvious upgrade that most owners will want to do is to add a full length ARCA rail to the Oryx. MLok is good if you want to semi-permanently install accessories like a bipod or QD sling cup, but ARCA is better for infinite adjustability on bipods, tripod mounts, ARCA bag plates, and other PRS specific accessories.
Specifically on the 10/22 version, there’s a bolt that clamps the rear of the receiver in place. This stops wobble on the 10/22, which can be an issue on 10/22s because of the single action screw design. No wobble with the clamp.
Competitors and Conclusion
Where the Oryx competes depends on what action you’re putting it on, and for what.
For a rimfire or 10/22 stock, the Oryx is near the best of what you can buy. It competes directly with stocks like the Grey Birch, but also competes with aluminum chassis systems where you have to add AR pistol grips and buffer tube+AR style stocks to: such as the KIDD tactical chassis, Crazy Ivan, Enoch Odin, SBI chassis, and even the DLask/MDT chassis. Compared with these other chassis systems, the Oryx is a more complete /matching package. If you’re looking to build a custom 10/22, check out my article on that.
When it comes to the centerfire PRS world, the competition landscape completely changes. In that world, the Oryx is a downright affordable budget/entry option compared with popular offerings from Masterpiece arms, XLR, and AICS.
At its heart, the Oryx Chassis is a very practical chassis with practical features. If you’re looking for a good stock upgrade that will offer some practical benefits without breaking the bank, give it a look.
