Sheer Navy

The AICS For A Long Range Varminter

A quarter of a Century ago the late twice Olympic Medallist Malcolm Cooper MBE founded Accuracy International.  Over the last quarter of a century, AI has come to dominate the world market for sniper and anti materiel rifles. AI rifles are standard equipment of the British, German, Belgian, Dutch, Australian and Swedish Armies and the US Navy SEALs.

As renowned as they were, AI’s own bolt action rifles, the AW and AWM, were prohibitively expensive for most civilian sports shooters to purchase. In response, AI took the Remington 700 and imbued it with much of the AW/AWM’s ruggedness and weather resistance.

The Accuracy International Chassis Sustem or AICS is designed around a solid aluminium chassis, milled from a single billet of aircraft grade aluminium. Self centering bedding is provided by a V-shaped channel into which the rifle is secured with two bolts supplied with the AICS and which need to be torqued correctly. Chemical resistant polymer panels are bolted on to the chassis to give the stock its unique flat-sided ergonomics, making the rifle very easy to carry via a sling. AI offer a dedicated shoulder harness sling for their rifles and this secures to the AI via recessed H&K type sling swivels. Mounting points are included for both AI and Harris bipods, the latter displacing the former on British L115 sniper rifles. The panels include an ample thumbhole grip to control the weapon. The stock length is varied with bolt on spacers and the cheekpiece can be raised and lowered via screws to accommodate sights at various heights. The stock is available in olive green, dark earth and black.

The AICS comes in four variants. The Stage 1.5 is a fixed stock and the Stage 2.0 folds to the left – particularly useful for those riding in vehicles or fitting a sound moderator to their weapons. The Stages each have a long and short action version to suit the action lengths of the Remington 700. The short action can accommodate any cartridge based on the .308 whereas the long takes the .300 Winmag. The AICS is used by the US Navy SEALs on a .300 Winmag chambered sniper rifle, the Mk 13 Mod 5.

The AICS takes reliable detachable magazines – a real boost to the 700s capability in certain scenarios. The AI 5 round .308 magazine is flush fitting and the AI 10 round .308 magazine protrudes from the chassis. The AI 5 round .300 Win. magazine differs in being single column. These magazines have become a de facto standard for Remington 700 detachable mag conversions and are used by Surgeon Rifles and Badger Ordnance among others.

Fitting a Remington 700 to an AICS is just a matter of torquing two bolts supplied with the kit. The receiver is the only part of the rifle touching the chassis in it’s self aligning V grooves. This system is not completely integral like the epoxy bonding used in the military AIs, but it is a robust bedding system that won’t move due to humidity or temperature.

All this regidity comes at a price, with AICS models adding up to 5 lb. 11 oz. to the weight of your rifle. In a rifle with an already heavy barrel this is going to be onerous. You are probably not going to want to hunt deer for days on end over rough terrain with an AICS fitted rifle, but, for relatively static work the AICS is hard to beat, particularly if you do your varminting/predator control under less than ideal weather conditions. There are cheaper ways to end up with an accurate all weather rifle, but few will be quite as robust or have as much presence. Prices (in January 2011) range from $857 for the short action Stage 1.5 to $1100 for a long action Stage 2.0. This is, however, one upgrade that comes with an amazing pedigree.

Copyright Chris Pieterman 2011.

Evelyn Taft 2011/06/10 8PM KCAL9 HD; Sheer navy blue top