KINETIC RESEARCH GROUP - Tikka T3x Enclosed Forend

The instructions were not as clear as I'd have hoped for my example. Once I dove in and started removing the original it was pretty self explanatory. Fitment was fine. I was concerned about the mag well and any issues after reading a previous review but I had none. The forward rail on this seems to place the PVS30 higher than it would seem it should by 1/4-3/8". The top of the optics are relatively in line and not centered. With a quality day optic without edge distortion it isn't proving to be an issue.

So i installed this forend on my howa 6.5 creed bravo rifle without any difficulty. I was nervous as to the previous review i read but took my chance and ordered it. Installation is pretty straight-foreward but like the other review stated the front action block screw needs to be removed to slide forend into position. Which is no big deal because leaving the rear action screw tight does not allow the action to be disturbed from its original position. Simply slide action block back in alignment and torque it down, simple as that! I will agree with the magazine insert not having any adjustment to compensate for some of the slop, but everthing does function properly. Overall decent product. However i feel it may be a little pricey for what it is.

Installed on a Howa 1500 Bravo chassis. On the plus side, it definitely looks the business, makes a fairly plain chassis system look very high end. Unfortunately that's the only good thing. Installation on the Howa system is a MAJOR PAIN. I can't speak for the Rem or Tikka system, maybe they are better designed, but this thing is really poorly engineered. First issue is in order to install the forend you have to disassemble the action from the chassis because if you don't remove the front action screw the forend won't slide over it and you can't install it on the chassis. This is a big deal on the Howa because the fitting of the recoil lug area to the chassis is critical, and there is a floating aluminum spacer that rides in a channel in the chassis that has to also be carefully fitted. Once that action screw is out it throws off the alignment, AND it allows that silly little spacer to slide all over the place, often getting stuck in an area of the chassis where you can't get to it without removing the barreled action. So, to Install you have tor remove the front action screw, slide the forend over the front of the chassis (praying you don't scratch the barrel up), then grow an extra set of hands to simultaneously align the forend, hold that little aluminum insert in place, and torque down the action screw. Once that is done THEN you have to fit the forend to the chassis, which involved two different size allen keys (WHY!?!) and four to six screws. Also, the instructions provided are clearly for the Rem 700, not the Howa, so good luck. Once I got everything installed the magazine well was so loose that I had about a 1/8in movement in the inserted magazine. OK... so the instructions say that the forend can be adjusted to tailor the magwell fit. Nope. The forend can be moved a tiny amount if everything is loosened up, but once you tighten it down it goes back to its original position because they very cleverly used countersunk screws for the four main bolts holding the chassis to the forend. And countersunk screws are self centering so..... no matter what you do it always goes back to the same position. So there's a plastic magwell/barrier stop that LOOKS like it should be adjustable. There is a single center bolt on top/front that is fit into a slot, looks like it should move back and forth to adjust the mag well. Right? Wrong. The two bolts at the back of the magwell do NOT have any adjustment so there is no possible way to actually adjust the magwell. Oh, and to find this out I had to COMPLETELY disassmble the whole thing because the bolt at the top of the magwell is only accessable with the forend removed, and doing so requires you to remove the front action screw, which then means you have to completely re-install and re-align everything. And then finally when all this is done, I stripped one of the two mag well screws, which are threaded directly into the thin aluminum wall of the forend with no reinforcement. Using the short end of an allen key to get them finger tight mind you. This might all be an issue with the Bravo chassis, or unique to the Howa version. But here is no excuse for the engineering issues that make it ten times more difficult to install than it should be. If they couldn't figure out how to make it easy to install and adjust on the Howa then they shouldn't have released it.