Has anyone tried out the new Adj. AR stock from Choate? It looks real good, and has sealed storage.

There was a thread about it in the AR discusssions forum a while back. It looks good and is priced well, but apparently it does not use a mil-spec tube.

Most of the Choate stuff I have used is pretty good. Not as well finished or attractive as most, but they work well and are pretty bomb proof.

I started one of those threads. I like it more know than then. It is a little heavier than th e6 position it replace. I actually like the weigh it helps balance out the rifle. I LOVE the cheek weld. Unlike the Veltor
nothing more to buy or to come loose so forth. I give it A+.

I bought one and installed it.  Shot well, good cheek weld, but too much space around tube, rattles.    I think it is a proprietary tube design also, not sure any other buttstock will fit.  I know my RRA wouldn't.  

Because of the fit, I took it off and put my original back on.  

Quoted: I bought one and installed it.  Shot well, good cheek weld, but too much space around tube, rattles.    I think it is a proprietary tube design also, not sure any other buttstock will fit.  I know my RRA wouldn't.   Because of the fit, I took it off and put my original back on.

I can take that off your hands for you.

Quoted: Quoted: I bought one and installed it.  Shot well, good cheek weld, but too much space around tube, rattles.    I think it is a proprietary tube design also, not sure any other buttstock will fit.  I know my RRA wouldn't.   Because of the fit, I took it off and put my original back on.   I can take that off your hands for you.

Thanks for the offer, but it in't something I can't fix. I just went ahead and put the factory one back on since I wanted to  shoot.  Nice try! (Besides, I'm saving all the parts to build one).

OK, I fixed the rattle in my Choate.  Took me a minute or two to figure out what I had on hand that might work. Solution was a small piece of the pile side of self stick velcro about 1/4" w and 1/2" l placed in the inside center of the stock.  Time will tell if it holds up. The stock is still a little wobbly on the tube with some side to side play, but less the the RRA stock.

Big-FED, did you buy the one with the tube or did you use your stock tube?  Also, can someone please explain the purpose of having a mil-spec tube?  Is it worth the additional cost?  Thanks.

Quoted: Big-FED, did you buy the one with the tube or did you use your stock tube?  Also, can someone please explain the purpose of having a mil-spec tube?  Is it worth the additional cost?  Thanks.

A mil-spec tube means that the lower receiver extension, what most call the buffer tube, is made to the mil-spec standard. For the sake of this discussion, that means that the outside diameter of the tube has a slightly smaller diameter. It takes more machining to make a tube mil-spec and therefore costs more to manufacture.

Stocks made by Colt, CMT/Stag, Crane, the new MagPul and Vltor require a mil-spec tube. Stocks made by CavArms, Bushmaster, RRA, Olympic and others use a larger diameter tube that is not mil-spec. I guess you could call them commercial spec. They use these because they are cheaper to manufacture.

This means that the stocks requiring a mil-spec tube may not fit on comercial tube. Stocks made to fit commercial tubes will go on a mil-spec tube but may be very loose. In most cases the tube does not cost more because it is mil-spec. You can get an entire CMT/Stag stock setup for $65 - $75 dollars. The tubes run around $40 - $50.

If you ever want to use a "high end" stock like the Vltor, Crane etc., then you want to get a mil-spec tube. If you don't care about such things then it doesn't matter as both will function just fine for most users.

So to summarize there are two standard sizes. The one that the government/military uses, mil-spec, and the one everyone else uses, "commercial spec." It just depends on what you want or need.

Thanks Lancelot for explaining everything!  So there really aren't any performance advantages that mil-spec tubes have over commercial tubes?  Since I have a Bushmaster, I figure I'll go ahead and get a Choate stock as it seems identical to the LMT SOPMOD stock and at half the price.  Any disagreements?  

Quoted: Big-FED, did you buy the one with the tube or did you use your stock tube?  Also, can someone please explain the purpose of having a mil-spec tube?  Is it worth the additional cost?  Thanks.

I bought package w/tube.  Have now taken it off.  I did tighten it up, but liked the the RRA original better.  It doesn't take but a few minutes to switch it out and I may put the Choate back on.  The stock itself will not fit anything except for the Choate tube, as far as I know.  I do know that the stock alone would not fit my factory RRA 6 pos tube.

I did like the cheek weld, but I am buying another full size RRA 24" Varminter w a fixed stock and am not sure what I'm going to do with the Choate.

Sorry about being ambivalent about this .

Quoted: Thanks Lancelot for explaining everything!  So there really aren't any performance advantages that mil-spec tubes have over commercial tubes?  Since I have a Bushmaster, I figure I'll go ahead and get a Choate stock as it seems identical to the LMT SOPMOD stock and at half the price.  Any disagreements?

I have owned and used Choate stuff for years. It is usually not as pretty as stuff made by other companies, but it is bomb proof. I had a Mini-14 in the trunk of my patrol car for years and the Choate stock held up great. I also have one on my duty 870.

You will probably not see any performance issues/differences. Choate makes good stuff and stands behind it.

If it works for you, use it. Don't worry about what the cool kids have or say, worry about how it works for you.

I don't know how "identical" the Choate is to the LMT. But again, if it works for you, that's all that matters.

I guess I'll give it a shot.  My duty M4 will get banged up so I don't think pretty will matter.