The market is currently flooded with chassis systems for the Remington 700 rifle. This is for good reason. Chassis systems offer several advantages over a traditional stock. One significant disadvantage to chassis systems is cost. Most are much more expensive than traditional rifle stocks. For this reason I was extremely excited when Modular Driven Technologies sent us one of their $399 LSS Chassis.

The LSS Chassis is a billet aluminum center section that allows you to install your choice of AR15 buttstock and pistol grip. LSS is an acronym for “Light Sniper System”. This is an accurate description for the 1.6 lb. piece. Of course the final weight will depend on what stock and grip you choose, but it is quite easy to put together a light weight system.

We installed our LSS on a Remington 700 Varmint Rifle chambered in .308. The LSS is currently available for Remington, Tikka and Savage rifles. It accepts both .308 and .223 size AICS compatible magazines. Our .308 AICS mags fit perfectly.

The buttstock we chose was the  versatile Magpul CTR. The CTR offers us quite a few options in this application. The supplemental friction lock snugs the CTR down almost as tightly as a fixed stock. No rattling on the extension tube. It comes equipped with a QD socket for sling mounting and a grippy rubber butt pad. One of the biggest benefits to using the Magpul CTR is that you can install a Magpul Riser. The CTR was designed to be mounted inline with the bore on an AR15. When we mount it on a bolt action rifle, it ends up a little lower. In order to gain our comb height back we need to add a spacer. Magpul has already accounted for this and produces three cheek risers (.25″, .5″ and .75″) that snap right onto the CTR or MOE rifle stocks. The .75″ Cheek Riser was perfect for our application with a low mounted 44mm objective rifle scope. Since .75″ is the highest Magpul makes, some ingenuity may be required for high mounted scopes with large objective bells.

Modular Driven Technologies was nice enough to send out one of their new Enhanced Adjustable Recoil Pads. While this isn’t required for our purposes, it is a very nice addition. Shooting a light .308 for a hundred rounds in a day can leave a little love mark on your shoulder. The Enhanced Adjustable Recoil Pad not only gives you a cushy place to put your shoulder, it also allows for three ways of adjustment. Placing the recoil pad exactly where the pocket of your shoulder naturally lies, greatly aids in consistency.

There is a very wide range of buttstocks that can be attached to the LSS Chassis. However some do require additional considerations. The LSS was designed to accept a collapsable AR receiver extension tube. It does not have the indent to accept the locating lug on a fixed AR15 stock. If you choose to use a stock like the Magpul UBR, PRS or even a standard A2 stock, you will need the $49 MDT Fixed Stock Adapter.

Options for pistol grips are almost limitless. MDT does offer one recommendation when making your grip selection. Grips should not be equipped with a “duck bill” that extends up the back. We got away with installing a Falcon Ergo Tactical Deluxe Grip because the grip is a soft rubber compound that has a considerable amount of flex to it. A grip like a Magpul MOE would most likely not work without considerable modification. Falcon does offer a “flat top” version of the Ergo Tactical Deluxe. We may be switching to that grip in the future to reduce the reach for my trigger finger.

MDT ships the LSS Chassis with a bipod mounting stud installed. Most of our bipods are equipped with a picatinny rail mount. MDT offers two options to accommodate this. The forend is drilled and tapped to accept Magpul L3 and L5 polymer rail sections. If polymer is not is not your thing, then MDT offers their own aluminum version. The 5″ rail version also offers a QD sling socket that matches nicely with the socket on the Magpul CTR. Installing the rails only takes a couple minutes. Once the bipod stud is removed, the rail sections can be removed or replaced without removing the Chassis from the action.

Once we finished configuring the LSS, we spent several months working with it in different weather conditions and different shooting styles. I initially thought that the short forend was going to cause some issues. I shot the system offhand, prone, barricaded and whatever else we could throw at it. I found that the forend requires some technique adjustment. After figuring it out, the forend didn’t cause any issues.

The Modular Driven Technologies LSS Chassis retails for $399. This is on the low end of the chassis price spectrum. When taking the cost into account, you need to also add in the cost of your chosen stock and grip. The LSS does not include the required AICS magazine. This also adds about $70 to the cost. In our case this raised our total to approximately $570 to get our rifle up and running.

The LSS is available finished in black, flat dark earth and OD green Cerakote. This is a great, highly durable finish. We have spend a lot of time dragging Cerakoted items around in less that friendly environments and it holds up very well.

Overall, the MDT LSS system just works. It offers a lightweight option that adds functionality to your bolt gun. We can definitely recommend it to shooters wanting to add a chassis to their rifle.