Picked up an Anvil 30 R-lock, and have to say I have mixed feelings about it.
I like the safety lock on the ARCA lever as well as the R-lock feature. However, I'm disappointed RRS reduced the spring washer stack in the ARCA clamp compared to my earlier non R-lock Anvil, and overall the new one isn't as smooth feeling as my old Gen 2 non R-lock Anvil 30.
My old Anvil 30 closes snugly on 3x genuine RRS rails, 3x Manners rails, and 2x Henderson rails, and is a bit light on closing force but still grabs well on 3x 360 Precision rails. Even though the lever closing is a bit on the light side on the 360 precision rails it holds tight enough the rifle really doesn't move under recoil or if you smack the buttpad hard.
If I adjust the new r-lock Anvil to close snugly on the RRS, Manners, and Henderson rails, it's a very very light close on the 360 precision rails and if you smack the rifle hard on the buttpad it slides in the clamp until an R-lock pin engages. If I snug up the adjuster screw on the ARCA clamp so it closes with moderate force on the 360 precision rails, it's too tight and will not close on on the RRS, Manners, and Henderson rails. The 360 Precision rails need about an extra 3/8-1/2 turn tighter on the clamp nut to have adequate clamping force.
I wish RRS kept the taller spring washer stack from the older non R-lock Anvil 30 in the new R-lock version, then it would accommodate more rail width variation before having to mess with the tension nut. Don't get me wrong, I like the ability to adjust the tension on the R-lock version so it can accommodate more rails-- with the older Anvil 30 and the non-adjustable ARCA clamp if you had an ARCA rail that was too small and the clamp didn't grab it tightly enough you were out of luck. I just wish the new R-lock version had a taller and possibly higher rate spring washer stack so it would maintain good tension on more rails before having to mess with the nut. I'm tempted to make my own splined nut that utilizes a 4x or 6x belleville washer stack with higher rate belleville washers. It would stick out a little bit from the side of the clamp bar, but with 2x or 4x more belleville washers it would likely clamp onto all of my ARCA rails with plenty of tension without needing adjustment of the nut.
Also, as it was received out of the box the clamp lever for the main pivot ball was somewhat gritty feeling and extremely draggy opening and closing even when the lever was in the open position, making it hard to judge how hard it's clamping just by the lever feel. My old Anvil has a clamp lever that swings freely with no drag when open and then has gradually increasing closing force as you close the lever making it easy to judge how much drag was on the head for moving the rifle around just by the feel of the lever. Couldn't do that on the new r-lock Anvil out of the box. However, if I slightly loosened 2 of the screws on the clamp lever arm it moved very smoothly and similar to my older Anvil. I took the new R-lock Anvil clamp lever apart, took some measurements, and lapped 0.003" off each of the thrust washers to eliminate the drag in the open position; the thrust washers were a little thick causing the drag on the lever.
As of now the new Anvil 30 R-lock isn't as smooth as my old Anvil when panning around with light tension on the clamp lever; you can feel a bit of stiction when moving the rifle around, but I'm hoping that will wear in and smooth out with use. My older Anvil is butter smooth but it has quite a bit of use on it.
So far, not ready to part with my old non R-lock Anvil 30 until I get some more time on this new R-lock version...
