Hi
@DanUSMC
You've gotten a lot of good advice here thus far but please allow me to be the contrarian.
I've played in this rimfire sport for over half a decade now, during that short amount of time NRL22 was the original 'hotness', then came MARS (at least here in the NE of the country). NRL22 responded and we had NRL22X and MARS adjusted as well.
At this point- between NRL & MARS... well they are encountering the same drama that PRS & USPSA have succumbed to as of recent times. The drama I'm mentioning is driving competitors (and hosting ranges) towards PRS22. Just something to be aware of is all.
When I started this game, I used a Ruger 10/22 Target with a Vortex Diamondback FFP and a Harris bipod. The 'game' kept evolving and I've since moved into a Kidd Supergrade with an Athlon Cronus G2 & atlas bipod.
A little about me and something to help explain that transition- years ago I was VERY big into paintball, to the point I don't even want to think about what I've spent chasing points over that time in my life. So when I approached rimfire matches- I was (admittedly) very conservative/hesitant in my approach.
What I've learned over my years in participating (with a more 'value' type of approach) is everyone is chasing points by trying to purchase better gear. I've done almost all of it myself but when it comes to dollar to value here's my experience in the rimfire game...
Assuming you have a decent enough rifle & scope- the best money you can spend is to buy a Kestrel & Garmin Chronograph. Honest to god, that's going to make the biggest difference in your scores. After that, go to one of the two Lapua testing facilities in the US to get your rifle matched to a particular lot of ammo (Center-x, Midas, whatever blows your skirt up among the Lapua offerings).
After that- regardless of what rifle you're running, thing #2 is to get yourself the best trigger available. Thing #3 is to get yourself the best barrel available.
Moving past that- we can start talking about optics. Again, I have no issue being the contrarian, but using my own experience, I'd recommend you upgrade your optics used to view other participants (I'm talking bino's/spotting scopes). That alone will give you more information to process the 'lay of the land' than anything else. Then upgrade the scope on your rifle.
After all of that is done- now we can talk about bipods. I'm not saying bipods aren't important- I'm just saying that when you're focused on improving your scores- all of the above suggestions are far more pertinent in that pursuit than bipods are.
Now back to your original question- I know this is the internet and anyone can make whatever claims they care to, and you're more than welcome to dismiss my story- but I shoot with some of the absolute best competitors every month in the rimfire precision rifle game and this advice is coming from everything I've learned from them (notice I'm not making any 'tall tales' about my own accomplishments though).
I will say that those folks are using the MDT Ckyepod now but whatever points they get from using that above say.. an Atlas, is so far down the line of everything I mentioned previously.
Best of luck to you, it's a heck of a hobby/sport but my humble suggestion is to get everything else dialed in before worrying about bipods being the thing holding you back is all.
-LD
honestly the pan feature is something I didn't think of, I'm going to try out at home and implement if I like it. I can see it being very useful to leave the bipod still and just shift your body.
