Bipod choices?

[Quietguy88]

Ok.. so..

I have been using a tall model psr from atlas. Got a few thousand rounds downrange from behind/on it. Works well...ish..

I like and dislike the pan. I dislike the loose, sloppy feel it gives. I like the rapid transition across an entire field while engaging multiple targets at various ranges.

I have tightened that tension knob all the way up(fingertip tight. Once the thread stopped turning with forefinger and thumb, I stopped) which vastly helps feel. For all of about three sweeps across the field. Then, the screw loosens. Any time you pan the same direction as the thread loosens in, the knob comes loose. So, I am not pleased. The bipod is rugged.. I am a 210lbs 69" tall dwarf.. long gone are my young days of being 160lbs. Still can ruck decent, still generally shoot expert. No more skinny pants... well.. I lean on it like loading a 240B in a dug hole for legs. The bipod handles it. Only complaint is the damn pan goes back to being entirely backed off before I shoot twenty rounds across the field. Which causes whiskey dick limp, loose, floppy feel up front.

I cannot see any way to fix this issue...

Which brings me to - what other panning bipods are out there?

I almost bought a CAL. Cant and lock. However, engaging from 10 to 2 oclock from a single position is nice. The smooth feel. Whereas, a rigid pod seems to bounce or drag. Pardon my poor comprehension. Just how it feels to me.

Outside of a method to prevent the psr from untensioning the pan preload... what can you all help me with? Insight, gear tech for the psr, experience with other bipods.

Drop knowledge bombs on me. I am open to all talk. Just not bashing. If you have not used any of the bipods to be discussed please share. Like, "i never used. A guy I know likes his" or "i saw this company just drop product Y. No hands on yet. Looks nice." Even a "have you tried modifying the psr by doing....."

Thank you all!

 

[hafejd30]

That’s a lot to comprehend,

I think atlas cal Gen II, TBAC or Accutac are great bipods. I own all three. Atlas being my favorite. If you search on this site you’ll find lots of threads discussing your questions

Seems more dislike the pan feature vs those that like it

 

[Dough300]

Atlas if you can afford it. Clamp or qd doesn't matter. It is lighter than Harris, easier to use and more versatile.

 

[Quietguy88]

That’s a lot to comprehend,

I think atlas cal Gen II, TBAC or Accutac are great bipods. I own all three. Atlas being my favorite. If you search on this site you’ll find lots of threads discussing your questions

Seems more dislike the pan feature vs those that like it

I have read a bunch of threads. A lot just seem to argue amongst themselves and few seem clear cut. Also, it has been a bit.

To me, if I could have a solid and moderate tension of the pan feature that does not self loosen during use.. I would be happy.

Almost bought a gen2 cal. Not sure if it will make me happy over the psr.

Another issue I have is the pan feature can be deployed in an already maxed out state.

Shame no one has a better design.

Thank you!!

 

[Quietguy88]

Get rid of the PSR. It's a sloppy support. It's also why they came out with the CAL. It is a much better bipod. You don't really want pan. In order to engage a target at the 10 and then transition to the 2 to engage another target you're going to either compromise your natural point of aim in your position (pan), or you're going to rebuild your position for the second target. This would involve picking the gun up and moving it so it's inline with your body like it was for the first target. If you're transitioning from one target to another and they are spread out enough, you're going to have to realign your natural point of aim (NPOA). If you're just shifting your upper body around you're fucking it up.

I'd also not recommend hard loading your bipod. There's nothing wrong with doing that for one group or engagement but the issue becomes an elevational zero shift between a hard load, neutral load, and a reverse load or pulling the gun back into you. The way you mount the gun(position building) has the biggest impact on accuracy and most important, maintaining a consistent zero(and therefore accurate data at distance). Go out and hard load a bipod, shoot 5rds and then neutral load it and shoot five in the same poa. You will see an elevation shift. The issue is that besides prone in soft dirt, most positions do not allow a hard load. Shooting on smooth concrete, positional shooting, out of a sling, etc. So your zero position and 80% of your other positions will have different zeros. A neutral load or reverse load better replicates the rest of your shooting. The other issue is as much as you can force 210lbs into the gun, the recoil is still going to take you for a ride. And the semi-auto, two-stroke follow through is going to push you back and then after it dissipates your body is going to push back forward to return to it's NPOA and the BCG and buffer are going to slam forward. For this reason I find a reverse load actually mitigates recoil in a semi-auto better.

That sloppy fore and aft play in a PSR bipod exacerbates all that.

Appreciated. I will experiment at my next convenience. My rifle has a very large support on the handguard.. is the mega arms with proprietary handguard.. not sure how much it is causing a shift, but I will most certainly give this a go.

When panning, I am dealing with the rifle recoiling into me and shifting, however with enough load it seemed to mitigate this. Though, if I am infact observing a shift in POA/POI just from pressing into the weapon...

 

[Quietguy88]

Get rid of the PSR. It's a sloppy support. It's also why they came out with the CAL. It is a much better bipod. You don't really want pan. In order to engage a target at the 10 and then transition to the 2 to engage another target you're going to either compromise your natural point of aim in your position (pan), or you're going to rebuild your position for the second target. This would involve picking the gun up and moving it so it's inline with your body like it was for the first target. If you're transitioning from one target to another and they are spread out enough, you're going to have to realign your natural point of aim (NPOA). If you're just shifting your upper body around you're fucking it up.

I'd also not recommend hard loading your bipod. There's nothing wrong with doing that for one group or engagement but the issue becomes an elevational zero shift between a hard load, neutral load, and a reverse load or pulling the gun back into you. The way you mount the gun(position building) has the biggest impact on accuracy and most important, maintaining a consistent zero(and therefore accurate data at distance). Go out and hard load a bipod, shoot 5rds and then neutral load it and shoot five in the same poa. You will see an elevation shift. The issue is that besides prone in soft dirt, most positions do not allow a hard load. Shooting on smooth concrete, positional shooting, out of a sling, etc. So your zero position and 80% of your other positions will have different zeros. A neutral load or reverse load better replicates the rest of your shooting. The other issue is as much as you can force 210lbs into the gun, the recoil is still going to take you for a ride. And the semi-auto, two-stroke follow through is going to push you back and then after it dissipates your body is going to push back forward to return to it's NPOA and the BCG and buffer are going to slam forward. For this reason I find a reverse load actually mitigates recoil in a semi-auto better.

That sloppy fore and aft play in a PSR bipod exacerbates all that.

How does that 5h compare to everything? Is it worth the extra cost, weight and footprint?

 

[mheimer_45]

Just think if someone made a product you could put on the threads to keep nuts from loosening by themselves.

Seems like I heard about that awhile back. Locktite or something…..

Sorry brother I’m no help. Just bustin your chops. I’m a poor so I stick to larue mounts with Harris bipods.

 

[redx]

I like the Accutac bipods personally. MDTs are nice but I cant justify the price

 

[Quietguy88]

Just think if someone made a product you could put on the threads to keep nuts from loosening by themselves.

Seems like I heard about that awhile back. Locktite or something…..

Sorry brother I’m no help. Just bustin your chops. I’m a poor so I stick to larue mounts with Harris bipods.

Trust me my man, I already wondered about that. Except, I cannot see anyway to use a vibratite or similar compound. One that adds large amounts of drag to threads. Even then, I would still need to periodically retension everything and depend on that compound not being washed away.

 

[Quietguy88]

I like the Accutac bipods personally. MDTs are nice but I cant justify the price

Never got behind an mdt, cyke or otherwise. Have experience with the harris and similar. Or the atlas.

What is the mdt like?

 

[AZgeek]

Tubbs bipod pans and has excellent pan and tilt tension adjustments.

 

[Quietguy88]

Has anyone hard use beat on that ckye pod gen2? Namely the triple pull gucci gucci expensive one.

I have seen the tubb bipod. It may be a really good candidate for the price point. Probably one of the better offerings.

Never heard much about the elite iron revolution bipod. Does anyone use it?

 

[AZgeek]

Few words of caution on the Tubbs. It does not have a fail-proof connect/disconnect mechanism and the legs can wander on you if you deploy them in a non-symmetrical manner . If speed of deployment is of concern, might not be the best choice. I own one and love it even with these shortcomings.

 

[Quietguy88]

Few words of caution on the Tubbs. It does not have a fail-proof connect/disconnect mechanism and the legs can wander on you if you deploy them in a non-symmetrical manner . If speed of deployment is of concern, might not be the best choice. I own one and love it even with these shortcomings.

Care to explain a bit more?

Am guessing you mean the rifle will want to do it's own thing, by the term "wander"? The psr is prone to that. I found I was almost fighting it the last time I used it. Was kind of annoying.

The mount itself is not the best?

I have considered the tubbs bipod before.

That ckye pod looks nice.. but I cannot justify $1000 into a fandamtastic toy.. ofcourse, being able to fire from a seated or kneeling position may not be worth all the cost accrued from said triple pull bipod. Much as I would like to believe it is worthwhile investment.

I may just take the advice and go with a tall cal bipod and be done.

 

[Ravenworks]

Tighten it up

BUILT FOR COMPETITION

victorcompanyusa.com

 

[Laseredge]

Lockdown Lever Upgrade - Fits V8 & PSR Atlas Bipods

Lockdown Lever Upgrade for the Atlas® V8 & Atlas PSR bipod allows you to tighten and loosen the tension on your Atlas Bipod quickly and easily. Designed to lock up rock solid, the elongated lever on the Defy Lockdown Lever makes getting your rifle positioned and stable lightning quick.

annexdefense.com

 

[Quietguy88]

Interesting.. I will look into those more a little later. Has anyone actually used those udugahdugah wrenches? I can manhandle the tension knob but, I have been informed by many that the screw/thread tends to break after doing such.

Makes me a little nervy.

Glad to know some people are trying to fix the issue.

I wonder how well it fixes unloading tension when panning though. Just panning from 12oclock to 10oclock and back to 12oclock a few times will significantly reduce the tension.

On the other hand, perhaps I am being too soft handed with the tension knob after being told they break when handled hard and that is customer pay, not warranty work. Not terribly keen on breaking this thing.

Appreciated everyone!! Very much!!

 

[AZgeek]

Care to explain a bit more?

Am guessing you mean the rifle will want to do it's own thing, by the term "wander"? The psr is prone to that. I found I was almost fighting it the last time I used it. Was kind of annoying.

The mount itself is not the best?

I have considered the tubbs bipod before.

That ckye pod looks nice.. but I cannot justify $1000 into a fandamtastic toy.. ofcourse, being able to fire from a seated or kneeling position may not be worth all the cost accrued from said triple pull bipod. Much as I would like to believe it is worthwhile investment.

I may just take the advice and go with a tall cal bipod and be done.

Wander was the wrong word. Because it pans, the legs can end up out of parallel with your shoulders when loading it up or on slippery surfaces. I'm conscious of it and check the alignment periodically when shooting. I suppose you can tension it up more to prevent this. Not that big of a deal.

The mechanism that connects it to the rail could be drastically improved IMHO. Once its on though, its totally solid. I would have to send you a picture to explain. Mine is the original version. No idea if they improved on it.

 

[Quietguy88]

Wander was the wrong word. Because it pans, the legs can end up out of parallel with your shoulders when loading it up or on slippery surfaces. I'm conscious of it and check the alignment periodically when shooting. I suppose you can tension it up more to prevent this. Not that big of a deal.

The mechanism that connects it to the rail could be drastically improved IMHO. Once its on though, its totally solid. I would have to send you a picture to explain. Mine is the original version. No idea if they improved on it.

appreciated - send at will. thank you for all the guidance!!

 

[S197]

I have read a bunch of threads. A lot just seem to argue amongst themselves and few seem clear cut. Also, it has been a bit.

To me, if I could have a solid and moderate tension of the pan feature that does not self loosen during use.. I would be happy.

Almost bought a gen2 cal. Not sure if it will make me happy over the psr.

Another issue I have is the pan feature can be deployed in an already maxed out state.

Shame no one has a better design.

Thank you!!

Maybe someone could 3D print a locking bar that would attach to the knob and use the legs as support to stop the cap from rotating?

 

[Quietguy88]

Maybe someone could 3D print a locking bar that would attach to the knob and use the legs as support to stop the cap from rotating?

I suppose that may work? I understand there are multiple generations, each having a different tension knob shape. Plus the knob tends to turn when the bipod pans.

If anything, I think it would make clockwise pan more hard than counterclockwise?

I am starting to think maybe I ought spend the bucks on the gen2 double pull ckye pod.. it seems like most people will sell it to me for about $720 shipped.

 

[carbonbased]

Never heard much about the elite iron revolution bipod. Does anyone use it?

So I own the panning Elite Iron model. I bought it for a specific purpose and it didn’t really “pan” out

Ha sorry

I am primarily a prairie dog shooter. I use a 360° swiveling table that one sits on because I don’t feel like hanging out in PD turds and rattlesnakes. Plus the grass is sometimes too high for prone. And my old neck hurts. No prone for me.

I have this bomber X-shaped sandbag for a front rifle rest that goes in this table. 14lbs. I wanted to lower the weight to carry to/from the truck. I thought the EI panner would be great for small lateral adjustments, with large adjustments made by my feet swiveling.

It is great and works really well. The way the cant adjusts is the best out there. The way you adjust panning tension is via a T27 torx bolt on top. It has a tiny drop of red locktite on the bolt to keep it where you leave it.

I know this because it arrived without that drop and it disassembled itself on my family room floor as I panning around lol. Called the fellow (awesome guy) and he was chuffed at his workmen who forgot that crucial step. He told me what to do and he said I could send it back too if I wanted them to fix it. I did it myself because it’s easy.

So I guess you could try red locktite on that PSR, but only use a tiny drop.

The reason it didn’t work out is that it’s really fucking windy in the Dakotas, and I found that the heavy-ass sandbag actually was very important to stabilize the whole shooting platform. If I used the bipod I would’ve still have to add weight to the table, which defeats the purpose of the whole deal.

pros:
- cant control is world-class
- feet design works well in most conditions
- well made
- great customer support
- adjustable pan tension, and it doesn’t back off

Cons:
- pan tension requires a T27 wrench, but not a biggie. You only really adjust it once and forget about it.
- if you leave it on your rifle, you will scratch the absolute living shit out of your barrel due to the feet and no lock-off panning. I resorted to putting a very manly red pool noodle over my barrel. Because I am that studly.
- pic rail design requires a hex wrench to install and remove, no QR (however you seem to be able to order it with an Arca setup now—I think call to order this).
- b/c of the slowness of taking the bipod on/off, one tends to leave the thing attached

Pro or con:
- the legs pull out without a button or anything to hinder you. It is fast.

But for lo-speed hi-drag me, pulling my rifle out of the case with the bipod attached was sort of funny.

First, imagine me pulling up to the range in a Magnum P.I. Ferrari, hottie beside me. First, you notice the hottie is Higgins, but you ignore that.

Then you see me cooly unzipping my rifle case and pulling the rifle out. “Damn,” you think. “That dude is effing cool.”

First you hear “click-clk-clkclkclkclk!” as the feet grab the interior of the case. Then you see me struggle to keep the red pool noodle over the barrel as the now fully-extended bipod twists wildly all over, hacking away at the red foam noodle like a crazed two-legged tarantula.

Glancing up, you notice am I starting to look a little sweaty.

Now you think, “Damn, that dude is not effing cool.”

So, summary: buy the acra version and remove it from the rifle each time. Or buy a pool noodle of your choice. Or enjoy the well-worn Rambo barrel look.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

What type of shooting are you doing?

For PRS the Ckyepod and TBAC are the 2 best IMO. If you go Ckyepod get the double pull.

For prone range or target shooting, I really like the Accutac HD50. I use that when zeroing my PRS/Rimfire guns and its super stable and great for ELR.

If you are shooting from a Bench, a Phoenix with sled feet is really nice.

I still have a few atlas and Harris, but they are on hunting and play guns.

 

[Obi-WanKannoli]

Slow to deploy and very geared toward mountain / western hunting, but hands down the best bipod I have ever used. Once that lever clamps down on the ball socket, the only man causing it to pan or cant is whoever can wield thors hammer or pull the sword from the stone.

Extreme Pod – Rugged Ridge Outdoor Gear

www.ruggedridgeoutdoorgear.com

 

[Quietguy88]

So, after reading - is there any set in stone fact about bipod loading?

Will it cause only vertical stringing? What is the actual case of poa/poi shift as the amount of preload changes; is it a change in harmonics? It seems that my mega maten with the proprietary handguard exhibited change. However the barrel is most certainly not touching the handguard. If you are familiar with this receiver, it has a very large area that supports the barrel and barrel nut.

It seemed that I saw a shift horizontally, however that could have been wind factor. It was a 5-8mph wind at a quarter facing(?? Coming from 10oclock onto my face). My 150gr fmj 308 was shifting same direction as wind about eight, maybe nine inches at 400yards.

The windage chart says 16" drift at 400meter in 10mph cross wind.

It seems I was hitting more low after loading the bipod. Like the barrel was being torqued down.

I was wondering if the issue was a harmonic change and that was causing the impact to be six inches low and ten inches right. As a guessed shift. Again at 400yds.