Bipods under $400

[hseII]

It has become apparent our Harris bipods aren’t cutting it. We are searching for a proper replacement & and quite frankly there’s so much info that it’s confusing.

We are going to buy (2) bipods, this is what we would like to maintain.

1. Adaptable to sling studs. We will be transitioning to a rail of sorts for a couple of rifles,( it looks like ARCA is the standard?), but need stud capabilities as we shoot multiple rifles & changing all of them over is not feasible.

2. Great adjustability for Bench & Prone shooting.

3. Less than $400 all-in/ per Bipod. Everything needed to use the bipod.

What’s the pick for all this?

Pic for Attention

Thank You.

 

[Schütze]

Accu-Shot Monopod Precision Shooting Rifle Rest Magpul PRS Rail

Accu-Shot precision monopods, Atlas bipods and rifle accessories provide a high-degree of accuracy for long-range hunting, law enforcement or military duty.

www.accu-shot.com

Depending on your chassis / stock you could use a Picatinny rail with sling swivel, doesn’t have to be arca.
There are many mounting options.

 

[Schütze]

Accu-Shot Monopod Precision Shooting Rifle Rest Magpul PRS Rail

Accu-Shot precision monopods, Atlas bipods and rifle accessories provide a high-degree of accuracy for long-range hunting, law enforcement or military duty.

www.accu-shot.com

 

[hseII]

Accu-Shot Monopod Precision Shooting Rifle Rest Magpul PRS Rail

Accu-Shot precision monopods, Atlas bipods and rifle accessories provide a high-degree of accuracy for long-range hunting, law enforcement or military duty.

www.accu-shot.com

Depending on your chassis / stock you could use a Picatinny rail with sling swivel, doesn’t have to be arca.
There are many mounting options.

There are so many it is options it is confusing quite frankly.

Thank You.

 

[Rob01]

First figure out what in the Harris isn't cutting it for you and then find a bipod that does that for you. That simple.

 

[hseII]

First figure out what in the Harris isn't cutting it for you and then find a bipod that does that for you. That simple.

Primarily,
We would like to upgrade.

 

[Rob01]

Primarily,
We would like to upgrade.

Which is fine but why? What are you hoping to get from the new bipod that the one you have now doesn't do? That will help narrow your search.

 

[hseII]

Which is fine but why? What are you hoping to get from the new bipod that the one you have now doesn't do? That will help narrow your search.

More stable over the intended uses.

I was hoping for recommendations based on what others have experienced when they wanted to step up.

 

[pineoak]

I would strongly recommend this combo:

BT65-NC Gen. 2 CAL Atlas Bipod.​

(important it's the NO CLAMP version for "ARMS17S")​

$220-240​

&

Really Right Stuff:
BTC-Pro
$80

&

Sling stud adapter
$15

------

I haven't used the thunderbeast bipod, so I can't compare to that one but I and a few shooters did a comparison of the Harris & this exact bipod and groups were smaller across the board with the CAL gen 2

I only use the standard height and have never tried the "tall" so I will recommend the standard height as you can always extend the legs

the ARMS17S with 2 screws and 2 minutes connects to the RRS BTC-Pro which is a great bipod clamp. It works for both picatinny AND ARCA

I like that it's low/tight and there isn't a lot of vertical height to the combo

Over time, I doubt you'll stay on a sling stud; pica tinny ubiquitous and ARCA preferred by many competitors

there are a lot of "sling stud/swivel stud to pic rail adapters" out there for under $20

the newer ones look pretty solid

I'd use those on your sling studs and go with the combination I rec above

under budget, with flexibility for future proofing, solid products

we have 3 of the CAL Gen 2 and are very happy with them.

RRS makes great quality stuff. both bipod and clamp will have decent resale if you hate them for some reason

 

[spamassassin]

The sling stud requirement is not helping. If you defeat that then your options list opens up dramatically. I have Harris, Fortmeier/Phoenix, UPR, Atlas, and Accu-Tac. All of them do the job just fine with associated positives and negatives to do with weight, finger pinchiness, adjustability, rigidity, etc... There's not one best bipod. It's the same as picking a president, you just need to choose the one that hurts the least.

 

[hseII]

The sling stud requirement is not helping. If you defeat that then your options list opens up dramatically. I have Harris, Fortmeier/Phoenix, UPR, Atlas, and Accu-Tac. All of them do the job just fine with associated positives and negatives to do with weight, finger pinchiness, adjustability, rigidity, etc... There's not one best bipod. It's the same as picking a president, you just need to choose the one that hurts the least.

I will transition 2 of my rifles to a rail, probably the ARCA, but I need an adapter for the others that won’t be getting a rail.

 

[spamassassin]

I will transition 2 of my rifles to a rail, probably the ARCA, but I need an adapter for the others that won’t be getting a rail.

Then, like I said, defeat that problem. The only way I can see that you'll unlock yourself from that sling stud requirement on the bipod is to use something like a Harris SRA sling stud to picatinny rail adapter, then pick up a Wiser Precision picatinny rail to arca rail adapter. Then you're locked in to bipods with a picatinny mount but you can address all 3 mounting system interfaces at the rifle using the same 2 picatinny mount bipods.

 

[Baron85]

I have used a bunch of bipods. Started with the Harris, moved to atlas v8, then evolution, atlas cal, 1st gen ckye, and now TBAC. I still have the Harris, atlas Cal, and tbac. Tbac is my current favorite.

I really like being able to just pull the legs into position just like a Harris, as well as being able to push a button and have the legs extend. The TBAC legs are under Constant Spring tension so no matter what height the legs are at when you push the button the legs keep pushing out unlike the Harris. The TBAC has better can’t tension control, easily swapped feet and leg extensions, and just a better overall build quality. I picked mine up used on here for around $400 with the clamp, spiked feet, and leg extensions.

The atlas Cal is nice and stable as well but I don’t like having to push the buttons to rotate the legs down instead of just pulling down like the Harris/tbac. I also really dislike the leg extension method, it’s like the air line disconnects, kinda slow and clunky to extend or retract the legs quickly. I really do like this bipod and still use it frequently but for PRS type matches on the clock I don’t like it. Every aspect of the TBAC is better but stability is equal for me.

My first gen ckye pod was difficult to lock out the panning, also didn’t seem to tighten down the can’t smoothly, was difficult for me to get the right tension. For me there was too many adjustments and felt kinda flimsy. I did like the way the legs extended, just grab a leg and pull down. Once again on the leg rotation you have to push a button. The ckye has a ton more adjustments so for a lot of people they like that, can pretty much adjust it for any situation but for me it was just too much. A few friends of mine have the newer ckye pods and they are a nice improvement over the one I had but I still prefer my TBAC and Cal.

And last but not least I still like my Harris, it’s stable, cheap, and durable. I don’t like the spring tension for folding the legs, and the fact the legs are only spring loaded for the first little bit on extension. If you need to extend in the middle of travel it’s clunky. I keep the Harris around to use in the few rifles I have left that I haven’t installed a small pic rail on the front.

Like asked above. What aspect of the Harris are you trying to improve? Each bipod has different features that it does well and others that it doesn’t.


RRS has a clamp that does both picatinny and arca so I have that clamp on my Atlas so I can run it on all my rifles as a backup and my TBAC has the area 419 arca clamp for my comp rifles.

 

[pineoak]

Please do further shopping before getting that particular Harris to sling to pic adapter, there are much cheaper options.

I have that older style adapter; newer styles have a sling stud in front of the rail. I think mine were Caldwell

I own that exact Wiser mount. Great product, but it ends up rather tall with the stacking of stuff from bipod to rail. Will put on PX one of these days.

I prefer the combo I posted earlier

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

If you are absolutely married to keeping the swing swivel thing (which you can get around this and still use a sling).

I think I'd separate the two and pick me a bipod I'd run with the swivel set up (much better to do a pic rail with sling stud), and then a bipod to run with the arca rails. The Tbac is the best all around bipod imo. For prone or bench the accutac is best, the wider the model the better but have to let your portability needs drive that one.

 

[CK1.0]

I actually like my Harris for anything/everything besides the type of stuff one would need something much crazier like a double/triple-pull Ckye-pod for.

It's ~$220 to fully pimp out a Harris BRMS:

KMW pod-loc $25 + RRS Harris adapter $35 + RRS BTC-pro clamp (works with either/both Picatinny/ARCA) $80 + Hawk Hill Talons $60 + JKL Precision Talon covers $20

 

[hseII]

Please do further shopping before getting that particular Harris to sling to pic adapter, there are much cheaper options.

I have that older style adapter; newer styles have a sling stud in front of the rail. I think mine were Caldwell

I own that exact Wiser mount. Great product, but it ends up rather tall with the stacking of stuff from bipod to rail. Will put on PX one of these days.

I prefer the combo I posted earlier

Thank You.

 

[hafejd30]

If your sticking with the stud just stick with the Harris. In my opinion the best option for stud mounted bipod

Or ditch the stud for picatinny or Arca. I own about 5 Harris, Atlas Cal, TBAC and Accutac.

If I could only take one with me for target/hunting it be the Atlas Cal. If I were competing and wasn’t concerned about dirt/mud getting in the legs then TBAC would be my choice

 

[hseII]

This thread has highlighted a couple things for me:

1. The adapters work but are more trouble than they are worth if you don’t have a means to go ARCA directly. There doesn’t seem to be a swivel to ARCA adapter so unless we already have a picatinny, then we would have to also adapt from PIC to ARCA.

2. For the cheaper rifles that we aren’t going to convert to a Rail, be happy with the the Swivel attached Harris bipods we already have.

I have used a bunch of bipods. Started with the Harris, moved to atlas v8, then evolution, atlas cal, 1st gen ckye, and now TBAC. I still have the Harris, atlas Cal, and tbac. Tbac is my current favorite.

I really like being able to just pull the legs into position just like a Harris, as well as being able to push a button and have the legs extend. The TBAC legs are under Constant Spring tension so no matter what height the legs are at when you push the button the legs keep pushing out unlike the Harris. The TBAC has better can’t tension control, easily swapped feet and leg extensions, and just a better overall build quality. I picked mine up used on here for around $400 with the clamp, spiked feet, and leg extensions.

The atlas Cal is nice and stable as well but I don’t like having to push the buttons to rotate the legs down instead of just pulling down like the Harris/tbac. I also really dislike the leg extension method, it’s like the air line disconnects, kinda slow and clunky to extend or retract the legs quickly. I really do like this bipod and still use it frequently but for PRS type matches on the clock I don’t like it. Every aspect of the TBAC is better but stability is equal for me.

My first gen ckye pod was difficult to lock out the panning, also didn’t seem to tighten down the can’t smoothly, was difficult for me to get the right tension. For me there was too many adjustments and felt kinda flimsy. I did like the way the legs extended, just grab a leg and pull down. Once again on the leg rotation you have to push a button. The ckye has a ton more adjustments so for a lot of people they like that, can pretty much adjust it for any situation but for me it was just too much. A few friends of mine have the newer ckye pods and they are a nice improvement over the one I had but I still prefer my TBAC and Cal.

And last but not least I still like my Harris, it’s stable, cheap, and durable. I don’t like the spring tension for folding the legs, and the fact the legs are only spring loaded for the first little bit on extension. If you need to extend in the middle of travel it’s clunky. I keep the Harris around to use in the few rifles I have left that I haven’t installed a small pic rail on the front.

Like asked above. What aspect of the Harris are you trying to improve? Each bipod has different features that it does well and others that it doesn’t.


RRS has a clamp that does both picatinny and arca so I have that clamp on my Atlas so I can run it on all my rifles as a backup and my TBAC has the area 419 arca clamp for my comp rifles.

Shop air hose type disconnects or tractor trailer glad-hands?

We would like more stability than with the Harris.

 

[Baron85]

Like the small shop air type fittings. You have to pull down the latch to let the legs slide. As long as you’re not on the clock and trying to be fast it’s no big deal. And with that said I ran the atlas cal in comps for quite a while before getting the TBAC.m

Here is the rrs clamp that does both arca and picatinny. They also have one that has a screw knob instead of the quick throw lever and is quite a bit cheaper. Works very well to be able to bounce between the 2 mount types.

 

[spamassassin]

We would like more stability than with the Harris.

It very much matters what you mean by "stability". Where is/are the underperforming aspect(s) for you: the gun falls over, the reticle gallivanting around the target, flexing in the bipod legs/leg-body interface/body-rifle interface causing elevation to wander, lacking friction/damping to slow/eliminate cant causing you to have to muscle the gun, leg adjustability is too coarse causing you to muscle the gun on uneven ground, etc... there's a lot of factors that people can apply the label stability to. If you're to get good advice we need to know what you mean very specifically so the right solution can be found and provided.

 

[pineoak]

This thread has highlighted a couple things for me:

1. The adapters work but are more trouble than they are worth if you don’t have a means to go ARCA directly. There doesn’t seem to be a swivel to ARCA adapter so unless we already have a picatinny, then we would have to also adapt from PIC to ARCA.

2. For the cheaper rifles that we aren’t going to convert to a Rail, be happy with the the Swivel attached Harris bipods we already have.

For the $15 for an adapter, I think it's worth your time and money to try it before settling on the Harris.

I would rate the Atlas + bipod sling adapter to pica tinny to be significantly more stable and worth the effort (minimal stacking height) over just using the Harris. Have not tested this, but I am confident that it's true based on personal experience owning multiple Harris, Atlas, and running Atlas attached to (sling stud to pic rail) adapter

Some people love the Harris, others sell them all off after using something better. If you find you really like using the Atlas Cal or Thunderbeast bipods, get the $15 adapter and try it. You might save $ in the long run because you sell off the Harris bipods you currently own- they're always in demand and an easy sale

the sling stud to pic adapter takes about 2 mins to mount/take off with a single hex key, if that