Broken Atlas.

RickyRodney

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May 4, 2014
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Bought an atlas from a hide member and it was locked down tight, went to loosen it and couldn't, had to use pliers to loosen it and it broke right in my hands. Anyone else had this issue? Which really sucks because after handling this one and my friend deersniper's I was ready to convert entirely to atlas. And don't flame me with "don't use pliers," thats bullshit I was loosening it, what was I going to OVER loosen it.
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Could be a bad casting with porosity in it. They probably will want to see it.

Stay calm, what exactly broke? The knob broke off?
 
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Call B&T and see what they say. My first thought would be is it a real Atlas?

Thats what I was thinking, but the seller seems legit. It has the correct markings, the rubber stops like the PSR should, and has the raised knurling on the legs. Seems good to go. Anything else I should look at?

When it broke I almost laughed because I was like WTF are you kidding me?
 
I would call and send in to Atlas before you make it worse. It looks like a simple fix, but without actually looking the bipod over I don't want to contribute to making it worse.
 
the threaded portion that broke is made of steel. I'm confident B&T will easy to work with, judging by the responses in the forum. This is likely some sort of user error, I went to loosen it and it snapped without loosening.
 
I had a really old one break like that not too long ago. I abused the crap out of it all through military service and deployments. Constantly loosening then tighten it, yes with a gerber as well. Anyway it broke sent it to Kasey and they fixed it up awesome. You should be good. If man can make it, man can break it.
 
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having a great product and having great customer service are 2 separate things. Your implying that if customer service is great no one should ever discuss problems. I haven't even used the product yet. And furthermore I have yet to complain about the actual product just asked if I was the only one. This isn't a post begging for resolve, nor have I said how terrible atlas bipod are.
 
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I got my first Atlas back in 09. From what I have seen, breaking one is a rarity, and Kasey does provide great service. Just give them a call
 
I once bought second hand rings from another hide member. I went to tighten them and they stripped way before the recommended value. I contacted the manufacturer and they replaced them asap. Dont worry B&T will more than likely fix it and being a real stand up company they dont discriminate against drama queen assholes.
 
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I'm sure B&T will take care of you. Somehow, I had one of the pivot bolts on one of the legs sieze up on me and shear off when I went to rotate the leg. I contacted them, they had me send it in and they fixed the problem.
 
I once bought second hand rings from another hide member. I went to tighten them and they stripped way before the recommended value. I contacted the manufacturer and they replaced them asap. Dont worry B&T will more than likely fix it and being a real stand up company they dont discriminate against drama queen assholes.

Is it now a faux pas to ask if anyone has had a problem with an item breaking?
Guess we shouldn't talk about all the Leupolds going tits up because the manufacturer will fix them?
That's real retarded sir.
 
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Here’s the story so far….

Some fool over tightens and jams the Knob on an Atlas, rather than send it in for repair he sells it on to some other fool who when he discovers the obvious problem rather than send it in for repair himself he decides to attempt to unjam the knob with a pliers and as such puts a force well above standard hand operation into the knob and snaps it off. Then rather than finally just contacting customer service and sending it in for repair he decides to come straight on a public forum in the hopes that the manufacture sees the thread and feels the need to publicly “make it right” by offering an immediate free repair, or maybe even a straight replacement, hell maybe he’ll even get a free upgrade to a 5H out of it! After all, that’s what we do these days right?

How am I doing so far?
 
Here’s the story so far….

Some fool over tightens and jams the Knob on an Atlas, rather than send it in for repair he sells it on to some other fool who when he discovers the obvious problem rather than send it in for repair himself he decides to attempt to unjam the knob with a pliers and as such puts a force well above standard hand operation into the knob and snaps it off. Then rather than finally just contacting customer service and sending it in for repair he decides to come straight on a public forum in the hopes that the manufacture sees the thread and feels the need to publicly “make it right” by offering an immediate free repair, or maybe even a straight replacement, hell maybe he’ll even get a free upgrade to a 5H out of it! After all, that’s what we do these days right?

How am I doing so far?


You're great at making assumptions.
 
Here's what I think...

When an Atlas knob is all the way loosened it can also get somewhat stuck in that position and require some force to rotate to the tightened position. I think it was already in the loosened position and the OP assumed it was tight and decided to use pliers which was another mistake. Look at how nothing appears broken off, it just seems the knob unthreaded from the stud. That would have taken several full rotations if it was in the tightened position and the friction would have loosened up at some point if that was the case.

Here's a clue. When a job is requiring more force than should be required, in this case pliers on a knob designed to be turned by finger tips, take a step back and think about WHY. Nine times out of ten the user is doing something wrong in this case and it appears to me that occurred here.
 
Jeebus, you lot are a bag of hammers.

"If it doesn't fit, force it. if it breaks, it needed upgrading anyway"

Shut up, send it back to B&T and enjoy a like-new product when it returns. Caveat emptor.
 
Are you serious with that comment?

Absolutely. I don't know you and you could be a complete and utter idiot. Or, you could have just been turning it the wrong way since you've never owned an Atlas and bought it used and ASSumed it was on too tight and that it had right hand threads. Yep, I was serious.
 
This is just my opinion, but I don't think this thread should have even started. If the OP contacted B&T and they told him to drop dead, then have at it. But all the bad energy propagated in this thread and tangents gone off on could have all been circumvented had Woody gone straight to the police (just called B&T the day he jacked up the knob).
 
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I still don’t see the harm in inquiring about others experience. He wasn’t boycotting them or asking others to buy a different brand in the future.
I kinda agree with you here. But one thing that we do well here on SH is make a cluster out of anything that might hurt "our" vendors' feelings.

It MAY be that the OP messed up himself, or that the seller boogered it up and then passed it on to him, but that is somewhat moot. The question he posed was about wanting to know if that had happened to anyone else. I didn't even get that he was mad at B&T or anything like that, but what do I know? One thing that I DO know is that about the only post he could have gotten away with without the above ensuing shit storm, was if he already got it fixed and was praising B&T for their CS.

As it is, I'm positive that Kasey will take care of him and would have even had this thread not been started and I'm equally positive that Kasey can handle himself and is a great person to deal with.

Anyway, just some observations from another guy with a computer and a keyboard, like the rest of all you miscreants.
 
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OP said "Bought an atlas from a hide member and it was locked down tight, went to loosen it and couldn't, had to use pliers to loosen it and it broke right in my hands."

I's asking why you "had" to use pliers? LOL

We have a lifetime warranty. No matter if bought new or used, no matter how it broke or gets broken. ALL we want is honesty in how it broke. We'll repair this bipod. Using pliers to loosen the knob can and will break the 10/32 threaded shaft of the lock nut, but it'll take that much force to break that shaft.

I'd like to see a picture of the other side of the knob and the plastic cap in particular.

EDITED TO ADDRESS "And don't flame me with "don't use pliers," thats bullshit I was loosening it, what was I going to OVER loosen it." You were not "OVER loosen" it, the Knob nut was up against the 10/32 LEFT HANDED THREADED nut which was snapped off.

And as a FYI, when we are contacted about an Atlas being too tight, we recommend that they get installed on a rifle and moved through thier arcs of movement to get the feel for pan/cant as they are pre-loaded with tension and often feel "tight" in the hand.

Regardless send it in and we'll do our work and get it back ASAP.
 
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I still don’t see the harm in inquiring about others experience. He wasn’t boycotting them or asking others to buy a different brand in the future.


I have zero problem with anyone asking such questions as I've done the exact same thing here years ago, had a gas gun not running, and some guy named George asked me "did you ask the manufacturer about it". I was like duh and thought: what difference does it really make if anyone else has had this problem? It's my problem how will the manufacturer resolve it? Contacted the manufacturer and they took care of me.
Point is, I learned if goal is to get it fixed or made right, go to the source.


I have thought it would be fun though to have manufacturers post similar things of customers....
 
The following is not to be taken as "hey this is what you should have done". So please don't take it that way.

I just recently got a PSR back from repair. It wouldn't hold tension anymore for whatever reason. I sent BT an email stating what product I had and what the problem was. they asked for pics and I knew it was to make sure it wasn't a fake. I got my RMA number and a week or so later I had my bipod back. Maybe the original owner had my problem, tried to over tighten and succeed, then realized oh shit, I just screwed up and sold it if the OP telling the truth. Either way, if I was having a bad day, I can see myself using a pair of pliers (I'm a bigger hammer/crowbar kind of guy) to "make it conform or die!". If the bipod in question was the same as mine, it getting overtightened then having to use force to undo being a meathead and breaking.

Its just a thought, that's all.
 
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I still don’t see the harm in inquiring about others experience. He wasn’t boycotting them or asking others to buy a different brand in the future.

Zero problem in enquiring about others experiences but what was the experience to enquire about in this case? “Eh, was anyone else stupid enough to break an Atlas with a pliers?” Bit of a moot point.

Now if he had managed to break it with just his hands? then BOOM, legit question right there.

The original post just had the “Free-Shit-Fishing-Trip” stink all over it, but then I don’t know the guy from Adam so RickyRodney, if I’m wrong about ya, then you have my whole-hearted apologies.