And the second one too! Yes, I'm practicing my alliteration on you. I'm allowed to because it's fun for kids of all ages. Also, FYI, I'm the world's worst photographer. I have no sense of aesthetic so my pictures always turn out blech. You may insult my picture taking skills at will.
So what are the flaws? Well, there's several things I would suggest were not the best decision but the most egregious are the lack of 45deg leg positions, the extremely narrow limit on cant angle, the lack of spring extend or retract on the legs, the total lack of any built-in panning angle without moving the feet and no spike or claw foot options. Tackling the first 2 was relatively easy so I went there first. For the 3rd factor, I'm thinking about setting up a captive compression spring to forcibly launch the legs outward once unlocked or a tension spring to forcibly retract them. For the panning ability, I want to see if I can modify the mounting platform for the UTG/Leapers over bore bipod to contain a fixed-in-place spigot instead of it being a receiver since it has about 22deg of pan built in. I might just abandon that because the Fortmeier's mount is so low profile that I might be able to get it under my PVS-30 somewhere and not have to mount my bipod under the rifle when using it at night.
I dropped the bipod off with my gunsmith/machinist and asked him to knock the head off the cant limiting screw, set the protrusion height and radius the stump. That was pretty easy and gave me quite a bit more panning angle. Nothing dramatic but it's improved by almost 10 degrees on each side and he bought me a new screw to modify so the old one still exists in pristine condition. Then, as can be seen by the shiny spots in the pic below, he cut me 2 notches for 45deg leg positions, now the legs can blade at 45.
I wonder if the lads that make these will take the cue from my alterations and incorporate them into the production units. These are simple changes that should have been there from the beginning and seem to on some models but not all. I'd be interested in hearing the reasoning behind those decisions. Next up I'll work on spring loading the legs, probably for retraction if for no other reason than how the first leg notches are set up out of the gate. Although, that might be something I can modify enough to get the extension spring loaded instead. Some playing around will be needed. I think I'd rather have spring loaded retraction.
So are you never happy? Do you always find some flaw in even the best quality of product? Do you then do like I do and modify the shit out of it until it's exactly what you want? Do you then post that in an open forum hoping that the people that make your widget see your thing and update their products? What will happen with Danny and Polly? Will her brother let it happen? Now that he's dying, what will Bert do? Will he do it quickly? Will he tell Mary? Will he pay his doctor's bill? Will Chester get himself some help at the minister's group or will Chester help himself to the Minister's daughter? These questions and many others will be answered on the next episode of SOAP.
After I'm done with all that then I'll grab a set of Accu-Tac's spike & claw feet and set it up so they can either be screwed into the skis or so they can replace the skis. I don't use skis on any of my other bipods and I don't like them anyway so this will be likely a semi-permanent mod no matter what. Why SSD doesn't offer replacement feet I don't know. I bet they don't have little sisters that played with Barbies and so they never understood about accessorizing and the profitability that does with truly excessive accessorization.
So what are the flaws? Well, there's several things I would suggest were not the best decision but the most egregious are the lack of 45deg leg positions, the extremely narrow limit on cant angle, the lack of spring extend or retract on the legs, the total lack of any built-in panning angle without moving the feet and no spike or claw foot options. Tackling the first 2 was relatively easy so I went there first. For the 3rd factor, I'm thinking about setting up a captive compression spring to forcibly launch the legs outward once unlocked or a tension spring to forcibly retract them. For the panning ability, I want to see if I can modify the mounting platform for the UTG/Leapers over bore bipod to contain a fixed-in-place spigot instead of it being a receiver since it has about 22deg of pan built in. I might just abandon that because the Fortmeier's mount is so low profile that I might be able to get it under my PVS-30 somewhere and not have to mount my bipod under the rifle when using it at night.
I dropped the bipod off with my gunsmith/machinist and asked him to knock the head off the cant limiting screw, set the protrusion height and radius the stump. That was pretty easy and gave me quite a bit more panning angle. Nothing dramatic but it's improved by almost 10 degrees on each side and he bought me a new screw to modify so the old one still exists in pristine condition. Then, as can be seen by the shiny spots in the pic below, he cut me 2 notches for 45deg leg positions, now the legs can blade at 45.
I wonder if the lads that make these will take the cue from my alterations and incorporate them into the production units. These are simple changes that should have been there from the beginning and seem to on some models but not all. I'd be interested in hearing the reasoning behind those decisions. Next up I'll work on spring loading the legs, probably for retraction if for no other reason than how the first leg notches are set up out of the gate. Although, that might be something I can modify enough to get the extension spring loaded instead. Some playing around will be needed. I think I'd rather have spring loaded retraction.
So are you never happy? Do you always find some flaw in even the best quality of product? Do you then do like I do and modify the shit out of it until it's exactly what you want? Do you then post that in an open forum hoping that the people that make your widget see your thing and update their products? What will happen with Danny and Polly? Will her brother let it happen? Now that he's dying, what will Bert do? Will he do it quickly? Will he tell Mary? Will he pay his doctor's bill? Will Chester get himself some help at the minister's group or will Chester help himself to the Minister's daughter? These questions and many others will be answered on the next episode of SOAP.
After I'm done with all that then I'll grab a set of Accu-Tac's spike & claw feet and set it up so they can either be screwed into the skis or so they can replace the skis. I don't use skis on any of my other bipods and I don't like them anyway so this will be likely a semi-permanent mod no matter what. Why SSD doesn't offer replacement feet I don't know. I bet they don't have little sisters that played with Barbies and so they never understood about accessorizing and the profitability that does with truly excessive accessorization.
