Really right stuff????

Scotch_egg

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Jun 2, 2010
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So I asked Santa for an Anvil 30 and tripod from Really Right Stuff.

My letter has been returned saying there is no stock anywhere and the Elves can’t help either.


Has anyone got any idea what’s going on?
 
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Santa likely got sticker shock, lol. Leophoto 364 is popular with many PRS shooters I know. It's about $450 and much nicer than I would have expected. I used it on a few occasions and will likely pick one up this winter myself.
 
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Santa likely got sticker shock, lol. Leophoto 364 is popular with many PRS shooters I know. It's about $450 and much nicer than I would have expected. I used it on a few occasions and will likely pick one up this winter myself.

This is the problem with America right now, it's always going to be cheaper to pay a guy in sandals less money to buioan inferior product outside the US.

Buy American and stop sending money overseas to communist China whose goal is our economic downfall.
 
Great plan. Throw everything in your house made in China in trash. Lead by example. For fucks sake man. Not everyone can afford a $1200 tripod. But I agree in spirit, ironically, and buy American when I can afford to do so.
 
You don't have to spend $1200 to get something not made in China. I agree with LawnMM, China is not our friend, and don't fool yourself that in some small way that they are doing us a favor buy flooding our stores with cheap crap. If you look hard instead of blindly buying what's on the shelves at Walmart (or RRS knockoffs on the Internet), there are plenty of other options outside of Made in China. You can also purchase Tripods made in other countries that are our friends like Italy and Norway to name a few.
Also, remember when China forced down one of our Recon planes that was flying in international airspace, and held our Airman hostage, and held the plane even longer so they could exploit the technology?
 
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You don't have to spend $1200 to get something not made in China. I agree with LawnMM, China is not our friend, and don't fool yourself that in some small way that they are doing us a favor buy flooding our stores with cheap crap. If you look hard instead of blindly buying what's on the shelves at Walmart (or RRS knockoffs on the Internet), there are plenty of other options outside of Made in China. You can also purchase Tripods made in other countries that are our friends like Italy and Norway to name a few.
Also, remember when China forced down one of our Recon planes that was flying in international airspace, and held our Airman hostage, and held the plane even longer so they could exploit the technology?

Most all cell phones, computers, routers, modems, etc are partially or completely made in China or with Chinese parts. So anything typed on this forum stating a person refuses to buy Chinese goods it's bull. I'm not fond of this fact, but a fact nonetheless. Sorry my suggestion of a great $450 tripod derailed the thread. Wasn't my intention.

I would love a RRS tripod myself, but can't afford one. The Leofoto 364 I'm buying will have the RRS leveling head, many guys I shoot with enjoy this combination. So maybe that makes me less of a commie, buying the RRS leveling head, lol.

Another option I have heard of is the Two Vets tripod, similar pricing as Leofoto as I recall. But I'm not sure where it's made. Likely an import at that price.
 
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Great plan. Throw everything in your house made in China in trash. Lead by example. For fucks sake man. Not everyone can afford a $1200 tripod. But I agree in spirit, ironically, and buy American when I can afford to do so.

I didn't say throw everything partly or wholely made in China in the trash, I said if there's a US made alternative, support businesses in your own country.

If you can come up with 500 for a Chinese knockoff maybe save a little and buy the better alternative from USA, or as mentioned above maybe something from Italy. I'd rather you bought a Thai made tripod from Hog Saddle.com than send more money to China.

I'm not saying throw away your cell phone since they're all made there at least in part, but there isn't a US alternative is there?
 
Can someone please explain why so many items related to the gun industry are commonly out of stock? I can tell you that I buy a lot of equipment. I rebuilt a Japanese sports car from the ground up, raced a Corvette, spent weeks out west hiking, rode my bicycle across the country, participated in numerous triathlons, build furniture as a hobby, all in addition to remodeling my house. Out of all of these endeavors, I almost never run into the problem of items / parts backordered for weeks or months. Need a clutch? Need a hand plane? Need a faucet? How about a tent? Sleeping bag? Race tires? 100 board feet of Black Walnut? I Can have anything I need on the spot or within 3 days shipping time. Why does this constant backorder seem limited to the gun industry? It took me 16 weeks to get my chassis ( they told me 8-12 weeks), a month for my scope, and my rings are on perpetual backorder. Then I read this post about the tripod and have to laugh that it is not in stock. Yes, I always buy American when possible. I will pay more for American stuff. I like American stuff. I want to buy more American stuff. Can someone explain why I have such a hard time finding American made gun related items in stock?

Bang
 
I suspect we are dealing w relatively small companies for whom is difficult to ramp up production. It seems to me that from a cost perspective it's easier to keep your inventory low and produce on an as needed basis than to have a constant surplus of stuff just in case someone orders it. Also they usually produce stuff in batches bc they have just a few lines of production, so that they have to keep changing them to adjust the inventory. Not sure this is the case for RRS though. just my $0.02
 
RRS recently moved out of California, and into Utah. I'd suspect that hosed up their production line a bit. That being said, I'm sure (as they stated) they are working hard to get product out the door.

Patience seems to be something lost on a lot of folks these days (and no, I'm not implying anyone in particular).
 
Another issue, not only related to the gun industry, but all industries as a whole. I forget what the term is called? But the days of warehousing stock and parts is a thing of the past. Now products get produced as demand requires, or as products get ordered. You mention the auto industry, and camping industry. Those two are much larger compared to the gun industry. Another thing to consider, the mark up on product from those industries is much higher than smaller nitch markets. Generally, the gun industry has much smaller profit margins, where gun dealers often have to severialy discount products, especially handguns to move the product. Also, lots of products get ordered from the manufacturers only a few times a year from major distributors. For example, next month at Shot Show, many large companies, manufacurers, distributors, dealers, reatailers, etc., all come together and make a plan on what needs to be bought, sold, numbers, prices, etc. If something like the Anvil 30 gaines popularity midyear, well there's going to be a shortage until the next cycle.
 
Mine was shipped today. Took about 4 weeks from order date. Not bad at all, a lot of whining on this site.
Merry Christmas!

The packages that have Anvils on them ship in batches. So we will ship a bulk batch on a certain tripod then the next week Anvils by them self, then the next week an anvil on a different tripod, etc, etc down the line of available packages.

I imagine you ordered a TFCT-34 Mk2 w/Anvil-30 ballhead. All the back orders for that specific head to a point ship today and tomorrow. Holiday time frame is wrecking my shipping schedule but hoping to get another few batches out the 1st week on January. Hope you love it when it gets to you.
 
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The packages that have Anvils on them ship in batches. So we will ship a bulk batch on a certain tripod then the next week Anvils by them self, then the next week an anvil on a different tripod, etc, etc down the line of available packages.

I imagine you ordered a TFCT-34 Mk2 w/Anvil-30 ballhead. All the back orders for that specific head to a point ship today and tomorrow. Holiday time frame is wrecking my shipping schedule but hoping to get another few batches out the 1st week on January. Hope you love it when it gets to you.

Yeah it was the TFCT-34L Mk2 w/Anvil-30.
Thanks Michael
Merry Christmas
 
easiest way I explain to people.
33 Most popular for competition shooters, least amount of twist locks, worst transportation height in backpack, same overall height +-.5" than 34

34 Most popular w/competition shooters who travel via airlines, & hunters able to fit in a pack better. Collapses 5"shorter than 33

34L Most popular with taller competitive and hunters who use spotters for majority of time, not wanting to bend at all behind binos/spotter

24L same as the 34L except 1 lbs lighter, "jack of all" usually the hunters that gravitate this route but who may also want to compete.
 
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What are the pros/cons between the Anvil 30 vs the TA-3 leveling base? The 15 degrees of travel have not limited me yet so I was wondering if there was any point to going to the Anvil 30?
 
It seems like it would be worse. The higher above the legs you go the lass stable it gets. If you’re not limited by the angles I’d stick with he base.

If you want to be able to smoothly pan then get a real ball head.
 
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The Anvil 30 is a mixture of ballhead and leveling base. It is the first item in this category made specifically for rifles. The only negative to the Anvil is it will sit slightly higher than the leveling base which is why so many people liked the leveling base of the traditional Bh-55 of ours.

The anvil has the clamp actually cnc into the body so it isn't an additional clamp screwed on like the leveling base and ballhead so less area for movement to occur.
The clamp grabs on to both picatinny and our 1.5" dovetail.
It is the strongest thing we have ever made. When people look at the specs I think they are not noticing the leveling base and ballheads typical say a certain weight and the anvil states ft-lbs of torque. The other weights are the overall weight of the system centrally located over the center like a camera. Not a long lever with your body behind it.
I also tend to smack myself in the face with my spotter every time I use a leveling base, so that is no fun for me to get the tension right.
 
The Anvil 30 is a mixture of ballhead and leveling base. It is the first item in this category made specifically for rifles. The only negative to the Anvil is it will sit slightly higher than the leveling base which is why so many people liked the leveling base of the traditional Bh-55 of ours.

The anvil has the clamp actually cnc into the body so it isn't an additional clamp screwed on like the leveling base and ballhead so less area for movement to occur.
The clamp grabs on to both picatinny and our 1.5" dovetail.
It is the strongest thing we have ever made. When people look at the specs I think they are not noticing the leveling base and ballheads typical say a certain weight and the anvil states ft-lbs of torque. The other weights are the overall weight of the system centrally located over the center like a camera. Not a long lever with your body behind it.
I also tend to smack myself in the face with my spotter every time I use a leveling base, so that is no fun for me to get the tension right.
You make a kit to convert a current a 34 to an Anvil set up right?
 
Depends on how old the 34 is, but yes we do make an apex conversion kit to change over to the new apex style. It is not needed though for the anvil to work on your tripod.
This following link is not for the apex you are asking about but if you go through the pictures you will see if your is compatible or not. Link HERE
 
The Anvil 30 is a mixture of ballhead and leveling base. It is the first item in this category made specifically for rifles. The only negative to the Anvil is it will sit slightly higher than the leveling base which is why so many people liked the leveling base of the traditional Bh-55 of ours.

The anvil has the clamp actually cnc into the body so it isn't an additional clamp screwed on like the leveling base and ballhead so less area for movement to occur.
The clamp grabs on to both picatinny and our 1.5" dovetail.
It is the strongest thing we have ever made. When people look at the specs I think they are not noticing the leveling base and ballheads typical say a certain weight and the anvil states ft-lbs of torque. The other weights are the overall weight of the system centrally located over the center like a camera. Not a long lever with your body behind it.
I also tend to smack myself in the face with my spotter every time I use a leveling base, so that is no fun for me to get the tension right.


Here is my take (written in an RRS thread comparing tripods)

Let me toss in my experience with the difference in stability between the RRS head offerings BH55, TA-UL-LC, ANVIL 30 and TA-3. I am comparing the best of the best for shooting, so the negative comments are splitting hairs amongst the some very best devices we have to shoot from in this type of category. Here is my antidotal takeaways after way more shots than I'd like to admit to.

BH55:
Very easy to use and ideal if one really needed to "pan". Provide the most articulation. Unfortunately, it is super heavy, expensive and maybe in a tie stability wise for last place with the TA-UL-LC.

TA-UL-LC:
Inexpensive way to bring utility to any tripod regardless of brand. It good but you will not get the best of anything between these 4 offerings. If you already own a tripod this might be the best way to get into the direct attachment game.

TA-3:
Super fast entry/attachment for a dove tail device. It ties for the lightest solution with the Anvil 30, but is the most solid platform available. If tiny groups are you thing, or your shooting in high winds, you will notice the stability difference over the other offerings. This is especially true if you tighten the internal tension nut. It also seems to hold tension and manage tension without moving as you tighten it a bit better with the larger bowl than the Anvil 30... The three downsides to the newer Anvil 30 are, extreme angles mandates leg adjustments, it is not pic/dovetail dual purpose and it does not pack as small.

ANVIL 30:
In a nutshell, it is kinda sexy. It makes the tripod much easier to transport and bring dual attachment possibilities with more angle adjustability than the TA-3. Stability wise, especially in 15-20mhp winds, you will find that it is less stable than the TA-3. It falls in between the BH55 and the TA-3. One real positive is for positional shooting where you use the tripod "leg" as a rear support. The narrower footprint because of the Apex of the Anvil 30 is easier to maneuver when deployed.

Pet peeves are, that unlike the center handle that gives the shooter a solid purchase, solid lockup and easy tension; the lever on the Anvil 30 just doesn't offer the same ergonomics. On a rifle with real recoil, you'll notice the time between shoots is generally longer than with the TA-3. When you tension the lever near full, it rises the muzzle on my kit over 1/2 mil. Also the UNLOCKING lever is dangerously close to the tension lever. I noticed this mostly hunting at night...Don't get me wrong the Anvil 30 is an amazing offering.. but it does come at a price.

It should go without saying, that as far as the "system goes" the more stable the better, but for some, weight can be a huge issue and compromises need to be made. At $1 -$5 plus a round, it might make sense for people NOT to skimp so much on rifle tripods.
 
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Here is my take (written in an RRS thread comparing tripods)

Let me toss in my experience with the difference in stability between the RRS head offerings BH55, TA-UL-LC, ANVIL 30 and TA-3. I am comparing the best of the best for shooting, so the negative comments are splitting hairs amongst the some very best devices we have to shoot from in this type of category. Here is my antidotal takeaways after way more shots than I'd like to admit to.

BH55:
Very easy to use and ideal if one really needed to "pan". Provide the most articulation. Unfortunately, it is super heavy, expensive and maybe in a tie stability wise for last place with the TA-UL-LC.

TA-UL-LC:
Inexpensive way to bring utility to any tripod regardless of brand. It good but you will not get the best of anything between these 4 offerings. If you already own a tripod this might be the best way to get into the direct attachment game.

TA-3:
Super fast entry/attachment for a dove tail device. It ties for the lightest solution with the Anvil 30, but is the most solid platform available. If tiny groups are you thing, or your shooting in high winds, you will notice the stability difference over the other offerings. This is especially true if you tighten the internal tension nut. It also seems to hold tension and manage tension without moving as you tighten it a bit better with the larger bowl than the Anvil 30... The three downsides to the newer Anvil 30 are, extreme angles mandates leg adjustments, it is not pic/dovetail dual purpose and it does not pack as small.

ANVIL 30:
In a nutshell, it is kinda sexy. It makes the tripod much easier to transport and bring dual attachment possibilities with more angle adjustability than the TA-3. Stability wise, especially in 15-20mhp winds, you will find that it is less stable than the TA-3. It falls in between the BH55 and the TA-3. One real positive is for positional shooting where you use the tripod "leg" as a rear support. The narrower footprint because of the Apex of the Anvil 30 is easier to maneuver when deployed.

Pet peeves are, that unlike the center handle that gives the shooter a solid purchase, solid lockup and easy tension; the lever on the Anvil 30 just doesn't offer the same ergonomics. On a rifle with real recoil, you'll notice the time between shoots is generally longer than with the TA-3. When you tension the lever near full, it rises the muzzle on my kit over 1/2 mil. Also the UNLOCKING lever is dangerously close to the tension lever. I noticed this mostly hunting at night...Don't get me wrong the Anvil 30 is an amazing offering.. but it does come at a price.

It should go without saying, that as far as the "system goes" the more stable the better, but for some, weight can be a huge issue and compromises need to be made. At $1 -$5 plus a round, it might make sense for people NOT to skimp so much on rifle tripods.


Thanks for the comparison summary. Very helpful.

From the perspective of looking for a do it all, hunting/glassing/shooting mount, how well do you see the Anvil working with binoculars and spotting scopes? Does it have the ability to pan at all? I love the arca swiss/pic rail dual compatibility of the Anvil but thinking I might need to go BH-55 if I want to hunt with it.
 
Thanks for the comparison summary. Very helpful.

From the perspective of looking for a do it all, hunting/glassing/shooting mount, how well do you see the Anvil working with binoculars and spotting scopes? Does it have the ability to pan at all? I love the arca swiss/pic rail dual compatibility of the Anvil but thinking I might need to go BH-55 if I want to hunt with it.

I’ll be hunting in just a few days my son will be using the leveling base and I’ll have the Anvil 30. Both setups weigh the same.

I’d go with one our the other, not the ball head. Neither pan great but if you are glassing; panning or moving too fast, usually it results in missed things especially if the terrain is more complex.

I think you’d be fine with whatever you choose. I’d choose it as rifle support first spotting second. If it is the other way for you, I might even consider the 1lbs lighter legs. But then the shooting side is compromised.

My 2 cents
 
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Hey MPHREALLYRIGHT STUFF, thanks for being on this thread. I have been wanting to try your Vyce system. I already have video gear and leveling bases for that gear on a 75mm bowl/tripod. I'm just looking for a clamp that will thread onto the 3/8" center post on my bases that I can dovetail VYCE onto. Got one like that? I didn't see any of your clamps that would thread onto a 3/8-16 post. Thanks! N
 
Hey MPHREALLYRIGHT STUFF, thanks for being on this thread. I have been wanting to try your Vyce system. I already have video gear and leveling bases for that gear on a 75mm bowl/tripod. I'm just looking for a clamp that will thread onto the 3/8" center post on my bases that I can dovetail VYCE onto. Got one like that? I didn't see any of your clamps that would thread onto a 3/8-16 post. Thanks! N


If you have one of our leveling bases with the simple 3/8” threaded post you can purchase the TA-LBC which would change out the top of your leveling base into a lever release version.

I enjoy being on the forum bro, it’s my passion as well