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TBAC BIPOD
- Thread starter Zak Smith
- Start date
I ended up finding some fasteners that fit, but were a little too long. I just trimmed them and went with it.
Jury's still out on it, I probably won't have thoughts until I go to range on friday.
Jury's still out on it, I probably won't have thoughts until I go to range on friday.
Wasn’t a huge deal. And I’m glad I had the option since I would not have used the ADM mount.
I haven’t taken the bipod shooting yet, just installed and dry fired with it at home.
The legs have some play it them. Less than the atlas but more than my LRA F-class, which I think was perfect. I like a little bit of play as opposed to a solid one like the PSR. That’s one of the reasons why I chose it over the CAL.
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Just ordered spiked feet today direct from TBAC with shipping confirmation. Top notch customer service!
got mine from MH a few weeks ago. freakin love it. didn't come with the screws to attach the RRS clamp but i happened to have some that worked perfectly.
fantastic bipod - very happy i finally upgraded from the good ol' harris.
now i'm just waiting for euro-optic to get the spiked feet in stock so i can use my $50 coupon on them
fantastic bipod - very happy i finally upgraded from the good ol' harris.
now i'm just waiting for euro-optic to get the spiked feet in stock so i can use my $50 coupon on them
The spiked feet are great; more like little pegs on the end. They won’t scratch the hell out of everything you set them on.
We finally have a surplus of these for direct online ordering
Picked mine up yesterday at the shop, Zak. Did the curbside social distance thing. Blake took great care of me.
What an awesome piece of kit. Can’t wait to get this out for hunting season. I picked up some 3” extensions and spiked feet too. I usually roll with a Harris 9-13 w/ cant, spring legs and the ADM QD conversation. The TBAC will offer a lot more versatility in the field while only adding about 1/2 an ounce. This pod hits all the marks on my wish list. You even use my favorite QD mount the ADM. Thanks for making such an awesome product!
Thunder Beast: TBAC Bipod
Thunder Beast BIPOD-K1 w/ ADM Mount. The legs are deployable without push of a button, 45 degree mode, no pan mode, tool-less QD feet, and more.
www.milehighshooting.com
There is an option to buy without mount.
I've been running a couple of these for a few months now. I've since sold all the others (with the exception of the Ckye-Pod with triple pulls).
These have a new level of stability, width is phenomenal, and weight is very low. These will definitely be residing on my hunting rifle with the 3" extensions.
These have a new level of stability, width is phenomenal, and weight is very low. These will definitely be residing on my hunting rifle with the 3" extensions.
My favorite bipod. After playing with this for a month I'm sold. I'm going to put one on each of my precision rifles. Big shout out to @TBACRAY and @Mile High Shooting 
I got two of them over the weekend. So far working out great. Even tried it out on my AI.
Just a note, if you are running this or any bipod on an AI AX and want to use the RRS mount and think you might get into night vision or mount a IR laser like a PEQ-15 on the front of the rail the RRS unit will not usually fit with a side mounted laser. The ADM will. Doesn’t matter the make of the bipod. Just something to keep in mind when making the purchase.
and I love my TBAC bipod.
and I love my TBAC bipod.
Are you in NC? that range seems very familiar... just saw your profile. Yep, same place. nice range. I miss it...
So I understand that the legs rotate under lateral pressure (loading into the bipod)? If so, wasnt't this the exact reason folks had hissy fits over Atlas? It's the main reason I'm sticking with my 8 year old LRA and not going with this.
Just picked up this bipod. Was all excited..... untill i realised the legs rotate. To be fair, i have only used this in dry fire on my livingroom carpet. Still, fucking annoying.
Heading to the range tomorrow to try it out.
Heading to the range tomorrow to try it out.
Heavy front loading of bipods was mainly — IMO — to fix the problems with hop that are endemic with spring loaded bipods like the Harris. When I shoot an AI/PH bipod, I hardly load it at all, just enough to hold me on the gun. Our bipod is more similar in that regard to the AI.
Thanks for clearing that up Zak. When behind the gun though, it didn’t take much pressure for it to start moving forward. Like I said, I’ll take it to the range today and play with it while zeroing my rifle
You may also want to try the spiked feet if you don't already have them. I haven't tried mine with the rubber feet, but I was not able to get the legs to roll with the spikes and they stayed planted.
Yep, I purchased the spiked feet shortly after the bipod. After going to the range today, my opinion still stands that the rolling legs are shit. I shouldn’t have to buy $60 worth of spike legs to prevent/mitigate forward movement due to rolling feet.
Our range has concrete shooting rests with a rubber mat on top of them. The rubber feet rolled the bipod forward with very minimal effort. Just getting behind the rifle rolled it forward. Which is an annoyance, because then it rolls so far forward that you have to reposition the rifle back to a comfortable shooting position over and over.
Then I switched to the spiked feet and the inserts kept the rifle from moving until moderate forward force was applied. Which I liked significantly better.
That being said, I didn’t try Prone shooting on dirt or grass yet. Which will be done in the next few days.
Some key notes:
1) I do like the quick deployment of the legs
2) The spring loaded legs are also a neat feature I found to like better than the atlas set up. Although the “reach forward with your off hand and tilt the rifle to deploy leg extension” is bullshit. My rifle is 21lb and my bipod is mounted too far forward to extend while behind the rifle. *partly my fault because I don’t have an ArcaSwiss QD mount for the bipod yet. To be able to move the bipod closer to me. Still, I don’t jerk off enough to have the wrist strength to simply tilt the rifle with my main hand while behind the rifle... at 21lbs
3) Great lock up on the throw lever. Very tight, may get “worn in” with time, but I am very impressed with how solid it is. Personally, I think the throw lever is a bit small for the force required to lock up the tilt function. Once set, I didn’t see any movement the whole time I was on the range.
Our range has concrete shooting rests with a rubber mat on top of them. The rubber feet rolled the bipod forward with very minimal effort. Just getting behind the rifle rolled it forward. Which is an annoyance, because then it rolls so far forward that you have to reposition the rifle back to a comfortable shooting position over and over.
Then I switched to the spiked feet and the inserts kept the rifle from moving until moderate forward force was applied. Which I liked significantly better.
That being said, I didn’t try Prone shooting on dirt or grass yet. Which will be done in the next few days.
Some key notes:
1) I do like the quick deployment of the legs
2) The spring loaded legs are also a neat feature I found to like better than the atlas set up. Although the “reach forward with your off hand and tilt the rifle to deploy leg extension” is bullshit. My rifle is 21lb and my bipod is mounted too far forward to extend while behind the rifle. *partly my fault because I don’t have an ArcaSwiss QD mount for the bipod yet. To be able to move the bipod closer to me. Still, I don’t jerk off enough to have the wrist strength to simply tilt the rifle with my main hand while behind the rifle... at 21lbs
3) Great lock up on the throw lever. Very tight, may get “worn in” with time, but I am very impressed with how solid it is. Personally, I think the throw lever is a bit small for the force required to lock up the tilt function. Once set, I didn’t see any movement the whole time I was on the range.
The TBAC bipod isn't very good on a bench and the spiked feet are pretty worthless in general. It's a decent bipod from the prone but so is everything else. If I had to do it over I probably wouldn't buy one. I've let a bunch of different people try the bipod and I don't think anyone has run out and bought one afterward. For as much thought that went into the bipod there's some rather obvious changes that could improve the functionality.
I am not opposed to the idea that I may be loading too much, as this is a new bipod for me, and thus must adjust to its function. Not applying rearward pressure may also help some. Been shooting long enough to know how much forward pressure is too much. When I tell you I can push my rifle forward with 1 finger, I don’t mean putting 260lb Into the butt plate. (Rear of rifle on a bean bag)
I can push a rifle with one finger if I want to. That’s not the same and getting behind the rifle.
A few notes--
Our bipod is unapologetically meant for field shooting. I would say it encourages, or "enables", a certain way of using the bipod that we believe is more efficient in the field. There are other bipods that are more complicated but have more "features", and are still good, like the Ckye (which can go super high). But we designed our bipod to optimize more or less conventional bipod use in a field setting.
With regard to the reach forward/tilt thing, this works on almost all rifles. We can't really control if a gun is too heavy for the person to do this, or if they've put their bipod too far forward. In that case, I'd wonder how someone is going to adjust *any* bipod without getting off the gun. But the method as described is how I've been adjusting my AI/PH bipods while on the gun for 15 years.
The bipod should not "autorotate" on a smooth surface, at least not with a reasonable amount of forward pressure on the gun. The arms (levers) that control the leg extension provide friction to the inner leg once they are locked up (ie, arm in a notch). This friction can be decreased if oil or lube is present and can be increased if more dirt/grit is in there. If you don't think your bipod is acting normally in this regard, please contact us and we can determine what's going on. I just threw a rifle on my concrete floor and the rubber feet would skid before they rotated.
For anyone who is not totally familiar with the ADM mount, you can set the tension on the clamp with the bipod off the gun by pushing the lever side in and tightening or loosening the nut on the other side.
We also do not recommend "locking down" the cant tension adjuster just as a matter of technique-- it's going to be better to leave it at a tension setting that allows some free movement.
Anyway, if you have feedback on what you'd like to see in an improved bipod, please send it to me and we'll at least take it into consideration if/when we design a different bipod, or "v 2".
Our bipod is unapologetically meant for field shooting. I would say it encourages, or "enables", a certain way of using the bipod that we believe is more efficient in the field. There are other bipods that are more complicated but have more "features", and are still good, like the Ckye (which can go super high). But we designed our bipod to optimize more or less conventional bipod use in a field setting.
With regard to the reach forward/tilt thing, this works on almost all rifles. We can't really control if a gun is too heavy for the person to do this, or if they've put their bipod too far forward. In that case, I'd wonder how someone is going to adjust *any* bipod without getting off the gun. But the method as described is how I've been adjusting my AI/PH bipods while on the gun for 15 years.
The bipod should not "autorotate" on a smooth surface, at least not with a reasonable amount of forward pressure on the gun. The arms (levers) that control the leg extension provide friction to the inner leg once they are locked up (ie, arm in a notch). This friction can be decreased if oil or lube is present and can be increased if more dirt/grit is in there. If you don't think your bipod is acting normally in this regard, please contact us and we can determine what's going on. I just threw a rifle on my concrete floor and the rubber feet would skid before they rotated.
For anyone who is not totally familiar with the ADM mount, you can set the tension on the clamp with the bipod off the gun by pushing the lever side in and tightening or loosening the nut on the other side.
We also do not recommend "locking down" the cant tension adjuster just as a matter of technique-- it's going to be better to leave it at a tension setting that allows some free movement.
Anyway, if you have feedback on what you'd like to see in an improved bipod, please send it to me and we'll at least take it into consideration if/when we design a different bipod, or "v 2".
Why is that? I find that bipods that allow free rotation will then rotate after each shot due to torque or recoil, and then have to be reset after each shot. I’d really prefer something that doesn’t move. Why is this not feasible or desired?
For the spiked feet...larger diameter so they don't just sink straight into anything but grass and concrete and spiked hardened inserts that are actually pointed rather than round and beveled. What's the point of spiked feet that aren't spiked? They slide on hard surfaces and sink in soft surfaces. The rubber feet work every bit as good as the spiked feet making the spiked feet nearly worthless.
For whatever it is worth, I have been using the bipod for more than a year and have fired thousands of rounds off of it. This is my long term opinion of the spiked feet.
I think he means enough to move it when needed, but not completely locked down.
I keep my tension high and it doesn’t move under recoil. But I can move it when needed, albeit with a bit of effort.
It's going to move anyway due to recoil and irregularity of the surface and it's moot when you have to transition to a different target. Having it locked down means that if you're off by a tiny amount you'll be pressuring it to get the POA back as opposed to just correcting it and not continuing to apply that torque/force to the gun. I mean, you can lock it all the time, but a lot of time is wasted messing with podlocks. Free rotation is not the enemy.
I'm more than satisfied with mine coming from multiple Harris units. I have shot from benches that are cement. Cement benches I have covered with a towel and from many field positions. I have not had the bipod slide or roll forward. My rifle weighs about 19 pounds or so. I haven't used the spikes and never ordered them. I haven't had the legs sink in the sand in the desert yet.
The bipod feels easy to load without placing too much force on it. I have used it on multiple rifles and let friends try it. They all seemed happy and it has been on lighter hunting rifles, heavier target rifles and a few in-between. I wish I had more money to buy a couple more units for other rifles so I can replace the Harris.
The bipod feels easy to load without placing too much force on it. I have used it on multiple rifles and let friends try it. They all seemed happy and it has been on lighter hunting rifles, heavier target rifles and a few in-between. I wish I had more money to buy a couple more units for other rifles so I can replace the Harris.
I've been running one since the first batch was released. Mainly on an AX. Absolutely worth the money. For field use I don't see how anything else out there could be better. I had an issue with it I guess two weeks ago and emailed Tbac Saturday morning. Got a response from Ray directly very quickly then a barrage of emails later that afternoon from 2 others there. Every time I've had to contact them for anything has been an exceptional experience and unless they don't make a can that does what I need, I don't see myself taking my business elsewhere for that or a bipod.
After owning/using Harris, EI, Atlas and lately TB, the TB is the one I find myself switching to different rifles to try. It does just about everything well. I'll certainly be purchasing another TB. The feet will skid before they roll on concrete and wooden benches for me.
Never owned a harris. One and only bipod untill recently was an Atlas PSR
As stated earlier, mine is simply out of reach because currently the only pic mounting surface is the spigot mount on the front of my MPA chassis. I have never shot competatively or under pressure, thus never having need to adjust bipod on the fly.
Earlier this evening i also tested the bipod on smooth concrete. Resulting in rubber feet simply skidding instead of rotating as you did. The rotation was happening on rubber to rubber contact at the range yesterday.
This bipod has me thinkin about selling my 2 Harris bipods and buying one of these with the extensions and feet. How far does it stick out off the rifle when folded compared with a swivel stud mounted harris?
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