Using a video tripod and fluid head as a shooting platform?

[Leicafan1990]

So I see that shooting off of a tripod is very popular these days but almost everyone seems to be using small ball heads from companies like RRS and Sirui.

I work in video production and I have a heavy duty carbon fiber Sachtler tripod and a Miller fluid head. The head can support up to 25lbs. Unlike ball heads that move in every direction, a video head has a leveling bowl that you lock in and then the head itself just controls pan and tilt.

This gives you an idea of what I have: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1381991-REG/miller_1092_cx6_fluid_head.html#mo

Is there any reason why this setup wouldn’t work for a precision bolt gun? I know it’s a lot heavier than some lightweight carbon sticks and a ball head but it’s what I’ve got and I shoot at a range so I don’t have to worry about carrying it around in the field. Is there some advantage to ball heads that I’m missing?

 

[tsavo303]

I think that would be functional, try it. Only trade off id guess is weight

 

[J_D]

Let's take out the cost factor.......what does that weigh?

 

[Emerson0311]

I don’t like to lock my rifle into my tripod. A prefer to throw a bag on top of the tripod and use it to support binos/rangefinder/rifle depending on needs.

 

[Leicafan1990]

Let's take out the cost factor.......what does that weigh?

The fluid head and sticks together weigh 8lbs.

 

[iceng]

Always ask yourself "what advantage will this give me, and at what cost ?".

If you are getting minimal benefit, if any, but at twice the cost... Learn to use your current gear better.

 

[Mr. F]

So I see that shooting off of a tripod is very popular these days but almost everyone seems to be using small ball heads from companies like RRS and Sirui.

I work in video production and I have a heavy duty carbon fiber Sachtler tripod and a Miller fluid head. The head can support up to 40lbs. Unlike ball heads that move in every direction, a video head has a leveling bowl that you lock in and then the head itself just controls pan and tilt.

This gives you an idea of what I have: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1381991-REG/miller_1092_cx6_fluid_head.html#mo

Is there any reason why this setup wouldn’t work for a precision bolt gun? I know it’s a lot heavier than some lightweight carbon sticks and a ball head but it’s what I’ve got and I shoot at a range so I don’t have to worry about carrying it around in the field. Is there some advantage to ball heads that I’m missing?

The advantage to ballheads/leveling heads/ anvil is weight and versatility but mainly weight.

I don’t see any downside to using a cinema head other than its heavy and cumbersome to hike around with.

I know of a few really good shooters that use fluid heads/cinema heads for rifle support. Police use similar equipment for static venue overwatch where weight is not a big issue.

If i was sitting shooting prairie dogs only panning 20° it would definitely beat a smaller head

For me goes Fluid Head > Leveling Head > Traditional Head > Anvil in terms of stability but goes the other way in terms of practicality/weight/setup speed

 

[Zak Smith]

I use a gimbal head quite a bit and like it, but it's the ProMediaGear type.

 

[Leicafan1990]

Always ask yourself "what advantage will this give me, and at what cost ?".

If you are getting minimal benefit, if any, but at twice the cost... Learn to use your current gear better.

I already own this fluid head and tripod for my job so it wouldn’t cost me anything to use it for precision shooting.

I was just checking to see if it would work well for mounting a rifle and it sounds like it will work perfectly fine.

 

[carbonbased]

I already own this fluid head and tripod for my job so it wouldn’t cost me anything to use it for precision shooting.

I was just checking to see if it would work well for mounting a rifle and it sounds like it will work perfectly fine.

I have a Berlebach 553 pan/tilt head which I bought for a spotting scope setup like this (not mine, but I copied most of this setup).

Since I owned the head I figured I’d try it with a gun.

The only downside is you need to level it or as you pan your rifle cants, sometimes quite a bit. But as a vid guy you know that and you have a leveling base to speed leveling. Still, if you need speed to get lead on a fleshy target, flopping the sticks out and slapping the gun on a ballhead (with or without a bag) is way faster even than a pan/tilt head + leveling base (for me).

Btw I added a leveling base soon after. I use the setup to scope cam the hits…my LRF binos are co-witnessed to the spotter. Pretty fast.

The head’s arm can be a pain when using with a rifle, and when I took the arm off then it was sort of hard to adjust the head into position if the gun wasn’t on it. A minor thing, but mention for noobs who are thinking about it…not the OP.

For ballheads, I like the original Arca B1 ballhead and its asymmetrical ball, which slows down as it approaches its angle limit. Reduces “flop” damage.

Most like the RRS Anvil 30, but I dunno, I never got on with that well as I like separate tension for panning and tilting as I do a LOT of panning when varmint shooting. If you shoot immobile targets, yeah, the Anvil would be good.

Edit: I don’t know about your head, but my setup with the RRS leveling base gets the gun up pretty darn high, which is less stable. I imagine you have a typical sunken 75mm/100mm video bowl so the gun would be much lower.

 

[Leicafan1990]

I have a Berlebach 553 pan/tilt head which I bought for a spotting scope setup like this (not mine, but I copied most of this setup).

View attachment 8182089

View attachment 8182087

Since I owned the head I figured I’d try it with a gun.

The only downside is you need to level it or as you pan your rifle cants, sometimes quite a bit. But as a vid guy you know that and you have a leveling base to speed leveling. Still, if you need speed to get lead on a fleshy target, flopping the sticks out and slapping the gun on a ballhead (with or without a bag) is way faster even than a pan/tilt head + leveling base (for me).

Btw I added a leveling base soon after. I use the setup to scope cam the hits…my LRF binos are co-witnessed to the spotter. Pretty fast.

The head’s arm can be a pain when using with a rifle, and when I took the arm off then it was sort of hard to adjust the head into position if the gun wasn’t on it. A minor thing, but mention for noobs who are thinking about it…not the OP.

For ballheads, I like the original Arca B1 ballhead and its asymmetrical ball, which slows down as it approaches its angle limit. Reduces “flop” damage.

Most like the RRS Anvil 30, but I dunno, I never got on with that well as I like separate tension for panning and tilting as I do a LOT of panning when varmint shooting. If you shoot immobile targets, yeah, the Anvil would be good.

Edit: I don’t know about your head, but my setup with the RRS leveling base gets the gun up pretty darn high, which is less stable. I imagine you have a typical sunken 75mm/100mm video bowl so the gun would be much lower.

Yes, the tripod has a 75mm bowl built into the legs and the fluid head has a leveling base on the bottom so leveling the whole thing is super fast and rock solid. I’ve actually tried shooting with this setup since making this thread and it was very effective.

I used this ADM tripod mount to attach the fluid head plate to my Mlok rail (with Mlok to picatinny adapter). It has 1/4x20 holes on the bottom which works perfectly with the video plate. - https://www.admmfg.com/qd-tripod-mount

As you said, you need to remove the long pan/tilt bar that comes with the fluid head and use the rifle itself to move the head. The bar just gets in the way. But if you keep the tension pretty low on the pan and tilt, the rifle steers pretty easily.

I’m thinking of adding some additional weight to the front of my rail to perfectly balance the gun over the fluid head. This will allow me to use the counter balance function on the fluid head. Counter balance is cool because it will hold the tilt position of the rifle if I take my hands off the gun, even if the tilt tension is super low and the tilt lock is disengaged. This is a function that isn’t in any ball heads that I know of. I don’t know how useful it will actually be but I imagine it will make it a little easier to get on target quickly since you aren’t fighting the weight if the gun when tilting.

This isn’t the head I have but it illustrates the effect of counterbalance on most fluid heads. -

But for pure speed, throwing a shooting bag on top of the tripod legs without the fluid head is the way to go. But if you want to shoot super accurately and don’t care too much about speed, the fluid head setup is excellent. It’s rock solid, easy to balance and it steers pretty easily once you dial in your settings on the head.

 

[carbonbased]

Yes, the tripod has a 75mm bowl built into the legs and the fluid head has a leveling base on the bottom so leveling the whole thing is super fast and rock solid. I’ve actually tried shooting with this setup since making this thread and it was very effective.

I used this ADM tripod mount to attach the fluid head plate to my Mlok rail (with Mlok to picatinny adapter). It has 1/4x20 holes on the bottom which works perfectly with the video plate. - https://www.admmfg.com/qd-tripod-mount

As you said, you need to remove the long pan/tilt bar that comes with the fluid head and use the rifle itself to move the head. The bar just gets in the way. But if you keep the tension pretty low on the pan and tilt, the rifle steers pretty easily.

I’m thinking of adding some additional weight to the front of my rail to perfectly balance the gun over the fluid head. This will allow me to use the counter balance function on the fluid head. Counter balance is cool because it will hold the tilt position of the rifle if I take my hands off the gun, even if the tilt tension is super low and the tilt lock is disengaged. This is a function that isn’t in any ball heads that I know of. I don’t know how useful it will actually be but I imagine it will make it a little easier to get on target quickly since you aren’t fighting the weight if the gun when tilting.

This isn’t the head I have but it illustrates the effect of counterbalance on most fluid heads. -

But for pure speed, throwing a shooting bag on top of the tripod legs without the fluid head is the way to go. But if you want to shoot super accurately and don’t care too much about speed, the fluid head setup is excellent. It’s rock solid, easy to balance and it steers pretty easily once you dial in your settings on the head.

Yeah, lots of ways to skin a cat. My Berlebach has a spring counterbalance…I don’t know much about fluid heads…how do they counterbalance? A spring as well?

Trying to work out how fluid itself would counterbalance gives me a headache and I need to hit the hay.

 

[Leicafan1990]

Yeah, lots of ways to skin a cat. My Berlebach has a spring counterbalance…I don’t know much about fluid heads…how do they counterbalance? A spring as well?

Trying to work out how fluid itself would counterbalance gives me a headache and I need to hit the hay.

I think most fluid heads use a spring for counterbalance but I think there are some really expensive, heavy duty heads for 50lb+ cameras that use a gas piston. I’m like 90% sure my head uses a spring. All I know is that it’s very effective once you get the camera/rifle balanced on the head.