Re: What Bipod To Get?
Sorry about spelling and the spaces. Posting this on my phone and it won't let me scroll.
Zak the cheapest way to get a bipod is to not get one. Instead if you take 3 sticks at around 1/4" to 1/2" and tie them together with a short length of line you have a tripod. If the sticks are 12" tall then you can adjust how high you want your rifle as well as correcting any amount of cant that there might be. Using this little tripod is completely free, infinitly adjustable and most of all is either extremely portable or can be made almost anywhere. Granted it doesn't attach but it will provide the stability you want without having to spend money. I know how it is to be 18 and in college, I'm there right now. I have used that little tripod setup all the time with extremely favorable results, I shoot just as good off the tripod as a sand bag. Another little tidbit you'll find useful is get yourself a bag for the rear of your rifle. A cheap way to do this is save your grocery bags. Put all your grocery bags into on grocery bag and place it under the butt of your rifle. You can then finely adjust the elevation for your rifle. Both of these are prett much free and will hold you over till you can get a quality piece of gear.
By the way I use a 14.5lbs (.308) gun and it holds up to that just fine. When you do decide to buy a bipod, a swivel/canting model is an excellent choice because you can track moving targets and use the bipod on uneven ground. I use a Shooter's Ridge model with good results. It attaches a Pictany rail to the swivel stud and then the bipod attaches to the rail. Use clear nail polish on the rubber gasket it comes with and the bipod will not move on it's mount. For the rear bag get yourself some platic BBs and either a cloth bag as big as your fist or enough cloth, needle and thread to make your own. The fine tuning offered by the rear bag is a great help when your trying to shoot tiny objects such as paintball (.66 diameter and a lot of fun and a great challenge). If you hunt often then you usually have to use what's provided, shooting is the same way, just a different field. Also using the improvised rests will help with making the shot while hunting because of the better foundation for the rifle.
If you want to more information look up a book called The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual for Military and Police Snipers. It's written by Major John L. Plaster, USAR (ret). The sheer amount of information is a welcome resource and the way he aprproaches problems is extremely thought out. He also provides a lot of tips for shooting, reloading, qucik follow ups an field rests. Good luck shooting.
