Bipod recommendations for bolt action long range shooting

[bsumoba]

Bsumoba - could elaborate on the pros cons.. but as a F-class guy he'll be slanted in that direction, as would a PSR or ELR shooter that shoots primarily in the wild will have theirs.

I shot tactical as well and came from that side before shooting F-Class. The reason I went to F-Class because there is more of an emphasis on wind reading and being able to get a gun to shoot well over a long period of shooting, in our case, 15-20+ shots. Typically, the guns need to be able to shoot 1/4 MOA, 5-shot groups at 100 yards in order to really compete. The idea of taking a gun and developing a load that is capable of putting 20 shots into a 10" circle or less at 1,000 yards and doing it without really stopping, and having to do it with roughly 7-15 seconds between shots, is challenging.

Tactical is more about positional shooting and using a rifle in a more practical sense. The accuracy requirements are not as high because you are typically shooting 1-3 MOA sized targets. You can get away with a 3/4 MOA gun in PRS if you can manage the gun properly and know how to shoot the stages and shoot positional. This is what most people will lean towards because it is easier to break into, especially with the new rifles like the RPR coming out.

It is just different and I like both, but for completely different reasons.

Pros of these types of bipods:
* Wider base, makes for more stable prone positions.
* No bipod loading needed.
* With the joypod, you can actually move the POA with the joystick and not have to adjust the rifle.

Cons:
* Bulky and not as easy to carry around, especially in a gun case.
* Adjusting elevation is not as convenient as the Atlas or Harris, but is manageable.
* Typically, the use of a rear bag is used, but you can get away with a squeeze bag.
* For the joypod, you need more of a rear fixed, stable bag.

[diver160651]

I shot tactical as well and came from that side before shooting F-Class. The reason I went to F-Class because there is more of an emphasis on wind reading and being able to get a gun to shoot well over a long period of shooting, in our case, 15-20+ shots. Typically, the guns need to be able to shoot 1/4 MOA, 5-shot groups at 100 yards in order to really compete. The idea of taking a gun and developing a load that is capable of putting 20 shots into a 10" circle or less at 1,000 yards and doing it without really stopping, and having to do it with roughly 7-15 seconds between shots, is challenging.

Tactical is more about positional shooting and using a rifle in a more practical sense. The accuracy requirements are not as high because you are typically shooting 1-3 MOA sized targets. You can get away with a 3/4 MOA gun in PRS if you can manage the gun properly and know how to shoot the stages and shoot positional. This is what most people will lean towards because it is easier to break into, especially with the new rifles like the RPR coming out.

It is just different and I like both, but for completely different reasons.

Pros of these types of bipods:
* Wider base, makes for more stable prone positions.
* No bipod loading needed.
* With the joypod, you can actually move the POA with the joystick and not have to adjust the rifle.

Cons:
* Bulky and not as easy to carry around, especially in a gun case.
* Adjusting elevation is not as convenient as the Atlas or Harris, but is manageable.
* Typically, the use of a rear bag is used, but you can get away with a squeeze bag.
* For the joypod, you need more of a rear fixed, stable bag.

If more posted something relating to this kind of detail (some did) as to why they preferred x over y, the recommendations can be easier to put into perspective..

A guy running a CQCB course most likely will not have a bipod.. A Mall Ninja has super special needs that well, aren't really about the shooting. A hunter might really need height, so sticks or a tripod may come into play. Obviously, the better someone know their needs up front the better, but the perspective of the pearson recommending something, might be more so.

Anyway, Great info.

On a side note, because F-Class is actually much closer to BR than anything else and as you pointed out, there are certain trade offs for a small increase in angular precision that become increasingly difficult to obtain. It would be very cool to at some point (maybe another thread) point out some of the equipment differences.

As an example, you could maybe take something simple like a rear bag. A field bag or sock, is super light or can be filled on site and squeeze for stability and adjustment and gives up a bit of stability both horizontally and vertically in the favor of portability and use options like using it as a front support etc. A BR rear bag might use "black" or really super dense sand with ears and is super heavy maybe up to 20lbs - some guys even pack these in special ways... the bags allow the front rest to do a slightly different job than a field bi-pod is capable of doing..of course there is a lot of detail I left out. bla bla anyway.. I am sure you could elaborate on this and almost everything from the stocks to the glass and why you don't need to see the moment of impact like you might in the field.

I'd be interested in what you wrote - even though my passion is "field" ELR.

PS I'm now compelled to say "field", because it has always been done so with systems you'd get into remote places, so portability carried a huge premium. I'm just against what Litz is trying to do, essentially riding the increased interest of ELR and monetizing, branding and attaching AB to it by using large teams and F-class gear to gain the hits and to define what ELR is.... but I digress, sorry.

[LynnJr]

Bryan
That SEB bipod is outrageous do you have any pictures of it from the front? And how long does it take to get one?

Diver
The late Jerry Tierney shot a Benchrest match with a bipod and would have won the match but got disqualified for his equipment.
In Benchrest the rifle is required to be on sandbags per the rules so he would have needed two bags one for each foot of the bipod. His rifle was also right around 22 pounds which is 5 pounds over the Benchrest lightgun longrange limit.
And I hunt deer with a 28 pound rifle in California but many states have put weight limits on the rifles now to prevent long-range shooting.
A few bad apples spoiled it for the rest of us.

[diver160651]

Bryan
That SEB bipod is outrageous do you have any pictures of it from the front? And how long does it take to get one?

Diver
The late Jerry Tierney shot a Benchrest match with a bipod and would have won the match but got disqualified for his equipment.
In Benchrest the rifle is required to be on sandbags per the rules so he would have needed two bags one for each foot of the bipod. His rifle was also right around 22 pounds which is 5 pounds over the Benchrest lightgun longrange limit.
And I hunt deer with a 28 pound rifle in California but many states have put weight limits on the rifles now to prevent long-range shooting.
A few bad apples spoiled it for the rest of us.

Thanks for the info. Not sure it matters, but just wanted to clarify my bipod and BR statement - at shoot a club match at folsom and were given permission to use an Atlas bipod and squeeze bag from the bench. A couple of the groups were the smallest in the flight, but nothing worth talking about. One shot was also dead center in another's target 2 stations over LOL -- that was a big penalty.. Embarrassing as it was, luckily, the guys target that was shot wasn't holding anything near competitive on near the center, or it might have been bad.

28 lbs? wow, I can't even hold that out, not sure my tripod head could hold it steady either..

[jmatt511]

LaRue/Harris with Pod Claws.

[ar15barrels]

90% of bench/prone precision rifle shooters are best served with a Harris S-BRM with a pod lock.
Spending more money than that setup puts you WAY up the cost/benefit geometric curve.

http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/01/05/bipod/

[Mayor McRifle]

Harris.

[bsumoba]

Bryan
That SEB bipod is outrageous do you have any pictures of it from the front? And how long does it take to get one?

Give one of these guys a call. They actually might have stock on hand. Niklas uses one for F T/R and it seems like he likes it a lot. The joystick function is silky smooth and feels almost exactly like the SEB NEO rest joypod.

I would get one for my ELR rifle actually. It would help stabilize that 30", Hvy Varmint barrel and the recoil of my 338 Edge.

Ernie Bishop
Gillete, WY 82716
ernieemily@yahoo.com
307-257-7431

Mike Ratigan
Woodward, Oklahoma 73801-1707
mike22ppc@icloud.net

this picture is the creator of the SEB products, out of Indonesia.




Tangent...for those interested in the probably the best rest under $700 dollars, looks no further than the SEB mini rest. It has the same joystick function as the SEB NEO, which is the most popular rest in F-Class and the SEB MAX which is used for BR, but in a more compact version that uses a standard 3" front bag

90% of bench/prone precision rifle shooters are best served with a Harris S-BRM with a pod lock.
Spending more money than that setup puts you WAY up the cost/benefit geometric curve.



http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/01/05/bipod/

I agree. I think the Atlas actually moves too much and you can practically buy 2 harris bipods with one atlas bipod.

[Switchbarrel]

Bryan
That SEB bipod is outrageous do you have any pictures of it from the front? And how long does it take to get one?

Hi Lynn-

Not sure if you saw this article or not but, it might be of some interest.

http://www.accurateshooter.com/guns-of-week/heavy-artillery-375-cheytac-for-2-miles/

Just don't look at the scope, he's committing ELR heresy.

Let me know if you want any specific pictures of a JoyPod and I can take them of mine.

-Rick

[diver160651]

As is the the entire set up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Carcassonne]

Hi everyone. I've submitted threads for rifle and optic recommendations and the group has been fantastic. Rifle is in jail. Optic is in the mail. The rifle does not come with a bipod. What do you guys recommend as the best bipod? I will be shooting prone 100 yards at Oaktree more often than 500-1000 at Angeles but I plan to use it for both.

Bipod recommendations?

Thanks!
Keith

I don't know what type of rifle you have or what you plan to do with it. All the M24 sniper rifles in the Army used Harris Bipods. They don't look pretty, but they are light weight and they work. Another benefit is that they can be fixed/repaired with a pocket multi-tool (Letherman, SOG, Gerber, etc). Dirt and sand doesn't adversely effect their performance.

If you plan to carry the rifle and bipod for a while when hunting, than the Harris is a good choice. If you plan to carry your rifle no more than a few feet from the back of your vehicle, than a heavier bipod may be what you want.

FWIW- I've got some cheapie knock offs of these on amazon for a couple .22s and the knock offs are even decent. They will work just fine on 223/556/300BLk and down. $30 or so if I recall correctly.

I have a cheapo Harris copy that works OK. It cost about $15 on ebay. If I had the money I would buy a real Harris.

...

Supporting the cheap Chinese RIP-OFFs is not good for anyone.

(I know you were referring to the Atlas) The Harris patent ran out a long time ago, so the cheapo copies are not really a rip-off.


.

[Sir Toast]

Now that's a bipod. An expensive bipod, but flexible and willing to go the extra mile.

[Ki6vsm]

Now that's a bipod. An expensive bipod, but flexible and willing to go the extra mile.

There's a "monopod" joke in here somewhere.... Or something along the lines of "Good thing he's not laying prone!" etc.

[Mike402]

I've tried the Harris, then the Atlas PSR, and I have finally ended up with the Atlas 5H. LOVE it!!! Not practical for hunting or fieldwork due to the weight, but extremely stable for all the shooting I do.

I could never get the free recoil/sliding down, as I found I was more consistent loading the bipod. You can lock the 5H down where it won't budge. Yes, cost is the big downside.

Obligatory pic of it attached to my custom FN SPR:

[CarlB]

Harris.