I have a hunting rifle that I’d like to be able to shoot from a tripod this year, but it doesn’t have a stock that will accept an arca rail. It seems like the hog saddle was the bees knees several years ago, but with the wide spread adoption of integrated mounting solutions on rifle stocks, rifle clamps have kinda died off. That said, is the hog saddle still the top of the heap for rifle clamps? Is the more budget friendly pig saddle a cost effective option? What is it giving up? Has some other clamp eclipsed the hog/pig saddle for “bang for buck” in this arena? Thanks.
Hog Saddle, Pig saddle, other? ARCA need not apply
- Thread starter hlee
- Start date
I have an older pig saddle that works great for rifles that are not modernized with the latest rails. It's also nice as a clamp for working on firearms on the tripod at home or running some dryfire drills.
It is heavy so consider that if you are walking far. I have modern setups too but I still like the pig. The advantage with a modern rail setup is speed and less weight, but for most hunting the pig clamp is fine.
It's also nice to bring to the range for guys that want to shoot off a tripod but have no rail to connect to. And I find all kinds of uses for it like holding work lights, laser levels, etc. It's just an awesome tool. (if you need help justifying it)
It is heavy so consider that if you are walking far. I have modern setups too but I still like the pig. The advantage with a modern rail setup is speed and less weight, but for most hunting the pig clamp is fine.
It's also nice to bring to the range for guys that want to shoot off a tripod but have no rail to connect to. And I find all kinds of uses for it like holding work lights, laser levels, etc. It's just an awesome tool. (if you need help justifying it)
I apologize in advance because I did read the title, but I have to say going from a Hog Saddle to an Arca rail and head has made a huge improvement in the speed and stability of my tripod shooting.
If you haven't looked at them the Salmon River Solutions rails can fit to a lot of standard hunting rifle stocks:
If you haven't looked at them the Salmon River Solutions rails can fit to a lot of standard hunting rifle stocks:
I left the HOG saddle and all the chassis equipped rifles are equipped with ARCA rails.
However, I have some rifles with traditional style wood stocks that don't lend themselves real well to the HOG saddles.
So, I tried this. It's a plate with ARCA rails on the bottom. I attached a bag that the rifle rests on. So far, I like it better than the HOG saddle.
However, I have some rifles with traditional style wood stocks that don't lend themselves real well to the HOG saddles.
So, I tried this. It's a plate with ARCA rails on the bottom. I attached a bag that the rifle rests on. So far, I like it better than the HOG saddle.
I think you should have a look at Two Vets Tripods, they make a lightweight saddle that they call the Triclawps Solo. Its cheap and light weight and works wonderfull.
Locking into tripod is suboptimal. You are better off using a plate with a bag and shooting off of that. Your wobble zone will be much smaller.
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I bubba’d a cheap m lok arca on my cheap coyote gun stock. Buzzed off the mlok studs with a belt sander and there were gaps in the forend of the stock and just so happened to line up with the mounting holes in my arca rail…..a little Afro engineered but it works for what I needed.
I bubba’d a cheap m lok arca on my cheap coyote gun stock. Buzzed off the mlok studs with a belt sander and there were gaps in the forend of the stock and just so happened to line up with the mounting holes in my arca rail…..a little Afro engineered but it works for what I needed.
I'd echo some of the above. Get some sort of tac table/Mub Mod Dos or the like to go on the tripod, then just use whatever AG Game Changer or similar bag on top. There're heavy fills if you're not walking much and the lighter fills is weight matters more. The bags lend themselves to a lot more adjustability.
In my experience, nothing beats a mechanical attachment to a good CF tripod for stability. If you use the RRS clamps on your tripod, you can use either Arca or Picatinny rails. I use Arca for comps and picatinny for lighter hunting rifles.
For matches or range work where you're entirely focused on shooting I think that would work well but for hunting I really like a clamp. It's smaller than a table, it holds the rifle securely at any angle so you can't bump it off, and it's one item to stow in your pack usually in a sleeve or scabbard so you don't need to unzip or clip anything and you have no shooting bag to lose.
Just my opinion for my hunting style.
Not gonna put an arca on the pre64, so I use a saddle with an arca on a ballhead when it goes out. Cheap aluminum tripod goes out and stays all season long, so not worried about weathering
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