Harris Bipods, "You have a problem?" "Let me help you."

The only one I know of that extends to a height to get me over the grass/ground cover is the Harris. If I need more height or more stability I move to the RRS/Anvil 30 set up.

We each have different requirements. Just as a Ferrari is vastly superior to my F350 ranch trucks the modern bipods are obviously better made than my old crap Harris bipods. But, my lesser quality gear actually does what I need done better than the top end gear.

Rob01 said:

Yup unless you pay $300+ on a bipod you can't hit shit!!! Dont forget to spend more and buy all the spike feet etc add ons. That makes it even better!

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Personally I don't see any point in dressing up a cheap stamped bipod, the saying "putting lipstick on a pig" comes to mind.

The Harris has it's purpose, I guess. I own a few, but they don't do any duty on any of my serious precision rifles anymore. The quality of say an Atlas, Ckye-pod, LRA, etc. are all obviously on a different tier then the Harris. While those bipods are not undeserving of their own critiques, the levels of quality between them and a Harris is obvious.

Buy a quality bipod with the features you seek, rather then spending money trying to make a bipod perform functions it wasn't designed to do. The bipod is the literal foundation between your rifle and the earth, not a place that one should be cheaping out on.

How high does that one go? Good looking bipod.

I like the harris when i don't think i'll need a bipod or when i think i'll need a bipod really fast. There's definitely a place for it. It's definitely not the best at being a bipod, but it is the fastest bipod, and one of the lighter ones.

Given that this is SNIPERShide I think it's fair that precision isn't always the goal? You don't need to be that precise to shoot a brain at 100m, but you might need to be fast. Don't want to start an argument about what a sniper is, just emphasizing that the harris is faster with some 550.

On the opposite note of prone, you can get a super quick seated supported shot off with the 12-24 harris. Although with the need to manipulate each leg, maybe a tall atlas/whatever is just as fast. Haven't tried them.

The other bipods are definitely better at being bipods

UpSideDown said:

Harris is a poor Man’s bipod.

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fify

lowlight said:

Lame, add 550 to increase speed, why not deploy my Atlas or Cal to a 45 and never touch it ?

So speed is the reasoning,

Distance is supposed to give you time and opportunity, faster would be to practice offhand

Then again, you are all arguing for a Specialized Harris, the 12-24, why not the multi Leg Cyke Pod ?


I am sure I can find a reason to want to drive a Yugo too, i plan on robbing a bank will dump the car in the river when finished, need something small as I plan on escaping through an alley,

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I didn't argue for the specialized harris. I literally said the "tall atlas/whatevers are probably just as fast".

I wouldn't want to run my bipod at 45 because if I'm worried about speed, I also have the bipod tucked in closer to the magwell (got it, another sin) so I can load into a barricade with the stowed legs, or whip them out real quick to get some elevation over a deeper barricade.

It's a thing in the kit bag and if you can't think of a reason to put it on i don't know what to tell you. If I had a kit bag with a cykepod, a harris, an atlas, an elr mostrosity, and whatever else, there are definitely missions where i'd slap the harris on a sniper rifle. It's not a yugo it's a bicycle, it's light, it sucks, but it does the thing ok enough to where sometimes it fits the bill. The cykepod is definitely way cooler and more versatile

EDIT: faster is faster dude, target exposure is basically an unknown par time

Wheres-Waldo said:

Can we explain this then? And I’m not for a second buying the “they don’t know what they don’t know” with regard to top competitive shooters in the country.

View attachment 7441056

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I was waiting for this. Here is the explanation:

“Precision Rifle Series” ain’t precise at all. The targets are huge (comparatively speaking).

The speed of the Harris vs the targets being big enough not to need better bipod trumps the shittiness of it.

Tbac finally improved on the general idea of the Harris.

i want to address the time issue a little more deeply. your examples (3 gun and prs) are shitty. You aren't winning or losing in 3 gun by your bipod deployment time in 3 gun, nor are you shooting a 308 (just rest your ar15 off the mag), nor are you even allowed to have a bipod unless you're shooting open. Your bipod selection matters even less than your pistol holster selection

And PRS IS using the fuck out of the harris. If they have a harris and aren't on the 550 train, sucks to suck, but it's not gonna hurt them overall due to generous par times. PRS isn't a speed shooting sport - most dudes are moving slow as fuck in comparison to other action shooting sports. PRS shooters aren't going to movement courses to train how to move faster

I'm not even defending the harris as a bipod, it sucks. I just see it for what it is

PRS style shooting is the only “precision” type rifle discipline that can be won with factory ammo or completely shitty had loads.

You absolutely cannot use this type of shooting to argue that a bipod used for this is a precision tool.

jeffl838 said:

i want to address the time issue a little more deeply. your examples (3 gun and prs) are shitty. You aren't winning or losing in 3 gun by your bipod deployment time in 3 gun, nor are you shooting a 308 (just rest your ar15 off the mag), nor are you even allowed to have a bipod unless you're shooting open. Your bipod selection matters even less than your pistol holster selection

And PRS IS using the fuck out of the harris. If they have a harris and aren't on the 550 train, sucks to suck, but it's not gonna hurt them overall due to generous par times. PRS isn't a speed shooting sport - most dudes are moving slow as fuck in comparison to other action shooting sports. PRS shooters aren't going to movement courses to train how to move faster

I'm not even defending the harris as a bipod, it sucks. I just see it for what it is

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You are absolutely wrong that PRS is not a speed game. It’s not a run and gun like 3 gun or pistol. But it is absolutely a speed game as far as these types of rifles go.

If you haven’t seen guys time out because they had part of a stage where they were using a bag for part of the stage, then had to deploy a bipod and fucked around with an atlas for 10-15s......you either don’t get out much, or you’re shooting a bunch of 2min stages.

In “real” matches where it’s 90s and you aren’t allowed to finagle with your gun or prop to see what bipod height is gonna work......having something like a Harris, tbac, or ckye pod is a pretty big advantage

lowlight said:

My take away from the Pro Harris crowd is,

1. Ain't broke for me, so don't fix it,
2. Compromise is okay, regardless of context
3. Best Practice be damned, use what I do, see #2
4. Context matters, except where it doesn't because see #2
5. Money matters except where it doesn't see #2

Bottom line, it holds the rifle up so it's a tool

I love the barricade example above where nobody is using a bipod but a sandbag now, 90% are taking the bipod off for alternate position because the bags do more without them,

Maybe we should transition to Rifle Rests (game changer bags) are not rear bags...

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I'm not humping a gamechanger on every single mission. I love competing but not everything should not revolve around it.

Dthomas3523 said:

You are absolutely wrong that PRS is not a speed game. It’s not a run and gun like 3 gun or pistol. But it is absolutely a speed game as far as these types of rifles go.

If you haven’t seen guys time out because they had part of a stage where they were using a bag for part of the stage, then had to deploy a bipod and fucked around with an atlas for 10-15s......you either don’t get out much, or you’re shooting a bunch of 2min stages.

In “real” matches where it’s 90s and you aren’t allowed to finagle with your gun or prop to see what bipod height is gonna work......having something like a Harris, tbac, or ckye pod is a pretty big advantage

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It's a game where you benefit from speed but it's not a speed game. The highest level competitors are not counting steps between different stage plans, planning which leg to load during which position to facilitate a faster exit, planning how to pump their arms, etc etc etc

I say roll with this bad boy and be done....

https://youtu.be/yvw-4DuHE9Q

Not being rhetorical.

Is there another bipod that deploys rapidly, gets my line of sight 34” or more above the ground and weighs 17 oz or less? Compresses to 15” or less.

If so I’m seriously interested.

jeffl838 said:

It's a game where you benefit from speed but it's not a speed game. The highest level competitors are not counting steps between different stage plans, planning which leg to load during which position to facilitate a faster exit, planning how to pump their arms, etc etc etc

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Actually they are. Check out some of the videos where they talk about economy of motion.

Vibbert actually talks about knowing how many seconds it takes him to move and get a shot off so he can plan out a stage.

Take a trip to Rifles Only where you have to drop mag between movements and have 15-20 shots in 90s at times. If you don’t know how long it takes to get your shots off or know how to choreograph the stage in your head, you’re fucked out the gate when they purposely make the stage for you to time out and you have to figure out how many shots you should be attempting.

Contrary to your post, that’s something that sets the top shooters apart. They are actually looking at things like steps and economy of motion.

Are they manufactured out of square or are they bent by user abuse/use?

Also

lowlight said:

Not to mention, a Bipod controls your rifle's cant.

If you can't lock out the bipod, you will pull the rifle over with the bolt, and push the rifle to the side with your head.

99% of Harris users dont' have a podloc on the system to tighten it down, so rather than spend the $20 to add it, they spend 3x more on a level to tell them they are canted, vs attaching a device that actually fixes it.

A bipod properly tightened down and correctly built cannot cant, regardless of the situation.

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I don't think any of the popular high dollar bipods "lock out". I was pretty critical of the TBAC for it and was told I didn't know what I was doing. Atlas also specifically stated their bipods don't lock out cant. You can tension them, some more than others, but none of them actually lock. Ironically, my Harris comes the closest to actually locking with a lever.

I'd be happy to heave my Harris in the land fill if you'd like to send me a replacement. It generally only sees bench use anymore but for that roll it works fine.

Take a 10 shot 90s stage with 5 target distances. You’ll dial 4 times. (Not discussing dialing vs holding for this example)

If you don’t think this game is about choreographing stages in your head.....use your support hand to dial and see what happens

Cascade Hemi said:

I don't think any of the popular high dollar bipods "lock out". I was pretty critical of the TBAC for it and was told I didn't know what I was doing. Atlas also specifically stated their bipods don't lock out cant. You can tension them, some more than others, but none of them actually lock. Ironically, my Harris comes the closest to actually locking with a lever.

I'd be happy to heave my Harris in the land fill if you'd like to send me a replacement. It generally only sees bench use anymore but for that roll it works fine.

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If you need them to totally lock out, you’re definitely doing it wrong. They tension well enough not to be rolling.

Thanks!

I’ll give one advantage to the Harris, and it’s the only one I can think of:

I would rather take a Harris hunting if it’s a dirty hunt where I expect it to get covered in dust or mud and still expect It to work fine. I wouldn’t want to do that to an Atlas with the ball bearings and it’s general design.

But even with that said I only use Atlas.

deersniper said:

Are they manufactured out of square or are they bent by user abuse/use?

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Both. Start out bad and get worse with high recoil rifles.

veezer said:

....ever get your hand caught in a Harris spring while folding the legs? You will know another level of pain if you haven't.

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More times than I care to admit.

Dthomas3523 said:

Actually they are. Check out some of the videos where they talk about economy of motion.

Vibbert actually talks about knowing how many seconds it takes him to move and get a shot off so he can plan out a stage.

Take a trip to Rifles Only where you have to drop mag between movements and have 15-20 shots in 90s at times. If you don’t know how long it takes to get your shots off or know how to choreograph the stage in your head, you’re fucked out the gate when they purposely make the stage for you to time out and you have to figure out how many shots you should be attempting.

Contrary to your post, that’s something that sets the top shooters apart. They are actually looking at things like steps and economy of motion.

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I hear you. And now go watch christian sailor at a match stage plan that he's going to shoot .14 splits on this target and .21 splits on that target with a .20 transition in-between them. The harris with a piece of 550 on it might be worth it on 1 out of 100 prs stages. You're right, I misspoke. Speed matters in all shooting sports with a clock. But it matters in prs much much less than other action shooting sports.

EDIT:

lowlight said:

Still waiting on the answer regarding the Rings or the Tripod

Why is a cheap Harris okay but cheap rings are not ?

if $89 is okay for my $5000 rifle why not $39 for my $3000 scope ?

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because if i put on a harris i probably won't use it. the rings get used throughout an operation/stage/whatever. i slap on a harris when it's the e in my positional pace plan

lowlight said:

Lucky I live in Colorado or you idiots would drive me to drink

Don't use a high end bipod in the dirt, gotcha ..

Where is my pipe?

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I feel better about being shitty to shit gear than being shitty to nice gear. Again, I only rock the Atlas, but I keep it in my pack til I’m at a glassing spot.

UpSideDown said:

I feel better about being shitty to shit gear than being shitty to nice gear. Again, I only rock the Atlas, but I keep it in my pack til I’m at a glassing spot.

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The entire point of paying a ton of money on gear is so you don’t have to worry about it or baby it.

You will break a ton more and have way more failures being nice to nice gear and shitty to shit gear.

You should be babying the junk.

lowlight said:

Don't lockout and yet a Harris does...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHHAHHAHHHJAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHHHHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHha

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I think I own every bipod discussed in this thread. I can't keep up with the "evolving" opinions, just let me know which I should throw away so I can start looking good on the gram.

Dthomas3523 said:

The entire point of paying a ton of money on gear is so you don’t have to worry about it or baby it.

You will break a ton more and have way more failures being nice to nice gear and shitty to shit gear.

You should be babying the junk.

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The point of owning multiple versions of something is that each item isn’t universally perfect. I haven’t figured out how to make one rifle do everything I want ideally.

Even safe queens need bipods..........

#NODUSTONMYATLAS

Cleanliness. Next to Godliness.

lowlight said:

If the Bipod doesn't matter, why are we not using these rings,

Barska, $39, they look awesome to me

Barska Tactical-Style Riflescope Rings with 1" Inserts (30mm, Aluminum, Low, Matte Black)

Buy Barska Tactical-Style Riflescope Rings with 1" Inserts (30mm, Aluminum, Low, Matte Black) featuring Fits Tactical-Style Base, Built-In Picatinny Rail, Height: 0.94", Aluminum Construction, Matte Black Finish, Pair of Two Rings. Review Barska null

www.bhphotovideo.com

I see no reason not to use these on a $3000 scope, if an $89 bipod is good enough, $39 is plenty for rings, 6 screw, pic rail on top, sold.

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They lack the vertical split required of tactical rings.

UpSideDown said:

The point of owning multiple versions of something is that each item isn’t universally perfect. I haven’t figured out how to make one rifle do everything I want ideally.

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Pretty rifles are a dead giveaway that person doesn’t shoot much as they’d like people to think.

Well damn, I guess my $40 millett rings suck too.

I keep and use both. I like both.

For prs the difference between the two doesn’t matter. Sand filled bag vs plastic filled is a bigger difference.

I shoot my atlas more off the bench because it doesn’t have the claw feet that have dug my concrete up.
But I also had like a 30 minute investigation this week into how I could get the atlas cal to actually lock because I do like to shoot it off the bench more for the above reason.

I can’t tell a real difference in my actually using them so maybe that says more about me than the bipod. The are different but I don’t think one is a sin to use or not.

When I first started shooting I had a Harris bipod........it worked, now I have Elite Iron bipods on my guns........they work.......

lowlight said:

My take away from the Pro Harris crowd is,

1. Ain't broke for me, so don't fix it,
2. Compromise is okay, regardless of context
3. Best Practice be damned, use what I do, see #2
4. Context matters, except where it doesn't because see #2
5. Money matters except where it doesn't see #2

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I'm going to frame this and put it up in the office. I'm wondering who walks by and agrees and who doesn't.

This is my "Oh shit" moment as I fell into the "it's just a bipod, isn't it?" crowd as of ten minutes ago. I've literally never shot with a bipod except on crewserves. What's meant by "roll" and why is it a big deal? What makes one particular bipod repeat to a location versus another? Is there a sticky about bipods?

Some serious case of Lord knows what going on here.

A guy posts about a good CS experience.
It gets turned into, “cool you got good CS for your crappy and inferior product” in just a few posts.


If there was ever a thread to help someone bot want to talk about their entry level gear as they start out, or gear that they cant afford to upgrade or just works for them.

Top site for precision shooting.
Top spot for being an elitist asshole to those who dont have the same top end shit as you.

powdahound76 said:

Some serious case of Lord knows what going on here.

A guy posts about a good CS experience.
It gets turned into, “cool you got good CS for your crappy and inferior product” in just a few posts.


If there was ever a thread to help someone bot want to talk about their entry level gear as they start out, or gear that they cant afford to upgrade or just works for them.

Top site for precision shooting.
Top spot for being an elitist asshole to those who dont have the same top end shit as you.

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Or you could read into what’s actually going on and see that the site is attempting to get people out of circa 1990 equipment and methods.

Dthomas3523 said:

Or you could read into what’s actually going on and see that the site is attempting to get people out of circa 1990 equipment and methods.

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Oh for goodness sakes man.

Or try knowing the member who is a retired Nam vet who is on a fixed income and dosnt have the $ to upgrade.

Or try a little nicer delivery?

I teach people stuff all the time.
Get them to Upgrade their thinking, knowledge, equipment, routine and more frequent training.
Never once got feedback I am a jerk.

As I am sure you teach new or younger guys in your line of work.

powdahound76 said:

Oh for goodness sakes man.

Or try knowing the member who is a retired Nam vet who is on a fixed income and dosnt have the $ to upgrade.

Or try a little nicer delivery?

I teach people stuff all the time.
Get them to Upgrade their thinking, knowledge, equipment, routine and more frequent training.
Never once got feedback I am a jerk.

As I am sure you teach new or younger guys in your line of work.

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Yep, and the minute people start the “it’s just as good as” line, the niceness goes out the window.

Not one single person has said anything about finances in this thread. Or talked down because they can’t afford it.

Part of the problem with the current generation is being too soft to handle the truth. And it’s from your generation’s inability to have taught them that.

Here’s facts:

It’s not just as good.

If you can only afford a Harris, that’s fine. But you won’t have the best and you won’t have “just as good.”

I’ll never fault that “nam vet” for not being able to afford better. But I’ll also not bullshit him and coddle him to thinking he has the best shit or just as good. I might even buy him a bipod.

Run your Harris, or your savage, or your remington all your want. Don’t lie to yourself or anyone else that they are “just as good.”

I respect myself and everyone else not to bullshit them. There was a time that was the way to do things and people respected that.

If you can’t afford something, get a better job, make better decisions, or if you are unable to, accept that’s the hand that life dealt you. My job isn’t to sugar coat that for your feelings.