Re: Atlas bipod--sucks
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Lowlight</div><div class="ubbcode-body">BX,
You did insult his product and everyone who uses them as bandwagon groupies, before he said a word. So basically, the insulting starts and ends with you because you didn't like something you insulted everyone who does.
I like Atlas bipods, pretty much have one on every rifle, unless I don't which isn't many. I find it more effective than a Harris, and more versatile too. I suppose being the ringleader in this farce, the groupies are mine... appreciated it.
In reading your account, odds are, you're loading your bipod too heavily, especially in the canted position. Sounds like, even tightened you are pushing it down, when really at a 45 it needs next to no loading. The objective of loading the bipod is to take any slop out of the system. In designs with no slop, like a Harris, you simply stack dead weight behind the rifle to maintain a "slight" forward pressure. If you watch any video I have shot with an Atlas at an Angle, you dont see me pushing into it. Now, I understand, I am attempting to diagnose an issue over the internet based on words, not images, but having seen it a time or two, the number one issue with people and loading a bipod is too much pressure, those who don't know about loading use not enough. That happy middle ground is sometimes fuzzy for people.
Kasey is a passionate manufacturer who takes his products serious as well as the feedback from people who use his products seriously. This was a complaint of your, manufacturers who put a product out in a take or leave it fashion. Now, this is more cost effective for a company as well, it can be less of a PR nightmare, as a lot of people, who spend their hard earned money on product don't like it when they buy V7 and then V8 comes out. Computer people have made a ton off making things obsolete with that very take or leave it attitude. Gun people not so much.
Constructive criticism helps, everyone, blatant attacks, charges of everyone being bandwagon groupies because something didn't work for you, serves only your feelings, that everyone else is wrong, because you have to be right. It didn't work for you, therefore, they are full of shit and only swim with the current. It happens everyday, people read I like Accuracy International rifles, buy one at considerable costs, hate the stock and get a SAKO TRG and love it. So are every AI user wrong not to get a TRG, it's cheaper, and feels better -- to someone.
I think you are the one who looks foolish here. Having an issue is fine, being able to say, X happened and I would like Y to fix it works... saying you all suck doesn't.
I know Kasey, I know he is sincere in his respect for everyone's service, I know he is passionate about his product and the people who use it. However being in business there are good customers and bad ones, I always recommend cutting the bad and focusing on the good, even if they have a problem, good customers can have a problem. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about things. You seem to be confused on which is which. </div></div>
Frank,
Let me start by saying that I have the utmost respect for you. This is hands-down the best place on the web for precision shooting. I simply could not do what you do...to tolerate this crap (including me) every single day unless I had a mechanism in my screen to jab a sharp stick through. That said I'm here for one reason. To learn as much as I can so I can pursue my passion. I spend a lot of money with your vendors...a <span style="font-size: 14pt">LOT </span>of money, as does many other members.
I am not an elitist snob and I know what its like to live in poverty so I don't ask for anything in return as the information here is payback enough. But I do ask you for one thing from one veteran to another...lets not pretend that I'm the only dickhead in the room.
This forum is a testosterone swamp. You know and live this every day Frank. Had I walked into the room wearing bunny slippers and passing out candy you can't honestly tell me that the results would have been much different. Had I had the time or inclination I could show you 50 threads without much effort that would prove my point and again...you and <span style="text-decoration: underline">everyone</span>knows this. You either walk in like you got a pair or wait outside on the porch.
If you go back to my first posts in this thread they were relatively benign. Abrasive? Sure. We're not girls are we? I attempted to humor and diffuse the situation but I draw a line in the sand when it comes to my boy. I'll be the first to state that he was a dumbass. He knows it as does everyone else but as a father he could have poked a puppy in the eye and I promise you I'd own the first bitch to jump on him and I can't appologize for being a Dad. While I surely wanted to defend my son, that "want" does not cloud my judgement of the bipod.
As for the bipod, my appraisal of it is unoquivically not related to my son's treatment. Its a well rounded piece that performs well in many environments and is surely not a piece of crap. However, I owned one and it didn't wow me so I sold it. With the range situation being what it is here (I'll save that for another conversation) there was one range not too far from here that very few knew about. They had a 200 yd range in the back of the property that was largey unused. There were no benches, platforms, etc and I had the wild idea to sneak off into the bush and do some real world shooting from cover including logs, trees, and primarily sand.
As stated in an earlier post the sand here is like sugar and everything you park on it sinks and shifts. I was using this range exclusively at the time I tried out the atlas. What I found was that in certain situations I actually did have to load it heavily to maintain PAO after a shot but given the conditions it was extremely difficult to build a good shooting position. I liked it that way. I carried nothing but a backpack and rifle and essentially played Rambo in the bushes shooting from positions I couldn't get away with at other locations. Did I load it too heavily? No, I loaded it as heavily as needed to maintain POA given condiitons.
What I found was that many of the positions I assumed required me to shoot off of a rest that was <span style="text-decoration: underline">moving</span>, whether it was sand, a log (which was parked on moving sand) etc. When your surface moves underneath you you pretty much need a bipod that does not move at all or you merely add <span style="font-style: italic">more </span>movement into the equation. That said, the Atlas moves. Its designed to. While surely not a flaw it simply wasn't the best tool for the task at hand. There nothing more to it than that.
Was there a way to continue to use the Atlas to minimize movement? Hell I'm sure there was but I had another option...a Harris that does not move once locked in place. It simply suited the conditions better and unlike the Atlas, the claws aren't mounted on ball joints (another source of movement). Clearly the Harris has many weaknesses where I'm sure the Atlas would outshine it but that's the way it is. No two rifles are the same and no bipod out there is truly a one-size-fits-all for all conditions. Compromises must be made to have a well balanced piece. If I were to judge the Atlas purely on its well-roundedness I don't have a harsh word to say about it but to my point...its just a bipod...not a magic bipod and that statement holds true for <span style="text-decoration: underline">all </span>bipods. It is not always the best tool for the job.
There's no alterior motive or conspiracy here Frank. Did I insult Kasey? Sure I did and from where I sit I feel he deserved it and that might not change. You can read why I feel this way in my response to him.
Lastly, my apologies to you for having to deal with this when surely you have more important things to do.
