first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

[aggiesig]

So I'm not new to shooting, been hunting for several years, and have shot lots of NRA Bullseye, and IPSC (A class Limited 10, B Class Limited) Worked at a gunshop selling primarily hunting guns and AR type rifles for 3 year to put myself through graduate school. I've been on the Hide mostly for the decided lack of BS that comes on most other gun related forums. Recently I figured I would start trying some of the techniques that are described on here, the first one I went with was "Loading the Bipod. The claims of muzzle hop reduction and being able to call your shots seemed too good to be true. So I tried it out on my "precision rig"

Remington LTR .308
AICS 2.0 stock
USO ST10 fixed 10X scope MOA/MOA
junky cheap bipod (Harris Clone)

Here are my initial thoughts, it's alot harder than it looks!

Issues/problems:

1. My bipod had little rubber feet on it that didn't want to grab anything real well, I guess those metal cleated feet do have a practical application.

2. The bipod had a considerable amount of flex to it which made it difficult, I was shooting on a platform at a local range and had to have my gun on the grass in front of the concrete slab which made me raise the bipod all the way and the legs just weren't built for the 170 pounds of beastly man leaning on them, they flexed, then scooted, and flexed some more.

Benefits/ Posotives:

1. When it worked I could see my shots. at 100 yards it's not a huge deal, but at longer ranges I can imagine it would be

2. Since I was pretty much on target after each shot, followp shots would have been much easier if I had wanted/needed to shoot rapidly.

Take home lessons:

I need to go ahead and bite the bullet and get a nicer bipod, I like the atlas bipods, and you can get replacement cleated feet for them. Before I do that I might switch the Harris of of my hunting rig, and see if that one "loads better" but it has the rounded rubber feet also, so I think in the sandy soils around here I'll have the same issues. Not to mention the Harris doesn't swivel.

When loading the bipod, the wider I spread my legs, the more secure it felt (too a point I'm sure you could screw this up if you wanted to), also pushing up with your feet and settling your torso in place leaves a natural tension on the bipod that requires no muscle tension to hold.

Thanks to those on the forum who have described this technique in detail. I'm going to continue to use it, and build my equipment around it!

 

[doc76251]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: aggiesig</div><div class="ubbcode-body">also pushing up with your feet and settling your torso in place leaves a natural tension on the bipod that requires no muscle tension to hold.


</div></div>

That was the important part.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[aggiesig]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

Yeah it was one of those things that you only learn when you goof it up about 10 times then get it right. I was trying to lean forward with my upper body/shoulder which jacked up my scope eye relief, and was straining about 1/3 of the muscles in my body. lifting, and dropping one time relieves all that!

 

[azdead]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

Vern had me on a downslope of a hill. In order to get a good "grab" from my rubber footed Harris, he dug a little trench and I placed the legs in it. Like the man said, dig toes, move torso till completely immobile. Dont like the claws on hard surface, rubber for me, sometimes I grab the leg.

 

[merlinnnn]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

Does anyone have a link on the proper technique?

Merlinn

 

[LUNCHBOX0621]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

Im having trouble loading the Harris. Everytime I do it the rubbers slide on the deck. Is there a way to prevent the movement or is this just the nature of the Harris?

 

[merlinnnn]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

Thanks!

 

[George63]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

midways new mat has a slot for bipod legs, easy to see how to do something similar on other mats

 

[Aborigine]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

Hello !

I had the same problem with the harris type bipods. I tried out a really cheap copy from the verspod bipod from china and i am more than happy with it. You can find it on the dealextreme.com webpage for 30 dollars including shipping. The finish is a mess, but the construction looks solid to me.

And what i like about it, is, that you do not have to push forward too much in order to get enough space that the rifle can travel back when recoiling.

What i working on now, is to get the same "travel distance" each time, so that the vertical strining diminishes.

Hope that was of help

Best

Basti

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Aborigine</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hello !

I had the same problem with the harris type bipods. I tried out a really cheap copy from the verspod bipod from china and i am more than happy with it. You can find it on the dealextreme.com webpage for 30 dollars including shipping. The finish is a mess, but the construction looks solid to me.

And what i like about it, is, that you do not have to push forward too much in order to get enough space that the rifle can travel back when recoiling.

What i working on now, is to get the same "travel distance" each time, so that the vertical strining diminishes.

Hope that was of help

Best

Basti </div></div>





say what....................................

 

[Powder_Burns]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: LUNCHBOX0621</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Im having trouble loading the Harris. Everytime I do it the rubbers slide on the deck. Is there a way to prevent the movement or is this just the nature of the Harris? </div></div>
I had this issue too early on. You are loading too much. On a hard floor like concrete or wood, you could slide your rifle across the floor just by pushing with your index finger on the stock. So what you need to do is figure out how much pressure you can exert before this happens. The more expensive fix to the improper technique is to invest in some pod-claws. They are bipod feet with sharp claws to give you more traction on the floor. They cost about the same as a new Harris bipod.

 

[5hans5]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

I have one of the new midway mats and the area to hook the bipod feet is great. You get a lot of traction from a little bit of cloth. It does make me want to work on it without the mat though... I could be overloading the bipod because the mat will take it.

 

[DPRoberts]

Re: first time loading the bipod: Thoughts, Results.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: King Arthurs Court</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have one of the new midway mats and the area to hook the bipod feet is great. You get a lot of traction from a little bit of cloth. It does make me want to work on it without the mat though... I could be overloading the bipod because the mat will take it. </div></div>

It seems to me that it's advantageous to load the bipod as much as the surface you're shooting on allows. I don't really think you can overload it with the exception, like you said, that it could become a crutch.