Good question. I used to use my bipod with a 26" straight barrel, but I just went to a 28" straight and don't need the bipod to balance any longer. I'm running an MDT ACC chassis on BOTH 22LR and 6mmBRA competition rifles and love that chassis. I could have balanced it with the 26" barrel but was just lazy. To be specific, you may get into situations with say a very narrow window in a shoot house that a bipod may interfere with, so IMHO, it's best to balance without the bipod.