Bi-pods for Tactical & Field use By Richard Utting
You are nowadays able to buy a bi-pod that offers a range of tensions in the legs, panning and tilting, quick-release, different feet and other advanced features. Whilst the Harris will keep you on target, there are other and better options. I think it comes down to price and how you like to manage your recoil. For me, the big step up is from Harris to Versa-pod 051(short) and 052 (longer) at £123. You’re then into panning, adjustable tension for cant, adjustable tension for panning and quick release.
Also in the £120 range is the excellent MIL SAK, offering over the Harris: free panning without any effect on leg tension, wide saddle stability, quick- release and the anti-play/wear grub screws. It has the greatest range of height adjustment and this is a significant reason to purchase one over the Versa- pods.
The step to the Atlas is diminishing returns though. It is a superlative piece of kit but at a price. The unit without the quick-release is £180. With the QR it is £240. I think the best value way to purchase it is to buy the £180 unit with the brilliant leg extensions for £40. You’ve now spent £220 and got a short and a long bipod. I’d rather have the leg extensions than the QR. The normal non-QR clamp isn’t terribly slow to undo and if money were a factor I could certainly live with that.
The Atlas has sublime build quality to it,
offering over the others the diagonal leg position and a beautifully controlled range of tension adjustment, and the excellent clunk-click leg height extensions.
In the field, I found the Atlas to feel basically like the Versa-pod in that it is free-moving type of bipod and the MIL SAK to be like the Harris in that it is super firm. What is much smarter on the Atlas than the Versa- pod, is the more nicely controlled range of tension adjustment and the extra leg angles.
Myself, I must admit that it was still a good shade too firm for me even at its loosest and I struggled to get used to that. I experimented extensively at the range and found to shoot a quarter moa I had to load it more than I would normally like. I could do it but it required too great a change in my shooting and no major benefit. This is primarily down to my being used to a Versa-pod and something that is not the fault of the bipod, merely a characteristic of it. The range of height adjustment is certainly superior, especially as the leg extension kit is so well thought out. It is in many ways a better thought-out bipod but it equates to double the price.
The surprise was the previously unknown MIL SAK which was very popular with my testing group. My own personal preference was that everything here was too firm apart from the Versa-pods; only with them could I get my recoil absolutely straight on rough ground. They don’t have the best range of height adjustment and they are too sloppy by far at their loosest, easily letting the rifle fall over sideways (MOST unpopular with shooters!) Yet they offer a massive range of adjustment and fluidity and, I can ALWAYS get them set up so that the recoil does as I tell it. The notched and sprung-longer legs are by far the easiest to adjust. The QR system is superb.
I think most people prefer a much firmer set up than me and will think the MIL SAK to be wonderful value for money and the Atlas to simply be the Holy Grail of bipods.
Thanks to all the suppliers who helped with kit for this unbiased review.
The Harris and Versa-pods are available from;
www.midwayuk.com
The Atlas range, plus all manner of accessories, is available from TacFire
www.rifle-cases.co.uk
The MIL SAK bipod is available from Fox Firearms
www.foxfirearmsuk.com
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