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BIPODS COMPARED


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Guest richness

Having recently reviewed the fairly rare rear monopod rests, this time it’s the ubiquitous front bipod that is under the microscope.

 

We’re comparing the cant-only Harris, the adjustable-tension panning, tilting and canting Versa-pod fbca14d4.jpg

 

and the top of the range Atlas

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plus a Finnish version from the military arm of SAK which pans, tilts and cants

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As I’ve said previously, how you want recoil to come back at you is the key to your choice. It is very personal. Some like to really load up the bipod and use the preloaded legs to manage the recoil whilst others prefer a much softer approach...these bipods offer various takes on this.

 

The Harris is obviously very well known and the market-leader, I’m sure. When I first bought a Harris I had no idea there were even other choices. The Harris is a firm bipod. There is no adjustable leg tension; you simply fold them down and that’s your lot. The legs are stiff and they hold the rifle steady. The way the legs extend down is important to me: with the cheaper Harris models you have to lean forward from your firing position, unscrew the thumb screw, extend the leg to where you want it and then do the lock screw up, for both legs. The legs are sprung UP into the shorter position. Now on the more expensive models, they have notches and are sprung DOWN, longer – a great improvement – this is the model I will concentrate on – S BRM 6-9” £93

On the Versa-pod: the legs are sprung DOWN, longer. So from your firing position, you simply unweight the rifle slightly, press the release catch and the leg springs down longer an inch at a time.

 

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You do not need to undo or redo any thumbscrews and the bipod helps you get higher. A bipod design that is sprung shorter is not needed as to do that one could simply use the weight of the rifle; what seems to make a whole lot more sense to me is some help making the bipod higher....

 

The most significant difference between the Harris and the others is that the Harris has no facility for panning. This means that when one twists the rifle even a few degrees to one side there is then torsion in the legs and this is bad news for clean recoil. This is why you so often see people in the field rocking their rifles from bipod leg to leg, unweighting one at a time to take the torsion out of the legs. This is not a problem on the range at all. In the field, for me, it is a nocando situation. All the other bipods here on test offer a proper range of panning. From my point of view as an ultra long range varminter, the need to pan quickly and smoothly without imparting torsion to the system is a must-have. The Versa-pod enables this in that you can relax a ball-joint so that side to side play is available (tilting is independent of this, with its own tension adjuster knob)

 

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This also proportionally enables up and down movement too... but also reduces the tension in the legs

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This means that you cannot have a free range of movement and keep totally stiff, firm, upright legs. This is fairly unpopular in my experience. I, however, have always loved this option for looser, free-recoiling support.

The MIL-SAK enables free movement but not at all at the expense of leg stiffness. This is classy in that you get to have your cake and eat it: range of movement but not at the expense of solid legs and stability. The Harris flat out does not offer it; the Versa-pod and Atlas offer free movement but as you loosen off the tension to allow this, you also create less leg stiffness – lots less with the Versa-pod and slightly less with the Atlas. I personally love this and the Atlas is most popular here in that it is firmer in its range of adjustments than the Versa-pod.

The Versa-pod goes quickly from tight to quite loose and it can be tricky to find the sweet spot. The Atlas has quite a steady, progressive range of adjustment and this is better

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although I personally found the adjustment to be globally too firm. The Versa-pod does have that separate adjuster knob for cant tension, though.

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(Top adjuster is cant alone. Bottom adjuster is all other tensions ie. panning, tilting and leg stiffness)

 

The MIL-SAK and the Atlas have roughly inch-spaced leg notches that are very easy to clip into without any faffing about with thumbscrews

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There are little grub screws on the Mil-sak that enable you to take out any play in the leg sliders and also the sprung clamp that catches into the leg height notches.

 

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This is a very neat touch.

 

One of my favourite features offered here is the Atlas leg extensions: you can make the bipod longer in a few seconds simply by slotting in leg extensions. They fit in like the height adjuster on NHS crutches – press a little detente ball in with a bullet tip or pen, and snap in the extensions – genius.

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and

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At £40 you are practically saving yourself the need for another longer bipod.

Various feet are available for the Versa-pods and the Atlas, making them more suitable for various surfaces.

The Harris and Versa-pod come as standard ready to clip on to QD studs. The Harris takes a few seconds to undo and clip on or off. The Versa-pod has an excellent system here, using a spike that the bipod can be slipped on and off instantly. This QD stud to spike adapter comes with the bipod and costs no extra.

 

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If you buy another adapter (about £26), you can use the same bipod on multiple rifles. Due to the quick-release nature of this system, removal for storage and use from vehicles etc are a cinch.

 

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This is a classy feature and a big selling point of the Versa-pods. Obviously different mounts are available for all the bipods here: AI, various rail mounts et al.

The Atlas now offers a very similar quick-release system too but it bumps the price up significantly. The Atlas’s default fitment is the picatinny rail. To use a QD stud, the stud to picatinny rail adapter must be purchased for £20, although this is being offered for free to UKV forum members by Tac-Fire/rifle-cases.co.uk, the UK suppliers of Atlas kit and UKV supporters.

 

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Again, buy several of these and the bipod ships from rifle to rifle easily.

I’m not entirely blown away by the new quick release clamp on the Atlas. I found it a little fussy to operate quickly and there are a couple of tiny springs in it that i rate to last about 3 uses before I drop them out, and the thing is hellish expensive. All in all, I was grumpy about the thing compared to the Versa-pod system, but it does the job fine.

 

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So again the Harris is short on features and the Versa-pod and Atlas offer much more but in the case of the Atlas, at some significant extra expense.

A feature that only the Atlas has is the 45degree leg position: you can use the Atlas with the legs forward or behind vertical, at a diagonal.

 

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This is preloaded in exactly the same manner as the vertical position.

The MIL-SAK at £120 offers some nice features but isn’t as feature-rich as the much more expensive Atlas. You have with this bipod a unique feature though: it has a very wide, stable saddle.

 

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It stands out an inch on each side of the fore end and the difference in stability is remarkable. No chance of the rifle falling over when unattended! Yet it is not unduly bulky as I had feared before delivery.

 

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It also offers a very neat quick-release system (standard – no extra £) that releases the bipod at the push of a button.

 

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Again, buying multiple QRs means that you can simply clip one bipod on to multiple rifles.

 

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The QR mount is £25, about the same as the Versa-pod’s mounts.

The bipod offers lots of pan, not preloaded or adjustable (although it can all be done up to remove any wear). This is the only bipod here, however, that has totally independent panning; the pan tension has no effect on leg stiffness at all.

 

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The legs are very stiff and solid, and adjust by pushing a button on the legs then sliding the leg down or up to a inch-spaced notch.

It has really excellent height adjustment range, almost replacing 2 Versa-pods. It raised my rifle from 17-25cm. The shorter Versa-pod (051) goes from 16-21cm, and the longer (052) goes from 18.5-24.5cm. The MIL-SAK looks to be brilliant value if you compare it to the price of TWO Versa-pods....

Likewise, the Atlas had a great range of height adjustment: 17 -24cm rifle height. With the legs it is very high: 22.5cm – 29.5cm

 

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So you are nowadays able to buy a bipod 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.

 

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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 people) 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 super easy 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.

In summary: On the MIL-SAK I like: the stiffness and wide saddle, the quick-release, the independent panning. Good height range

On the Atlas I like: the adjustable feel, multi-leg positions, leg extensions. The build quality is beautiful. Height adjustment range on my rifle was very impressive:

On the Versa-pods I like: legs sprung longer, hugely (if a little roughly) adjustable feel from locked-up to very free and the quick-release spike.

On the Harris, compared in this company, I personally favour nothing about it except the price. Yet many people like their stiffness and quick fold-up. It will certainly hold your rifle steady and is not too expensive.

 

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

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Rich

 

 

excellent rad, but change the links to the pics to direct images so they host in the body of the text.

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Guest richness

Have experimented: It's image code that puts them in-line, rather than direct images. Finally got there! I wanted to do this on last review on monopods; have now corrected.

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Guest richness

It's not a copy. Got them from the states years ago mate. I sometimes run them that way around if I want the distance to the bipod longer or shorter. There is no right way, as such - it's up to the shooter

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It's not a copy. Got them from the states years ago mate. I sometimes run them that way around if I want the distance to the bipod longer or shorter. There is no right way, as such - it's up to the shooter

 

Hi Richard.

 

The Versa-Pod is a copy of the Parker-Hale, unfortunately no longer made, they are mostly made in China not in the USA, however, they are now planning to produce some made wholly in the US for Government Contracts. What Versa-Pod have done is develop the Parker-Hale and make some interesting improvements. The steel ones are ok and reasonably robust, the die-cast (light weight models) not so good as I've seen several with broken legs.

 

ATB

 

John MH

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I bought a Versa pod copy from t'internet a few years ago. Beware of these as the fit of the bipod to the spigot on the forend is so loose it makes accuracy ( well in my hands) very suspect. Also had the distressing habit of become loose when a sling was attached. Pity as being able to remove/fit the legs so easily was what made me buy it.

I don't doubt the genuine article does not have these problems.

Buy once, cry once, as I am often told...

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Guest richness

From the reports and emails I'm receiving, it does seem that Versa-pods' reputation is impaired by the various rip-offs that are out there. I'm sure it's the same for the Harris range.

All i can say is that obviously one should NOT judge the real thing by the copy! so buy carefully and get it right. I've had 051 and 052 versapods since way before they were even available in the UK, dragged them weekly through all manner of mud, rain and corruption and had nothing but forget-about-it reliability from them. I'm sure the Atlas will prove itself in the same manner. Yet i'm also sure they'll be a hooky chinese copy of it soon and many will be tricked by that too....so tread carefully

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Useful article, thank you. I am sure that I made a couple of bad shots in scotland recently because of twisting the Harris bipod and putting tensions on it that affected the shot. Havent experimented yet to prove the issue but a friend found a similar problem with a rifle with a slim sporter fore end. I will look at these other models as a way ahead.

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Useful article, thank you. I am sure that I made a couple of bad shots in scotland recently because of twisting the Harris bipod and putting tensions on it that affected the shot. Havent experimented yet to prove the issue but a friend found a similar problem with a rifle with a slim sporter fore end. I will look at these other models as a way ahead.

 

 

What distance are you referring too?

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What distance are you referring too?

200- 220 yds but twisting the rifle so creating tension on the fore end? Could have been bad shooting, but I felt that there was something else going on. As I say I havent had time to try and replicate the situation to see if there is any substance to my hunch, but I cant help thinking that the versa pod type set up that allows for traversing has to put less stress on the rifle and therefore affect shot placement less. Certainly using a sling has a big effect on impact if used too tight so it is reasonable to asume tension from a bipod would do the same. Do you have any experienc eof this?

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Guest richness

200- 220 yds but twisting the rifle so creating tension on the fore end? Could have been bad shooting, but I felt that there was something else going on. As I say I havent had time to try and replicate the situation to see if there is any substance to my hunch, but I cant help thinking that the versa pod type set up that allows for traversing has to put less stress on the rifle and therefore affect shot placement less. Certainly using a sling has a big effect on impact if used too tight so it is reasonable to asume tension from a bipod would do the same. Do you have any experienc eof this?

 

I think your instincts are quite correct. Any twist in the legs at all and you're in trouble. I personally run a simple rule: if you can't easily watch your shot land then you have a mount issue. That is my number one rule.

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