hi all,
i had a panic attack on saturday past.
shot my 243 at 100mtrs(1-2"group), then went out to 200 and did"nt hit the board the target was on!
i was really scared, thought something had broken. folded up the bipod, leaned on my roe sack, and shot into about 3" at 200mtrs.(my barrel is well worn, and that"s a good group for me!)
this is"nt the first time i"ve shot better off a sack or rolled up coat than a bipod(it"s an adjustable/tilting harris). the pod was"nt on a hard surface, it was on my soft gunslip case. it"s a good enough bipod as far as they go, but i"m now convinced that a bipod can negatively affect your point of impact.
any thoughts?(or am i just a crap shot?!)
good shooting

I fully believe that a bi-pod can in fact negatively affect your point of impact if you aren't careful with it. We can take a lesson from the benchrest shooters here. how many times have you seen or heard about benchrest shooters putting baby powder on the forearm of their rifle and under the comb so that when the rifle recoils, it slides backwards smoothly on the bags? Now, when your rifle recoils and your resting off of your rubber bi-pod legs, do you think that the rifle recoils in the same way? Of course not, and this leads to variation which inevitiably leads to "not being able to hit the broad side of a barn." It's a matter of technique i believe. I do hunt with a bi-pod generally but i always make sure that the rifle can FREELY recoil. pull the rifle up to your shoulder and squeeze the trigger but don't push forward on the rifle. Make sure that the the feet of the bi-pod are not on something that will not allow them to move (remember, you want the rifle to recoil freely) and squeeze the trigger and allow it to recoil naturally, just as you would when shooting a benchrest match. Don't pull the rifle in tight or you'll cause a few shots to be thrown. Remember, this game is all about consistency. Also, if your rifle isn't free floated or not bedded, adding a bi-pod onto the forearm = extra weight which could also cause problems. I've used this method shooting off the bench and have turned in some rediculously small groups as well as some real-world long range hits (638 yard crow about 2 weeks ago with my 25-06) . Good luck, let me know how it turns out for you.
Ruck

I use shooting sticks myself(I make my own from arrow shafts). I don't care for the added weight on the forend of my rifle as it throws the rifle off balance. Lawdog

B.T.

I had this thing a couple of years back with a tripod. I was forever putting the bloody thing on then taking it off again, one week I was convinced I was a better shot with it then the next I was convinced it was worse than useless. Now it is in a cupboard somewhere, I just cannot find any use for it when stalking. By the time I have messed about and got the thing ready to shoot the deer have usually got fed up waiting, plus as the vast majority of my stalking in woodland I usually end up leaning against a tree anyway. To me they are just extra weight and if I need to use a rest of sorts then I always have my walking / shooting stick with me. I am not saying that they do not have a use but for me that use is not stalking.

Just as an aside my regular stalking partner swears by his and would not be without it. I guess it is all a matter of choice

John

i"ve never used it for stalking, as it can rarely be used on the kind of terrain where deer are seen(heather,gorse, bracken)
i always use tripod sticks for stalking, but had been shooting foxes round pheasant pen, and thought that a bipod would be useful on the farm grass feilds. i"ve had some inexplicable misses at 100-150 mtrs, where i should have been easily getting good solid hits.
tried to check the zero on saturday past(with pod) as mentioned above. from now on, i"ll bring my roe sack with my wet gear in it, as i do when i"m stalking. it"s as good as a bipod, doubles as a seat on wet ground, and carries all those other bits and pieces.
i think my bipod is redundant!
good shooting

Brass thief: I and my oldest son were gearing up for an Antelope Hunt a long time ago that showed me the "dangers" of Harris-type Bi-pods! We had a nicely accurate Ruger Model 77 with a rather heavy sporter style barrel (no longer offered by Ruger) and I decided to attach the Harris Bi-pod to the Rifle more or less permanently for my son to Hunt Antelope with. Unfortunately we did not test fire the Ruger at our range with the Bi-pod on it! I will not go into the details of the difficulties caused by the Bi-pod on the Hunt but once home I decided test the rig at the range.
Yep that Harris Bi-pod caused that nifty little Ruger to go beserk accuracy wise! I was surprised by this! It went from nice 1" round groups at 100 yards to 4" - 5" random patterns!
I mistakenly sold THE RIFLE! It was such a sweetheart of a gun I should have taken the time to delve into and deal with what ever the problem was with the combo! I didn't though.
That is the ONLY Rifle I have ever noticed that glaringly lost accuracy when fitted with the Harris type Bi-pods and I have used at least 60 or so Rifles with these type Bi-pods!
The solution is to test the rig with the Bi-pod at the range PRIOR to using it on a Hunt!
Long live the Harris Bi-pod Company!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

i used to have a pre-charged .22 air rifle(a daystate PH6) which pushed about 56 ft/lbs. i used it for rabbits, and could hold my own against guys with .22 rimfires.
i sold it when i bought my .243, and that"s where my bipod came from! on the recoilless air rifle, it was perfect for steady "long range" shooting. obviously, as Ruck pointed out, when they"re fitted to something that recoils they do interfere with how the rifle behaves on firing.
good shooting

Don't have any problems hitting my target out to 300yds. with my 6mm and my Harris, thats your problem, now, rebarrel that thing for the 6mm Rem. . Jay

I am a big time believer in using a cheater (bypod), for shooting at distance there is nothing that competes with it. I always use a rear rest of some sort and can make things happen at range when using such a system.

One thing to give a try is when you are sighting in if you want to use a bypod then lay on the ground and not the bench. I do not like the way a bypod bounces on a bench and I do feel that by laying on the ground (on not concrete) then you are duplicating field shooting.

Just a thought.

MD

on a side note I would just like to find a lighter and effective model, the Harris whilst it is my fav is a bit heavy. Ideas guys?

I have a Caldwell bipod I bought a few years ago. It is as effective as a Harris, but both lighter and cheaper.

However, in real world deer stalking I have found very little use for it. It only ever seemed to get in the way. The only deer I actually shot of this thing was a Red Stag in the Scottish highlands a few years ago. Definitely useful in open terrain with sparce ground cover. Useless in woods.

The one place I have used it is on Foxes in the early summer when the silage has been cut and the fields are bare. Then it was of some value.

Regards

When I showed up for my second antelope hunt with one on my rifle, I had to listen to a lot of grief from my hunting buddies. When they saw the shots I was making with the bi-pod, within a couple of years they were all using them. I've never had a problem shooting with one, but then, as posted, I practice using them in field positions at ranges I hope to shoot at.

What size bipod are you guys using? I got one of the taller ones, 25" I think, and usually have better luck with shooting sticks. The bipod just seems wobbly when I use it from the sitting position.

Most of my rifles are shot off bipods from the prone position. The only thing that I have noticed is it's important to "load" the legs the same every shot. If you set the bipod down and pull the rifle back for one shot then put the bipod down and push the rifle forward for the next shot it will change the POI.

ole270 for the most part around here the 9-13" model is the more popular. The taller ones will not be as stable the lower to the ground the better IME.

Mark D

Interesting thread...

Have just put a harris on my tikka in 25-06 and tried it out on the range last sunday.

Two groups, two different shooters both around the inch mark and 3 inches high at 100 without bipod

same as above with bipod and they still grouped but were another couple inches high, shoot I thought this isnt any good however watched my mate shoot, (hes a better shot than me) and saw that the bipod was jumping quite high each time,hmm so we tried two more groups with bipod on and my left hand lightly holding forearm,recoil was now straight back, bipod didnt jump and more importantly our next two groups printed in with the 1st two at 3 high.

Used pods on some 400m steels and made a big difference...

Often when a bipod affects the POI or accuracy of a rifle, it has to do with the stiffness of the forearm, or how the barrel is bedded. You are best off, if your forearm is really stiff (like in a wooden stock), and your barrel is free floated. Even so, make darn sure, when you have the rifle on the bipod, that the extra forearm pressure does not cause the barrel to touch the forearm. Ideally, there should be a fair amount of room between the barrel and the forearm, not to have the two touch under recoil either.
- mike

quote:

Originally posted by iwzbeeman:
When I showed up for my second antelope hunt with one on my rifle, I had to listen to a lot of grief from my hunting buddies. When they saw the shots I was making with the bi-pod, within a couple of years they were all using them. I've never had a problem shooting with one, but then, as posted, I practice using them in field positions at ranges I hope to shoot at.

Me too, I never leave home with out one.

I noticed about 15 years ago that my groups were inclined to string vertically , be much larger and noticeably higher when using a bipod . Employing the technique described above by Sharpie overcomes the problem . Hang onto the forend the same way you would when shooting offhand and your zero will be consistent for different holds , groups tiny and round .

I use bi-pods on everything from my .300 mag to my 22-250 with great success. My best long range group to date was shot with the 22-250 from a bipod, it is a 2.38" five shot group fired at 650 yards. The next group was a 3.2". The 'pods really work for me. Check out this link for an interesting article on the use of a bi-pod: http://www.6mmbr.citymaker.com/TacticalFroggyA1.html

I like and use bi-pods on a lot of my rifles.

But I have found that they can and well effect the way the rifle shoots if the rifle is not bedded properly. I bed all my rifles with pods with barrel free floated from about 3 inchs in front of the action.

After I have them bedded I put the pod on them go prone get into a good solid shooting position then have some one esle check the barrel bedding. If found that the barrel is touching the foreend I relive the barrel channel until it is not touching.

On some stocks I have had to add stiffing to the fore end to stop the stock from flexing and changing impact point.

I find that with a good rifle, bi-pod,laser and a good muti-plex scope hitting out to 500 yards very easy.

I have taken many shooters out to 500 yards had them make first round hits,shoot under min of angle groups. They are amazed when they do. Most have never shot past 100. But a with a accurate rifle and good shooting it is easy to do.