Thread: Poor Man's Versa-Pod Review

Being that it's a rainy day for a change down my neck of the woods, I thought I'd better do something more productive than watching red you tube, so here's a review of something everyone probably already knows about.

Back in my scarfie days at uni, when we spent more money on low quality alcohol each week than we did on food in a month, finances were tight, and I needed a new bipod. Unfortunately though, my budget didn't allow for the kind of outlay that would be required for a Harris or Versa-pod. My old one was a poor copy of a fixed harris bipod, which was both useless, and for completely unrelated reasons, misplaced somewhere up the Mcauley Valley. So the hunt began.
Luckily, a very knowledgable source on this forum told me that the website www.dealextreme.com sold some bipods. I was keen as mustard on this prospect, so got a credit card and ordered one.

2 weeks later, the bipod arrived in a cool package with flames and lightning on it. The first thing I did to it was take the annoyingly heavy attachment screw off and replaced it with a more streamlined bolt. With the aid of a dremel, I bored a hole in the back section of the attatchment block to allow the insertion of a bolt to hold a sling swivel as shown below.





Now, I have a light, streamlined versa-pod lookalike, with only a 1/5th or so of the outlay!

Things I like about this design:
- Articulation:
The lateral (sideways) and longitudinal (up and down) tilt are very handy for getting a good shooting position, as well as tracking a moving target. The movement range isn't excessive, so it doesn't flop around annoyingly.



-Leg adjustment:
The legs slide out by gravity, and length can be adjusted using the spring loaded catch on the 8 or so graduations. This is very fast, and I like it alot more than the spring loaded harris ones with a friction screw, although I believe the newer harris's have notched legs too.





-Feet:
The feet are of the sleigh type, and hold on the ground and rocks much better than you'd think for a flat surface.

-Quick Detach:
This is ideal, as I prefer to carry my bipod in my pack until a long shot presents itself. With a bita lube, it reattaches quickly, silently, and easily. With the modifications on the attachment screw that I made, the permanent fixture on the rifle is very light, and unobtrusive when carrying using a sling. The fixture also looks like it could be a good aid for offhand shooting if it floats your boat.


Sofar, I've only used it at the range twice, but have found it to be a great platform to shoot off from what I've experienced. It looks and feels pretty well made for its price, and with the exception of the coating being a bit heavy in some places and the lead sinker weight attatchment screw that came with it, I have no complaints. I see Norway uses a spindle for this type of bipod that has been epoxied into the end of the stock, which would be pretty handy if your stock has enough meat up the front.

The site I bought it from is as follows:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/27cm-un...al-mount-26217

I dare someone to buy one of the scopes advertised on that site!