Thread: Lightweight bipod

Like everyone I am starting to upgrade gear to more modern leightweight stuff - coming from a cycling background I know that saving the odd gram here and there all ads up on the stuff you put in your pack or on your rifle. So i started looking at leightweight bipods - Spartan etc.

At $600+ and a special mount required for your rifle I thought bollocks to that and had a go using an old bushbuck carbon bipod I had at home that I rarely used.

Stripping it right back and deleting the rotation ability of the bipod I got it down to 230gm, not bad for a 6" to 12" bipod on a budget. Compared in weight to a Harris Bipod @ nearly 500gms and a Spartan @ 150gms.

I know that it isn' superlight , but it takes some weight off my ageing bones and hips.

Nice one. What exactly did you do to it?

Removed the secondary cradle that allows for the rotational effect in the bipod, removed the return springs on the legs, shortened and sharpend the legs, lathed down the rubber bump stops on the feet and allowed the legs to extend through the rubber bump stops.

Ishaved as much weight out of any of the base plate that wasn't required.

It's not "perfect" but it'll work.

solid man

Nice, how do you get the legs to stay up/down with no springs? Definately saved some coin compared to the fancy ones!

Originally Posted by Juicy

Nice, how do you get the legs to stay up/down with no springs? Definately saved some coin compared to the fancy ones!

They are notched

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

They are notched

No I mean the big external coil springs that keep the legs up against the rifle when folded up. Or are they notched in that regard somehow also?

The books in the background caught my attention. Heavily skimmed 12G295 come to mind, double valve springs, and M profile SU needles (if I recall correctly for my builds) and of course a nice wide tray underneath to catch all the oil — the books could never say how to fix that, sieves by design.

The bipod modification is also nice.

Originally Posted by Puffin

The books in the background caught my attention. Heavily skimmed 12G295 come to mind, double valve springs, and M profile SU needles (if I recall correctly for my builds) and of course a nice wide tray underneath to catch all the oil — the books could never say how to fix that, sieves by design.

The bipod modification is also nice.

Yeah I'm running a 12G940 with o/size inlet and exhaust 35.6/29.2mm 10.3:1 compression and a .0060 oversized piston = 1330cc. 1.5:1 roller rockers, double valve springs, lumpy 268 cam, vernier double chain timing gear, cross pin diff and a cold air intake blah blah blah

Originally Posted by Juicy

Nice, how do you get the legs to stay up/down with no springs? Definately saved some coin compared to the fancy ones!

They are notched and I've sintched up the bolts to mave them stiff to fold down into a shooting position. This will be my "hunting" bipod that will only be used when out hunting.

I have another Harris bipod that I will use when sighting etc to save wear and tear on this one.