outasite`08
Gold $$ Contributor
Just messin` with you. Merry Christmas to you as well. I`ll bet it`s a heck of alot warmer where you took that picture. Take care and throw another log on the fire. Jeff
How many of you are using or considering a tripod for hunting?
- Thread starter SEB-USA
- Start date
Dead Eye
Silver $$ Contributor
Ok so I have been looking at all the tripods listed here an other sites. I see tripods with flat tops and tripods with bowl shaped tops that have a roundish part that fits in the bowl an a handle at the bottom? The handle looks like it might get in the way of shooting prone.
The bowl tripod is not to be confused with the ball head which goes on top of the tripod. The I have read a lot of people prefer the fluid head to the ball head. Does the fluid head adjust for can’t like the ball head? Will the ball head, fluid head ARCA rail clamp and the clamps that grip the gun all fit on either type of tripod?
If you can answer my questions please keep in mind I obviously know nothing about tripods but I’m trying. It would be much appreciated if someone could straighten me out. Although if you try and are unsuccessful that’s understandable.
Thanks
Dave
The bowl tripod is not to be confused with the ball head which goes on top of the tripod. The I have read a lot of people prefer the fluid head to the ball head. Does the fluid head adjust for can’t like the ball head? Will the ball head, fluid head ARCA rail clamp and the clamps that grip the gun all fit on either type of tripod?
If you can answer my questions please keep in mind I obviously know nothing about tripods but I’m trying. It would be much appreciated if someone could straighten me out. Although if you try and are unsuccessful that’s understandable.
Thanks
Dave
3Ackleys
Gold $$ Contributor
I have tried a LOT of different set ups over the years, and done a lot of research. I'm using, what I think offers the bare minimum for accuracy. A full length Unknown munitions Arca rail, RRS tripod and RRS Anvil 30. Not cheap, and not as good as being on the ground with a good bi-pod, but its light and up to the sitting position with a rear support it is good. That said at 600 yards sitting my group size is nearly twice as large as off the ground. All other tripods/ball heads/vices & clamps I have tried were considerably worse.
HillbillyLongRifle
Gold $$ Contributor
Area 419 Arca Rail all the Way with a Good Tripod!
HillbillyLongRifle
Gold $$ Contributor
Two Vets Tripod
HillbillyLongRifle
Gold $$ Contributor
22-204 works great off tripod on these Coyotes!
Nothing really, they (under the proper field circumstances) allow you to more easily cover a wider field of fire.
If you can plan to hunt is a specific area that's conducive to using one they're nice. The issues are the cost in dollars, weight, set up time and maneuverability to mention a few.
I went to the more affordable route lol. Got the Bog death grip tripod on sale for $129 last spring, and got a ball head conversion kit for another 110 bucks. Very stable & effective for my needs.
Orr89rocz
Silver $$ Contributor
I mean a carbon fiber bow can be 1500$. Does a whole lot. Why is a couple carbon fiber tubes joined in a tripod 1000-1200? Lol. Idk i guess i get by too well with a 120$ harris bipod. Ive hit 16” circles at a mile with it. Taken deer at 470-576 yrds so far. I can definitely see situations where a higher point of view would help me, but i’ll carry a step ladder before i spend 1000+ on a tripod
I have something very similar to this setup. I took the top off of a surveyors tri-pod and mounted a 26" (2x12). I wrapped the front half in a 3x3 aluminum angle and it gives a perfect capturing area across the front and back about 6-8 inches on both sides to allow for use of a weapon mounted bipod. The rear rifle rest can be any bench style, bunny ear bag or squeeze bag. Very stable platform. It's no where near as light as a BOG, but more sturdy in my opinion since the gun is not being held in the middle, at the balance point ; ) It has full panning capabilities since there is a central attachment bolt. The major elevation adjustment would be the tripod legs and a finer adjustment is the rear bag.
Dan
Last edited:
STOMP442
Gold $$ Contributor
I started hunting with a tripod this year. I have to say I wish I would have been doing this long ago. I first tried it on a youth deer hunt with my niece and it was way easier to get her set up comfortably, find the deer and make the shot. She did awesome and shot a Coues deer in his bed at 400 yards one and done. I went out last weekend and did some calling with my Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel. I attached a small pic rail and used a cheap picatinny to arca swiss adapter from amazon and threw it together on an old Manfrotto tripod I had in the closet. The stability and control was amazing and worked much better than I thought it would. I already have items in my cart to make other rifles tripod ready.
Attachments
Kurz
Silver $$ Contributor
Evidently this company, Lone Star Products, is out of business unfortunately. Here is an example of what they used to design:
Quite a while ago, the idea of using a surveyor's tripod struck me while examining one at a pawn shop. It was a good price and I had a couple of ideas about modifying it for a rifle rest. It worked well but it was very heavy so it was replaced with another design.
Quite a while ago, the idea of using a surveyor's tripod struck me while examining one at a pawn shop. It was a good price and I had a couple of ideas about modifying it for a rifle rest. It worked well but it was very heavy so it was replaced with another design.
I use both deathgrip and front-and-rear shooting sticks. If you are waiting for the game, you have time to set it up, tripod is ok. But here in Europe you just walk through the forest and see what saint Hubertus provides. You have 5 seconds to set it up and another 5 to take the shot (if you are lucky). In these circumstamces shooting sticks are faster than the tripod.
Will chime in with my shortcomings here because it may save someone quite a lot of aggravation and handloading components...
I had my 300PRC all set up and sighted in on my bipod. Load was developed and I figured everything was good to go. Week before I was to head out to the cabin I decided to confirm zero, so I took out my Bog Deathgrip and went out back to my 100 yard range.
Groups with the 300 opened up to over and inch and half from quarter inch.. it was so bad I knew it could not be a scope or parallax issue, even a pulled shot wouldn't be that bad. Checked velocities.. nothing was out of spec, ES was low. I chalked it up to weather being almost 30 degrees cooler, and set about developing a load for the colder temps, after at least 50-60 hand loads i couldn't get anything consistent on paper.. I had no idea what had happened to make this gun that shot so well be so terrible almost overnight.
Rushing to get a load ready for the season, at some point after running through all of that hassle I took a few of the rounds that I had originally shot the .25 with and was using them for cold bore /fouler shots prior to testing the new ones.. but this time I had the bipod back on and was not shooting from the bog... back to the .25 min groups I had seen before.. What an ordeal of wasted time and components.
After a considerable amount of research and testing I was able to come to a conclusion.
. 22LR off the bog (no recoil) groups were great / unaffected.
.17WSM off the bog (no recoil) groups were great / unaffected.
22-250 (slight recoil) . verified load opened up on tripod. bipod groups still shot great.
300 PRC (substantial recoil and torque), groups opened up over an inch and half on tripod, much more than the 22-250.. group shot from bipod were back to .25MOA.
I had somewhere over 800 rounds on that tripod between my .22 and 17WSM for gophers and never had an issue with it.
I started to clue in that what was happening was the recoil management shooting off a tripod, the combination of shooting off frozen ground with the legs not being placed consistently were forcing the rifles to one side or another depending on the leg placement, the heavier the recoil, the more noticeable it was.
Best solution I found - consistent specific tripod setup.
When setting it up, setting 2 legs back an one forward exactly in line with the barrel on target, 2 back legs need to be square to your shoulders.
This tightened groups considerably, however i found having to do that defeats the purpose of hunting from a tripod in the first place, as you usually will not know the direction of your shot so how do you square up for it without moving your whole setup around and spooking the game.
Folks that like to shoot "Free and Easy" with only 5-10 lbs of pressure on the butt stock instead of horseing the rifle may struggle with a tripod setup and a rifle with considerable recoil, which is very counterintuitive.. you'd think the opposite.
Went back to a 26 inch Harris bipod for field use and no issues at all, plus you can move it a lot easier to get on target without making a racket and still stay square to your rifle.
At some point I want to try an ARCA mount mod on that bog tripod (the plastic saddle does not grip consistently when frozen), but with the results I have had with tripods in general no way I'm spending upwards of $1000 on one.
Hope this saves at least a few folks some components and frustration!
I had my 300PRC all set up and sighted in on my bipod. Load was developed and I figured everything was good to go. Week before I was to head out to the cabin I decided to confirm zero, so I took out my Bog Deathgrip and went out back to my 100 yard range.
Groups with the 300 opened up to over and inch and half from quarter inch.. it was so bad I knew it could not be a scope or parallax issue, even a pulled shot wouldn't be that bad. Checked velocities.. nothing was out of spec, ES was low. I chalked it up to weather being almost 30 degrees cooler, and set about developing a load for the colder temps, after at least 50-60 hand loads i couldn't get anything consistent on paper.. I had no idea what had happened to make this gun that shot so well be so terrible almost overnight.
Rushing to get a load ready for the season, at some point after running through all of that hassle I took a few of the rounds that I had originally shot the .25 with and was using them for cold bore /fouler shots prior to testing the new ones.. but this time I had the bipod back on and was not shooting from the bog... back to the .25 min groups I had seen before.. What an ordeal of wasted time and components.
After a considerable amount of research and testing I was able to come to a conclusion.
. 22LR off the bog (no recoil) groups were great / unaffected.
.17WSM off the bog (no recoil) groups were great / unaffected.
22-250 (slight recoil) . verified load opened up on tripod. bipod groups still shot great.
300 PRC (substantial recoil and torque), groups opened up over an inch and half on tripod, much more than the 22-250.. group shot from bipod were back to .25MOA.
I had somewhere over 800 rounds on that tripod between my .22 and 17WSM for gophers and never had an issue with it.
I started to clue in that what was happening was the recoil management shooting off a tripod, the combination of shooting off frozen ground with the legs not being placed consistently were forcing the rifles to one side or another depending on the leg placement, the heavier the recoil, the more noticeable it was.
Best solution I found - consistent specific tripod setup.
When setting it up, setting 2 legs back an one forward exactly in line with the barrel on target, 2 back legs need to be square to your shoulders.
This tightened groups considerably, however i found having to do that defeats the purpose of hunting from a tripod in the first place, as you usually will not know the direction of your shot so how do you square up for it without moving your whole setup around and spooking the game.
Folks that like to shoot "Free and Easy" with only 5-10 lbs of pressure on the butt stock instead of horseing the rifle may struggle with a tripod setup and a rifle with considerable recoil, which is very counterintuitive.. you'd think the opposite.
Went back to a 26 inch Harris bipod for field use and no issues at all, plus you can move it a lot easier to get on target without making a racket and still stay square to your rifle.
At some point I want to try an ARCA mount mod on that bog tripod (the plastic saddle does not grip consistently when frozen), but with the results I have had with tripods in general no way I'm spending upwards of $1000 on one.
Hope this saves at least a few folks some components and frustration!
Last edited:
Couple questions @alfWasn't that long ago I didn't own a shooting tripod, then the flood gates opened......
The front one is a Leofoto LS-284C+LH30 combo.
LS-284C+LH-30 - Leofoto
Leofoto was founded at the beginning of 2014. It is located in Zhongshan, beautiful Pearl River Delta area in China. Leofoto team has been designing and manufacturing series of camera support systems by comparing and studying the high-end photographic accessories made in China and abroad and...www.leofoto.com
This has been my #1 calling tripod for the last 4-5 years. Perfect size & weight for a calling tripod. I ran a Hog Saddle on it when using a bolt gun w/o an ARCA plate.
Next I decided I wanted a heavy duty shooting tripod setup, and the Innorel RT-90C with the DLOW 55 was perfect for that, as I was never going to be but a few steps from the truck. That's the back one.
Once I decided to buy a thermal, those two setups weren't going to work, the big one was too heavy, the little one only went to 50" in height. Not enough for standing.
So I bought the Innorel RT-80, 2nd from the back. A ball head wasn't needed, as I was using the bowl adapter with the center handle for adjustments & less weight. Had to add the ARCA plate adapter is all, so I could run the Hog Saddle or an ARCA plate, depending on the gun.
What I didn't like about the RT-80 was the leg angles while sitting. 1st notch was to steep, 2nd notch was too shallow.
After comparing the angles on the Lefoto, I found the next size bigger model had the same angles as the little one that worked so well for me. So I decided to order that one. It was only a pound more than the little one, and it went to 55", so it actually covered sitting or standing for me.
https://www.leofoto.com/products_detail.php?id=225
So I trimmed the fat by selling the big one and the little one. The Leofoto LS-324 was to cover all my hunting, the RT-80 was my everything else tripod, for the spotting scope, and all my shooting practice.
After a short time, I found out, that in certain circumstances, that the 324's 55" height was lacking. So I bit the bullet, and ordered the Leofoto LS-364C. I also ended up selling the ball heads, and replace them with Leofoto LB-65 leveling bases, with their LHC-60 ARCA plate on top. Replacing the ball heads saved 4 ozs and shortened OAL a half inch.
Here's the two I'm finally happy with, the LS-324C and the LS-364C with leveling bases and Arca clamps.
As pictured, the 324 weighs 3-14, the 364 weighs 4-13.
Long way around the block to tell you want I use, but it explains the road I took to get where I'm at.
My current #1 coyote rifle weighs in at 12 lbs, 5 ozs, & have no issues with either.
I just got the 324c and it came with the ball head. Do you prefer the leveling bowl head(lb-65) or was it just to save weight. Also what is attached to the legs on both of yours? Lastly..what did you use to paint them and what was your process? Are all the sections painted or just the top one? Thanks!
ckaberna
Gold $$ Contributor
Here is what my son and I are using. Both manfrotto tripods with manfrotto ball heads (I think) both using hog/pig saddles. Contemplating mounting the QR block straight to the stock similar to the above pics of the ARCA rails.
All these items were ebay snags. May try and post a video you can see the stability, especially when the heads are adjusted to the correct tension. Both rifles as pictured weigh in around 14 lbs.
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.