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Air Guns Bipods on airguns: Part One

Bipods on airguns: Part One

bipod on rifle
Bipods are very popular for shooting from a bench. This one is from the 2024 Pyramyd AIR Cup.

This report covers:

  • Popular
  • Expensive
  • UTG is coming!
  • Modular
  • Stabilization
  • The deal
  • Testing

Today’s report starts a series on bipods and their use on air rifles. Ian McKee and I will be writing this report jointly, with Ian doing most of the writing.

Popular

Bipods are quite popular on air rifles today for many reasons. The weight of the guns they are installed on is one good reason, as is the need for extreme stability when shooting long distances.

At the 2024 Pyramyd AIR Cup most of the rifles in the benchrest competition had them. I would have said ALL rifles had them, but I might have missed something.

In fact, when we went to the Leaper’s booth on Vendor’s Row at the Cup, Leapers’ owner David Ding showed Ian and me a new UTG bipod that hasn’t hit the market yet. His daughter, Margaret, was competing in the 100-yard benchrest competition with a Karma Red Panda air rifle that sported one of these as-yet-unseen UTG bipods.

bipod Margaret
Margaret Ding, daughter of Leaper’s owners David and Tina Ding, competed in the benchrest competition this year at the Pyramyd AIR Cup with a soon-to-be-seen UTG bipod.

Expensive

When I was a kid 150 million years ago, bipods were no big deal. You bought one for $20 and tried to attach it to your rifle. But things have changed. It’s possible to spend over $800 on one today and they do everything but make your coffee. Will someone please go over and wake up reader RidgeRunner who just passed out?

I have a few older UTG bipods and Ian McKee, who uses bipods a lot more than I do, has several of his own. He doesn’t have anything from the top end like the ones from Atlas but he has a couple far less expensive clones of some of them that he tells me are remarkably good.

UTG is coming!

We learned at the Cup that UTG is now entering the upscale bipod world, just like they have done with optics. So in the near future top-end bipods may be more affordable. We shall see.

Rok-Lok modular stabilizing weight system

Today I will introduce something that’s not a bipod but is closely associated to them — the RAW Rok-Lok modular stabilizing weight system. The Rok-Lok attaches to a rifle in one of many configurations and fine-tunes the harmonics of the rifle for superior accuracy.

RAW Rok-Lok
This Rok-Lok was on a RAW HM1000 that was competing in the benchrest competition at the Cup.

Hunting Guide

Modular

The Rok-Lok is a modular system. You can buy it in many configurations, and if you get the deluxe system, you get them all.

Rok-Lok configurations
There are many ways to configure a Rok-Lok. The deluxe model allows for all of them.

Stabilization

I covered air rifle stabilization when we looked at the Whiscombe rifle’s Hamonic Optimized Tuning System (HOTS). That’s the same idea as the Rok-Lok (moving a weight to adjust the rifle’s vibration nodes) but it’s a lot smaller and lighter. The Rok-Lok is heavy. How heavy? Well, some websites will tell you the entire system weighs 4.6 pounds. But I wondered how they came up with that number, so I weighed it myself.

Rok-Lok box
The deluxe Rok-Lok as it comes in a box.

Rok-Lok weight
I unpackaged all the components of the Rok-Lok system and weighed them.

The deluxe Rok-Lok system, minus the packing materials, weighs 1733 grams or 3.821 pounds. And the user can adjust this weight within reason by selecting which components to include. Rather than confusing you with gobbletygook, here is a wonderful video that explains the whole thing clearly.

The deal

Does this work? I’m not sure because when I tuned the Whiscombe HOTS the results changed a little but not that much. But the HOTS is light compared to the Rok-Lok. And the rifles Rok-Loks are installed on aren’t light, either — hence the bipods. That is why we are looking at a stabilization system within a series that looks at air rifle bipods.

Testing

As this series progresses both Ian and I will be testing the Rok-Lok system and various bipods for you. The goal is to provide enough information that you can make good decisions before you commit to a purchase.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

52 thoughts on “Bipods on airguns: Part One”

  1. Ian and BB,

    I hate to ask the dumb questions, but…
    Where should one attach the bipod? Way up front or back where one would hold the forestock? For springers do they go at the balance point, like where the flat hand goes? Or wherever one can mount the bipod, say, where the stock screws are?
    Can it attach to the barrel, or never?
    Should the legs point forward, like a “tripod” with the butt in the shoulder as the third leg, or should the legs point more down, with the gun teetering on the legs, absorbing recoil?

    Mike, a not-yet bipodal ape

    • That answer could make up one or more blogs on its own and probably will in the long run.

      The short version is it is all about your shooting style and the harmonics of your gun.

      Tom figured out the artillery hold for Springers to help them shoot consistently.

      now test he has to test which way is the best way to hold a new gun.
      on the bag directly, on your hand resting on the bag, does your hand need to be further out towards the end of the stock or does your hand need to be placed somewhere closer to the trigger.

      The Same can be applied to a bipod, while having it out near the muzzle does provide a stable platform.
      if you’re engaging multiple targets at different distances you have to pivot left and right and up and down.

      With the bipod near the muzzle, you have a long lever on the back of the pivot point, but much less movement on the front of the pivot point.

      With the bipod the middle of the gun you have more movement left right up and down, but it is not as stable.

      In a gun accuracy is all about harmonics. Forcing a piece of metal through another piece of metal at a high velocity, (a bullet or pellet through the barrel). causes a lot of stress on the gun and causes pieces to wiggle and vibrate at certain frequencies where you place your hand or the bipod on the gun and how you hold the gun affect those vibrations.

      We call that being hold sensitive. It occurs in all price ranges of Airguns from the $30 Chinese B3 to the FX crown.
      A friend of mine bought a wooden stocked crown, and it shot great and was very stable nor hold sensitive.

      He did not like the look of the gun so he spent more money for a saber tactical stock for the rifle. Now it is hold, sensitive.
      Too much pressure on the hand guard, too much cheek pressure on the gun, gripping the grip pistol grip too tightly or too loosely. All affects the point of impact of that gun. He effectively turned it into a tuning fork.

      The wooden stock used to dampen some of those vibrations, he has now had to modify his shooting style to that rifle and he has to be cognizant of how he grips the rifle every time. I told him to switch back to the other stock, but he likes to look of the saber tactical one.

      And I saw that at this year‘s pyramid air cup with the karma red panda one of the top shooters was using a Donny FL Emperor suppressor on the rifle and many other shooters were not using suppressors.

      I asked him why he chose the Emperor and his response was of all the moderators and things he hung on the end of the barrel that one gave the best groups.

      The suppressor is dampening the vibrations of the gun firing.

      Some of the best groups I have ever shot were with my FX radar chronograph hanging on my barrel. It was dampening the vibrations of firing. But that is the topic for another blog, or two.

      Ian.

  2. This could get deep.
    Best Bipods for Springers, Multi Pumps and PCPs, Full / Semi-Auto firing.
    Which mount position and angle is best for each. Barrel mounted ones.
    How do they affect POI.
    What else can they do other than hold up an air rifle?
    Should they be held when fired and in use, instead of the forearm.
    Soft rubber or hard feet under what conditions.
    How will uneven legs change things.
    And then there are side mounted ones.
    The best hold to use, tight or lose.
    What about use with butt stock monopod with them.
    Should the spring-loaded adjustable ones be tightened up or left to float on the springs. Dumb question?
    Best surface for use, with what type of feet.
    POI change when left on the rifle and fired freehand.
    Which color works best, just kidding. This should be very informative.

    And …I have an Ares DSR1 Sniper Rifle with a top mounted sliding, lockable, folding bipod that lets the
    rifle sort of float around under it for ease of aiming more precisely I imagine. Any other benefit of this set up, other than allowing the rifle to sit closer to the ground or what have you.?

  3. Bob M and Berk Mike,

    I am not sure that Bipods would work at all on springers. Never seen one used! How are you going to cock the gun? I believe that they are PCP only! How are you going to use the “artillery hold” with a bipod?
    I think just a sand bag is what you want….

    -Y

    • Yogi,
      On a 10.5 lb. springer, like this one, I find the weight tends to keep the rifle at rest, low recoil, and the bipod does not seem to change anything, other than help me aim. Side mounted on rails.

    • RidgeRunner

      Watched the video. I have the .22 Stoeger ATAC and it gets similar fpe and accuracy. I don’t have a bipod so it has me wondering. My rifle is the one I have commented on several times as requiring the “strangle hold”. It does deliver consistent sub 1” ten shot groups at 25 yards with Field Target Trophy pellets.

      I will be following this report to see if I need to play around with bipods.

      Deck

      • Deck,

        That is an air rifle that has tempted me time and again. The gas spring has always been something that has held me back though. You really should play with a bipod some with that. If my rememberer is working correctly, Stoeger at one time offered a two piece bipod for that air rifle.

        • RidgeRunner

          My ATAC has turned out to be a good purchase. I bought it in 2013 and it has been in my shooting rotation ever since. No function issues at all. I went round and round with different holds searching for consistent accuracy. In desperation I shot it the way I would shoot a mule kickin elephant gun. It was just what the doctor ordered. Turns out the “strangle hold” overcomes trigger pulling issues too. It has the Picatinny rails mounted for a bipod under the forend. Got to wonder about the accuracy comparison with a bipod.

          Deck

          • Deck,

            A bipod is better than a bag in only one respect. Once adjusted and set properly, it will not allow your airgun to roll to the side as it may with a bag. Otherwise, a bag is better IMMHO.

  4. Wake RidgeRunner up?! He is awake. I have a couple of bipods here at RRHFWA. One is an Atlas clone.

    I have noticed that many of the bipods have become outrageous in prices, like many air rifles and scopes. I would not mind seeing and purchasing some more bipods when their prices become a little more reasonable.

    As most of the “old gals” here at RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns will not allow scopes to be mounted on them, neither will they allow for the mounting of bipods. Most of the “young’uns” have bipods, at least the ones that will be staying.

  5. I echo Bob Mrs questions. Many things to explore. But with modern PCPs so accurate and tuneable out of the box, how will one be able to measure the difference in precision and accuracy? I predict someone may need to shoot a lot at 50 to 100 yards.

  6. Oh, I get it now. You are saying that some people with more money than sense are spending $800 for a bipod. Why not? Those same people are spending over $3000 for their air rifle. They probably live on or near the Left Coast. This is also why I do not buy stuff from those airgun companies out near there. “You want what?! Figure the odds.”

  7. Thanks for starting this series which promises to be very informative and interesting. Great timing for this subject for my situation. I have just begun my journey down this wabbit hole. I have very recently purchased an inexpensive bipod and begun using it. I think I will like using it. And learning more about these items and how to use them is exactly the tonic that I need right now!

  8. In the photo at the very top of this page, it is interesting that there is a picatinny rail that could be used for mounting a bipod. However, that person chose to use a bipod that apparently clamps onto the air bottle closer to the muzzle of the rifle (than the picatinny rail).

    • Elmer,

      That mount is something more to spend their money on. The same company also sells an extension for the Picatinny rail and if I am not mistaken they even have one in Arka / Arca / Arkla / whatever.

      Does moving the bipod forward help? Hmmm. Maybe. Spreading the legs “out” usually makes for a steadier rest.

      • RR, it seems to me that having the bipod near the muzzle (like the photo of Margaret Ding’s set up) would tend to help minimize any effects caused by any slight inadvertent movements at the butt end of the rifle. The Rok-loc system looks interesting (but also expensive) as a way to help balance and stabilize the rifle.

        • Elmer,

          The more something weighs, the harder it is to move. Vibrations and such will also be reduced. The more weight towards the rear, the less affected by such an air rifle will be.

  9. If’n yall have a shooting bench, like RR, great!!!
    If’n yall are humping through the boonies…not so good!
    Your indoor/basement/garage range, gunna be nice.
    If’n yall are sniping starlings at the bird feeder from the back door..not so good.
    If’n yall have black gun, yall likely already have one.
    Ok…so yall spent big on a custom high grade walnut stock, I think NOT!!

    • Breeze,

      I agree wholeheartedly with your observations, but as you can see in the pictures these folks are shooting air rifles that weigh over ten pounds, and then you add the scopes and such.

      If it were not for my shooting bench, I would not have an Armada, or a Texan for that matter. The shooting bench was built because of these monsters. Like I said previously the “old gals” around here do not even accept scopes, much less that other weighty stuff.

  10. I have been using cheap bipods for years on several guns that are made with attachment points and a Caldwell Scorpion adjustable shooting rest for those that don’t. I use these with pcps, springers…everything for backyard bench rest shooting and it works well for me with all of them. I leave them off of my dedicated hunting guns though or have quick detach bipods on those.

    Looking forward to learning more about the nuances though like leg width and angle.

    Bob

  11. Being the good old cheapskate airgunner that I am I’ve never spent more than £20/$25 on a bipod. The Atlas clones will do everything you need them to, and can be improved by the simple installation of an o ring or two

  12. I just came into possession of 6 steel military surplus ammo boxes. I find that laying one on it’s side with a bean bag on top does just fine when I’m shooting a “sproinger”, a gas spring (hey RR, what’s the proper term here?) or a PCP. More elevation needed? Turn the box right side up. It cost me a fraction of what these new bipods are going for! Depending on the rifle, my hand either goes between the forearm and the bag or the forearm rests directly on the bag. We don’t need no stinking bipods. yet.

    Fred formerly of the Demokratik Peeples Republik of NJ now happily in GA!

  13. Off topic question, what is the difference between a Diana Model 36 and 38? Thanks.

    P.S. seems like since B.B. did his reports on the Crosman 600, there are lots of them around for sale on the auction sites. Also Daisy Model 21 double-barrelled BB guns….

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