Airsoft "Atlas" style bipod mod.

[Pete]

If anyone has bought one of these 36 squid cheapies off a certain auction site, they might be interested in a simple mod that makes the thing a lot more pleasant to use, and gives 10-15 degrees of tilt which can be easily locked.
This is actually quite a well made bipod, so here goes:
Prise off the plastic cap under the knurled wheel. You will see a small nut screwed onto a threaded rod that's been drilled and smashed with a punch to keep the nut on.
Apply lube and carefully unscrew the nut. On both of mine, it was possible to do this by holding the top part wrapped in a bit of rag in a vice, and using an M8 size socket spanner. The nut squeezed the metal back and came off OK.
Under the nut, you will find some spring washers. Remove these and the large knurled wheel will come off.
Under the wheel, you will find another slightly larger nut, M10 socket, which fits in a recess on the knurled wheel, and which can be tightened by rotating the wheel.
Remove this, and the stack of spring washers. The washers are dished and will need to go back the same way up they came out.
Lift off the black plastic cup.
Stick a sheet of medium/coarse sandpaper to a flat surface and carefully sand the open rim of the cup, rotating it to ensure that you reduce it's height evenly all round.
Reduce it's thickness to 6.5-7.0mm.
Re-assembly is a reverse of the above. You may have to "dress" the thread to get the smaller nut back on, and reduce the no of spring washers under the large nut to allow for the amount removed from the cup.
I've done two of these, and they work really well.. The Airsoft guy even sells removable spiked feet which are nicely made from s/steel.
The bipods are pretty robust, and will easily handle a heavy 308.

Pete

[ovenpaa]

Pete, it sounds interesting however........

[Pete]

DSCN4937 Atlas 2.jpg (39.25 KiB) Viewed 2824 times

DSCN4936 Atlas1.jpg (49.56 KiB) Viewed 2824 times

Oh all right then...........

[Pete]

DSCN4942 Atlas 5.jpg (25.2 KiB) Viewed 2821 times

DSCN4941 Atlas 4.jpg (45.42 KiB) Viewed 2821 times

There should be enough info there to complete the procedure, although it's not in the right order. Start with Atlas 1.

Pete

[Pete]

DSCN4944 Atlas 7.jpg (32.45 KiB) Viewed 2818 times

DSCN4943 Atlas 6.jpg (37.45 KiB) Viewed 2818 times

And the end result is a useful bit of tilt and easy lock-up with the knurled wheel.
Mine was so tight on arrival as to be useless, but for 36 squid posted, definitely worth a punt.

Pete

[ovenpaa]

Nice job

I know of a few people using the Airsoft 'Atlas' on centrefire rifles to great effect.

[pnuk]

Great mod, thanks for sharing.
Would you mind sharing the Ebay item number so I know I'm looking at the right ones?
Thanks

Out of interest how are they weight-wise?

[Pete]

400gms (with the spiky feet) Item no. is 141690595566 It's called "ACI Rifle Bipod". Comes with rubber Harris type feet as standard.
Don't get the "Quick release" version, it's rubbish.
The standard one comes with a sprung metal clamp with a locking screw, and it locks firmly onto a Weaver/Picatinny rail.
I just checked and the spike feet aren't listed. You can get them from the seller direct, JJ Airsoft. About 12 quid posted.

Pete

[Brian838]

400gms (with the spiky feet) Item no. is 141690595566 It's called "ACI Rifle Bipod". Comes with rubber Harris type feet as standard.
Don't get the "Quick release" version, it's rubbish.
The standard one comes with a sprung metal clamp with a locking screw, and it locks firmly onto a Weaver/Picatinny rail.
I just checked and the spike feet aren't listed. You can get them from the seller direct, JJ Airsoft. About 12 quid posted.

Pete

How many slots of rail does the clamp take up btw?

[Pete]

Three.

Pete