Ideas for a lightweight bipod

[essexboy]

On my noob hello entry ovenpaa and myself started to throw around ideas for a light weight bipod for viking [ this must be the finance minister] i expect there are cost controls in place so no silly 5 axis milling ideas or one off moulds for c/f etc, his goal is sub 700g or in english 28oz.

What have you got?

[Christel]

I will follow this thread with interest...

[ovenpaa]

The Viking is Christel the forum Admin with the red hair.

First offering for her was this one. It has a centre height adjuster with left and right hand threads for quicker changes. It has an elevation range from 15.5cm at the lowest point to 26.0cm at the highest point and just took me 22 seconds to adjust between these two heights. It has feet that swivel, this means longer wider ski feet can be used and it can better track across the ground. The main structure is made of channel to minimise flex under recoil. Construction is all Aluminium and stainless steel with some PTFE bushings.

I know I can make the centre adjuster knob thinner to save some weight, modify the legs to again save some weight but the real area of potential weight saving is the cant control. Right now this is done by the red cam adjusters at the top of the legs,they weight 50 grams each and I do wonder if I can remove them completely and use bolts that are locked up sufficiently to still allow some movement but also offer sufficient resistance, alternatively Christel does question using two and feels we could get away with just one on one leg.

My goal as you say is sub 700 grams and still be robust enough to take a heavy rifle under recoil. I can put maybe 50kg weight on this (I part stood on it)

So how can I lighten this without truly exotic materials and using my little mill and lathe? I am open to any suggestions

[20series]

As I said previously, I have seen this Bipod and it's great

I think having cant control is handy as some firing points are very uneven, personally I think your design is spot on but if some more weight can be lost by fettling the odd bit here and there with out effecting the strength significantly then it's even better.

To get my F-TR rig in the weight limit, I modified my Sinclair by removing the centre mounting/canting section as it's very heavy and putting in a flat plate with a slot for a mounting rail that goes in the rail under my stock, I'll try and post pictures when I get home.

Alan

[Steve E]

I recently bought an Apel-Bipod (contact on 01202 621128). Weighs 500g. It is similar to the Dolphin bipod but has a greater range of adjustment. Used It before Xmas and I do like it. Quite a few people were using them at the F-Class champs last year.

Steve

[ovenpaa]

I have not heard of Apel bipods, do you have a picture of yours please?