Elite iron bipod
-
I bought one of these about a month ago and have had a chance to get a good bit of trigger time with it at this point and thought I’d pass my experience and thoughts on to you. I’ll start off by saying it’s a expensive bipod coming in at $575 for the aluminum panning model I have. The steel and aluminum nonpanning models are $525. It’s very well built and the panning feature can be locked out by tighting down the tension bolt. The rifle hangs under the pivot points of the bipod marking a very steady and forgiving system. The mounting ring allows the bipod to rotate 360 degrees around the barrel for unlimited cant adjustments and allows you to quickly level the rifle on petty much any terrain. Recoil controls is greatly improved and I have found you have to be trying to make the gun recoil off target, it naturally wants to recoil straight back, and the way the rifle sit in the bipod vs on the bipod creates a leverage point and virtually eliminates bipod jump. Optional spiked and rubber feet are available but the steel feet that came standard have not created an issue for me shooting off any surfaces including hard dirt (I have not tested this on concrete yet) and I believe that’s due to the way the leverage works forcing the feet to bite in under recoil. At 23 oz it is considerably heavier than the more common bipods such as the atlas and harris, and certainly doesn’t completely replace them in all situations. I probably will not use it in a PRS style competition due to its weight and the way the legs fold up above the barrel instead of underneath the barrel, but may change my mind after some more testing. One negative point that I don’t like is due to the way the barrel goes through the bipod it could require different mounts for different rifles depending on the rifle set up. My match rifle and the 223 Travis built me both have no issues sharing the same mount, but the mount I currently have will not work on my precision AR or a more traditional style stock. They sell mounts to work on any rifle/stock configuration and will also make custom mounts if needed or requested. The mounts vary in price but can get fairly pricey if you required several different styles to suit all your needs. For me this isn’t that big of an issue as I don’t feel the need in running this bipod on every rifle I have.
So to sum everything up at this point I’m very impressed with this bipod and shooting off of it is extremely stable, easy, and very forgiving.
-
I’ve shot several matches now with the bipod and it’s really becoming something I wouldn’t want to be without. I shot a PRS match yesterday with it, and the extra weight was never a issue. The way the bipod rotates 360 degrees around the barrel actual made for a very stable rest on barricades with odd angles. There was only one stage where it actually slowed me down and that was mainly my fault, I had the legs rotated backwards towards the mag well for a barricade rest, then had to move up a fight of stairs to a platform for a prone shot. With the legs folded towards the back the scope was in the way and wouldn’t allow the bipod to rotate so I could deploy the legs for a prone shot. I ended up just throwing abag down to rest the rifle on an md didn’t use a rear bag. The shot broke just before th time ran out so I didn’t loose a point but it was close. I should have adjusted the bipod while I was on my way to the next position instead of waiting til I got there to fool with. There were a couple prone stages where the shooter was laying down hill and the target was uphill, most shooter didn’t do well on those stages because they didn’t have enough height on their bipods to get on target, some set a pack down and rested their pinks on the pack and others actually tried to hold the rifle up basically free handed. The elite iron had enough height to get in a normal prone position with a rear bag for the shot.
All in all I’m very impressed with how it worked in the PRS match.
-
Where did you place in the PRS match?
-
23rd out of 75 shooters. I shot good and am happy with my performance, especially given the caliber of seasoned competitors that showed up for this match. There are two families the Boyd’s and the Allens that make up about 15 of the shooters. They are all excellent and dominant the top spots at every match they attend, they were both at this match. I’ve only shot a couple of the PRS style matches so each match is a learning experience for me.
-
@bull81 said:
They are all excellent and dominant the top spots at every match they attend
I've not heard of them. Though I'm not much of a social butterfly.
-
@orkan
Naw come on we all know your a social butterfly haha.
I don’t know that they shoot out in your part of the world. I know the Allen’s are from Louisiana, I’m not sure about the Boyd’s. I pretty sure Brain Allen shoots for K&M. His wife took first this pass weekend and his daughter took 2nd. He took 4th and one of the Boyd’s took 3rd. The rest fell in the rest of the top 10 or 12 spots.
-
Well good job anyhow. ;)
-
Thanks fella
-
Now the names clicked. Brian Allen and his daughter. Once I figured out that there wasn't actually someone named Brain Allen. lol
Yup, we know them. Glad to hear you all are having fun down there. :)
-
@orkan said
Once I figured out that there wasn't actually someone named Brain Allen. lolHaha my bad damn phone auto corrects the dumbest stuff sometimes. Yes that him, he has a team now called the A team with him, his daughter, wife, and a few others. They are all good shooters.