Bipod & bad vibes

[wwjmbd]

I had a m700 adl in 22-250 rem and one day I mounted my bipod on it and took it to the range. I am not accustomed to shooting off bipods at all, I usually rest on whatever is nearby when I am hunting, or shoot freehand, or on bean bags at the range. It was an accurate rifle and I was shooting handloads that usually delivered excellent groups. The groups with the bipod opened up to 4x the normal size and after I took the double hearing protection off while I was going to let the barrel cool I could hear a high pitched ringing. I put my hand on the barrel to see how warm it was and the ringing stopped. I fired another shot and again the barrel was ringing in a very high pitched tone.

I havent used the bipod on any of my cf rifles since. Works fine with my rimfires off the bench.

Is this a common occurance? Maybe I shouldent have had the legs of the bipod on the solid table?

I plan to try the bipod with some of my other rifles when I have the chance.

[Bigeasy]

The few rifles I have used with bipods, accuracy has stayed the same as from bags, with maybe a slight shift in group location on target.  That's using a Harris type, that attaches to the forend sling stud.  Stay away from the type that attache / clamp directly to the barrel, as they will definitely effect group size.  Never experienced what you did with that rifle, but barrel harmonics can do weird things.
 
Larry

[Lloyd Smale]

like larry ive seen slight poa changes using harris bipods in some guns but very little change of group size. Keep in mind though that all my guns are bedded and the barrels are floated. If you do have stock pressure on your barrel im sure a bipod is going to change that pressure and change the harmonics of the barrel.

[wwjmbd]

The one I have does attach to the forend sling stud. The rifle wasent bedded or anything, bone stock except for the scope and bipod. There must have been a pressure point or something, Ive never seen that happen before, but I had never shot from bipods before either.

[Hooker]

To shoot accurately from a bi-pod takes a bit of technique. First off a good quality bi-pod will be a big help.
When using a bi-pod always preload  it before the shot. That is put forward pressure on the bi-pods legs with your shoulder. This keeps the gun from hopping and bouncing when you shoot. Position yourself and the rifle so that you are comfortable and relaxed with your shoulder against the butt with the preload pressure. I like to put enough pressure on the legs so that the gun butt is snug against my shoulder. Sometimes the feet don't get a good grip  on hard surfaces and the gun slides away from your shoulder.
The feet should be some what soft and grippy. Hard or slick feet on a hard surface will have the gun bouncing and sliding all over the bench.
I always use a large towel to cover the bench it helps the bi-pod to get a grip ,keeps me from skinning my elbows and keeps my empty cases from rolling off. Once you get your preload pressure  down your body and gun positioning is next. Find the position that is comfortable and relaxed with you sights on the target. You should be able to get rock solid with just your shoulder and the bi-pod holding the gun. Then look at your sight picture and stop your breath no hands on the gun you should be as steady as a machine rest. Resume your breathing watch your sight picture you should only see vertical movement. If you are seeing horizontal movement you need to work on you how you position yourself and the gun. In most cases it will be that the gun butt is not setting properly in your shoulder pocket. Reposition and recheck. A lot of guys like to use a rear bag with the bi-pod and that's fine ,but don't ignore the positioning and the preload pressure . If you can't get a steady hold without the bag you will be muscling the gun with the bag.   You can use the rear bag to make elevation adjustment to your sight picture  by squeezing the bag. I prefer the no bag method by controlling your breathing you can move your elevation up and down and stop your breath when the target is acquired. The rest is lots of practice I do lots of dry fire exercises it really helps in perfecting your technique.


Pat