From: bartb@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Bart Bobbitt)
Subject: Re: Lilja Barrels?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site

Lloyd D Reid (reidld@ecf.toronto.edu) wrote:

: You can
: attach a bipod to either a hunter class B/R rifle, or a palma/NRA
: rifle with excellent results.

With due respect to Mr. Reid's otherwise good information, I disagree
with the above statement.

Bipods present a fairly hard support for a rifle's forend.  That's
something not condusive to good accuracy.  The reason is it's not a
consistantly repeatable situation.

Years ago when bipods first came out, I put one on an NRA match rifle
and tested it at 600 yards with a scope.  I fired four 10-shot groups
for the test; one with bipod, one without, then repeated these.  In
the tests without bipod, my hand under the forend was resting on a
rolled up shooting mat.  Group sizes with the bipod were about 13 inches
vertical and about 5 inches horizontal.  Group sizes with the padded
rest were about 4 inches vertical and 3 inches horizontal.

I then tested a factory varmit rifle having one with its barrel contacting
the forend at several random spots.  At 300 yards, the same tests were
done as with the match rifle.  With the bipod, groups were about 7 inches
vertical, 4 inches horizontal.  Without the bipod but the forend resting
on a pad, groups were about 4 inches vertical and 3 inches horizontal.

I concluded bipods were gimmicks from then on.  Although they will let
ones hold on target be very steady, I'm not convinced they permit best
accuracy.

BB

From: bartb@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Bart Bobbitt)
Subject: Re: Bipods revisited
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site

Brian Hook (bwh@beach.cis.ufl.edu) wrote:

: How about mounting the bipod on the foreend?

That's where the Harris one I did the tests with was mounted.  That's
where virtually of the sporting rifle bipods are mounted, too.

As the stock vibrates some while the bullet is going down the barrel,
those vibrations will be altered depending on how much pressure the
forend is subject to.  And the rifle will shoot higher if its forend
is on a hard surface compared to a soft surface.  Which is why bench
rifles are fired from soft bags, not hard ones.  Vertical stringing
is virtually nil when soft forend support is used.  With a hard support,
vertical shot stringing significantly increases.  This is most
noticable when the shooter's cheek is placed on the buttstock as the
amount of cheek-to-stock pressure varies a bit.  If the amount of
pressure transmitted through the forend to its support could be the
same from shot to shot, then vertical shot stringing would not happen.
Such is the situation with machine rests that solidly clamp the forend
and butt of the stock; the exact same pressure is maintained.

BB