Rifle Ball Mount Tripod

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AirgunBill

Member
Nov 2, 2015
1,272
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Maryland, United States
Thinking about whether a rifle mount tripod could work for me. First I am thinking about pesting situations where I will be in one place shooting birds off buildings or silos. Presently I am using shooting sticks and unless I can get my back up against something there is more crosshairs movement than I would like. I have seen people like Bob O shooting off the hood of their vehicle using a bag and bi-pod but I have a Chrysler Pacifica van and there is no flat space to place them. Also when winter and cold arrives I shoot from inside my van so the ability to sit down using the tripod would be ideal. I have a very stable homemade shooting bench that I could set-up and use with a bag and bi-pod which I believe would be the most stable but that is a lot of bulk to move around. Lastly thinking about the most bang for the buck use wise. Spend $200 plus on an Atlas of Accu-Tac bi-pod or retrofit a Swiss Arca ball mount to this decent tripod I have now. If you have a rifle mount tripod let me know the brand and how it is working out for you and in what shooting situations. Any others thoughts appreciated too Bill
 
Take a look at a Gimbal head, I prefer them over a ball head, they're much more maneuverable. You can get an inexpensive version online for $50-$70.

Stoti

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Here's another option although I prefer the gimbal.
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I'm a big advocate of shooting off tripods, and having lugged more than my fair share of heavy lenses with heavy gimbal heads around as well I'm also a big fan of ball heads. :p The real key here, in either case, is to have the rifle, particularly if it is heavy, mounted directly over its center of mass. This is why, on firearm chassis systems, you always see very long arca rails, so you can get that perfect position right over the ball head. 



An Arca Swiss ball head is obviously the best, and you can get them used on ebay for just a couple hundred bucks and in a perfect world you'd put that on top of the highest weight rated Gitzo tripod, but the inexpensive ones you can buy on Amazon aren't terrible (and are what I use). An inexpensive tripod w/ ball head which is at least a serviceable way to get started can be had on Amazon for about 100$. The thing to keep in mind is that, what you're paying for in a tripod, aside from quality and brand, is light weight and increased rigidity. A big carbon Gitzo WILL be a more stable shooting platform than a 70$ Amazon Geekoto. So you can play the "buy once cry once" game, or you can try an entire rig for less than 100$ and see if that works for you before you go in with both feet. I will say that, if you're shooting from inside a vehicle, I wouldn't worry too super duper much about tripod rigidity, because cars are pretty squishy-wobbly things on their suspension, and one errant fart will make your crosshairs move a visible amount. Remember, in a car you're sitting atop four springs resting on balloons. 

Regarding mounts, generally our airguns don't have picatinny rails, and when they do they're generally not over the center of mass. So you might want to go looking for a mount that'll give you a little more flexibility in that regard. Various flavors can be designed custom, bought on Amazon, or had for free. (I give a 3D printable design away free, just PM me if you want the file)

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Speaking of cars, if you really want a car solution, another thing to consider might be a GROOFWIN, which is short for "ground-roof-window." It is an odd little device used by one of the photographers I've worked for, but if you want a variety of stable mounts on or around a vehicle, you might just check it out. 

And, in case it wasn't obvious, I shoot off tripods all the time and absolutely love it. It is NOT as stable as shooting prone, bags front and back, but then again nothing else is. The tripod is a great way to get relatively stable shots from all sorts of odd situations and angles where you can't lay prone..... pretty much it does the exact same thing for rifles as it does photography as both require/desire the same thing. 

I hope that helps. :) 




 
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Hey Bill, as was stated, no matter which style of head you use, it should be centered so the balance point is over the head of the tripod. One of the other things that makes a gimbal head so nice is that even if it’s not exactly balanced, the nature of the design keeps it from wanting to fall or get knocked over because when you let it go, it simply pivots to let your gun hang almost vertically. You can of course lock it in any position which is also nice. We’ve used both types a lot and my son uses the gimbal almost exclusively now because it’s so maneuverable and because he doesn’t have to worry about it falling or getting knocked over nearly as much as when using other heads. You can see my son’s gun hanging in the background of this picture with little worry of it falling over. Good luck and have a great 4th! Stoti
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I ordered off Amazon a Neewer brand $90 30 lb. weight capacity gimbal. I was debating on whether to get a carbon fiber tripod too but I think my heavier tripod at 8 lbs. might lesson the the chance of the rig tipping over. Of course I can add weight at the bottom if needed. I'm hoping soon to get my slug liner for my FX Impact MKII .22 cal. which will be the main rig to be used on the tripod. It seems like it would not take much forward weight to get the Impact balanced . Bill
 
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I was using a carbon Gitzo tripod with a leveling base with a Arca B1 ball head. I worked OK but my gun is butt end heavy even after mounting as far to the butt as possible. So I needed to tighten the ball pretty tight. I switched to the Neewer gimbal head and added a 6.3 lbs front weight to the muzzle end. It balances perfectly allowing you to easily change aiming points while letting go of the gun without it flopping over. The Neewer is far from perfect as it has excess slop at both pivot points that can be minimized by over tightening the clamping screws. If left loose even after the tripod is leveled as you pan you will lose level on you gun. Since my gun with the added weight is over 16 lbs I don't notice the addiional drag.

Neewer != Wimbley

Neewer < Wimbley




 
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