(EDIT) Atlas PSR PSA

Pardon me, but where did the burnt metal smell come from? I feel like I'm a little confused here. 

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Metal on metal friction or this oil/lube they use I guess, very pungent. I don't know - it definitely wasn't normal.

Now I see why it came off - there's a stopper with a through screw that is supposed to be screwed into the inner leg. It wasn't screwed in, the one on the opposite side appears to have some kind of Loctite on it, but not this one. Someone must have skipped a step during assembly.

Well this might have turned into a PSA announcement for anyone else with a PSR. If you don't Loctite the screw stoppers down, they can disconnect and cause the legs to fall off (and ball bearings to fly). 

You don't need to take the legs all the way off to get the stopper out. There's a small spring loaded stop in the feet. Depress it and the feet pop off, same process as if you were replacing the rubber feet with steel spikes. My standard 1/8" Allen can get to the screw, take it out, put thread locker on it, screw it back on.

I also noticed that the little bushing that they're using for the stopper has a larger inside diameter than the screw. If you torque it down to the leg without it being centered, it's very difficult to open / close the legs, adding friction / resistance. I had to tighten it little by little, extending and closing the legs as I went to get it centered for smooth deployment.

I recovered the (4) ball bearings and packed them with some tacky grease to hold them in place for reinstalling the legs. No need to mess with the set screw in the leg that rides the groove - this set screw prevents leg rotation and acts as a stopper (assuming the damn thing is screwed on).







Mission complete. That smell is definitely the lube they use. It stinks!

I was contacted by the designer of the Atlas bipod who recognized with me and provide assurance that there would be more emphasis put on the assembly of each part. I was also offered a refund (which I declined). I can appreciate the gesture and more so the time that was taken for the direct and sincere correspondence.