Best adapter for attaching rifle to tripod

[Jbark60]

What is the best set up for attaching a rifle with a pic rail and swaro spotting scope to a tripod. Currently I have a manfrotto fluid head attached to a vanguard alta pro 2 tripod.

 

[wind gypsy]

A rifle with a Arca rail and a spotter with the same. And a ball head.

 

[Jordan Smith]

A rifle with a Arca rail and a spotter with the same. And a ball head.

Yup, except that I much prefer a leveling head to a ball head.

 

[wind gypsy]

Yup, except that I much prefer a leveling head to a ball head.

Ever use one for glassing a lot on a hunt?

 

[Jbark60]

Any thoughts on the rugged ridge extreme tripod?

 

[wy_will]

Yup, except that I much prefer a leveling head to a ball head.

I prefer a pan head for glassing and a ball head for shooting. I swap heads via arca depending on if I am glassing or shooting.

 

[justinspicher]

I just started to use a table for both glassing and shooting. I am using a Spartan Davros head, the table mounts to the Davros head by way of a Spartan MloK adaptor.

So far this has been the best of both worlds for me.

 

[Jordan Smith]

Ever use one for glassing a lot on a hunt?

Yeah, a bunch. A fluid head is better for glassing, but a good leveling head is a nice compromise between shooting and glassing. Ball heads tend to be too unstable for my preference, which is where leveling heads shine. I like my leveling heads to have at least +/- 16 degrees of range for hunting in mountainous terrain.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

A bag/table on top of the tripod is how I would roll. @hereinaz makes a good offering

 

[wind gypsy]

Yeah, a bunch. A fluid head is better for glassing, but a good leveling head is a nice compromise between shooting and glassing. Ball heads tend to be too unstable for my preference, which is where leveling heads shine. I like my leveling heads to have at least +/- 16 degrees of range for hunting in mountainous terrain.

The range of motion is the primary thing that has kept me from going that direction but it is a pretty tiny precent of the time that I need more than 15 degrees. They do seem notably more stable than ball heads.

 

[Jordan Smith]

The range of motion is the primary thing that has kept me from going that direction but it is a pretty tiny precent of the time that I need more than 15 degrees. They do seem notably more stable than ball heads.

Yes, indeed. In actual use, it’s rarely an issue. You can usually manipulate the leg height of the tripod to reduce the angle that the leveling head is tilted at, as well.

 

[wind gypsy]

Yes, indeed. In actual use, it’s rarely an issue. You can usually manipulate the leg height of the tripod to reduce the angle that the leveling head is tilted at, as well.

Definitely, its just that manipulating the legs is a time suck. Certain situations manipulating just one leg is fastest and puts the apex at an odd angle. That is a much more common situation for wanting more range of adjustment than having shot angles over 15 degrees for me at least.

 

[Jordan Smith]

Definitely, it’s just that manipulating the legs is a time suck. Certain situations manipulating just one leg is fastest and puts the apex at an odd angle. That is a much more common situation for wanting more range of adjustment than having shot angles over 15 degrees for me at least.

I hear you. Even still, 15-17 degrees is more than many people realize, and is rarely a limitation in use.

 

[BBob]

I hear you. Even still, 15-17 degrees is more than many people realize, and is rarely a limitation in use.

I know the cost might be an issue for some but the RRS at 20° works quite well and gives an added bit of leeway.

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

I don't like the bag for glassing off of besides for NRL hunter. I hunt with buddies pretty often and being able to lock the binos in place and let them look is pretty critical. Also being able to come off the glass and get a gun setup, and if you potentially lose where you were at you can just hop back to the binos to see again.

Ken

 

[Jordan Smith]

I don't like the bag for glassing off of besides for NRL hunter. I hunt with buddies pretty often and being able to lock the binos in place and let them look is pretty critical. Also being able to come off the glass and get a gun setup, and if you potentially lose where you were at you can just hop back to the binos to see again.

Ken

Spotters also don't work all that well off a bag.