Ridge Warden Tripod Head Giveaway by Wiser

[elkhunter505]

I missed your December update but saw everything today after you freshened up the thread.

Big thanks for taking the time to come back and review everything you won. Really helpful but not common! People are gonna appreciate this if they're in the market.


(and you too @elkhunter505 )

Will try to provide my own update as scouting season heats up. My hunting season mellowed out considerably after I returned from Colorado as work jumped into the mix. Just now getting caught up. Hope to have some updates soon.

 

[Hunterscamera]

Was just looking at this head this morning very much appreciate the updates!

 

[Matt5266]

I've been shooting and glassing off mine. Its not the master of anything, but its very good at everything. Size and weight are awesome. My new favorite head.

 

[LFC911]

My new favorite head.

 

[PathFinder]

Couple more updates:

Spent more time shooting from it. This time was an ~8.5lb 243 Improved, a total of about 30 rounds. Did some shooting seated, some prone, and some seated shooting steep uphill. Distances were 300m and 480m. Ended up concluding that clipping in worked really well for getting and staying on target through multiple shots with this rifle. The head has plenty of range to track targets well away from the original shot. I've been leaving the tension setting just slightly tighter than typical for glassing. It got pretty dirty in the wind and dust, but didn't seem to be affected.
Also took this head on a 4 day backpack spring bear trip. This was the first time using it for an extended period in cold weather. When temperatures got into the 20s, the pan axis got stiff. At one point, that meant it wouldn't hardly move. After playing with it a bit, the pan axis loosened up and was fine. The other glassing periods that were similarly cold had the same effect. It seems to loosen up after a bit of use while cold. In the future, I'll probably take the allen key to loosen the pan axis a bit. Maybe a different, Teflon-based grease would help? @Wiser Shane any input? Is it better to adjust the pan axis slightly, or would a different grease in it work?

 

[mthayr]

You're welcome, I appreciate you facilitating the giveaway!

It has been really good so far. The BT-20 seems to occupy a nice Goldilocks niche for backpack hunting. I plan to update this thread with more experiences throughout this year.

As I have the same setup, the large flat disc at the top of the center column on the 632 can spin right off, and the Ridge Warden can spin back on. Save an ounce or two and streamlines the setup some.



As far as the Seekins Arca plate, it does work, but the clamp knob is a bit tight to the bottom of he stock when using it, so I don't know that you'd be able to recess it and still use the knob to close the clamp. I've been on the hunt for a super-lightweight clamp with a lever, but then you lose the handle. It'd be great if @Wiser Shane could come up with something for that

 

[arlenmyles]

Zeiss SFL 8x40 and my Tikka 6mm CM!

 

[elkhunter505]

Wanted to add a brief update here on my use of the head recently. I spent a significant amount of time in the last week spotting for bighorn sheep lamb captures during field work. Using both my personal vortex razor HD 10x42 and a loaner Swaro ATS 85 (I believe?), I found the head to be great under both conditions. You definitely need to tighten it up to handle the Swaro but it is workable with the big scope. I find it an absolute breeze to glass with my binos. Really happy with the head combined with an Aziak backcountry. Insanely small and light package that actually seems to have a similar amount of rigidity as my previous Tricer AD + LP combo.

To this point, my only issue is the tight panning feature in cold weather or when the tripod hasn’t been used that was pointed out above by @PathFinder. Glad to know it wasn’t just user error on my part for that.