School me on Arca Swiss comparability...

[farmer14]

Anybody have any info who can explain it to me in layman’s terms? I saw a video of a guy on here who I think was using one off a tripod but can’t find it to reference. Either way, it looked slick. I use a SLIK 634 CF tripod If that helps. Thanks guys!

 

[Wapiti1]

Arca Swiss is a brand that came up with a dovetail quick detach plate long ago to go with their tripod heads. Their design is good and was copied by many. You simply need a plate on the rifle and a tripod head with an Arca Swiss size clamp on it.

I've seen guys use big ball heads, and pan and tilt heads with their rifles. Keep in mind it will need to be a bigger head to hold a rifle steady.

Most any tripod can work and you just need to make sure the tripod head will take the arca plate. Many, if not most, are standard with an arca compatible clamp.

Hope that helps.

Jeremy

 

[Marbles]

Arca Swiss is just a standard for a rail and clamp system that is designed for quick on and off, like a picatinny rail; just faster, a bit larger, and not as repeatable in position.

Ok, Jeremy beat me to the punch. Almost every head is capable of changing out the clamp, so if you have a head that is designed for the Manfrotto style plates you can just get a new clamp rather than replacing the whole head. Arca plates are made by lots of brands and come in lots of lengths, so you can take your pick their.

Most all Arca Swiss stuff plays nice with other Arca Swiss components, though there are a few products that don't match up well as the standard is not as clearly defined as that of a picatinny rail. Personally I have not ran into the problem, just avoided some of the cheaper stuff due to reviews that complain about it.

 

[twall13]

I like to use Arca Swiss plates on my binocular adapter and spotting scope because that's what I use with my camera gear and it allows me to mount any of them to the same tripod/head without making changes. Lots of good options out there. For my binoculars, I found a small Arca plate that matches up really well with the Outdoorsmans Binocular Adapter and I just leave it permanently attached to the adapter. My camera has a Peak Designs plate on the bottom so I can carry it on a shoulder strap and then, since it's Arca compatible, it can slide right onto my tripod.

My arca compatible heads tend to be on the lighter side for backpacking so I haven't experimented much with using them for a rifle setup but with a stout head it should be doable.

 

[BBob]

As said above the tolerances on Arca plates is a bit wider than other systems so occasionally something won't fit or quickly swap exactly right. If you use a head that has a lot of adjustment in the clamp like with a quick turn knob it's no big deal but if you use a head like an early Jim White or a current favorite the Sirui VA-5 with a 1/4 turn lever you could have issues. Some of the Sirui plates don't even swap without a clamp adjustment on the VA-5.

 

[Bubblehide]

Someone here makes plates to mount to your rifle or whatever you want to mount them to, and some with a short rail. I just do not recall who it is at the moment.

 

[Marbles]

For mounting directly to a rifle, a 3 in Fusion Plate and two threaded sleeves in the stock would work well. A long plate with two screws would prevent the plate from twisting.

Arca-Swiss Compatible Fusion Lens Plate - 3.75

The Fusion Lens Plate is an Arca-Swiss Style quick release plate that has a deployable attachment loop. The attachment loop allows the photographer to connect a sling-style shoulder strap such as those made by BlackRapid. The Fusion Lens Plate is compatible with Arca-Swiss style quick release...

fpgear.com

 

[Lawnboi]

If you start playing with quick release levers keep an eye out on rrs spec arca Swiss. There’s a reason a lot of shooting gear that’s arca Swiss is spec to rrs specification specifically.

 

[Vaultman]

As stated, Arca Swiss is just referring to a dovetail-type plate. Arca Swiss is not an actual standard. Really Right Stuff has published their standard for other manufacturer's to use, and it is probably one of the more widely adopted standards.

If you start playing with quick release levers keep an eye out on rrs spec arca Swiss. There’s a reason a lot of shooting gear that’s arca Swiss is spec to rrs specification specifically.

So will a RRS clamp fit most "Arca Swiss" rails?

 

[Ohearchai]

Run rrs rails, hrd, krg, area419, a few cheapo desmond rails from years ago, all are around 1.5, I have had an issue with a few aftermarket rails that were in the 1.49ish zone that resulted in some play. Great system though