Shooting off sirui va-5

[roosiebull]

When my xlr shows up, I will have some more data shooting off of a va5… if it fails, then I’ll know, but I seriously doubt it… especially considering it will be a braked 6.5creed

Might put an arca on my 17hmr too for rat shooting and getting some practice off the tripod… tripod option is a good one on the coast to get above vegetation

 

[cv_CO]

Similar setup, but I have the arca plate as far back as I could put it on the stock to center the rifle weight over the tripod.

I would say yes, shooting off of it is rougher use than just glassing, but it's holding up fine. The only thing I notice as far as wear from shooting is on a thin 1-inch long spot on VA-5 head surface where the arca plate sits next to the little tensioner bar that is activated where the quick release knob adds tension to lock in the plate. But again, not bad, it's just slight wear (paint rubbed off on that spot) that wouldn't be there if I were only attaching binoculars and spotting scopes.

Looks great. Which tripod are you running here?

 

[ResearchinStuff]

When my xlr shows up, I will have some more data shooting off of a va5… if it fails, then I’ll know, but I seriously doubt it… especially considering it will be a braked 6.5creed

Might put an arca on my 17hmr too for rat shooting and getting some practice off the tripod… tripod option is a good one on the coast to get above vegetation

roosie how is this holding up for you? I've already got a VA5, but had myself convinced it would fail if I was shooting 223 and 6.5 creed (both slightly over the weight rating) off it.

 

[roosiebull]

roosie how is this holding up for you? I've already got a VA5, but had myself convinced it would fail if I was shooting 223 and 6.5 creed (both slightly over the weight rating) off it.

I didn’t end up liking it and didn’t shoot off of it much. I think it would work, but it’s certainly not an intuitive shooting platform, or at least wasn’t for me.

It seems like, on uneven ground, using the legs to level the gun, it’s hard to maintain stability on the rifle, and if you go a little too far with one leg, it gets worse. I could see it turning into a cluster in the woods.

Now I’m looking at ball heads that I won’t hate glassing with, because they are a lot nicer to shoot from.

The va-5 wasn’t terrible in practice, just kinda slow and not intuitive, I could see it turning into a rodeo hunting with my wife behind the gun, or my daughter… I gave up on it after a couple days of practice, so I can’t say on long term reliability

I would have probably rolled with it and at least tried it in the woods if it was just me shooting off of it, but I nixed the whole idea before we tried using it in the field.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

yeah my main use case is for my kids, sounds like it's not the right solution for them.

 

[grappling_hook]

Looks great. Which tripod are you running here?

Slik cf 634

 

[AFHunter22]

Which Arca Rails is everyone using? I bought a cheap Arca off Amazon, with over a thousand solid reviews, and it bound up reeeeal bad in the VA-5. The mechanism specifically, but when I use the provided Sirui Arca plates it’s smooth like butter! Looking at a Salmon River plate but want to make sure it works great!

 

[Lando]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I have used the VA-5 with an arca Spartan adapter to shoot off of quite a bit with great results. Below is a photo of my rifle set up for a kill shot on a Coues buck in January. You can actually see him bedded under the Mesquite in the center, if you zoom in. Rifle sat like that, rock solid for 45 minutes while we waited for the deer to turn his head, so we could ensure he was a shooter. When I decided to shoot, all I had to do was flip the safety off and it was bang-flop.

 

[TEWONG]

I own both VA-5/Slik 634 and RRS BH-40/Ascend setups and much prefer to shoot from a ball head. As others have mentioned, ball heads are more forgiving when ground is uneven (almost always in the field). Same goes for glassing, I don't mess with the tripod legs near as much when using a ball head.

That said, I still prefer the VA-5 over the BH-40 when purely glassing/digi-scoping. Whish the BH-40 had a handle like the VA-5...

 

[joelski]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I have used the VA-5 with an arca Spartan adapter to shoot off of quite a bit with great results.

I've been eyeing that Spartan adapter but hadn't been able to find many examples of people using it in the field, thanks for posting this!

 

[PointlessArcher]

Thanks all for the input, I went ahead and bought arca plates for a few rifles and got the chance to shoot them today. With the 300RUM, the arca plate wants to slip a little. The lightweight legs and head I believe helps absorb any shock running through the head since the setup is so lightweight.

Here is what I wound up doing, milled out the bottom of my rem 700 stock to create a nice flat space for the arca plate that's close to flush with the bottom of the rifle, didnt want it to dig into my side or anything while hunting. Two brass inserts in the stock make it very solid.

Shot out to 500M today with it, not rock solid but deffinitely sufficient to shoot deer/elk out to 600 yards (further than I'm willing to take shots currently).

Whole setup weighs like 4lbs, quick switches between binocs, spotting scope rifle, and it takes maybe 30 seconds to setup total. Thanks for everyones input!

I know this thread is old but im wondering how the brass threaded inserts you installed are holding up for you? Im contemplating this route and am wondering if its worth using stainless steel vs brass inserts in my wooden stock.