Homemade tripod saddle for PRS type shooting

B

Black Jack

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Ottawa
So I was checking online for the HOG saddle to put on my wife's photography tripod. EEEEEHHH!!! 309$ US plus shipping. So it's 350$ Can or so. Plan B let's try to make something close. So here it is. Now I need to go try it out and see if it's holding or scrap everything. :)

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Looks good, ad is all you need.... Sure a "T"slot system would be better under tension, but I doubt you will notice a difference provided your rails are tight to the holes.

Now you need to add a small rail segment, and paint it black.. then sell it for $275 CAD :)
 
Is that felt on the inside? Might need something a little more rigid then that.

A dash of cerakote and it looks like you got a winner there.
 
Tks guys. I actually had to make the holes a little bigger. With the pressure of tightening the rifle, it would bind a little and not release. Had a single spring in the middle but was catching on the threads so I put them in the sides and now works good. Paint job in the near future. :) Alpheus, it's actually carpet you find in the the trunk of cars. They can be wet and will not break apart. I also have a piece for underneath but it wasn't glued yet. 275$ would be excellent. I could sell them for cheaper than that. LOL
 
Tks Crashman. Too bad you are too far from Ottawa. I am always open to show what I know and teach it to who ever want to learn. It's actually not that complicated with a little knowledge.

Tks Jerry, the one in the picture opens to 2 5/16 because I made it for the MDT ESS chassis. I could make it to whatever size if somebody would want a special one. :)
 
Jeff, it's more or less an adapter that screws directly to your gun so it then attaches to the tripod. Hell somebody could make anything that screws to your chassis ex: M-LOK or whatever then locks in the tripod adapter. My goal was to let people try it in Tactical Teacher clinics so with the saddle, anybody can just put their gun in and try it out. :)
 
I do think RRS Dovetail (Arca Swiss) is the way forward for direct attachment as it is more solid but saddles are not going to go away anytime soon.

However, I think swapping out the Manfrotto attachment piece to a dovetail would be the way to go. I find the Manfrotto parts to be flexy.

With your skill you can probably mill up a dovetail and slap it on there. You could even make it so it has a couple of attachment screws to make it even more stable. The pin and hole arrangement looks nice and sturdy.
 
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Ryan.M.Anderson said:
I do think RRS Dovetail (Arca Swiss) is the way forward for direct attachment as it is more solid but saddles are not going to go away anytime soon.

However, I think swapping out the Manfrotto attachment piece to a dovetail would be the way to go. I find the Manfrotto parts to be flexy.

With your skill you can probably mill up a dovetail and slap it on there. You could even make it so it has a couple of attachment screws to make it even more stable. The pin and hole arrangement looks nice and sturdy.
Click to expand...

The RRS dovetail is definitely the way forward. I want one of those Anvil 30 ballheads that are coming out soon, I love their clamp taht does RRS dovetail and picatinny.
 
Is that steel or Aluminum? how much does it weight???
VERY NICE.


Black Jack said:
So I was checking online for the HOG saddle to put on my wife's photography tripod. EEEEEHHH!!! 309$ US plus shipping. So it's 350$ Can or so. Plan B let's try to make something close. So here it is. Now I need to go try it out and see if it's holding or scrap everything. :)

P85ZO7X.jpg
o2b7u0z.jpg
Click to expand...
 
It's aluminum Gunboy. The dark sides is because it's just regular stock and I didn't polish anything. Reason why it's shinny where I machined it. The weight is about 1.5lbs the way it is in the picture.

JOKA, I don't really have plans because I modified stuff while I was making it. PM me if you want to make one. I will send some info. :)

Ryan, it's already a type of dovetail with the stock adapter from the tripod. Are you talking about making a dovetail that would bolt to the tripod and then slide that in the saddle?
 
Black Jack said:
It's aluminum Gunboy. The dark sides is because it's just regular stock and I didn't polish anything. Reason why it's shinny where I machined it. The weight is about 1.5lbs the way it is in the picture.

JOKA, I don't really have plans because I modified stuff while I was making it. PM me if you want to make one. I will send some info. :)

Ryan, it's already a type of dovetail with the stock adapter from the tripod. Are you talking about making a dovetail that would bolt to the tripod and then slide that in the saddle?
Click to expand...

Black Jack, what he's talking about is mounting a dovetail directly to the rifle (in this case one made to the RRS dovetail spec which is sometimes erroneously referred to as "arca", the RRS is the only actual standard for this kind of mount and is open-source) that then connects directly to a quick release "female" part of the plate that is attached to the top of the ballhead or levelling base used on the tripod. It's faster to mount/dismount the rifle and provides a more rigid interface (with less play) between rifle and tripod. It's quickly replacing saddles as the new standard for attaching precision rifles to tripods.
 
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