Yesterday, I took delivery of a new bipod being made by a company called Steinert Sensing Systems out of Norway. The name is Neopod Ultralight Hunting BiPod. If the Steinert name sounds vaguely familiar to you, I imagine their acoustic chronogragh might ring a bell.
Here is the most interesting thing about this bipod. It’s made out of plastic! Yeah, I’m rolling my eyes as I type these words as well. The sales pitch and reviews all say the Neopod bipod is made from a particular class of plastic called PEEK. In full disclosure, I am not even going to pretend to say that I understand what all the PEEK stuff means. I’ve read up on it and the engineers all seem very proud of it. I’ve heard various statements that it’s as strong as metal. I’ve heard it’s possibly used in medical devices. And I’ve heard it’s resistant to some kinds of chemical attack. But who knows? I’m a gun-monkey.
Here is what I do know: It’s damn expensive. At least when sold as a bipod. With international shipping and foreign exchange, I paid close to $500 for it. Yeah, I’m THAT guy. And not only am I that guy, you now know we don’t get freebie’s for testing. Why? We aren’t gear testers. Not our business model. Attention manufacturers: If we don’t have your product, it’s either we don’t want it, don’t know about it, or can’t afford it. Pretty much like the rest of you reading this. So…keep that in mind as I keep moaning and bitching about how much I spent on this thing. Ugh.
So why did I do it? Because I have accepted that when you run Blaser rifles, everything is expensive. The guns are expensive. The barrels are expensive. The magazines are expensive. The scope mounts are expensive. They just are. It’s all German made, plasma-nitrided, over-engineered, fancy-smancy European gun stuff. And I love it. I’m a gun-guy. I like old guns. I like new guns. I like different guns. I like gun history. I like gun technology. And I like cutting edge performance. When it comes to the Blasers, I like the light weight, switch-caliber design that is capable of shooting 1/4 MOA if the caliber is.
Now let’s go into what I hate: European bi-pods. News-flash American shooters, European bi-pods flat out suck. My observation has been that you get two choices with European bipods: Flimsy that is akin to shooting off a trampoline or some kind of giant 2 or 3 legged metal-truss-monstrosity that is better suited to building a bridge than humping over hill and dale.
Enter the Neopod. It’s designed to use spigot systems (like the Blaser, AI, TRG), it’s super light weight at 100 grams, it’s easily loadable like an Atlas Bipod (my current gold-standard bipod), has rounded rubber feet that work well on both hard cement and natural surfaces, actually deploys quickly with one hand like a Harris bipod (the one complaint many competitive and SWAT snipers kick the Atlas on).
The one issue I can see coming down the pike concerning the Neopod are replacement feet. In speaking with some of the dealers in Europe, none of them indicted that the feet were replaceable. But most of the dealers also mentioned that the feet were made of the same PEEK plastic as the frame. Well with bipod in hand, that is not correct. They are a tacky rubber type material. I just hope as I wear them down that a replacement option is possible.
Now for some more good news. When you open up the box, this thing is packaged better than an iPhone. Probably the best packaged gun-product I have ever seen. Custom laser cut foam insert with individual cutouts for each spacer, tool, pins, carry bag, etc. One extra surprise was it came with two spigots. One designed for my Blaser rifle, and a second designed for a sling-stud. So I could easily use this on two rifles — psychologists will note that instead of offering more content to the reader now, I am trying to subconsciously justify my sticker-shock and guilt.
Final thoughts: The spigots are metal. The legs are held together when folded by a magnet which is very slick. Attaches and detaches to spigot with one hand very quickly. The feet are spring loaded like the Harris for quick one-handed adjustment. All the screws and bolts are metal. And if I break this bipod, I suspect it will be at a hinge or leverage point during a fall. Here’s to hoping this works out as well as the plastic Glock thing did.
Time will tell.
Marky
www.John1911.com
“Shooting Guns & Having Fun”
Areas of focus: Defense and National Security, Modern Light Weapons, Small Arms, Weapons Training.
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