Which tripod saddle?

[marksman1941]

Hi all. I've been slowly working my wife into shooting lately, and I'm thinking that a good next step would be a tripod saddle to get her starting on offhand shooting.

She had a very traumatic shooting experience, and is pretty gun shy (for good reason). But she's adamant she wants to learn to hunt! I got lucky with her.

Currently we've been shooting a suppressed ruger American 22 off a bench. I want to move her to the tripod with a saddle, before trying offhand anything. I also have an American 7-08 for her that we'll get to down the road, and I'm hoping that standing with a tripod will make the recoil more acceptable than shooting from a bench for her.

Tripod saddles range from $40 on Amazon to $400 plus. Theres always going to be quality gains with a price increase, but what do I really need for shooting a couple small field rifles? I expect we'll end up using it in the woods some day, but it'll never have to hang on to a magnum anything.

The tripod I'm using is this http://slik.com/products/pro-824cf/. Very sturdy, lightweight carbon fiber setup.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[The Oregonian]

I've used the hog saddle, but switched to an arca rail and an RRS anvil 30 head to mount. It is much more stable...just food for thought. The downside is that without a rail a rifle will not mount into it. The Hog Saddle (not the pig saddle) or RRS vyce would be where I start my search.

 

[marksman1941]

I've used the hog saddle, but switched to an arca rail and an RRS anvil 30 head to mount. It is much more stable...just food for thought. The downside is that without a rail a rifle will not mount into it. The Hog Saddle (not the pig saddle) or RRS vyce would be where I start my search.

The 7-08 I bought had a manfrotto foot screwed into the stock. I tried swapping it for an arca rail, but after some fiddling I decided that route wasn't worth the battle, and having a mount that could take the 22 and the 7-08 would be good.

Why hog saddle and not pig saddle?

 

[Grizzman47]

I have no doubt that the Hog Saddle is a supremely durable saddle, but I'm not convinced that for occasional hunting a Pig Saddle will be inadequate.

I'm relatively new to tripod use, and have outfitted almost all of my precision bolt guns and precision ARs with Arca rails. I'm pretty sure I'll get one of Hog Saddle's saddles for the times I can't use the RRS Anvil-30.

Having said that, adding Arca rails to rifles isn't difficult, and it combined with a great head makes shooting from a tripod very easy. I'll probably end up adding a rail to the SPS AAC-SD in a Bell & Carlson stock at some point.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

Following, I'm also beginning this search.

Can someone give me a run down of a Hog saddle vs pig saddle?

And those that have used a saddle and a arca rail, is an arca rail that must steadier?

 

[Grizzman47]

https://stores.hogsaddle.com/

I've not used your Slik before, but as long as the Pig is well made, I think I'd rather run a really good RRS tripod and a Pig than a pretty good photo tripod and a Hog.

 

[Axl]

I had a few, a home built, a Hog, and currently have a Vyce. Even on a RRC tripod they are not great, and nowhere near as stable as my Anvil-30.
As for dealing with recoil, get a 223 instead of a 7-08.

 

[The Oregonian]

I went for the sturdier and steadier options. The reason I went from the hog saddle to the arca rail was to get even more anchored. The pig saddle to me isn't sturdy enough (the hog saddle wasn't either) but that may be purely personal preference.

 

[Grizzman47]

I don't think any saddle, no matter who makes it or how much it costs, will compare favorably against an Anvil-30 and an Arca rail.

 

[marksman1941]

I had a few, a home built, a Hog, and currently have a Vyce. Even on a RRC tripod they are not great, and nowhere near as stable as my Anvil-30.
As for dealing with recoil, get a 223 instead of a 7-08.

I'm sure I'll end up with a 223 before we get to the 7-08. But for deer I'd rather she use the 7-08 eventually.

 

[marksman1941]

What part isn't sturdy? Does the rifle move during recoil, or not stay in place when panning?

I went for the sturdier and steadier options. The reason I went from the hog saddle to the arca was to get even more anchored. The pig saddle to me isn't

 

[The Oregonian]

What part isn't sturdy? Does the rifle move during recoil, or not stay in place when panning?

There is just unavoidable slop with the rifle clinched in the vice. Everything is locked in much more securely with a rail. It's not a ton of slop, but when looking through the scope at something that is hundreds of yards away it feels like a lot.

ETA - found this article with this clip which describes it.


How does it actually perform while firing? First and foremost we need to let everyone know that even when the rifle is on a camera tripod like this, you as a shooter will be no where near as accurate as compared to firing from the prone position. In fact, I would say even a prone unsupported position without a rest is going to be about as accurate. The rifle in the Hog Saddle and on the tripod is actually quite solid and stays in place, but the human body is not. If you don't touch the rifle, and there is no wind, it will be solid and not move, but as soon as any part of your body touches the rifle, even when its tightened down, it moves a considerable amount and this is not the most precise way to shoot. But you can get better with practice and with the aid of a sling and good technique.

 

[K9TXS]

My setup is for the type of prairie dog shooting I like to do.

I had a pig saddle and recently sold it since it was never used. I went to an arca rail setup and it works fine, but was still not what I was looking for.

I then went to the Armageddon Fat Bag on a 2 leg section inverted carbon fiber tripod. Mounting an aluminum plate on the tripod and then strapping down the Fat Bag gives a solid support.

Advantages I found on my new setup;
1. Solid support
2. No adjusting a ball head or leveling head
3. Rifle or specialty pistol can rest on top without hand support
4. Recoil does not effect tripod
5. 7 lbs complete setup makes it easy to move
6. Very easy to shoot while sitting in a chair or standing. When shooting standing, the shooter can easily walk around the tripod with the weapon moving around

 

[sika64]

I had a Leupold saddle on mine until I switched to Arca. Here is my 28nos on the Leupold saddle