Stoney Point Tripod with Tag-Along Attachment

[Rymart]

I need a little help talking myself into 're-buying' this item. I'd had one of these for about a year, until the other day when my wife lost it during a late season elk hunt. I dropped a cool $100 on it and was only marginally satisfied with the purchase.

The pros were the following:

- Good platform to shoot over Wyoming sage brush (even with the shorter version).
- Nice to be able to set the rifle up on it while still hunting and coyote hunting, remaining hands free (very nice for coyotes).
- More accurate/stable than shooting with sticks alone.
- moderately light and portable.

The cons were the following:

- Not nearly as steady as I had hoped they would be for the cost. I only felt comfortable with them out to ~500 yards under good conditions.
- Higher bullet impact point verses bipods & bags.
- Really did not like the way that the front support pivoted (scissored) when the legs were opened and/or closed, nor did I like the 'V' shape of the supports.
- The legs were somewhat 'flimsy'/'rinky-dinky'/wobbly/not firm enough/sometimes difficult to get into position with, especially without thourough practice prior to using them (as was the case with my wife using them on her deer hunt this year. It took her nearly 5-minutes to get into shooting position)

OK, with that being said, I am really beginning to miss them in coyote hunting situations, and the standard sticks just are not cutting it.

Before I re-purchase these, I need to know if there are any other options out there that are comparable, or better than the stoney Points... Any suggestions?

 

[Sendero_Man]

They are what I use with my heavier rifles too. I use the Steady stix for my light coyote gun, but more often than not I take my 15 lb 243 AI. with my tripod.

Besides taking a shooting bench into the field, it is the steadiest thing I have found to deal with the wind, etc. that we have here in WY. As you very well know.

If it were me, I'd buy another explorer and tag-along.

For 99% of your shooting, they should work great. Get prone on a solid rest if your shooting further.

 

[jnbjcoy]

Options

You might give this a try.

I have had pretty good luck with old tent poles. The ones with shock cords down the center. I go to a local outfit that sells all kinds of hose, and take a piece of the fiberglass tent pole. Have them cut you a couple feet of hose that just fits over the pole. Take a piece of the hose 12 inches long, and cut it 1/2 way through four inches in from each end. Push a four inch piece of the tent pole into the center section, and then stick a full length piece of tent pole up into the two side 4" sections. It will look like an H. An "H" with long legs. Now cross the legs, and where they meet, wrap some of the shock cord around and around that spot, and then tie the shock cord up so it stays there. This will be a set of crossed sticks to shoot off of, with a nice four inch wide flat to set your stock on. It is obviously too short at this point, since most full sections of the tent pole are only maybe 18 to twenty inches long. You will need to attach a couple more pieces onto the ends to get the height you want, then just run some of the shock cord down the center of them and tie it so they are held together, but can still be pulled apart to fold. Now with your near free set of shooting sticks in front of you, grab the four inch cross section with one hand, and the wrapped up shock cord where they cross with the other, and slide the shock cord up or down to widen or narrow the "X" which also raises and lowers the shooting level. Violla!!!

This works very well if you get thick stout tent poles. At this short length, they don't bend much. I cut another chunk of hose and epoxy it to the two ends that touch the ground making the hose slightly longer than the pole to protect the end of the pole, and to give a little grip on the ground. The Stoney Point tripod adapter can still be put onto your new cheap settup, as well as the tag along piece.

Works for me.