For a shooting tripod setup, its important that the shooter not
lose the target due to the recoil of the gun, even with the heavy recoil types.
And thats especially true in wooded terrain, and when hunting alone with no one spotting shots for you.
Allowing the gun to slide rearward during recoil is necessary in order to eliminate excessive muzzel movement during recoil.
A ball head can be a drawback at times due to the possibility of the gun tilting to the side when loosening the tension on the ball.
Up/down and traverse are the only movements of the muzzel required when shooting and followingan animal.
Leveling can be accomplished with the tripod legs.
Pinning of the ball eliminates the flopping to the side, but many of the pot metal ball heads wont permit that.
