Brocock/BRK Brocock Bantam Sniper HR & New Tripod Setup. Advice and Criticism are Welcome

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@ezana4ce, yes she's looking a little heavy... I took off both of the picatinny rails on my Bantam. I mounted my scope rings directly to the receiver. Maybe you could do something similar?
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The Eagle Vision mount that I use with the Pard is a pic rail mount, so for this set up it’s fine. The tripod and Articise ball head handled the weight just fine. I was just commenting on the heft of the rig. I imagine that any night hunting rig I assemble will be heavy considering my equipment that I only have one lightweight air rifle. 


Ezana, I too have an Accu-Tac bipod and I purchased 2 sets of their leg extensions which works kind of like a small tripod. I've used it in the field and it works like a charm. I've shot from a stool and also kneeling. Here is a photo, not mine I think Dana, Crossman777.<img src="
A97F04D4-0BD7-4001-B543-3ACA955BFF65.1638633558.jpeg
" />//www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20210%20140%22%3E%3C/svg%3E Keeps the rig light and foldable.
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Nice! I actually asked about this setup in another forum and thread (this thread https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/accu-tac-bipod-extensions/#post-1136965). Thanks for your input. I asked Dana about it after considering it for a while. He addressed it pretty throughly in his recent “Quail Hunt” video. It’s definitely on my list. I have another setup that I think it would fit nicely into for spot-and-stalk day time hunting. At night I’m more stationary and I’m working to hone my skills for a different style of hunting. 
 
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Working on some nighttime shooting with my Pard NV007a and this tripod setup.
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A few 3-shot groups at approx 50 yards

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This is my first night shoot with this setup the Donny FL Sumo knocks out the Bantam Sniper’s report. I can hear the action and the impact of slugs pellets hitting my pellet trap. It’s a box filled with rags and lead.

I managed to complete 6 groups and stopped before finishing my seventh. This is my best 3-shot night vision group on my first shoot with this setup. I did a significant amount of walking back and forth. I stopped as I could feel the temperature drop although my phone suggested that it was only a two degree drop. My body felt a noticeable difference in temperature and humidity so I packed it in just as the air reached dew point. 
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I’m pleased with the result considering that I was shooting from 50 yards standing in front of a tripod in the dark with a night-vision scope camera. I’ll continue to experiment with this setup. The holes with arrows/lines coming from them are from my first target (above) when I was working out my holdovers. Being a SFP scope I had to make these adjustments in my first group. Later I’ll try to post a picture of what the target looked like through the Pard if they’re not too blurry. 

Here's how my view looked through the scope. When I brought my rig in I noticed that my parallax knob was set to 25-35 yards. It's strange that that setting seemed to look clearest and I know for a fact that I was shooting well beyond that distance. I need to learn how to setup this night vision unit better. I may post about it more in depth in a Pard thread.

Pard NV007a paired with Alpha 6 17x mag at 50 yds .1638677411.JPG


Edit to add link to a thread on setting the Pard NV007a for better clarity. https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/pard-nv007a-focusing-and-clarity-questions/?referrer=1
 
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Final 5 shot groups for the day. Shot .25 FX 34 grain pellets at 52 yards kneeling behind a tripod. From a hunting perspective this squirrel wouldn’t be running far, if at all, from these shots. From a competition perspective I’d get dusted. I messed up on two headshots that ended up being neck shots/in-front-of-the-shoulder shots. This happens in real life, but the result is still the same - squirrels in the freezer.
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. I like the consistency with these pellets. 20 shots within 5 minutes. 
 
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Real nice groups standing with wind! Have you tried testing the differences between standing and kneeling while shooting from your tripod in the wind? The taller you are the more surface area the wind is buffeting into you making it even harder to get any accuracy....found this out ground squirrel pesting! LOL!
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That’s a good question. No I have not. I recently began shooting from kneeling behind the tripod, but not with this rifle. I also hadn’t considered that position as a way to try to beat the wind. For me the terrain greatly dictates the position that I shoot from. I was recently doing some long-range shooting from standing and saw a sapling branch downrange. I figured the pellet would plow through it. Instead the pellet ricocheted and hit the bullseye on another target. That served as a lesson to clear everything before taking that sort of shot. In the woods and pastureland it’s tough to kneel because of brush and undergrowth. If it’s more of a short range situation like maybe in the woods, around a creek bed, or shooting up into a tree I can kneel so long as I don’t have to worry about breaking twigs or crunching leaves. 


Yesterday I was out in 15-20 mph wind and I was getting blown around. So I get it. And thank you for the compliment. 
 
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I was finally able to catch them in stock and get my hands on a Pig Saddle. It adds about 1 ½ lbs. to the weight to the tripod, but since I generally am not toting the tripod around to several sets each time I go out it’s a pretty convenient option. The Hog Saddle is another (more pricey) option that should significantly reduce the weight of the saddle because it’s comprised mostly of polymer plastic. I had to get used to clamping my Brocock in the area pictured. The company uses a nice and thick rubber padding on the interior of the saddle that doesn’t mar the gun stock. Pretty nice addition. I ended up ordering e wrong base plate initially. Whatever you decide to pair with this saddle, be sure that your base plate has two screws so that your saddle won’t rotate while secured to the base plate. I may add photos of the screws once I finish shooting. I found one on Amazon that isn’t the best, but it works. The base plate is the piece with the reddish colored rubber on its surface that is situated between the ball head and the saddle.
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Thank you for the suggestion @mr-h. I noticed that you removed the allen screws from your base plate. Mine are still in and make the plate fit super tight within in the ball head. What purpose do the screws serve? At first I thought they held something together, but when I removed them I saw that the plate was a solid piece of metal. I replaced them because I don’t know why they’re for. Do you know?
 
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I was finally able to catch them in stock and get my hands on a Pig Saddle. It adds about 1 ½ lbs. to the weight to the tripod, but since I generally am not toting the tripod around to several sets each time I go out it’s a pretty convenient option. The Hog Saddle is another (more pricey) option that should significantly reduce the weight of the saddle because it’s comprised mostly of polymer plastic. I had to get used to clamping my Brocock in the area pictured. The company uses a nice and thick rubber padding on the interior of the saddle that doesn’t mar the gun stock. Pretty nice addition. I ended up ordering e wrong base plate initially. Whatever you decide to pair with this saddle, be sure that your base plate has two screws so that your saddle won’t rotate while secured to the base plate. I may add photos of the screws once I finish shooting. I found one on Amazon that isn’t the best, but it works. The base plate is the piece with the reddish colored rubber on its surface that is situated between the ball head and the saddle.
C717FF74-13D8-452D-914C-E5132CC4A561.1654366279.jpeg
 
Thank you for the suggestion @mr-h. I noticed that you removed the allen screws from your base plate. Mine are still in and make the plate fit super tight within in the ball head. What purpose do the screws serve? At first I thought they held something together, but when I removed them I saw that the plate was a solid piece of metal. I replaced them because I don’t know why they’re for. Do you know?
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I wish I knew. Maybe a photographer might now their function. All I know is that the ARCA plate slides into place a lot easier without those little screws. Glad to hear you got a Pig! they're great!
 
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@mr-h I ended up removing the screws earlier. I’m enjoying the saddle. I was happy to support Shadow Tech. It’s a well built and versatile piece of gear. Hopefully I get a couple of decades of use out of it. 


@Ranchibi I like that ball head option you posted a link to. Thanks. I want to look into it further. What’s the heaviest rig you setup on yours?
 
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KRich said:
Thank you kind sir. Indeed, I found that. I'm in the US, was hoping to find a USA seller.......no luck. I'll have to order from them I suppose, but not sure if I will have to pay VAT?
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@KRich I’ve ordered from them on multiple occasions. I don’t see a VAT charge on the receipt I looked up. Just shipping. If you have any questions contact Masood. He’s pretty responsive via WhatsApp. Keep in mind they’re about 5 hours ahead of EST.
 
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