One of the many new product offerings Magpul launched this year was something rather out-of-place for the company long known for polymer furniture and a nearly indestructible magazine. The engineers had taken the company’s bipod, previously offered in variants that attach to M-Lok slots, Picatinny rails or A.R.M.S. 17S-style set-up, and deftly grafted a sling-swivel-stud attachment point to it. All of the same great features that won the Magpul Bipod our Accessory of the Year Golden Bullseye in 2019 are still present—4 inches of height adjustment, non-marring rubber feet, easy deployment, etc.—just now it can be attached to a wider variety of longarms.
At first, it might seem counterintuitive—after all, Magpul is known for the company’s polymer magazine and cutting-edge accessories mainly for the AR-15-style rifle. Contrast that to the type of rifle likely to have sling swivels, and you might scratch your head a moment wondering why Magpul would be chasing down the wooden-stocked-rifle crowd. Heck, I thought the same thing myself when I first saw the new product announcement. However, that changed when I got my hands on one of the bipods.
Digging into my safe for a suitable test bed for this new bipod, I happened across one of the odder rifles in my collection, the MOLOT VEPR in .308 Win. shown in the lead image. It’s obviously based on the AK-47 platform, but chambered in .308 Win. and comes with a thumbhole stock and wooden handguards. The Magpul bipod now allows a modern, lightweight bipod to be attached to this rifle without having to use adaptors that add additional points of possible failure.
In typical Magpul fashion, the company even did the interface properly. Recognizing that the type of rifle one would need to attach a bipod to a sling-swivel mount stood a higher chance of having a wooden stock—not to mention the wide variety of fore-end sizes and styles—Mapgul designed the bipod interface cleverly. Two different polymer inserts, one wide and one slim, fit over the attachment point to add protection to the stock. Turn a knob counterclockwise and the twin tabs that fit into the swivel stud retract, fit the bipod in place, then turn the knob clockwise to tighten. It’s ridiculously easy.
Once installed, the bipod can tilt a total of 50 degrees and legs can be adjusted from 6.3 to 10.3 inches in height. The bipod deploys simply by pulling into place, and stow with the push of a button (well, two buttons, one on each side). The soft rubber feet keep everything in place, and if other styles are desired, can be swapped out for Atlas-style feet with the use of a roll-pin punch. Currently, the bipod is available in both black and flat dark earth. MSRP is $129.95.
