The BOG Deathgrip TRIPOD Review
With deer season upon us in about a month or so, I figured it's time to shine some light on the BOG Deathgrip Tripod. Having just recently purchased one, it's really the perfect time for me to write about this item and give some honest feedback, while it's still fresh in my brain. The version I got was the BOG Deathgrip in "Realtree Excape Camo" - it's one of the cheaper versions, but not the cheapest. The infinite carbon version is about twice the price, with an MSRP of $449.99, while my version has an MSRP of $219.99.
In typical IntelGoons fashion for full transparency, I did pay for this tripod with my own money, albeit at a slightly lower cost since I have access to these through my wholesaler.
So let's go through some of the most basic details about this tripod first, for the unaware. The adjustable legs allow you to take the height from standing height, all the way down to shooting from the prone - in the prone height, I'd say it's a little too high for me, you have to get into a pretty uncomfortable position to shoot from the prone with the tripod (but that's why bipods were invented, folks). The adjustments to get the tripod from max height to prone height were incredibly easy, and I had no issues locking the legs at whatever height I wanted. They utilize an incredibly simple lever-leg lock system that really makes it as simple as can be.
As you can see in the picture above, you open the lever and then adjust the height. It's really stupid-proof. While we're on the topic of legs, the BOG Deathgrip also has spiked feed to dig into hard terrain. The spiked feed are recessed into the legs, and can be unscrewed so the metal spike is fully exposed and digging in.
Next, we're going to talk about the largest point of contention with the BOG Deathgrip, the clamping head/saddle, the part of the tripod that holds your rifle in place. Now, for what it's worth, this potential issue can easily be mitigated with an ARCA MLOK mount, that costs about $15 (this replaces the saddle/clamping mechanism and mounts directly into an rail instead of clamping your rail). I, personally, have had no issues yet with stabilization of my rifle; that being said, I can see if I was shooting a PRS match, there may be just enough instability to really mess with my game. Hence the title of this blog post, GREAT FOR HUNTING, and maybe just OK for long range/PRS.
Pictured above, this is the clamping mechanism that I was referring to. The adjustable knobs spin and this clamps onto your rifle's rail - the lockup on my AR and bolt gun was fine, I didn't have any issues. The tension seemed perfectly fine for my applications, but if I was shooting out to a mile with a PRS rig where every millimeter counts, I may be choosing something else. If you're setting this up in the brush for hog hunting or maybe for deer or coyotes, this is a fantastic tripod. The tripod also features an integrated bubble level in the center of the rig.
Pictured above, the bubble level helps show you if you're setting up on level ground, or if your legs are off-centered. Very useful, this gives you the ability to adjust legs differently where needed to get as close to perfectly level as you can.
Next, as you can see in the featured image for the blog, there is quite a bit of cant adjustment in the saddle mount - you can go fully upwards or downwards, and you can lock your gun in these positions. If you wanted to have your gun perfectly straight and locked for target shooting, but still have some side to side movement for transitioning targets, that's possible and very easy to accomplish with this rig. What I mean by that, is maybe you're shooting at an outdoor range off your rig and wanted it to have no up and down adjustments, but still be able to swivel to engage in targets all over the range, that is easily doable!
Now since I went through just about every aspect of this tripod, I'm going to give my overall opinions on the rig. For awareness, this is the first gun tripod I've ever owned, so my baseline comparison is to, well, nothing. The only tripod I've ever used is the one that was on the .50 cal at the Army qual range, and the tripod that gun squads use for the M240B, both of which were heavy as f**k and couldn't move much.
Overall, I think this tripod is very well built and seems like it would hold up well in any terrain and environment. The adjustments are easy and smooth, and the lock-up on all parts of the rig are great (outside of the issue I read about in PRS forums regarding the clamp system). The ability to shoot at all heights and all angles is a really nice feature, and easy to get to. Even with limited time behind this tripod, I can get it from max height to "prone height" in about 30 seconds or less, so it's nice to know you're not going to be spending range time or precious seconds on a hunt trying to make a ton of adjustments. Lastly, the addition of the steel foot spikes, and the integrated bubble level, really bring this tripod up a level and it feels like it's very high quality for around $220. Thanks everyone for reading!
The four different variants are linked below: