Review: Spartan Precision Vidarr bipod and Disc-Lok adapter

The Vidarr bipod is Spartan Precision’s newest piece of gun-stabilising genius, a rifle accessory of extremely high quality and which exhibits very good design and engineering.

And yes, like most Spartan gear, you do pay for it. Prices vary a bit between dealers but basically you’re looking at around $750 and if you’re wondering how it’s justified, the short answer is in the paragraph above.

Spartan Precision Equipment Vidarr bipod review — Leg length adjustment is done quickly using the spring-loaded lever with 5mm incremental settings. The quality of the Vidarr is clear in all its details

The longer answer begins with superb manufacturing and finish, which make the Vidarr a joy to behold. It is made primarily of 7075 aluminium with a black finish, but there’s a little steel where it needs to be and the lower legs are carbon-fibre to reduce weight.

As you look more closely you begin to find the excellent design features.

The first is the way the legs adjust in length, from a minimum of 17cm between pivot and foot to 23.5cm fully extended. An internal spring pushes them out as soon as you release pressure on the adjuster — the sensible way to do it, unlike others that spring closed. The weight of the rifle, with a bit of guidance, is enough to shorten the legs when you want it.

The thumb- or finger-operated adjustment levers are sprung, engaging with teeth in the upper legs set at 5mm intervals.

The lower legs run in tracks cut into the upper legs, so they don’t rotate: the adjusters are always exactly they should be when you reach forward to tweak leg height.

If we assume that legs-forward is the resting or stored position, the legs can be deployed at 45°, 90° and 180°. Depending on which way you mount the Vidarr in the Disc-Lok adapter, the 45° angle can be forwards or backwards, not both; it takes a few seconds to swivel it.

Pull the legs down 4mm against spring pressure and they are released from the cams, allowing you to rotate them to another position.

The Vidarr comes set up so the tensioner for cant adjustment faces the same way as the 45° leg angle, but you can reverse this by undoing the bolts securing the legs and swapping the cam blocks that lock the legs in each position.

That cant ability leans the rifle 15° left or right. A small lever adjusts its tension, from dead floppy to refusing to budge. You’ll find the right tension no matter what your rifle weighs.

The Vidarr is attached to your rifle via Spartan’s Disc-Lok adapter, which is available to fit either Picatinny rails or M-LOK slots.

The Disc-Lok adapter is one of Spartan’s mechanical, rather than magnetic, mounts. It’s basically a spring-loaded collar that traps the bipod’s neck.

Push the collar open to insert or release the bipod. Very secure, very simple and very quick.

Inside, there’s a spring-loaded pin that slips into a detent in the bipod neck to prevent it turning. As it comes, the tension on the spring means there is no ability to rotate the rifle on the bipod, which can be very frustrating.

However, by loosening the grub screw that retains the pin and spring, you can fix this to the point where the pin requires gentle pressure to slip out of its detent or it has no resistance at all. If you loosen it much, I’d advise putting some low-strength thread lock on the grub screw.

The Disc-Lok has a tiny bit of freeplay in its grip on the bipod when the grub screw is wound in and the spring is tight, but the bipod gets more and more wiggly as you loosen it off. That’s my only criticism of the Vidarr setup.

In all other respects the Spartan Vidarr bipod is a brilliant bit of kit — lightweight, beautifully made, very quick to attach and remove, equally quick to deploy, and a joy to use because of its clever design and execution.