The grip area of your AR is critical for mobility, shot placement, and overall effectiveness with your weapon.
Given the customizability of the AR platform, we’ve seen some real innovation in the world of combination grip/bipods (sometimes called “grip pods’ by the tacticool set) that give your rifle another layer of capability. Plus – for most shooters – having a single piece of gear that can fill 2 roles is an easy sell.
Bipod grips combine your standard vertical grip with a set of retractable legs to give you a more stable shooting platform (similar to shooting prone) for both close and long-range shooting.
The legs support your weapon and eliminate the weight/strain from your arms, essentially acting as a mobile rifle rest.
This little change can increase shooting efficiency by adding stability without sacrificing grip area – you can use the grip when on the move and have a stationary platform at the ready. Quite the trick!
This mix of mobility and stability obviously isn’t possible with a grip or bipod alone, which makes a bipod foregrip one of the most versatile and useful additions to your AR.
The combined flexibility an AR 15 bipod foregrip offers is ideal—especially if you’ve got a number of additions to your AR (extended mags, scope, rifle sling, etc.)
Many rifles tend to pick up weight over time – more features offer more capabilities—but if you don’t want your shooting performance to suffer due to all those upgrades & additions the logical next step is a lightweight foregrip bipod to lighten the load on your arms, back, and shoulders when at the range.
By Michael Crites
Michael Crites has served as executive editor of AmericanFirearms.org since 2016 and previously held positions as associate editor and range correspondent dating back to 2000. He discovered his passion for precision shooting at age 12 during his first visit to his grandfather's shooting range, eventually earning an Expert classification in three different shooting disciplines before age 18.
During his studies at University of Wyoming, he earned four varsity letters on the collegiate rifle and pistol teams, serving as team captain for three consecutive years. He became the first UW student to complete the NRA Range Safety Officer certification while maintaining full-time student status. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Communications.
His diverse career has included roles as Range Safety Coordinator for the National Rifle Championships in Camp Perry 2001; editor-in-chief, Precision Shooter Quarterly; series editor, Modern Firearms Handbook collection; managing editor, National Shooting Sports Foundation Newsletter; editor, Competitive Shooter Magazine; operations director for Western Arms & Ammunition Co.; senior editor for the Shooter's Reference Annual (Cheyenne); content director for The Firearms Report, published by the American Shooting Coalition in Billings, MT; firearms correspondent for Hunting & Shooting, produced by Outdoor Sports Media Group in Jackson, WY; and publisher for Wyoming Shooting Sports Journal in Casper. He has contributed as a regular columnist for American Rifleman (NRA Publications), technical editor for Precision, a publication of the National Bench Rest Shooters Association (Phoenix, AZ); and as firearms specialist for the Gun Owner's Annual.
As a digital content creator, he has written more than 400 articles on AmericanFirearms.org, developed shooting technique coverage for the Brownells Shooting Blog (Montezuma, IA) and Federal Premium "Range Notes" platform (Anoka, MN), and served as lead content strategist for International Defensive Pistol Association (Berryville, AR). Beyond Tactical Firearms, his current endeavors include content development for the Wyoming State Rifle Association (Cheyenne, WY) and technical manual production for High Plains Publishing of Laramie, WY.
He has contributed to the 12th, 13th, and 14th editions of Modern Sporting Rifles Guide and edited The Complete Guide to Tactical Shooting and Competitive Shooter's Reference Manual (Gun Digest Books).
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