Someone gave me a Versapod clone bipod attachment thingy the other day, the thing that attaches to a rifle via the Harris type bipod stud and gives you a hand grip even if it is too far forward. These things are great if you want to use a Versapod on a rifle without a spigot however they depend on a loose pin that which is only captive when the adapter is on the rifle and the moment you remove it you can loose it, which of course the owner had done.
Of course I could have found a piece of suitable stainless in the scrap bin, machined it to diameter and handed it back, even added a spare but deep down I knew if it can be lost once it can be lost many times, in fact it makes me wonder how many Versapod adapters right now are sporting sawn off nails and other improvisations, well not this one.
I started off by machining a slot in the right hand side of the body, then drilled and tapped one of the two holes to M5 in the internal adapter and finally turned down a piece of 5,0mm stainless to 2,97mm diameter at one end, threaded the inner end of the new diameter M5, threaded the other end.
Finally I turned and knurled a small knob to suit, a dab of blue Loctite to hold the knob on to the new pin and job done. What this does mean is you can leave the bottom knob in place, just slacken it off slightly, unscrew the new pin with the knurled knob, drop the adapter off and then screw the pin back into the adapter so in theory you should never loose it again. The knob is 6082 T6 and the shaft is 316 stainless so it should last a while without fears of it seizing up.
