CV Life Bipod Review

  

Author Justin Keeney 

Normally I'm skeptical about when folks from lesser known, budget part companies offer us items to test out and review. So when I was approached by the folks from CV Life, I was a little hesitant as they were really amped up about looking for folks to field test their products. However my reluctance is usually warranted by the normal "knockoff brands", since they don't usually offer the same quality as the larger known brands of products. Whether it be shooting equipment and accessories, camping equipment, etc. I decided to give these guys from CV Life a chance, and looking back, I'm glad I did. 

    After just under a week of wait time, I received a package from CV Life, and didn't know what to really expect as they weren't very clear in just what product exactly they were sending. They asked what we would like to test, and I responded simply with "AR-15 parts and accessories". I pretty much left the door wide open, so I didn't know what exactly to expect.

    

Original Packaging prior to opening

I was pleasantly surprised when my package did arrive a few days later via UPS, and the packaging looked like it was taken care of and not just thrown together. You can learn a lot about a business just in how they ship product. No damage to the packaging, prompt shipment, and packaged well. So far, so good. When I opened the package, their name was the first thing I seen on the box and had a very professional appearance and was surprisingly light for the size of the box. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed when I noticed on the side of the box read "Made in China", however, being a budget product company, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. Then I flipped the box over, and noticed what the text was on the label below the bar code. "CVLIFE 9-13 M...er Rifle Bipod".  Seemed like large box for that size of a bipod. Much to my surprise though, this was actually the full sized bipod, that was 9" and extended out to 18"!

All components removed from packaging. Bipod, Allen wrench tool, and M-Lok adapter

Seeing how this would be my first time adding an M-Lok accessory on to my AR-15 .300 Blackout, I went ahead and took the handguard off my rifle. Which come to find out AFTER I had removed it, was completely unnecessary to do, but it did make installation of the adapter MUCH easier, as I wasn't fighting the whole weapon while adding the adapter kit to my hand rail. 

M-Lok adapter on handguard shown after installation.

Installation was SUPER easy, as once I set the adapter on the rail where it felt most comfortable, and set the adapter nuts through the rail where the adapter sat flush. I used the allen key to twist the nuts where they needed to set, and then pulled back on the allen key to set, and tightened the adapter into place firmly, to where it wouldn't move once the bipod itself was attached. 

Attachment of the bipod itself was simple and attached like any other bipod would to a basic rifle sling mount. Once mounted, I was surprised at how light the bipod actually felt on the weapon itself, as it did change my center of balance forward some to the base of the handguard at the front of the magazine well on the lower receiver. With a simple adjustment of my stock length, shifting the center of balance rearward as it had been before. 

Bipod fully installed on AR-15

Did I neglect to mention how light this setup is? Before adding the bipod kit onto my AR-15, this weapon only weighed in at 6 pounds 4 ounces. Not the lightest of an AR-15 with an 16.5" barrel, but nothing to complain about either while carrying it through the thick brush of the Oregon coast range, or up a steep Ochoco Mountains hillside either. I placed this weapon on the scale after installing the bipod, and the scale registered 6 pounds 12 ounces! I was simply blown away! 

Light, solidly mounted, well balanced, ready for the range. Only thing left to do is head out for the range for field day, to really put this bipod to the test.

Out on the range, this bipod holds up extremely well and stays very solid. I also really enjoyed the ability to have the 1/2 inch increments on the legs for setting up on uneven surfaces and the sorts. The negatives of this bipod on the range are few and far between. One is having to reset the set screw keeping the bipod itself mounted to the mount on the handguard. The other is the glue holding the rubber pads to the under side of the bipod had a tendency to not stick very well, and had to fix it with a couple dabs of hot glue to keep in place. After that, solid as can be.  

Overall, a great accessory to add to your AR/AK platform. With plenty of ups and qualities of the higher end brands, and with little downs at a great price, generally just under $30 on Amazon, I would for sure recommend this piece for your build. 

For more information, go to:  https://www.cvlife.com/collections/bipod

Author's custom built AR-15 in .300 Blackout with CVLife bipod ready for the range.