Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Gun Claw.. gimmick or pure genius?

I'm sure the pickup window model is just about ready for sale to the general public. Like the tripod version, it too will reduce recoil by over 50%.

It's all the rage with some coues hunters here. Works as advertised, even allowing for youth hunters to take game at longish distance. Reliable sources swear by it and you really need the heavy manfrotto head. Lock it on a standing or laying animal and then anyone could get behind the gun and pull the trigger, as in youth hunter.

I make no judgements, I would not use one myself or even consider getting one but that's just me.

Kent

It might be useful for one-armed and disabled hunters.

Looks like some one is trying to shoot better with out practice to me

Looks like a PITA to me.


I want one of these:



I borrowed one once, not great for hunting I'd imagine, fantastic for 1000 yard prone.

No mossy oak camo? I'm not buying it!

Looks like a way to turn your rifle into a crew served weapon.

If it weighs more than Stoney Point Shooting Stix, I don't want it. Stoney Points don't come with a vise and weigh a couple ounces at the most.

Looks about as appealing to me as a Lead Sled with backpack straps.....

Note that the Claw DOES NOT include the tripod. That's another $100+ for one that can handle the recoil.

from their instructions:

All that is needed to create the
"Ultimate Shooting System"
is a firearm and
camera tripod. Attaching The Claw takes mere seconds!
We recommend the highest quality tripod possible to maximize stability for
both glassing and shooting. If you do not have a tripod or are looking to
upgrade you can find our recommendations on our web site.

This is a unit I use on the sage rat safari's and it has proven to be a very good addition for the small caliber's. Standing or sitting, it holds the gun proper. It is not something I would ever use for big game but is ideal for varmit hunting.

Seems like a solution looking for a problem.

I have one and have used it extensively. It is perfect for those of us who carry a tripod when we hunt anyway. This summer, I was glassing a water hole from the next mountain over with my 15s on my carbon fiber tripod. I glassed up a lion. Since I already had my rifle out and a the Claw adjusted, I just snapped off the Binoculars and snapped on the rifle. I went from seeing the lion to shooting the lion in under 5 seconds at 400ish yards.

I took it prairie dog shooting this summer as well. While not a concrete BR, I was far more mobile and my son and I were about to shoot PDs out to 450 with it. This was in sagebrush so dogs were scattered and hard to find. The mobility of the claw made it a lot easier to get on them- sit in a lawn chair and shoot away.

For those of you who don't carry a tripod with you when you hunt, it's probably a very foreign concept to carry a rest like this too.

The Claw I have is machined from billet 6061 aluminum and is quite well engineered. They originally sold for $180 so $125 doesn't seem so bad.

It really shines when you mate it with a Bogen 701HDV tripod head as opposed to anything else I have seen. The long plate is more secure and allows for better balancing.

To me, it is no more of a gimmick than say, a climbng treestand, a pop-up blind, an adjustable shooting stick, a scent lok suit or what have you. I can remember when laser range finders were thought to be gimmicks.

My 16-year-old son shot his elk off my Claw this past fall at between 500-550 yds with his 308. Nailed it on his first shot. None of the other boys could hit theirs. They finally connected on some close ones but shot up a bunch of meat (75 yds) If it gives a kid a good experience, then use it!

Until you have tried one, don't count it out! The ultimate rest is the 701 plate mated directly to the bottom of the rifle stock- this eliminates the Claw and is steadier yet. You still have to carry the tripod though. I carry a Velbon El Carmagne 640. It has 4 leg sections and folds down quickly.

Fits nicely in my Badlands 2200 spotting scope pocket.

Here is one of my scouts shooting a 6" steel plate at 250 yds with a 223AI, he had never fired a rifle before. He never missed the plate!



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3-shot group off a tripod and Claw @ 500 yds with a Remington Mtn rifle. Just hand the plate on a barbed-wire fence and whang away. Makes checking rifle zeros very easy. Had the same POI as off my portable BR, which is only portable if you drive a pickup to the shooting spot!

Dennis,
Good synopsis of its use.

The Claw did require a sturdier tripod and head than the lightweight setup I was packing for coues. I had to ditch the 700 RC2 and use the 701 HDV for the more secure plate.

A set of Steady Stix under the rifle butt makes it very steady. That was the most accurate way I found when I tested it at 400 yards against sitting with Harris bipod, shooting stix, shooting tripod, atop regular photo/glassing tripod.

Doug

Thanks for the reports from folks who have used it or similar systems. Would it work with a Contender pistol?

Pretty much a useless gimmick that I would not clamp onto a piece of fine wood.

Think I'll stay with my $5 bamboo pole and rubber band shooting sticks.

Pretty much what I would expect from someone who has never used one. I have been shooting long range off tripods for 15 years and this is the best "Gimmick" to come along in that time.

Like I posted before, if you don't normally carry a tripod when you hunt, it would be very foreign to you. Those of us in the Southwest that live and die by tripods benefit from them. I bet the guys back east and in brushy states think the Harris Bipod is gimmicky too. We use what works. This is a huge step up from a bipod.

Dennisinaz: From the quote above, you obviously have never hunted with me. I have no issue at all with bipods or tripods. When I'm after anything from 2 1/2 inch tall ground squirrels to 6 foot moose, the absolute first thought when sighting a critter is "where's a good rest?" I ALWAYS have a bipod and an external pack frame on my body. Neither unit has a bulkey trough that needs to be clamped to my rifle's firearm. With either one, I can rapidly be rock solid in a manner of seconds, and easily locked onto game out to around 500 yds. My bipod is useful either standing (6 4") or sitting, and it weighs about 1/2 lb. In the last year, I've passed around 6000 rnds across my bipod and pack frame. Most were at ground squirrels, but the pack frame was good for a 450 (GPSed distance) yd elk.

As posted in the web page add, that unit would require an additional gun bearer to pack it around. It's a $119 implement that is probably worth about 4 dollars. One is also stuck with the purchase of about a $200 tripod if he wants any sort of secure rest at all. In my book it's still expensive garbage that would receive a good laugh in our camps. We have tripods for birding and camera work far superior to and more expensive than those pictured, and there is no way I would pack them from 6,000 up to 10,000 feet 10 days in a row in elk country. Might be nice in a Texas deer stand or out road hunting, but even then, I'd have it installed out near the end of the forearm where it might be of some utility. One would be far ahead packing around a $30 bipod and $25 lawn chair.

Another note: A photo like that above could net me a hefty fine and have me drummed out of scout activities forever if the background revealed that we were shooting from a public road. It's OK if one is on deeded land and the road is not open to the public. A definite no no if it's a country, state, or federal right of way.

Not against the thing for shooting, but there is no way I would take it hunting. Unless you are hunting at your truck would you actually haul that around? What ever happened to marksmanship? I watch some of these hunting shows and see them flailing around trying to set up some sort of rest for shots inside 200 yds. With a sling you can get nearly rock steady from the kneeling position.