User SICARIO came up with the idea to create a low profile sling swivel mount for a Troy TRX Extreme rail to mount a Harris bipod instead of having to mount a rail section and then a sling stud adapter to the rail.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=19&t=539927&page=1

User Hyperformer had the suggestion of using one of the QD sling mounts built for the TRX Extreme in conjunction with a QD Sling Swivel Stud. I had ordered one of the Noveske TRX QD mounts the previous week so I ordered one of the QD studs to try out the idea.  MOUNT-N-SLOT stepped in and offered their QD MICRO MOUNT-N-SLOT to review and evaluate as a bipod mount as well.

IWC QD Micro MOUNT-N-SLOT
Noveske QD TRX mount
GROVTEC multi-adapter studs

Here is a picture of how I previously had my Harris bipod mounted with a rail section and an YHM adapter.



I would like to note that the packaging for the QD MICRO MOUNT-N-SLOT is very nicely designed. The box which it was shipped in opens up to display the product and contains the instructions and all important information neatly printed on the inside of the box. While this nicely thought out packaging does not affect the performance of the unit it does speak nicely for the company.







For a quick review between the two mounts, the QD MICRO MOUNT-N-SLOT is smaller and slightly lighter than the Noveske mount. The size does come at a slight penalty with slightly increased complexity. The MICRO uses a Spirolock on the exterior of the rail and two set screws on the interior. The Spirolock can be installed in one of two grooves which will allow the mount to be adjustable in height. These set screws can be a little tricky to tighten when the mount is placed in the bottom holes of the rail. A ball drive allen wrench helps with install allowing the wrench to be angled through one of the upper 45* holes of the hand guard. Loctite is a must. The Noveske TRX QD mount is very simple using one exterior bolt for retention. The drawback in comparison to the MOUNT-N-SLOT is that the Noveske mount takes up more space and is slightly heavier.

After mounting both mounts on the bottom of the TRX I popped in the QD studs and noticed that both mounts extend the sling stud further than most studs.  My YHM adapter had the end of the stud 0.335” from the mounting surface while the Noveske and MICRO had the end at 0.525”.




The MICRO has two Spirolock slots as noted above. When the Spirolock is mounted in the external slot the mount is at the same height relative to the Noveske. When in this configuration the MICRO will not fit under my shaved FSB. While this is of no issue to me as I have the mount forward of my gas block, it may be important to others. The Noveske does fit under my gas block.



I test fitted the Harris bipod to each stud to see if the studs were too long. When mounting the bipod to the Noveske mount I noticed that the washer under the retaining bolt would not allow the rear of the bipod to sit up against the rail. The MICRO did allow the bipod to sit flush up against the hand guard however the tensioning screw on the bipod would bottom out before the bipod became tight on the rail.

I came up with a solution to shorten the QD stud. The QD stud has two parts, the QD and the sling swivel which threads into the QD. I unscrewed the sling swivel from the QD and ground the QD’s mounting surface from a height of 0.500” to 0.460”. This small difference made it possible for the bipod to tighten down using the MICRO mount.  It is close but the bipod is tight and secure.






So to sum it up I think that both mounts are very nice QD sling mounts. The Noveske doesn’t seem suited to be used as a bipod mount as the mounting washer prevents the bipod from fully seating against the hand guard. The QD MICRO MOUNT-N-SLOT in conjunction with a slightly modified QD swivel stud works very nicely as a low profile mount for a Harris bipod. The only concern is that it can not be mounted under a gas block on the TRX Extreme hand guard.

I would like to thank SICARIO and Hyperformer for the idea and MOUNT-N-SLOT of IWC for sending one of their QD MICRO mounts to be tested and evaluated as a bipod mount.

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