At first glance it doesn’t look like much, perhaps. It is just another take on the vertical grips that have become more and more common on AR-style rifles in recent times. But there’s more here than meets the eye. With the push of a button the Grip Pod quickly deploys two sturdy posts to form a bipod and give you a steady prone firing platform. 

For guys like me, avid hunters and shooters, this is a great convenience. For guys in the military, it can—and has—saved lives.

As anyone who has fumbled with a rifle-mounted bipod knows, getting the legs down and into position is a graceless process. You have to take one of your hands off the rifle and pop the legs down, usually one at a time. No, it doesn’t take very long and that is probably fine for the hunter who is getting ready to draw a bead on a distant elk or mule deer. But when your unit is surprised and taking enemy fire you need to take cover and return fire now. Not in five seconds or ten seconds. Now.

Joe Moody at Grip Pod says the legs on his product spring into position in about one-ninetieth of a second. I couldn’t tell you whether this is true or not. But I can verify his claim that by if you push the button while going from a standing to a prone position that by the time you hit the deck the Grip Pod’s legs will be locked in place and ready to support the rifle. It’s that fast.

That it is strong and reliable and effective is part of the reason the Army and Marine Corps is buying them by the truckload—as fast as Moody and his partner, Joe Gudinni, can make them, in fact.