Really Right Stuff has introduced its Benchmark tripods, which retain the brand’s usual build quality at a lower price after the company began making carbon-fiber tubes itself. A pre-production Benchmark Inverted model fitted with an Anvil 30 head was used at an NRL Hunter match; the reviewer has a close relationship with the firm, which supplied both the tripod and a match slot.

The three-section legs fold to 28 inches, smaller than a two-section Versa 22i borrowed the prior year that collapsed to 38 inches and set up faster. Production versions will lock or loosen with a quarter turn of the leg collars, unlike the nearly full turn required on this early unit. Match stages often demanded kneeling or standing shots from the tripod because of mountains and juniper that blocked views, and the shooter repeatedly ran between positions with the tripod still attached to the rifle.