If you've ever played a shooter in VR I'm sure you are aware that shooting guns that require
the use of two hands can be a little awkward. When you don't have an actual physical object
to grasp with both hands it's easy to get your hands out of alignment making aiming your gun
more difficult and at the same time the fact that your hands aren't connected to the gun
creates a real disconnect from what you feel with your hands to what you're seeing
with your eyes. The thing I love about VR is how it immerses you in the game and transports you to
another world. Which is why this two handed gun disconnect thing bothers me. It pulls me out of
the game a little bit and makes wielding rifles and SMG's and stuff feel a little bit janky.
Thankfully there are other folks out there that feel the same way that I do about all this
and have come up with some great solutions for this problem. The first VR gun stock I
saw was the Pro Tube. But I'm not a fan of how the controllers mount to the top of the tube
as that just doesn't seem at all like a real gun to me. There are some others I looked at
that have the controllers mount underneath more like a real gun but it wasn't until I saw the
Kobra gun stock that I was ready to make a purchase.
This is the Kobra Elite.
It's the latest iteration of a gun stock created by a guy who goes by the moniker Falandorn. Now
before I go any further you should know that this is NOT a mass produced product. Each Kobra gun
stock is made, by hand, by Falandorn so you will find some cosmetic imperfections due to this.
Functionally though this thing is awesome. It provides that missing piece of immersion I felt
when I was just pretending to hold a gun. Having an
actual physical object in your hands connecting them to what you see in game
really takes the experience to the next level and I feel makes aiming and stuff a lot easier. Thanks
to the way Falandorn has designed the stock it tracks great in game and is super easy to use.
Like any kind of video game controller though you do have to use it for a bit,
and learn how it works to get proficient with it. Clipping the rear controller in and out
takes a little getting use to and even grabbing the front grip takes some practice. Most of the
difficulties I've had though is probably more due to me being a total noob to both Pavlov and Onward
than anything to do with the Kobra. I'm still getting used to what buttons I need to press
to eject or unlock the magazine to be able to reload a gun as well as how to properly place
additional magazines into my ammo bags and pull out and holster my side arm among other things.
One of the really cool features about the Kobra Elite
is it's ability to be adjusted to simulate most any gun.
The shoulder stock is adjustable to three different lengths which allows you to set it to
accurately simulate pretty much any gun in any game. The front stock is also adjustable;
you just pull it out to the length you need for whatever gun you're using in game.
When the front stock is fully collapsed it's the perfect length for most all your sub machine guns
as well as some of your assault rifles. For some of the longer assault rifles, shot guns
and sniper rifles you'll want to extend the front stock out to get the best hand placement though.
This brings me to the main feature that helped me decide to purchase the Kobra
over all the other options out there.
This front grip cup.
All the other gun stocks out there use some kind of magnetic attachment mechanism for both the
front and rear grips which takes some getting used to and let's be honest it's not exactly realistic.
This front grip cup allows you to simply bring your hand up to the front stock of a gun like
you would in real life and the cup presses the grip button on the controller for you giving you
a much more natural and realistic interaction. This also makes it super simple to disconnect
your front hand from the weapon so you can reload, use grenades, or do other things
like using your radio to talk with other players on your team or look at your tablet in Onward.
The rear grip uses a magnetic mount to attach it to the stock. When using bolt action rifles or
switching to your side arm you need to be able to disconnect your controller from the stock and the
magnetic mount makes this possible. You can do this by either pulling the controller toward you
or pushing it away from you like this. Installing the mount onto your controller is pretty simple.
You place it in the ring like this and use the included zip ties to secure it in place.
These zip ties are releaseable so you don't have to leave this plate installed on your
controller all the time; although you could just leave it on if you wanted to.
One of the features on the Elite that's different from previous versions of the Kobra
is how the adjustable cheek rest works.
On older versions it used Velcro to position it where it was comfortable for you
but this version features a knob making adjusting the cheek rest a simple task of loosening the
knob, moving the cheek rest to your desired position and then tightening it back down again.
Another feature he doesn't exactly advertise but I saw on another YouTube channel and really
wanted when I saw it is this slide mechanism to simulate the pump action of a shotgun.
After ordering my stock Falandorn messaged me on Ebay
asking if I was right or left handed and also what color I preferred.
Yes! If you're left handed you can get this in a left handed setup and
there is also a nice assortment of colors for you to choose from.
When I responded to him to tell him I'm right handed I asked him about this pump
shotgun feature and he was totally cool with including it at no additional charge.
This bungee cord here I rigged up myself to give it a more
realistic action and although I don't use shotguns in games all that often,
having this option available to me when I do makes it very satisfying.
Falandorn sells these guns stocks on Ebay for just shy of 100 Great
British Pounds including shipping, which is around $130 US dollars.
And speaking of shipping... it took Falandorn about a week
to build my gun stock from the time I ordered it and then shipped it from the UK, where he lives,
to me in Washington State in the US in only 5 days!
For something shipping internationally like this
I was very surprised at how quickly it arrived. In the package was the Kobra Elite,
a shoulder sling,
the magnetic mount for the read controller,
2 releasable zip ties,
this small Allen key for tightening any of the screws that may wiggle loose over time
and finally these Velcro straps which Falandorn has a YouTube video showing
how to use along with the wrist straps of the Quest 2 to create your own knuckle style grips.
I didn't end up using these though because I already have a nice set
of Kiwi Design Knuckle grips, link in the video description.
Also linked in the description is Falandorn's Ebay listing where you can check out the Kobra Elite
and it's nice assortment of colors he's currently got going on.
No I am not affiliated with Falandorn or Ebay or
anything like that. In fact he has no idea I'm even making this video.
I just really like this gunstock and I wanna
share it with all of you that are out there looking for a good solution for the uh...
you know...
the gun problem for VR.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the video. We'll catch you in the next one.