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Hill Quad Sticks Review: A Next-Level Hydraulic Shooting Aid
- By Chris Parkin
- Last updated: 02/09/2025
Quad sticks have become an essential companion for almost every hunter, offering stable support for standing shots, helping to clear crops and fences, doubling as a walking aid, aiding in glassing, and extending the effective range for precision shots.
Ernest Hill, long known as the go-to source for air compressors and pumps for air rifles, has applied its fluid engineering expertise to develop a unique (patent-pending) variation of quad sticks that offer breathtaking capability.
Quad sticks are all about stability, and Hill has enhanced this with redesigned yokes that allow greater lateral movement to track quarry. If the target moves significantly, you can traditionally lift one leg and reposition, but this often results in tangled brambles, noise, or unstable footing. Hill’s ingenious solution incorporates a valve and hydraulic damper into all four telescopic legs, enabling silent, seamless panning 45 degrees left or right, without needing to move your sticks’ feet.
It’s difficult to describe without a video, but in use, the system is astonishingly versatile. Since the legs are hydraulically linked and share fluid volume, they extend and compress in perfect harmony. This means the overall height of your rifle remains constant while allowing smooth lateral sway. At a range of 150m, the Hill sticks allow for a full 300m of lateral panning, which is an outstanding advantage in the field.
Looking at the construction, the quad sticks feature carbon-fibre-reinforced Nylon 12 yokes at the top of each leg. These include softer copolymer inlays to grip your rifle’s fore-end or butt securely. A high-visibility orange elastic cord keeps the front and rear assemblies from spreading too far apart, and each pair of legs ends with stainless steel feet for traction on loose terrain. Rubber snap-on covers are included for hard or rocky surfaces.
A brass lever at the top of each leg pair controls damping. Turned fully left, the system allows smooth, easy sway; swing it right, and the damping tightens and then ultimately locks. This is ideal for leaning into the shot. This also allows you to adjust for rifle weight, as heavy varminters might benefit from increased resistance, whereas lightweight stalking rifles may need less.
Proudly designed and manufactured in Sheffield, the original Steel City, the Hill Quad Sticks combine British craftsmanship with advanced materials. Aluminium and carbon-fibre dominate the construction, and the total weight comes in at 1,400g. This is slightly heavier than a full carbon-fibre competitor (with a fifth leg), but the internal engineering complexity easily justifies the trade-off. The sticks arrive well packaged, with a printed manual and a QR code that links to an assembly video, which takes around five minutes to follow. It’s important to note that the sticks don’t collapse telescopically like some rivals. However, the legs can be unscrewed for tight storage and travel.
Firstly, the rubberised leg clips help keep the sticks quiet and compact while walking, with the orange cord further securing the assembly. The aluminium joints house carbon-fibre tubes, which appear to be securely bonded, something I always check. Poor carbon/aluminium bonding is a common failure point among cheap sticks and tripods, but Hill’s manufacturing quality is flawless.
Rubber O-rings at the joints help minimise any rattle, and the screwed joints use Nyloc nuts to prevent loosening. The height is controlled by the spread angle of the legs, rather than staged length adjustment. Initially, this feels unusual, but the fluidity of motion quickly becomes second nature. You can lean in or out, move your feet, and maintain a natural body posture, yet the rifle follows your movement effortlessly.
To firm things up, simply nudge the brass damping levers at the front, rear, or both. To lock the system completely, swing the levers fully to the right and return to a traditional fixed quad stick setup.
I set myself a specific challenge, placing realistically sized steel plates across a wide arc of fire in the field. I fired a few shots with a .17HMR CZ and a few more with a 6.5x55mm Mauser. One had a wooden stock, the other synthetic, and both fitted securely into the yokes.
I left the damping levers in the central position; neither rifle is particularly lightweight, and I have a realistic amount of size and strength to control them. I’m probably average height at 5’11” and just blended into using the Hill sticks instantly. My taller friend, at 6’2”, had a go. He simply drew the feet slightly closer together to increase the height, and his expression immediately showed how naturally the sticks allowed him to aim and fire.
The steel feet lock into the ground. The legs are light, but not too flexible, and the copolymer inlay on the Nylon 12 yokes grips the gun effectively.
The biggest advantage of Hill’s hydraulic quads is that both front and rear yokes remain firmly on the rifle, while the differential leg extension—via fluid damping—accounts for all motion. I found them remarkably stable when it mattered most. The cleverness of the design almost fades into the background; the system works so intuitively that you simply take it for granted, much like how your body naturally adjusts without conscious effort.
It’s only when you stop to think about it that you appreciate the innovation behind them. These sticks are almost like a bionic aid – an extension of your body. Simply superb.
Yes, they’re relatively expensive, but in an age of fast fashion and cheap manufacturing, it’s a relief and a pleasure to see this level of design excellence, technical sophistication, and build quality. Long may it continue at Hill in Sheffield.
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