Bench rest (shooting) bags fillers? Weight?
- Thread starter Michael
- Start date
Cal Sibley
New member
I like heavier rear bags, but that's just me. I don't feel it makes any real difference. I use playground sand to fill them. The plastic straws you get at the burger joints work well. Cut them down a good bit and pour through a funnel. It's still a bit messy and time consuming, but packs well. I actually tend to get too much sand in the bags. Best wishes.
Cal - Montreal
Cal - Montreal
Quarter Round
New member
I use regular playground sand and rigged up a small funnel with a short piece of 1/4" plastic tubing to transition to a 1/4 glass tube. Copper tube should work fine. I was able to fill the bags as tight as I desired by working the tube into the loose corners, etc.
NEVarmiter
New member
I like heavy bags. I am a cheap skate. I use the legs off of old blue jeans for bags and I fill them with road gravel. (It doesn't leak as bad)
For pure precision shooting off a bench rest, definitely a heavy bag. I've tried all kinds of fill - playground sand, zircon, lead shot, cement, steel shot and I can't remember what else. Since I don't compete, and don't have to worry about any silly rules, I can use whatever I want.
While I do like the heavy bags for bench shooting, I've found you can over do it. Especially with weaker bags, and even more especially if the bag has a thin bottom. Too easy to stretch these bags out with heavy fill. Then the bottom gets a belly in it, and the back doesn't sit flat on the bench very well, and that is bad news.
Also, you have to be very careful about how you fill the ears. If they are packed too tight with heavy material like zircon or lead shot, they get too hard and the rifle wants to bounce around in them during recoil. Which is bad news. At the same time though, you don't want to underfill the ears, because then the fill tends to shift around during a shooting session, changing the relationship between the stock and the bag - more bad news.
What I've found I like best, is to first use a bag with a rigid bottom, so I can fill the bottom part of the bag as heavy as I want (some of my rear bags weigh over 30 pounds!). But, I use just plain old playground sand for filling the ears - I fill them just firm - not too packed, but definitely not loose.
Really though, this is one of those things that everyone can come up with their own ideas and ways they like to do it, and if it works for you, then that's all that matters.
For field bags, I don't EVEN like them as heavy, and fill completely different. One of my favorite field bags is filled with plastic beads. Won't work as well for shooting tiny groups, but it sure is a lot nicer to carry!
- DAA
While I do like the heavy bags for bench shooting, I've found you can over do it. Especially with weaker bags, and even more especially if the bag has a thin bottom. Too easy to stretch these bags out with heavy fill. Then the bottom gets a belly in it, and the back doesn't sit flat on the bench very well, and that is bad news.
Also, you have to be very careful about how you fill the ears. If they are packed too tight with heavy material like zircon or lead shot, they get too hard and the rifle wants to bounce around in them during recoil. Which is bad news. At the same time though, you don't want to underfill the ears, because then the fill tends to shift around during a shooting session, changing the relationship between the stock and the bag - more bad news.
What I've found I like best, is to first use a bag with a rigid bottom, so I can fill the bottom part of the bag as heavy as I want (some of my rear bags weigh over 30 pounds!). But, I use just plain old playground sand for filling the ears - I fill them just firm - not too packed, but definitely not loose.
Really though, this is one of those things that everyone can come up with their own ideas and ways they like to do it, and if it works for you, then that's all that matters.
For field bags, I don't EVEN like them as heavy, and fill completely different. One of my favorite field bags is filled with plastic beads. Won't work as well for shooting tiny groups, but it sure is a lot nicer to carry!
- DAA
davethebarbarian
New member
For the past few years i have been using old 25#
shot bags filled with popcorn we had left over from the nieghbor kids selling for the scouts. As of late i am thinking i would go back to the heavier bags and just put silica sand in them. Hopefully it won't leak out.
shot bags filled with popcorn we had left over from the nieghbor kids selling for the scouts. As of late i am thinking i would go back to the heavier bags and just put silica sand in them. Hopefully it won't leak out.
BLACKSHEEP
New member
I have a set of Caldwell Deadshot bags. I got them from Midway already filled with corncob media. They weigh about 6-7 lbs and are firm. I carry them to the range and back all the time. I also have a Uncle Mikes Bulls Bag filled with pea-gravel and it weighs about 50lbs or so. It is about 12" long and is really stable, but it weighs a ton.
BLACKSHEEP
BLACKSHEEP