Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rear shooting bag advice

Hi all,

I am looking to up grade my rear bag from a hard sand filled bag to something else. Am currently looking at the Armageddon squishy bag or a Precision Underground product. Does anybody have any experience with either of these products or any other ideas?

Thanks

!/2 fill a heavy sock with Rice Or Lentils Or Beans, Tie a knot in it works real well and you can adjust as needed. Rio7

Any bag which uses the term squishy in it's nomenclature, does not inspire great confidence, IMO.

Just went to a squishy bag this week. Bad results. Threw it away, going back to my bald Eagle rabbit ear bag.

Nothing personal Rio...but any media that flows smoothly is poor stuff. Fractoid materials that are heavy make the best choices...the casting sands, crusher sand are good. Wash sand is round, like ball bearings. We don't build good roads with washed/rounded products (ball bearings), we build good roads, building pads, airfields with fractured materials.

I waited a long time wasting ammo using socks and lead shot bags…… then bought a protektor. Still glad I did. I filled mine, but they will fill it for you. USA made. They seem to have a following in the bench rest circles. My groups have improved significantly. YMMV.

Have used just about every rear bag made at one time or another, my old sock bags work just fine for me YMMV Rio7

IMO the best rear bag on the market is Edgewood, filled with heavy sand about 16 pounds. Next would be Protektor filled with heavy sand ~14 pounds.

Rio, you are a hell of a shooter too. I'd take advice from you. I don't go extravagant on rear bags either. It doesn't take an expensive bag to work very well. Maybe I shouldn't post in this thread, but I am not as picky about the rear bag as I am the front bag and front rest. If I'm not running a bipod:


I like to use a nice leather/sued rear bag. Nothing real squishy, but nothing rock hard either. Sometimes with sand, you end up with a bag that is too hard. With the type of shooting we probably do, you need to be able to control adjustment with a squeeze of the support hand. I guess some of these guys were never taught that? I find a protektor bag a little too stiff for my liking. Somewhere in between a bag like you mention and a protektor is what I like for my needs. The leather suede bag is grippy enough and adds great support, but also adjusts easily for the shot.


I can't remember, but I think I bought most of mine at Big 5 or ebay or at pawn shops.


And no, you shouldn't need a "14-16 pound bag" to shoot good groups. it should be somewhat portable and not outweigh your fn rifle. Where in the hell do some of you guys come up with this schidt???


A rear bag should be comfortable, it should support your rifle well and aid in steadiness (be rock solid as opposed to being hard as a rock), and most importantly support your style of shooting. IMHO..

A quality rear bag is an investment in your shooting that will pay for itself dozens of times over.

Quality rear bags from Protector, Edgewood or Bald Eagle are solid choices. For rifles with cheek pieces, the shorter ears work well. The flat bottom styles are generally the best compromise for most bench tops.

For a fill material, Zircon or the black blasting sand available at Menards, Home Depot, etc. are good choices. You don't want lead or steel shot, rice, recycled baked beans, used kitty litter or any other sort of weirdness for a fill material.

When you hear someone telling how they used a pair of Grandma's old underwear full of polystyrene beads to win all the local hardware at Mayberry's Barney Fife Memorial Shoot....feel free to connect those dots accordingly.

Good shootin' -Al

Made mine. I have a heavy one, filled with lentils, and a light one, filled with styrofoam beads I harvested from a stuffed toy I got at Wal-Mart. It weighs almost nothing. If you are a backpack hunter that really matters. They key is to get the amount of fill just right, to maximize how much you can adjust elevation via a squeeze.

My current bags that I use are old shot shell bags that are filled with sand. Over the years, they have become hard as rocks, thus my desire to try something else. Also, to see if my shooting improves any. I'm at the point where I would rather buy something than make my own.

I am beginning to realize that what goes in them is just as important as their size.

Thanks

Saltwater aquarium sand works very well as it is very fine, dense, and fills the corners and nooks well. This sand takes effort to fill bag, tamp in place with dowel, massage and shape, but worth the effort. I use this in my ProtekTor Model w/low bunny ears for F-TR gun. Very dense fill yields a heavy rest which I prefer.

For sporting rifles I used a Caldwell bag filled with saltwater aquarium sand also.

For both the ProtekTor and Caldwell I fabricated multi-piece leather bases bonding the leather sheets with 3M contact cement. The leather is the thicker 10 oz cowhide. Several layers have the center cutout to form a rectangular pocket the bag is cemented into. Additional layers added to build to the height I use. The important part here is that the bottom of the leather base is flat providing steady non rocking support.

Freshwater aquarium gravel, beach sand, poly beads, any of the less dense fills didn't perform well for me.

Dense and heavy fill is undeniably better. Unless you are carrying it.

One mitigating factor to the bag with styro beads not being as good is that I would never shoot at an animal at the ranges where the difference starts to show up.

I really like the protektor 13a.

https://protektormodel.com/products/13a-rabbit-ear-rear-bag

Robert,

Are you able to squeeze that protekor bag to make small adjustments?

Absolutely

I prefer my rear bag a little taller.....Protector Deluxe bumblebee with the heavy bottom!

After reading all the replies and seeing the pictures, which helped, I realize that I do not want what I originally stated. I now want a bag with a solid base, smallish ears, and squeezable. Looks like the protector products are a solid candidate.

Stiff rabbit ear bag. I have better luck when everything is tension free , I induce to many variable squeezing bags. My nervous system and neck do not work lie they should , so as many inputs from my body that can be reduced the better......