3m slick material bags

[Alex Wheeler]

I am looking for any feed back from those who have switched to this material in their bags. I know how slick it is but how does it track? It seems a little less flexible than cordura. Edgewood is not backing it with anything while Protektor is backing it with thin leather.
Thanks,
Alex

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I just got a DR bag with the 3M material. I have only used it once, and need to make a slight sand adjustment (it's too hard in the ears).

After just one use, I feel that it tracks well compared to my Edgewood Gator with Cordura ears. I was shooting it free-recoil with my F-open 284 from the bench, and it tracked nearly perfect. I do ride the bottom of the stock on the stitching. The excess sand tended to hop the stock up a touch during recoil. A little sand out will fix that.

Dang it is slick! I use wax on my cordura now bags and the 3M is slicker than that.

 

[Uthink Uknow]

I have it on my Protektor bags, actually, three of us have it, and in all three instances it works well. With that said let me say it may also depend on your rifle design and your shooting style. I use it for a Metric stock for 6ppc LV and a Kelbly stock for .30 BR HV and I shoot both free recoil. I shoot short range BR exclusively. I shoot with the bag squeezer method and keep my rear bag somewhat soft.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Thanks for the detailed replies. I am shooting 1000 yd br free recoil. I am wanting to order a Gator with the slick ears but thats a lot of money to drop if I don't like it.
Thanks

 

[Steve Blair]

I have an Edgewood Farley front bag using 3M material. The slickness is excellent and needs nothing other than to wipe away any dust or dirt. Unfortunately, it has no internal reinforcement and tends to crown from the torque of my .300 WSM. I've been forced to go back to the Cordura Edgewood with heavy leather internal reinforcement.

 

[dragman]

I just ordered a new bag with it to try. I can't wait to see what it does.

 

[thekriebles]

Alex,

I have the Protektor model and have found it to track just fine up front. In fact, I'm now going to order a rear bag with the 3M material on it.

 

[johara1]

Alex, I used it for last year on the front bag and use just leather in the rear bag……. i did ok……. but nothing tracks as good as leather…. jim

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Alex, I used it for last year on the front bag and use just leather in the rear bag……. i did ok……. but nothing tracks as good as leather…. jim

Jim, I've never used straight leather, but now you've got me curious. What makes it track better? Does it need to "break in" at all or does it work well right out the gate?

 

[snakepit]

I have a Protektor Custom Rear Flat Top Dr Bag with the 3M slick material and heavy sand. When I ordered it I had them include a piece of the 3M material to lay on top of the stiching.

For the front rest I have a Sinclair Competition Front Rest with a Edgewood bag also with the 3M slick material.

I have been very pleased with both bags and the tracking has been really nice.

I usually shoot benchrest free style at 600 yds with a 6BR and a .308.

 

[GSPV]

Try leather with HBN on it. Wow.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Try leather with HBN on it. Wow.

I did, and I was not impressed. It was sticky. I dont know what I did wrong because others have said it works really well too. Powdered carnuba is my favorite so far on leather.

 

[GSPV]

Don't know what's different. On mine, it is incredibly slick.

 

[Gergg]

What is HBN?

 

[spclark]

What is HBN?

Hexagonal Boron Nitride, a finely powdered ceramic substance with graphite-like lubricating qualities (sometimes called 'white graphite').

David Tubb popularized the stuff about 10 years ago as a dry bullet lube with qualities that make it a better choice than Moly or DANZAC. He sells it on his website and there are other sources for it on-line also.

 

[snakepit]

One nice thing about using a rest with the 3M material is not having to mess around with powders or sprays on the front and/or rear bags to make them slick. Also, the 3M material does not leave a residue on the rifle stock or your hands that you may have to clean. Just set the rifle in the bags and you are ready.

 

[thekriebles]

One nice thing about using a rest with the 3M material is not having to mess around with powders or sprays on the front and/or rear bags to make them slick. Also, the 3M material does not leave a residue on the rifle stock or your hands that you may have to clean. Just set the rifle in the bags and you are ready.

Well stated snakepit. It's another reason I'm impressed with the 3M material as well.

 

[artbosco]

I am looking for any feed back from those who have switched to this material in their bags. I know how slick it is but how does it track? It seems a little less flexible than cordura. Edgewood is not backing it with anything while Protektor is backing it with thin leather.

David at Protektor made me up a nice tall-ear rear bag with the material and I'm using an Edgewood front bag with it. I'm still evaluating. A few times I've contemplated going back to Cordura but I thought I'd give the material a little more bench time. Compared to Cordura it's a little stiffer, but it sure is slick. Maybe too stiff and too slick. Time will tell.

 

[snakepit]

David at Protektor made me up a nice tall-ear rear bag with the material and I'm using an Edgewood front bag with it. I'm still evaluating. A few times I've contemplated going back to Cordura but I thought I'd give the material a little more bench time. Compared to Cordura it's a little stiffer, but it sure is slick. Maybe too stiff and too slick. Time will tell.

Looks like you have pretty much the same setup that I have. David also designed my custom rear bag and like yours with the 3M material and custom spacing on the ears. I also have the 3M Edgewood front bag. I have adjusted the amount of sand in the front rest and the tension adjustment on the front ears and have it pretty much where I want it. I have also played around with the sand in both the rear bag and its ears. One thing that helped was a post I read in a thread in our forum about not using the heavy sand in the rear bag ears because it tends to pack hard and instead using just regular play sand in the ears. I did and now the 3M ears are very slippery yet not as hard.

I have found that shooting bags are like everything else involved in accurate shooting, it takes experimenting and fine tuning to get the results we are looking for.

 

[artbosco]

I always use Heavy sand in the bottom of all my rear bags, packed nice and tight [no movement under the ears, extra leather added there too].

And either regular playground sand or filtered Hartz Gravel'n Grit in the ears that's Not packed tight. [Same for the front bag].