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Filling rear bag- what a PIA

rjtfroggy

rjtfroggy

Gold $$ Contributor
Just a follow up to a previous post.
After searching for a couple days for "heavy sand" That I did not find I took some advice from a member and found that "leveling sand" isn't acceptable for use in a bag. When I opened the bag I found it to be damp and it had gravel in it, it would need to be dried and sifted, I now have a 50 lb. bag in the garage to be dumped out in the yard somewhere.
I ended up using a crushed black quartz from the pet supply store, normally for the bottom of fish tanks. I only got about 6.5 lbs. in the bag after roughly 2.5 hours of shaking, pounding, and molding to get it in. I will probably need to put more after I use it 1 or 2 times.
After a long winded account, I guess this post is just to say when you buy a front or rear bag buy it prefilled spend the extra couple of bucks for the shipping and filling, you will save a lot of aggravation and time, plus the bag maker probably has the heavy sand and will get it filled to the right consistency the first time.
 
Years ago. I took a piece of aluminum tubing that would just fit into the fill tubes, and attached it to a small aluminum funnel. The tube is long enough to reach all the way down the tube with an inch or so to spare. I generally use play sand for the ears and front bags, and a suitable grit of garnet blast media for the bottom cavity of the rear bag. It does not take me long to fill my bags. I transfer the sand to the funnel with a little pill bottle, and when things get to the point that there is enough in the bag so that it will not simply pour down the funnel, I fill it, part way and start cycling the tube in and out of the fill tube with perhaps a half or three quarter inch stroke, so that the blunt end of the tubing packs the sand. Doing it this way, I can get the bag as hard as I require, with relative ease. The trick is to have the right tool for the job. Since I did not see one for sale, I made one. It is old and ugly, but it works really well. Generally, bags will stretch some after their initial filling so I may have to top them off. The other trick is to use a good sized flat blade screwdriver to tuck the tubes into their respective pockets, and carefully pull them out when that is needed. Some time back, when I told a shooter that he might need to adjust the amount of sand in a bag so that it would work better, he told me that he assumed that the manufacturer would put the right amount of sand in. Bad assumption. Bag tuning is a bit of an art, that generally requires taking your materials to the range so that you can do shooting tests. You would not believe how much difference a bag and how it is filled can make. With a really good rifle and ammunition it can be a major factor.
 
I used a plastic funnel with a Bic pen for the extension tube and like Boyd I kept going in and out packing and filling at the same time.
I think 21st century sells a bag filling tool but next time I will make sure the bag is filled when I buy it.
 
I bought weighted poly pellets weighted stuffing beads off of Amazon. They work great and no big deal if they get wet and the bag has a pouring spout.
 
All of my bags are filled by what is covered under the IBS rules, including this one.
For those of you wondering 21st Century sells a bag filling tool, plastic bottle screwed onto a billet adapter and tube, $48.
 
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rjtfroggy said:
Just a follow up to a previous post.
After searching for a couple days for "heavy sand" That I did not find I took some advice from a member and found that "leveling sand" isn't acceptable for use in a bag. When I opened the bag I found it to be damp and it had gravel in it, it would need to be dried and sifted, I now have a 50 lb. bag in the garage to be dumped out in the yard somewhere.
I ended up using a crushed black quartz from the pet supply store, normally for the bottom of fish tanks. I only got about 6.5 lbs. in the bag after roughly 2.5 hours of shaking, pounding, and molding to get it in. I will probably need to put more after I use it 1 or 2 times.
After a long winded account, I guess this post is just to say when you buy a front or rear bag buy it prefilled spend the extra couple of bucks for the shipping and filling, you will save a lot of aggravation and time, plus the bag maker probably has the heavy sand and will get it filled to the right consistency the first time.
Click to expand...
Best thing I found is 'blasting sand' - the stuff that you use in sand blasters to clean metal parts. Cheap and heavy. If you want a soft bag - crushed walnut shell - you can get it from pet supply places (not cheap) used in the floor of reptile tanks.
 
rjtfroggy said:
Just a follow up to a previous post.
After searching for a couple days for "heavy sand" That I did not find I took some advice from a member and found that "leveling sand" isn't acceptable for use in a bag. When I opened the bag I found it to be damp and it had gravel in it, it would need to be dried and sifted, I now have a 50 lb. bag in the garage to be dumped out in the yard somewhere.
I ended up using a crushed black quartz from the pet supply store, normally for the bottom of fish tanks. I only got about 6.5 lbs. in the bag after roughly 2.5 hours of shaking, pounding, and molding to get it in. I will probably need to put more after I use it 1 or 2 times.
After a long winded account, I guess this post is just to say when you buy a front or rear bag buy it prefilled spend the extra couple of bucks for the shipping and filling, you will save a lot of aggravation and time, plus the bag maker probably has the heavy sand and will get it filled to the right consistency the first time.
Click to expand...
Buy a bag from Protektor already filled.
 
I think some people are missing the point. The reason you use heavy sand in your bags is so that it is heavy. As heavy as you can get it without using lead (which is illegal in competition). Heavy sand in a quality bag also helps the bag and the ears hold their shape. The heavier the bag and the better the bag fits the stock, the more stable the setup is. That holds true for the first shot as well as the 20th shot of a string. A heavy bag will not move through that 20 shot string and your rifle will go back into battery with very little adjustment needed. When it comes to a stable shooting setup there is a world of difference between a Hi Score bag filled with used poly pellets and a SEB Bigfoot filled with heavy sand. The difference between a SEB bigfoot filled with heavy sand and a SEB bigfoot filled with half playground sand and heavy sand (yeah, I ran out of heavy when filling one of my bags) is significant. On the order of pounds. The SEB with heavy sand really stretches the arm and that thing never moves once it is setup.

P.S. I really like the idea of the cut arrow taped to the funnel. I have a funnel that almost fits the bags but that is a much nicer way to go.
 
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