front rest bag fill?

[TrxR]

I have orderd a new front edgewood bag for my cowan rest and am not sure what to fill it with. Heavy sand isnt easy to find here and would be expensive to ship. Any suggestions on what to use?

Thanks

 

[BoydAllen]

I have a large supply of heavy sand, and regular sand, so for me, supply is not an issue. I only use heavy sand in the bases of rear bags, and always use good sharp , angular silica sand for front bags and rear bag ears. because I like the way that it stacks better within the bag, when less than a tight fill is used. IMO just because something costs more does not automatically make it better for all applications.

 

[TrxR]

BoydAllen: The Silica Sand you use, what was its application? Basically where do you get it? I can get some silica used as play sand as well as from the local sand blaster.

 

[BoydAllen]

I would take a look at the products and get whichever one was of suitable size, and had good sharp grains (better stacking qualities). Either one would probably work.

 

[beak916]

I just got a new edgewood bag for my farley with the slick material and I filled it with zircon. It leaked out of the seams. I emptied it out and filled it with heavy black sand and it works great.

 

[Steve Blair]

I use crushed walnut shells in my Edgewood Farley bag. It seems to work better than the heavy sand, fine foundry sand, zircon and sifted beach wind-blown sand that I've previously used. Less tendency to compact and less finicky on stock placement. Obviously, I still use heavy sand in the rear Edgewood minigater.

 

[TrxR]

I can get some washed and dry play sand that is Composed of 98% quartz, it is salt-free, washed, screened and dried. Do you think this stuff would work?

 

[BoydAllen]

Yes but is it cryogenicly stress relieved, degaussed, and parallax free? Yes, it should work just fine.

 

[Killshot]

Yes but is it cryogenicly stress relieved, degaussed, and parallax free? Yes, it should work just fine.

Dammit, mine isn't degaussed. No wonder I'm having problems....

 

[Steve Blair]

Yes but is it cryogenicly stress relieved, degaussed, and parallax free? Yes, it should work just fine.

Dammit, mine isn't degaussed. No wonder I'm having problems....

[br]
Only the iron-based heavy sand needs to be degaussed. You may be fine.

 

[RDavies]

So, do you think the parallax in the front bag could be the cause of me always losing shots out the side????
BTW. The crushed walnut shell sounds like an interesting idea. The sand in my front bag seems to compact too hard, I wouldn't mind trying something different in it to keep it a bit softer.

 

[Immike]

The compaction problem seems to come from dust and dirt in the fill material. If you wash the sand in a sock or stocking and get it cleaned up then humidity doesn't turn it into brick. I am using clean sugar sand and it is excellent for the job.

 

[boltman223]

Give bob pastor a call or check out his web site viperbench-rest.com. reasonable shipping too.

 

[TrxR]

thanks everyone. i got my bag and filled it with play sand. i got the reinforced top and i hope it works for me as i am only using for rimfire.

thanks again

 

[BoydAllen]

Let us know how it works.