Rifles And How they Slide In The Bags.........Strange

jackie schmidt

jackie schmidt

New member
At our match at Tomball last Sunday, we were shooting in a cool, damp, dreary condition,. a north wind was blowing all of this right into our faces. Everything was wet.

I was mentioning to fellow shooters that my Rifle was glued to the bags. Nothing I did seem to help, as the north wind just kept blowing that mist right in on us. I would even have to make a determined effort to make sure I was pushing it back against the stop after every shot. I was not happy about this.

But, the Rifle never shot better.

I can see in group shooting, where many shooters want that Rifle as free as possible so they can cycle quick for the next shot, that having the Rifle moving as free as possible is a big plus.

But score is shot different. You have to move the Rifle to another point of aim after each shot.

I guess I am thinking out loud. Maybe if a Rifle is really right, it does't matter much one way or another.
 
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bag setup

Jackie, I've wondered about this too. Perhaps you can run loose such that a bullet consistently exits after the gun has moved back, or you can have it tight (or wet) and retard this movement, but you shouldn't have it at that in between state. In that case, of course, you get some initial movement, then the gun breaks loose and takes off like it's under light tension. All the slo mo rifle videos I've seen show muzzle movement before the bullet exits so this certainly merits a good bag setup. Congratulations to you 25x guys on some fine shooting this weekend in some nasty conditions. BTW, I assume you're talking leather bags? -- Scott
 
More testing will need to be done before I get out the garden hose at the next match...but then....250-25x times two. Might be worth a try after all. ?
 
Question-Help or hinderance

Would Bag wax (Carnuba wax) sold by Sinclair, help in this damp situation?
The wax will not adsorb moisture.
Centerfire
 
jackie schmidt said:
No, the front is Cordura. The rear bag is leather, the same old second hand Eagle I have been using for 20 years.
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Jackie, what type of Front Rest were you using? Maybe the bad conditions made you focus more on your shots & stay consistent. Congrats on some great shooting.

Ed
 
HovisKM said:
It doesn't matter if it is slick or tight....just that it's the same every shot.
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Kevin,
That's what I was thinking, but really don't have enough experience with different setups to know for sure. One thing I think I have noticed is that it makes a difference to take up all the slop in the side bags, such that the crosshairs don't move when you press left/right on the forend. Does this fit with your experience?

Jackie,
I don't mean to take your thread off on a tangent. Just another question related to bags.

Thanks,
Keith
 
I have shot in about any weather imaginable and had every combination of slick and stuck rifles. Only when I got inconsistent release, was there ever a problem. If the front won't release consistently without left/right slop....tighten it down...or if the rear bag is stickier than the front...tighten the front down. Now this is a match fix for weather when you can't get the release you want. That's my experience. For the last six years, I have set two different widths rifles up in the bags (sharing bench and rests) and hard telling how many thousands of groups. I could sure see it on the target if I screwed up and left one to loose.

Hovis
 
A wet bag provides much greater surface area in contact with the stock. Not to mention electrostatic forces in play when water meets water.
 
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