Shooting mat and (rear) sand bag recommendation?

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sonichanxiao

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For shooting mat, it will be mainly used during summer time and most of time would be in outdoor

I saw people suggested:
Crosstac, Midway USA, Triad etc.

I guess what I am looking for is something with good protection, reasonable size(also width) and other useful features like pocket etc.

Anything I need to pay attention to sand bag(mainly used as a rear bag)?
Saw people having good review on Wiebad bags.

Thanks in advance.
 
I haven't bought a shooting mat in a long time, and the ones I use now are the ones that come with the TacOps dragbags I have, so I won't comment on that.

Rear bags are really personal, everyone has a different favorite, based on their type of shooting and the type of support they want. Ask 10 different people about their favorite rear bag, and you will get 10 different answers.

First is fill. Some are heavy, some are light. The lighter ones are easier to carry around, are generally more malleable and can be "adjusted" rapidly by pressure from the hand, to help shoot in a wide variety of conditions. The heavier fill bags won't be as easy to manipulate shape, but are generally more solid, so they provide more support for the rifle when the rifle gets "settled in".

They also come in different shapes: squares, rectangles, wedges, cylinders, etc. Different shapes provide different versatility for adjusting the height. Again, personal preference and depends on the shape of your chassis and your body type and how you like to setup your gun (bipod high/low) for what works best for you.

I have a bunch of rear bags, but right now I like to use the Traust rear bag for PRS comps (light fill = easier to carry around and more "adjustability") and for shooting groups, the WieBad mini fortune cookie doubles as a heavy fill rear bag. Going with Precision Underground for their ELR/rear bag for my wife and her first precision rifle to try it out (heavy fill = more support for rifle).

The above is a bit of a generalization, hope it helps. If you have people that shoot, it would be good to try their rear bags to see what you like.

What type of shooting do you do? My shooting is more field base precision rifle. Different disciplines will value different attributes in a rear bag and thus the suggestions will be different. For benchrest type target shooting, the answers will be much different than mine.
 
I would recommend the Eberlestock shooting mat, but there are lots of options out there.
 
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kthomas said:
I haven't bought a shooting mat in a long time, and the ones I use now are the ones that come with the TacOps dragbags I have, so I won't comment on that.

Rear bags are really personal, everyone has a different favorite, based on their type of shooting and the type of support they want. Ask 10 different people about their favorite rear bag, and you will get 10 different answers.

First is fill. Some are heavy, some are light. The lighter ones are easier to carry around, are generally more malleable and can be "adjusted" rapidly by pressure from the hand, to help shoot in a wide variety of conditions. The heavier fill bags won't be as easy to manipulate shape, but are generally more solid, so they provide more support for the rifle when the rifle gets "settled in".

They also come in different shapes: squares, rectangles, wedges, cylinders, etc. Different shapes provide different versatility for adjusting the height. Again, personal preference and depends on the shape of your chassis and your body type and how you like to setup your gun (bipod high/low) for what works best for you.

I have a bunch of rear bags, but right now I like to use the Traust rear bag for PRS comps (light fill = easier to carry around and more "adjustability") and for shooting groups, the WieBad mini fortune cookie doubles as a heavy fill rear bag. Going with Precision Underground for their ELR/rear bag for my wife and her first precision rifle to try it out (heavy fill = more support for rifle).

The above is a bit of a generalization, hope it helps. If you have people that shoot, it would be good to try their rear bags to see what you like.

What type of shooting do you do? My shooting is more field base precision rifle. Different disciplines will value different attributes in a rear bag and thus the suggestions will be different. For benchrest type target shooting, the answers will be much different than mine.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot of you detailed input.

Will mainly do long distance precision shooting most likely in military base or crown land far north if I have few days off to drive far.
 
All my rear bags are JSA tactical, Made right here in Canada :p

52602261_10157162708118552_3642352525815840768_n.jpg
 
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I’ve bought a couple of the Blackhawk Stalker Mat from Board Sponsor SFRC or www.theammosource.com (hey I can hotlink to a board sponsored business)

Go and click on their banner sign up above. Search their inventory for Blackhawk Stalker and it will take you there.

For the “known distance” kind of shooting we do at the ORA’s PR and my PR Matches in Petawawa, and the DCRA’s NSCC, and FCLass Matches, this combination shooting “bag” and trifold mat will get the gob done.

There are many other brands like Voodoo and NcStar from Xhina that are similar in design, the trifold mat/ bag style too. I have to mention a variety of colours and textures, too.

I use a variety of sizes of “pop can” or cylinder shaped rear bags by JSA Tactical for my clients. All sorts off good designers and makers out there. For many years I just employed and old black sock full of sand and gravel, then the dust got all over my kit. Then I bought a pile of Airsoft pellets and tied them up in that old black sock. Now those rear sock bags are in my milk crate for my home range shooting fun. New shooters gotta sytart somewhere!

Hope this can help the newbies out there!

Cheers, Barney

:wave:
 
TacticalTeacher said:
I’ve bought a couple of the Blackhawk Stalker Mat from Board Sponsor SFRC or www.theammosource.com (hey I can hotlink to a board sponsored business)

Go and click on their banner sign up above. Search their inventory for Blackhawk Stalker and it will take you there.

For the “known distance” kind of shooting we do at the ORA’s PR and my PR Matches in Petawawa, and the DCRA’s NSCC, and FCLass Matches, this combination shooting “bag” and trifold mat will get the gob done.

There are many other brands like Voodoo and NcStar from Xhina that are similar in design, the trifold mat/ bag style too. I have to mention a variety of colours and textures, too.

I use a variety of sizes of “pop can” or cylinder shaped rear bags by JSA Tactical for my clients. All sorts off good designers and makers out there. For many years I just employed and old black sock full of sand and gravel, then the dust got all over my kit. Then I bought a pile of Airsoft pellets and tied them up in that old black sock. Now those rear sock bags are in my milk crate for my home range shooting fun. New shooters gotta sytart somewhere!

Hope this can help the newbies out there!

Cheers, Barney

:wave:
Click to expand...

Thank you. Really helpful.
 
I have a tri-fold mat from center the group dot com which is fairly basic but great quality.

I also have the one below from Cabelas which is an outstanding mat at a great price;

ht tps://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Shooting-Mat/1318442.uts
 
I have a VSM shooting mat that I got off amazon awhile back that works well. For rear shooting bag I've had a lot of success with a bunny ear style rear bag.
 
I have the Cabela's shooting mat which works fine for me. I like the jsa bags and have a few from Armageddon gear that are good too.
 
Slug870 said:
I have a tri-fold mat from center the group dot com which is fairly basic but great quality.

I also have the one below from Cabelas which is an outstanding mat at a great price;

ht tps://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Shooting-Mat/1318442.uts
Click to expand...

The Cabellas one is decent, on for $49 right now too.
 
I use a roll up shooting mat made by Tab Gear. It's pretty minimalist, there's only padding about where your elbows should end up, the rest is pretty much just cordura. Does a good job of keeping you dry if the ground is wet and that's about it. I honestly don't use a mat much and just prone out on the ground.

I generally use my Armageddon Gear Pint Sized Gamechanger as a rear bag. It does a great job and it's one less thing to drag around.
 
VISM by NcStar CVSHMR2957T Roll Up Shooting Mat, Tan

Bought this over the weekend from the A--->Z site. 54$. I went with tan because dark colours can get pretty hot in the summer sun. Cheers
 
rugbydave said:
I use a roll up shooting mat made by Tab Gear. It's pretty minimalist, there's only padding about where your elbows should end up, the rest is pretty much just cordura. Does a good job of keeping you dry if the ground is wet and that's about it. I honestly don't use a mat much and just prone out on the ground.

I generally use my Armageddon Gear Pint Sized Gamechanger as a rear bag. It does a great job and it's one less thing to drag around.
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Could I say the Wiebad mini fortune cookie is similar to Armageddon Gear Pint sized Game changer?
 
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