The importance of the rear bag… A newbie’s perspective

[ajvanwyk]

This post is not for the experienced shooters on this forum. This rather is a bit of learning in my limited time shooting that may provide another newbie's a bit of insight.

Yesterday was my first shoot where I personally loaded (albeit with a lot of assistance) my own rounds. In the past, members of Rosedale Club was kind enough to load rounds for me and I had enough to see me shoot a few weeks with some really good success. I am currently shooting a Savage 6BR.
So I bit the proverbial bullet and bought some ADI2208, CCI450’s, new 6BR Lapua brass and Berger 105 Hybrids. In the past the rifle shot 107gr Sierra’s with a lot of success but I was confident that the Berger’s could do better…

On the first application, I was using someone else’s gear, both front and rear rest. I have used this gear before, knew it and have had success with it. Still new to the rifle it unfortunately took me 3 shots to get on paper, the first counting shot being a 1, but from that point forward it was all 6’s with one X and one 5. I walked away with a 52/1 and although this is not at all a good score I was very confident that having now had the rifle sighted that the next application will go very well.

Well the second application was dismal. I scored a 47 /0. I was all over the place, High 4 /Low 4/ Left 5 /Right 4… it was bloody… I walk away really confused not knowing where I went wrong. Was it the load ? Did I stuff something up in the process? Is the rifle fowled? So many questions.

Well I managed to figure it out. You see earlier that day I brought with me a newly purchased Seb bigfoot rear rest. I filled it with leadshot and sand at the range just after the first application and decided to use it for the second. What I ended up doing was to overfill the ears to the point where the rifle was not sitting flush onto the bag but rather was riding the ears… I also under filled the bottom bag. I did not quite take notice of it at the time but this caused the rifle to be very twitchy and jumpy. I now recall that after each shot I would see the scope settle at the 10 or 11 clock mark on the 4 ring. The other aspect I have only realised after speaking to more experienced shooters, was that the sand was still settling and this also takes a bit of time.

Although painful on the day… coming stone cold last… This was an incredible learning opportunity to see the impact of a poorly packed and used rear bag and the importance it has on the rifle harmonics and ultimately accuracy. You can read about these sort of things until the cows come how but there certainly is no substitute for on the job learning.

I was very close to ditching the Berger’s and going back to the Sierras that shot well before…. Luckily I worked through the variables and managed to find the real issue… the idiot behind the rifle.

Albert

[johnk]

There are quite a few shooters of all rested disciplines who ride the butt on the ears - most, probably if you follow the various web sites.

On the other hand, you can't have your rear bag floating about like a beer gut hanging over a pair of shorts. It must be able to maintain a constant position throughout your shoot. At the worst, you'll be adjusting your elevation throughout the shoot; at the worst, it will spray shots like you're resting on a plate of jelly - which you are, just about. Fill that bag, thump it down to settle & check to see if there is unfilled space & continue until it's solid, but not overstretching.

You'll see some shooters pulling the bag ears apart & leaning on their rear bag while others will thump and/or lean on the rifle butt to get that bag to submit to the proper position before they settle to shoot. They're the ones that won't need to fiddle their elevation.