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December 1st, 2021

Sand Bag Filling — How to “Tune” Rear Bags for Better Results

This discussion of rear bag designs and fill levels may offer some new insights for many readers. By “tuning” your rear bag you can reduce hop on shot-firing and help your rifle track better. All that can translate to better scores, particularly with large-caliber rifles.

Tuning Your Rear Sand Bags

Over the years, noted gunsmith and a Benchrest Hall-of-Fame inductee Thomas ‘Speedy’ Gonzalez has learned a few things about “tuning” rear sandbags for best performance. On his Facebook page, Speedy recently discussed how sand bag fill levels (hard vs. soft) can affect accuracy. Speedy says you don’t want to have both your front and rear sandbags filled up ultra-hard. One or the other bag needs to have some “give” to provide a shock-absorbing function (and prevent stock jump). And you want to tune your fill arrangements to match your shooting style. Free recoil shooters may need a different fill levels than bag squeezers (who a softer bag but harder ears).

SAND BAGS & HOW TO FILL THEM by Speedy Gonzalez

I was asked several times by competitors at the S.O.A. Matches and F-Class Nationals as to how I fill my sand bags for benchrest competition. Here is a copy of a reply I gave several years ago:

Back in the old days, Pat McMillan told me: “You can not have two bags filled so hard that you gun bounces on them in the process of firing round at your target, especially if you have a rig with a very flexible stock. The bags must be set up in a manner for them to absorb the initial shock of the firing pin moving forward and igniting the primer.

Then [they must] maintain their shape and absorb the second shock wave as well the rearward thrust and torque of the rifle. What happens to the rifle when this is not done? Well let me tell you. The rifles have a very bad tendency to jump and roll in the bags. This causes many of those wild, lost shots that one can’t explain.”

Here’s some Good General Advice for Bag Set-up:

1. You should not have TWO hard bags [i.e. both front AND rear] in your set-up.

2. Heavy sand magnifies these phenomena.

3. If you are a bag squeezer, pack ears hard and leave bag pliable enough to squeeze for the movement required. You may pack front bag as hard as rules permit.

4. Free recoil shooters pack both bags firm, but not so hard as to allow stock jump. Especially if you have a stock with a very flexible forearm.

5. We use play-ground sand, also know as silica sand. I sift mine to get any large impurities out then mix it with 25% to 50% with Harts parakeet gravel to the desired hardness that I am looking for. The bird gravel keeps the sand from packing itself into that solid as a brick state.

Speaking of bricks — another thing that happens when shooters employ that heavy zircon sand is the ears form a low spot under them from recoil and then tend to rock back and forth with the rifle causing many low shots to crop up. Edgewood makes an Edgewood/Speedy rear bag specially reinforced under the ears to eliminate this scenario.

Show below are the latest SEB Bigfoot Bags. Note that the bags sit perfectly flat — there is no bulge on the bottom even though the bags are “packed to the brim with sand”.

SEB Bigfoot Rear Bag sandbag Sebastian Lambang

General Thoughts about Bag Construction and Ear Materials
I do not like the solid double-stitched leather bottoms. While this seems like a good idea, I see more shooters have problems because of them. They tend to slide around the bench and or slide with the rifle on recoil. The standard Protektor with Cordura rabbit ears and an Otto ring bag with a Cordura front would be what I would suggest to the new shooter or one of the Edgewood / Speedy rear bags, these mimic the “Donut” and feature a ring of leather around the bottom circumference that keep the bottom from rocking on the bench or ground[.]

One last note –If you use the Cordura bags, keep them sprayed with a good silicon spray or “Rain-Ex”. This keeps them from getting sticky. — Speedy

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December 1st, 2021

Clean-22 — CCI Rimfire Ammo with Polymer-Coated Bullets

CCI Clean 22 Bullets

In 2019 CCI introduced a new type of .22 LR rimfire ammunition. CCI’s innovative Clean-22 Ammo features polymer-coated bullets. This is actually a pretty important development. The bullet coating on CCI’s Clean-22 ammo provides three main benefits:

1. Copper fouling in the barrel is greatly reduced.
2. Lead fouling in the barrel is greatly reduced.
3. Lead build-up in suppressors is reduced by 60-80%.

CCI now offers three versions of Clean-22 rimfire ammunition: High Velocity (#944CC, 40gr, 1235 FPS MV), Subsonic (#934CC, 40gr, 1070 FPS MV), and Suppressor (#980CC, 45gr, 1000 FPS). These all feature lead bullets with polymer coatings. The High Velocity ammo has red-coated bullets, the Subsonic has blue-coated bullets, and the Suppressor version has black-coasted bullets. MSRP is $12.99 for 100 rounds of Subsonic, $11.99 for 100 rounds of Hi-Vel, and $35.99 for 200 rounds of Suppressor variant. There is also a special 400rd Christmas pack of Clean-22 Hi-Vel ammo with Red and GREEN coated bullets. List price is $48.99 for item #946XMAS.

Clean-22 High Velocity: 1235 FPS | Clean-22 Subsonic: 1070 FPS

CCI Clean 22 Bullets
CCI Clean-22 .22 LR rimfire ammo ammunition polymer coated bullets

CCI Clean 22 Bullets CCI Clean 22 Bullets

Clean-22 Ammo with Polymer-Coated Bullets
Clean-22 uses an exclusive polymer bullet coating to greatly reduce copper and lead fouling in the barrel without leaving a residue. It also cuts lead buildup in suppressors 60 to 80 percent. Both the Sub-Sonic and High Velocity loads feature a 40-grain round nose lead bullet with geometry that’s been optimized for accuracy. With dependable CCI priming and consistent propellant, Clean-22 provides reliable cycling through semi-automatics and all 22 LR firearms.

This CCI Clean-22 .22 LR ammunition received an On Target Magazine Editor’s Choice Award in 2019.
CCI Clean-22 .22 LR rimfire ammo ammunition polymer coated bullets

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December 1st, 2021

Huge Number of Gun Purchase Checks during Black Friday Week

2021 gun sales nics background check gun buyers
Photo courtesy BullocksGuns.com, Flint, MI.

Americans are buying guns in record numbers again. With rising crime levels in America’s big cities and the recent wave of Smash and Grab attacks at shopping malls, Americans are concerned about their security. And so they are arming themselves.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has noted that the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) processed 687,788 background checks during the week leading up to and including Black Friday. The FBI recorded 187,585 NICS checks on Black Friday 2021 alone, ranking it among the Top 10 Highest Days for NICS checks. NOTE: The NICS checks numbers are unadjusted, representing raw data from the FBI, and are inclusive of all background checks related to firearms.

Predicting a massive buying surge, the NSSF worked with firearm retailers to spread out special sales offers to customers throughout the week leading up to Black Friday. The extended sales period was intended to push out purchases over multiple days, so that the FBI NICS system was not overwhelmed on Black Friday, resulting in longer-than-normal wait times.

gun sales nics background check gun buyers

2021 May Be the Second Highest Year for Gun Sales Ever
“This figure of over 687,000 background checks [in one week] is truly remarkable,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO. “This year has already been shaping up to be the second strongest year for firearm sales on record, second only to 2020’s record-breaking number of 21 million background checks for a firearm sale. We anticipate, based on annual data, that firearm sales will rise during the final month of the year coinciding with hunting seasons and holiday sales. This figure, though, underscores the appetite for lawful firearm ownership in America and the resilience of the firearm and ammunition industry to meet that demand.”

Below are the totals for each day of unadjusted FBI NICS background checks from November 20, 2021 though Black Friday 2021 on November 26, 2021:

2021 gun sales nics background check gun buyers

Fast and Furious — FBI Processes 2.2 NICS Checks Per Second
On Black Friday 2021, the FBI NICS Background Check system processed 187,585 gun purchase checks, one of the highest daily totals ever (though not a record). In fact, so many Americans lined up to purchase firearms on Black Friday 2021 that the FBI was processing 2.2 background checks every second, triple the typical NICS daily rate.

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