Bag-Boosting Trick for Prone Shooting
Most rear sand-bags (from Edgewood, or Protektor, or SEB) are optimized for use on the bench with low-profile stock designs like the McMillan Edge or Kelbly Klub. If you use these bags when shooting from the ground F-Class style or with bipod, you may find the rifle is too low to the ground for comfort. Yes you can suck in your belly and crank down your front rest, but it makes more sense to elevate the rear bag. Jason Baney has a simple solution that costs under $4.00 in materials.
Get a small 12″x12″ section of 1″ thick plywood and trim it to fit the base of your bag, leaving maybe 1/2″ extra on all sides. Then get some rubberized, waffle-pattern GRIP-IT shelf-liner from your local home improvement center, and attach it to the underside of the wood. Alternatively, if you want a more rigid base (with less ‘give’) for hard, flat ground, use high-durometer unlined Neoprene, available from industrial supply shops. Glue a layer of shelf liner or Neoprene on the bottom and top of the plywood. This will give good grip on your shooting mat and provide a stable, non-slip surface for the base of your sandbag. If you need more elevation, just use a thicker piece of wood, or sandwich two pieces together. NOTE: We’ve used the shelf liner with zero problems on a concrete bench, but some folks say the shelf liner is too squishy for serious BR work. If you’re concerned about that, use the hard neoprene instead.
If you need a riser with more mass, Dave Dohrmann sells high-durometer Neoprene riser pads in 1/2″ through 1″ thicknesses, starting at $22.00. Dave offers risers cut to fit both Protektor and Edgewood footprints. Call Dave at 864-884-0155 or email dbugholes[@]aol.com. With textured surfaces top and bottom, Dave’s heavy pads work equally well to elevate your bag on the bench.
(2) The use of any form of a table is prohibited.
Separate flat boards or plates not exceeding the
front to rear and left to right dimensions of the
individual rests by two inches are allowed to be
placed under the front and/or rear rests. See Rule
3.4.1(a)(1)
The rules don’t say you can use rubber mats…
EDITOR: BSH, presumably you are referring to NRA F-Class Rules.
I think you have misunderstood the article or perhaps were confused by the photo of the mat material.
Please Consider–
1. We are NOT advocating the use of a large, free-standing mat. Rather the mat material is attached to the bottom of the bag or to a wood or rubber riser.
2. The non-skid Grip-It mat material is cut to fit the bottom of your rear sandbag. It is permanently attached. We find absolutely nothing in the rules that prohibits this. Under the rule you quote, a flat board that conforms to the dimensions of the bag fully complies with the rules. THAT is what we are recommending. If you read the article it says: “Get a small 12″x12″ section of 1″ thick plywood and trim it to fit the base of your bag, leaving maybe 1/2″ extra on all sides.”
3. If you think the rubber bottom is illegal for F-Class, simply use rough-out suede or coat the bottom with non-skid paint. I very much doubt that a thin layer of rubber would draw a protest.
4. Even in Short-range benchrest, a bag with a rubber riser is legal. See IBS rules II (H) 3: “The rear sandbag shall be a bag, or combination of bags containing sand only. The bag must be able to be deflected horizontally at least ¼” with finger pressure at any point, except for the bottom 1 inch of the bag, which may be hard. A vertical spacer under the rear bag will be allowed as long as it incorporates no adjustments for windage or elevation. The vertical spacer shall not contain any protrusions, which can be inserted into the bench top or the sandbag.”
5. Though we are NOT advocating spreading the Grip-It mat over the base of a shooting mat during prone shooting, I don’t see any rule prohibiting that if it is simply used to enhance shooter comfort. In fact, many commercial shooting mats used commonly in prone matches have padded rubberized sections. I’ve never seen one protested.
For 1000yd BR, just laying the mat between the bag and the bench works just fine. BR shooters have been doing it for a long time. It is not too squishy as the 15+ bag full of heavy sand on top of it takes out the spongy part and just sticks it to the table. I have only used it on wood-top benches…
I suggest that while choosing the rear bags you need to check that the bag should be water resistance and heat prone and should have maximum capacity to handle the heavy loaded guns. And you can opt it after checking the ratings and reading the reviews of the products.