Choosing Your Bag Fill

Bags and fills

Shooting bags are like choosing a lover, they really need to fit you well and feel good in your hands!

Some like them light, some like them medium and some like them heavy and thick!

From the time we started the Freedom Shack with our first bags that Chris sewed for the two of us, we have not stopped experimenting with different materials and fill types.  This has gone on now for nearly 3 straight years.  We order different material constantly, try different fills from anywhere we can source them.  I have literally burned/trashed ridiculous amounts of material and HUNDREDS of pounds of fills.  I take these different materials and fill types to the range/matches and hand them out for people to try and give me feed back.  If the feed back is poor, it is trashed.  

My policy has been to OVERSTUFF every bag we ship so the user can empty the bag out and adjust to their liking.  We even include a cool little 4"x6" card stating it is overfilled and to adjust it, it also has a back side filled with cool MIL/MOA converstions, target estimations etc.  

Over the last month I have had the opportunity to NOT be the spotter and actually watch other shooters shoot.  I've spent nearly 3 years behind binoculars calling hits and haven't had the opportunity to watch others shoot.  Honestly it's been a great learning experience.  I've also had the chance to see how many bags are not working like they should because shooters aren't taking the time to empty the fill out and adjust them to their liking.  An overstuffed bag is NOT STABLE!

We are implementing a change based on this.  The fact is a bag stuffed full simply doesn't work, it is too hard to "grab" an obstacle and to stabilize the rifle.  Our bags will now ship at a level of fill that I personally find to be SLIGHTLY overfilled but will still work well.  

Nearly all of our bags are priced EMPTY, they each have a drop down menu for you to choose the fill type you want.   All of our bags have very easy to use fill ports.  

SAND is a cheap and stable fill, we offered it in the past and have decided to no longer offer it.  If you'd like to use sand as a fill, simply order an empty bag and you can fill it with whatever sand you like.  Any sand performs about the same as the cleanest nicest store bought sand you can buy.  Sand will weigh around 10 pounds in a Sand Castle, for reference.

TFS LIGHT.  This is a polymer fill we actually had made through development with a very good friend of mine who owns a large polymer company.  This is hands down the most stable light fill you will find.  The polymer doesn't absorb water, stays pliable in cold weather and unless you are an extremely talented/stable shooter, you will likely not tell the difference between our TFS LIGHT and any other.

The TFS light in a Sand Castle weighs in at 3.6

The TFS light in a Fatty weighs in at  3.8

The TFS light in a F1 weighs in at 4.3. 

CODE 3, is a special product from Spexlite. Code 3 forms well and is very stable.  Code 3 in a Sand Castle is about 6.2#'s.  Code 3 is the most stable fill we have found and it is substantially lighter than sand.

We offer a CRUSHED GLASS from Spexlite, if you like the feel of sand this is similar but weighs about 25% less, coming in around 8#'s.

GINNY FILL is another Spexlite filler we offer.  This is our lightest option and if you want a light bag that works really well for it's weight, this is the one for you!  A Sand Castle or F1 come in in the 3.5# area.

We will absolutely continue to improve and evolve.  The difference between our company and others is we are out there shooting matches, listening to and trying feedback and in my mind NOTHING is ever perfect, so keep trying to improve.