Bench Bags

Bench Bags are a great accessory, and make a fabulous gift too. They are also reasonably priced and highly versatile. All good shooting stems from a precise zero, so anything that can assist the process has to be welcomed. Stability is the name of the game, and once properly set up, these bags available from Deben Group, provide rock steady support.

Supplied in flat-pack form, the bags first need to be filled, and the filling medium can be sand, polystyrene pellets, foam beads or indeed anything deemed suitable. Fine sand may have the optimum feel, but I opted for dried split peas, easily sourced from the supermarket, which proved ideal. These just need to be poured into the covered filling holes, via a jug and funnel, to aid efficient pouring. Once the bag is filled to achieve the full shape, and desired level of ‘give’, the filling holes are sealed up, and the bag is ready. Both bags are constructed from tough nylon which still has the necessary amount of give to enable the rifle to feel settled and locked into place. A rubberized non-skid bottom means the bags stay put too, whilst the slightly smoother fabric used on the contact surfaces aids `bedding in` within the shaped cradles, absorbing recoil in the process. With no metal parts, and just soft contact points, the gun is cosseted and free from scratching.

Obviously dedicated Bench Rest shooters will still opt for their hi-tech fully adjustable gun cradles, but to be fair, these range bags aren`t intended to compete with that gear. What they do offer, however, is an inexpensive taster to just what can be achieved when more variables are removed from the equation – i.e the human factor!