Stoney Point Bench Rest Bags

Consider the basics for a moment, and it’s clear that our sport of shooting comes down to one obvious goal – i.e. hitting the target.

Irrespective of the chosen discipline, be it target shooting, match or field, extracting maximum performance from the equipment and improving the chances of success must be in everyone’s interest.  Once you accept that everything stems from a precise zero, then anything that can assist the process has to be welcomed.

These Bench Rest bags made by Stoney Point are a neat solution, and are surprisingly versatile.

A Stable Platform

Stability is the name of the game, and once properly set up, these bags provide rock steady support.

Supplied in flat-pack form, the bags first need to be filled, and the filling medium can be sand, polyethelene pellets, foam beeds or indeed anything deemed suitable. I didn’t fancy the idea of fine sand leaking all over the place, but still wanted the heavier dense feel. Dried split peas of the type easily sourced from the supermarket, proved ideal, but the filling aspect curiously differed between the two bags. The Standard front bag incorporates a small material tube as part of the design, which proved a neat feature, especially once a small funnel had been inserted. Once the bag is filled to achieve the full shape, the tube is tucked into its slip, and the bag is ready.

The rear bag comes with a large zipped area (although the reversed zip is infuriating!) which makes filling much quicker, and again a tab protects the zip area, once filling is complete.

Both bags are constructed from tough 600 denier nylon which still has the necessary amount of ‘give’ to enable the rifle to feel locked into place. A rubberized non-skid bottom means the bags stay put, whilst the slightly smoother fabric used on the contact surfaces aids ‘bedding in’ within the shaped cradles, absorbing recoil in the process.

Inexpensive

Obviously the dedicated Bench Rest boys have their hi-tech fully adjustable gun cradles, and these bags aren’t intended to compete with that sort of set-up. 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: a wobbly shooter!

In use, some form of packing to sit under the front bag may be required if the product is used at ground level, to achieve the necessary elevation, but there’s no doubting their value. Stoney Point can supply ‘Stacker’ bags but a little resourcefulness on the part of the shooter can surely sort the base.

If these bags just sat in the workshop to act as a gun holder for scope changes and maintenance etc., they’d still have earned their keep in my book, but as an aid to accuracy they excel.

In fact, to quote Stoney Point’s sales blurb “ …these rest bags are designed around the single function of helping you shoot better” ; I’d say that sums it up nicely.

The Stoney Point Standard rear bag has an RRP of £15.95 while the Stoney Point Standard front bag is £13.95. These are terrific products at a great price.