Rear shooting bags?

O

ohihunter2014

New member
I am going to order a protektor rear bag but i'm not entirely sure what to order? I see bunny ears, rabbit ears, medium, tall. I will be using this with a mechanical front rest just for basic bench work. I understand the whole height thing but what's the deal with bunny ear vs rabbit ears? I also take it i should get the hard bottom version too?
 
Ok, think about your rifle range. When you are sit up on the bench, are you shooting down hill?

If so, then you need a riser or thick bottom. For informal shooting, I have glued layers of plywood on the bottom of a regular rabbit ear bag go get height. Then glued a sheet of cloth backed sand paper on the bottom of the plywood.

Rifle rests can be a trick to adjust if shooting down hill, I had to take the height adjustment off of my Hart and Sinclair, and the Bald Eagle is extremely high.

One issue you did not think about is the sand. I encourage you to use the "Heavy Sand", and never use sand out of a creek bed as it will eat up your bag from the minerals that are in it that will react with the chemicals used to tan the leather.

Bunny vs Rabbit ears has a lot to do with your shooting style. If you shoot free recoil, then you may prefer the very short ears. If you shoot with your cheek touching the rifle, then std rabbit ears will help stabilize the gun as a right handed shooter will steer the muzzle to the left with cheek pressure under recoil.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanOk, think about your rifle range. When you are sit up on the bench, are you shooting down hill?

If so, then you need a riser or thick bottom. For informal shooting, I have glued layers of plywood on the bottom of a regular rabbit ear bag go get height. Then glued a sheet of cloth backed sand paper on the bottom of the plywood.

Rifle rests can be a trick to adjust if shooting down hill, I had to take the height adjustment off of my Hart and Sinclair, and the Bald Eagle is extremely high.

One issue you did not think about is the sand. I encourage you to use the "Heavy Sand", and never use sand out of a creek bed as it will eat up your bag from the minerals that are in it that will react with the chemicals used to tan the leather.

Bunny vs Rabbit ears has a lot to do with your shooting style. If you shoot free recoil, then you may prefer the very short ears. If you shoot with your cheek touching the rifle, then std rabbit ears will help stabilize the gun as a right handed shooter will steer the muzzle to the left with cheek pressure under recoil.

No hills at my range its completely flat. I believe the bags come pre filled so i wont be putting creek sand in them.

I am just shooting a basic 223rem and a lever action. I do shoot with my cheek touching the rifle.

Thanks for your reply.
 
Along with what Ackleyman said...

A lot of personal preference involved. But, also some objective factors to consider.

Stock shape/design. A monte carlo, for instance, can get some funky tracking happening with rabbit ears. Bad ju-ju for groups. Where a classic design would not have this issue. But bunny ears are going to be a lot more forgiving, in general, for pure group shooting.

For reasons related to the above, generally speaking, a bunny ear is going to be easier to get good groups with at the range. Generally. There are definitely exceptions.

Flip side... In the field, shooting colony varmints off a table. I always would rather have rabbit ears, no matter what kind of stock design. Even with bench rest stocks designed to ride bunny ear bags. I'd rather use rabbit ears. The rabbit ears allow orders of magnitude more flexibility in elevation via squeezing. When you don't know where your next shot is going to happen and it could be at a steep angle either high or low, rabbit ears are the ONLY way to fly.

So, again, there is a lot of personal preference involved, but at the same time, stock design interaction with the bag absolutely will have an influence on group size - you'll have an easier time getting smaller groups with bunny ears, all else being equal. Since they mostly won't make contact with embellishments like monte carlos. But you'll have a much easier time getting a good sight picture at random angles in the field with rabbit ears, all else being equal.

Along similar lines... I like my bunny ear "group shooting" bags to be very full and very, very heavy (I use a mixture of #9 lead shot and heavy sand). With ultra rigid flat bottoms. But I like my field/colony varmint shooting rabbit ear bags to be much lighter and way more "squeezable" so I have them filled with plain old sand and I even like the bottoms to be flexible. In that application, it's not about shooting groups, it's about getting rock steady on a specific point in space.

- DAA
 
I filled my bag with ash tray sand. Very fine and heavy. My bag also has a 3/4 inch leather pad on the bottom. Works great on a bench but would hate to lug it into the field.
 
Originally Posted By: DAAAlong with what Ackleyman said...

A lot of personal preference involved. But, also some objective factors to consider.

Stock shape/design. A monte carlo, for instance, can get some funky tracking happening with rabbit ears. Bad ju-ju for groups. Where a classic design would not have this issue. But bunny ears are going to be a lot more forgiving, in general, for pure group shooting.

For reasons related to the above, generally speaking, a bunny ear is going to be easier to get good groups with at the range. Generally. There are definitely exceptions.

Flip side... In the field, shooting colony varmints off a table. I always would rather have rabbit ears, no matter what kind of stock design. Even with bench rest stocks designed to ride bunny ear bags. I'd rather use rabbit ears. The rabbit ears allow orders of magnitude more flexibility in elevation via squeezing. When you don't know where your next shot is going to happen and it could be at a steep angle either high or low, rabbit ears are the ONLY way to fly.

So, again, there is a lot of personal preference involved, but at the same time, stock design interaction with the bag absolutely will have an influence on group size - you'll have an easier time getting smaller groups with bunny ears, all else being equal. Since they mostly won't make contact with embellishments like monte carlos. But you'll have a much easier time getting a good sight picture at random angles in the field with rabbit ears, all else being equal.

Along similar lines... I like my bunny ear "group shooting" bags to be very full and very, very heavy (I use a mixture of #9 lead shot and heavy sand). With ultra rigid flat bottoms. But I like my field/colony varmint shooting rabbit ear bags to be much lighter and way more "squeezable" so I have them filled with plain old sand and I even like the bottoms to be flexible. In that application, it's not about shooting groups, it's about getting rock steady on a specific point in space.

- DAA
What makes the bunny ears better for group shooting? I am either putting a Boyds classic or Boyds thumbhole stock on it.
 
Originally Posted By: ohihunter2014Originally Posted By: DAAAlong with what Ackleyman said...

A lot of personal preference involved. But, also some objective factors to consider.

Stock shape/design. A monte carlo, for instance, can get some funky tracking happening with rabbit ears. Bad ju-ju for groups. Where a classic design would not have this issue. But bunny ears are going to be a lot more forgiving, in general, for pure group shooting.

For reasons related to the above, generally speaking, a bunny ear is going to be easier to get good groups with at the range. Generally. There are definitely exceptions.

Flip side... In the field, shooting colony varmints off a table. I always would rather have rabbit ears, no matter what kind of stock design. Even with bench rest stocks designed to ride bunny ear bags. I'd rather use rabbit ears. The rabbit ears allow orders of magnitude more flexibility in elevation via squeezing. When you don't know where your next shot is going to happen and it could be at a steep angle either high or low, rabbit ears are the ONLY way to fly.

So, again, there is a lot of personal preference involved, but at the same time, stock design interaction with the bag absolutely will have an influence on group size - you'll have an easier time getting smaller groups with bunny ears, all else being equal. Since they mostly won't make contact with embellishments like monte carlos. But you'll have a much easier time getting a good sight picture at random angles in the field with rabbit ears, all else being equal.

Along similar lines... I like my bunny ear "group shooting" bags to be very full and very, very heavy (I use a mixture of #9 lead shot and heavy sand). With ultra rigid flat bottoms. But I like my field/colony varmint shooting rabbit ear bags to be much lighter and way more "squeezable" so I have them filled with plain old sand and I even like the bottoms to be flexible. In that application, it's not about shooting groups, it's about getting rock steady on a specific point in space.

- DAA
What makes the bunny ears better for group shooting? I am either putting a Boyds classic or Boyds thumbhole stock on it.


Originally Posted By: DAAStock shape/design. A monte carlo, for instance, can get some funky tracking happening with rabbit ears. Bad ju-ju for groups. Where a classic design would not have this issue. But bunny ears are going to be a lot more forgiving, in general, for pure group shooting.

...stock design interaction with the bag absolutely will have an influence on group size - you'll have an easier time getting smaller groups with bunny ears, all else being equal. Since they mostly won't make contact with embellishments like monte carlos.

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: ohihunter2014Originally Posted By: DAAAlong with what Ackleyman said...

A lot of personal preference involved. But, also some objective factors to consider.

Stock shape/design. A monte carlo, for instance, can get some funky tracking happening with rabbit ears. Bad ju-ju for groups. Where a classic design would not have this issue. But bunny ears are going to be a lot more forgiving, in general, for pure group shooting.

For reasons related to the above, generally speaking, a bunny ear is going to be easier to get good groups with at the range. Generally. There are definitely exceptions.

Flip side... In the field, shooting colony varmints off a table. I always would rather have rabbit ears, no matter what kind of stock design. Even with bench rest stocks designed to ride bunny ear bags. I'd rather use rabbit ears. The rabbit ears allow orders of magnitude more flexibility in elevation via squeezing. When you don't know where your next shot is going to happen and it could be at a steep angle either high or low, rabbit ears are the ONLY way to fly.

So, again, there is a lot of personal preference involved, but at the same time, stock design interaction with the bag absolutely will have an influence on group size - you'll have an easier time getting smaller groups with bunny ears, all else being equal. Since they mostly won't make contact with embellishments like monte carlos. But you'll have a much easier time getting a good sight picture at random angles in the field with rabbit ears, all else being equal.

Along similar lines... I like my bunny ear "group shooting" bags to be very full and very, very heavy (I use a mixture of #9 lead shot and heavy sand). With ultra rigid flat bottoms. But I like my field/colony varmint shooting rabbit ear bags to be much lighter and way more "squeezable" so I have them filled with plain old sand and I even like the bottoms to be flexible. In that application, it's not about shooting groups, it's about getting rock steady on a specific point in space.

- DAA
What makes the bunny ears better for group shooting? I am either putting a Boyds classic or Boyds thumbhole stock on it.
what type of rifle action in this stock?
 
Originally Posted By: Catdog1Originally Posted By: ohihunter2014Originally Posted By: DAAAlong with what Ackleyman said...

A lot of personal preference involved. But, also some objective factors to consider.

Stock shape/design. A monte carlo, for instance, can get some funky tracking happening with rabbit ears. Bad ju-ju for groups. Where a classic design would not have this issue. But bunny ears are going to be a lot more forgiving, in general, for pure group shooting.

For reasons related to the above, generally speaking, a bunny ear is going to be easier to get good groups with at the range. Generally. There are definitely exceptions.

Flip side... In the field, shooting colony varmints off a table. I always would rather have rabbit ears, no matter what kind of stock design. Even with bench rest stocks designed to ride bunny ear bags. I'd rather use rabbit ears. The rabbit ears allow orders of magnitude more flexibility in elevation via squeezing. When you don't know where your next shot is going to happen and it could be at a steep angle either high or low, rabbit ears are the ONLY way to fly.

So, again, there is a lot of personal preference involved, but at the same time, stock design interaction with the bag absolutely will have an influence on group size - you'll have an easier time getting smaller groups with bunny ears, all else being equal. Since they mostly won't make contact with embellishments like monte carlos. But you'll have a much easier time getting a good sight picture at random angles in the field with rabbit ears, all else being equal.

Along similar lines... I like my bunny ear "group shooting" bags to be very full and very, very heavy (I use a mixture of #9 lead shot and heavy sand). With ultra rigid flat bottoms. But I like my field/colony varmint shooting rabbit ear bags to be much lighter and way more "squeezable" so I have them filled with plain old sand and I even like the bottoms to be flexible. In that application, it's not about shooting groups, it's about getting rock steady on a specific point in space.

- DAA
What makes the bunny ears better for group shooting? I am either putting a Boyds classic or Boyds thumbhole stock on it.
what type of rifle action in this stock?
Bolt action savage axis 223
 
Was bringing up this thread again because I was looking to buy a Protektor rear bag also and wanted to get the right one the first time. Looking at the 13b model, which is the basic taller $50 hard bottom rabbit ear model. Will this work with say a HTG stock ok or a Savage BVSS just for a few examples? Will I gain over my jean sand bags? Front rest is a medium dog-gone-good bag. Thanks for the help!
 
What is the width at the very bottom of your buttstock?
The part that would be resting in the bottom of the "V" of the ears of the bag?
Is the bottom of your buttstock rounded or flat?
 
xphunter, yes thanks. The bottom of my stocks are rounded, the part of the McMillan htg is probably 3/8 on the bottom. BVSS is also roundedand closer to1/2 inch, then there will be older Rem rifles 700s, 788 too. I would like to thank Ackleyman and DAA for there inputs on this, it has been very educational.
 
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