I'm a CHEAP BASTARD so I decided to try my hand at making some nice looking and functional bag rests. Having used the POLY BEADS before, I decided to stick with the form a few reasons... 1) if the bag gets wet, no big deal, poly beads are plastic and won't get ruined nor will they hold moisture like other filler materials; 2) light weight, yet firm solid when you squeeze them; 3) conformity... they "mold" and "conform" well, like a true sand bag, but without the weight.
Here are the supplies, I spent about $40 total and have most of the para cord left and some cloth, enough to make maybe three more bags:
Poly beads are $7 a bag, para cord was $2.50, cloth was like $10.00 for a square yard. Maybe buying the beads on line in bulk would save money...
At first I tried FABRIC GLUE... and while it has worked FANTASIC on other types of cloth (socks), it totally sucked on the material I bought... so... I put a call in to my Sister-in-law and borrowed her sewing machine.
I made several bags of different sizes, complete with a para cord tab to I can secure the bags to my person or rifle, and I even made a wedge shaped bag... while it won't win no geometry prize at the school science fair, it works great... Maybe I'll offer Signal-0 rest bags...
I double-stitched the seams and the bags are not TAOTALY FULL so I expect them to be quite durable.
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