I was getting ready to throw out an old pair of Levi's that I almost never wore when my wife came up with a great idea.  "Why don't you just make those shooting sand bags you've been wanting?" she said...brilliant.  I don't buy Levi's anymore because of their political beliefs and the irony was not lost on me.  So, after a brief sewing lesson, I went at it.

Total cost you ask, $2.35 for 50 lbs of fine/clean sand (probably could have raided the kids sandbox next door but didn't want "smelly" sand).  So now I've got 10 new sandbags to shoot from and it cost me almost nothing.  Now I'm thinking about making a soft rifle case or two.

Anybody else make their own gear?  I'm kind of a cheapskate I guess but who the hell wants to spend ammo money on bags and cases?

I use a standard GI Bootsock filled with dried beans as a 'butt-bag' for my precision bolt-action.  I've seen guys use jeans for the same purpose, with a clip sewn to the jeans, then clipped to the rear swivel so the pick it up when they pickup the rifle to move to the next shooting position.

Later,

JC

I used my old jeans legs, (went to Carharts when Levis went anti), and filled them with the beans and rice I bought for Y2K. No way I could eat all those anyway!