The X7 Bulls Bag Shooting System

Some writers are championship sharpshooters, some are world famous hunters, some are technical wizards, and some are more, well... like me. If I want to get a fix on a firearm's performance potential, without factoring in my personal performance, I need to shoot with a big scope and from a really solid rest. Unfortunately, when a piece of long-lived equipment like my cast iron shooting rest wears out, a direct replacement is not always available. Ever notice how tough it has become to find a really good musket these days?

In search of a long overdue rest...

I had been shooting with a heavy, cast iron rest; gun's forearm on the rest, left arm curled under the gun's buttstock, with my hand squeezing an aft rabbit ear bag to finesse elevation control. The process worked well, however, heavy use caused the rest to develop a left-leaning list. I also noticed that as I hauled more and more data collection equipment to the range, the weight and unwieldy form of a cast iron rest tended to take their toll on the other equipment loaded onto the range cart. While researching possible replacements, I ran across the X7 Bulls Bag Shooting System on Brownells' web site, #100-005-68 and decided it might be a good upgrade.

Are you familiar with Transformers?

The X7 Bulls Bag Shooting System, one of a number of products offered by the Bulls Bag Company through Brownells, is actually a modular arrangement of shooting bags of varying sizes and shapes, as pictured above. Components can be used independently or assembled into various combinations, including one large central rest as shown below.

There is some interesting engineering at work here. With the system assembled, filled with sand, cat litter or walnut/corncob media, each component is a solid structure. Moving the saddle sleeves outward pinches a firearm within the vise-grip rest and locks everything up rock solid. The weight of a firearm and the shooter's hold only increases the rest's grip on the firearm. The bags can be filled with sand, ground walnut/corncob or cat litter media. The lower density media filled bags were a little easier to lug around and they conformed more readily when adjusting the firearm or shooter's position.

Set up in the configuration pictured above, with the vise-grip attachment securely adhered with Velcro to the media filled saddle sleeves, use of the X7 significantly reduced felt recoil. The rifle pictured is chambered for the 260 Remington, not a heavy kicker by any means, but I also shot a similar weight rifle chambered for the 300 WSM. Both guns were much more comfortable to shoot over the duration of a long and active range day than they would have been if I were shooting from a conventional cast iron rest. With the rifle held tightly in the rest, the combined weight of the rifle and thirty pound rest work together to dampen recoil.

With a little imagination...

By stuffing a saddle sleeve with a low owl ear rest and rectangular rest, and inverting the assembled components on whatever is being used as a shooting bench, the result is a solid front rest with a concaved, suede lined surface to support a rifle's forearm. A second rectangular rest can be used to support the buttstock of the firearm, or the aft rest can be skipped and the gun supported solely with the shooter's shoulder. Why this combination rather than the full set up? Less to carry and set up for a field set up, if that is important to the shooter and the situation.

Components of the X7 can be arranged to facilitate handgun shooting. In this case an owl ear rest was placed atop a rectangular rest to get the right height. A second owl ear bag placed under the gun's grip provided good stability and room for a good solid hand grip.

A piece of leather was draped over the owl ear rest when shooting a revolver to protect the rest from hot gasses and powder residue escaping from the gun's cylinder gap.

The X7 Bulls Bag System comes in camo. Very effective. In fact, for a moment or two, I couldn't locate the X7 on my shooting bench. The poly fabric is heavy duty, as are the zippers. Large expanses of Velcro keep straps in place and bags don't separate in handling. .

Bag filling is easy. Each component has a double flap Velcro sealed filling point that is large enough to accept a funnel, but seals securely when closed. During a long shooting session I left no trail of filler breadcrumbs.

Lots of systems and options to select from...

The modular X-7 Bull Bag System from Brownells is priced at approximately $159. Considering it could easily be used, in most instances, in place of a cast iron rest and multiple accessory shooting bags, it is a complete system at a bargain price.

Where the X7 System may be an overkill, or if a more compact set up is needed to facilitate field use or simple range use, Brownells also offers heavy duty suede and fabric shooting bags like the one pictured above, right in 10" and 15" lengths, color fabric or camo, and a smaller four piece modular set, above left, that covers most types of rested shooting. Prices range from $30 to $99. At the Brownells' site search enter "Bulls Bag" and the entire product line will be displayed.