Protektor Dr Bag

Sometimes trying to find the best rear bag set-up for your particular shooting discipline can be a bit frustrating to say the least. Things can get more complicated when you are shooting at 600 plus yards with a twenty-two pound benchrest or F-Class rifle. Most of these rifles utilize custom laminate or fiberglass stocks that have at least a half inch wide flat rear. The goal of shooting off of a rest and rear bag combo is for the rifle to track smooth and true during and after each shot. This means that upon recoil, the rifle should push straight back into your shoulder as if it is gliding on ball bearings with no canting from side to side. The last thing that you need is to be fiddling with your rear bag when shooting starts instead of concentrating on changing conditions down range after every shot.

So where do you find a rear bag that can tame that big, heavy and hard recoiling rifle? Well, it seems that Protektor has diagnosed the symptoms and has a cure with their new top-of-the-line “ Dr “ or Doctor bags ( #BAG45 – cordura version and #BAG46 – leather version). The Dr. bags resemble the Protektor Deluxe series (#BAG40 and 41) only on steroids! This bag has an integral doughnut bottom comprised of 3 layers of stiff leather and the sidewalls have stiffer leather than most bags, which prevents “rounding” of the bag over time. It has three rows of stitching (which is 1/2 inch) between the ears to create the proper spacing for larger stocks. The 4″ tall body is coupled to extra long (5″x 2″ tall) mid ears. The longer ears aid in reducing recoil torque by grasping more of the rear portion of the stock, thus keeping it more in place. With a heavy-sand weight of fifteen plus pounds, this bag set up definitely stays solid. Well, as an F-Class and long range bench shooter, I definitely wanted to give this new bag a try, and share my thoughts. Well, I gathered up my gear and headed to the range to see how this bag worked! Here is a list of equipment used in my test:

(1) 1000yd.range with solid wood bench.
(2) Sinclair Generation II Rest with Windage (# 04-2780) outfitted with a Protektor 3” cordura front bag (BAG#28)
(3) Protektor Dr rear bag (#BAG45 – cordura version)
(4) Silicone bag spray (# 04-115)
(5) Remington 700 target rifle wearing a McMillan fiberglass benchrest stock with 3″ fore end and a 1/2″ flat rear, weighing 16.6 lbs. chambered in 6mm BR Norma.

When I first saw the construction and the layout of the Dr. Bag, I was excited to put it to the test and see what it had to offer. Maybe it would “cure” some of the ailments that a standard rear bag can have at times. I headed out to the range to designate a day dedicated to testing out the performance of my rifle shooting off of the Dr. Bag. While sitting at the bench, I aligned the front rest with the rear bag and sprayed both bags with silicone spray. I find that you can set the rifle in nice and straight leaving roughly an inch or so of butt stock hanging out the rear of the Dr. Bag when the rifle is up against the fore end stop of your front rest. The rifle should glide from shoulder to front stop and back effortlessly. In return the rifle should slide smoothly back into battery (to the front rest stop after firing. What about recoil torque or heavy bolt lift? With the rifle just touching my shoulder, five rounds went down range in a slow deliberate manner to see if point of aim changed each time the rifle was slid back into battery. There was no recoil torque dispersion as the rifle smoothly went back into position after each fired round. The speed screw on the Sinclair front rest had to be utilized twice for minor elevation changes between shots, and the windage changed once. The results were good with five shot and five hits on a steel target letting me see each impact! Ten more rounds were then fired with the same result. Minor corrections with elevation and windage, but there were no issues with recoil or sticky extraction. After two days of shooting from 100 to 1000 yards the Protektor Dr. rear bag performed flawlessly in this particular scenario. The only limiting factor during testing had to be the shooter or as we say, “The Nut Behind the Butt ”

So, in conclusion, if you are planning to build a new rifle for benchrest or F-Class and you’re thinking about a new rear bag you might want to give the Dr Bag some serious consideration. It’s big, heavy and allows your rifle to track consistantly. The price is right at under $100.00. It may just what the Doctor ordered!

“Good Shooting,Be Safe and Keep’em in the Ten Ring!!”

Rod Green
Reloading Technician/Sales
Sinclair International

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 10:56 am and is filed under Product Spotlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.