There Is No "Best" Shooting Bag Fill
There's a best fill for what you're trying to make the bag do.
We've tested walnut, HDPE, ABS, LDPE, regrind, beads and ultralight materials over the years. And we learned something pretty quickly:
Change the fill and you can completely change how a shooting bag performs.
A fill that feels fantastic in a rear squeeze bag can make a barricade bag fall off the barricade. That's why we don't have one "premium" fill that we dump into everything. That's also why we don't sell unfilled bags. Fill isn’t just something that takes up space — its weight, flow, compression and stability all affect how the bag performs. Using the wrong material can completely change the feel and function of the bag.
We’ve extensively tested different fills for different applications, so when you buy a CROSSTAC bag, you’re getting the geometry, materials and fill working together as a system. Shipping a bag empty may save a little freight, but it also leaves one of the most important performance variables up to chance - the fill.
We use the fill that makes the bag work the way it was designed to work.
LockFill™ — Custom Walnut Blend
Best when the bag needs to conform, settle and stay put.
We didn't choose walnut because it's traditional. We chose it because of how it behaves under pressure. And it's not just one off-the-shelf walnut media. We tested different grinds and eventually developed a specific blend of walnut particle sizes that gives us the behavior we want.
Put the bag under load and the irregular particles settle against each other and mechanically lock together, creating a remarkably stable platform. But the fill remains malleable enough to conform around the rifle and shooting surface and help damp the small movements and vibrations between the shooter, rifle and support.
Think about shooting off a good ruck.
Damped. Supported. Planted.
Why We Use It in the JESTER
We tried plastic fill in the JESTER. It didn't work. The plastic moved too freely inside the bag. Put the JESTER on certain barricades and instead of settling into position and staying there, the fill continued moving—and the bag could eventually work its way right off the barricade.
Our custom walnut blend behaves completely differently. It settled around the obstacle, loaded up and stayed there.
That's why the JESTER uses LockFill™.
The downside? Walnut is heavier. If you're carrying a bag for miles, that's worth considering. If you're trying to create the most stable platform possible on a barricade, the weight can actually be your friend.
FlowFill™ — Smooth LDPE Fill
Best when the shooter needs smooth, controlled adjustment.
Plastic isn't just plastic. We tested HDPE, ABS, regrind, different bead shapes and other materials looking for the right feel. Some worked mechanically but felt terrible in the hand.
Harder plastics can have a distinct crunchy, granular feel when squeezed. You feel the individual pieces moving and grinding against each other instead of simply feeling the bag change shape. Eventually we settled on the LDPE media we use today.
It's smooth and slick enough that the particles move easily against each other, giving the bag a controlled, fluid feel without calling attention to the individual beads inside.
This really matters in something like a rear squeeze bag.
You're making tiny elevation corrections with your hand, around .001" means about a minute of angle (MOA) at 100 yards. You want the bag to respond smoothly and predictably—not feel like you're squeezing a sack of gravel. The best way to describe our FlowFill™ is it feels "glossy"
That's why our adjustable shooting bags use FlowFill™ where smooth movement matters more than mechanically locking the fill in place.
LiteFill™ — Ultralight Fill
Best when ounces matter.
Sometimes the biggest problem isn't how a bag feels. It's carrying the damn thing. LiteFill™ dramatically reduces the weight of a shooting bag while still giving you a useful, adjustable shooting support.
For hunters, field shooters and competitors carrying gear from position to position, that weight difference can be enormous. But ultralight materials come with a tradeoff.
The fill isn't designed to be repeatedly crushed as hard as you can squeeze it. Excessive compression can eventually break down and compact the lightweight media. Fortunately, that's not how a rear squeeze bag is supposed to be used anyway. Again, small changes in hand pressure produce the elevation adjustment you need.
Be warned though, it's a shooting bag. Not a stress ball. Don't let your buddy try to crush it.
Use it normally and enjoy the weight savings. Hand it to your meathead buddy so he can demonstrate his grip strength all afternoon and eventually he's going to crush the fill.
That's not shooting. That's you're buddy being a smart@ss. Give him a water, and park him in the shade with a cap gun for the rest of the day.
So Which Fill Is Best?
Wrong question.
Ask: What does this particular shooting bag need to do?
If we need the fill to conform and mechanically settle under load, we'll choose LockFill™. If we need smooth, precise adjustment and great tactile feel, we'll choose FlowFill™. If carrying weight matters more than ultimate fill durability, we'll choose LiteFill™.
Sometimes that makes the bag heavier. Sometimes it makes it lighter. Sometimes it costs us more to manufacture.
That's okay, function first.
We don't choose the fill because it makes a good bullet point on the package. We choose it because it makes the shooting bag work better.
That's how we design gear at CROSSTAC.