The Target Ragim - Product Review
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:17 pm
Hi All
One of the ongoing questions on this forum has concerned Target Butts. Well perhaps this product may be of interest to you.
Product Review of the Target Ragim.
"The Target Ragin" was supplied by John at AMSO128 for some testing and a product review. Contact John at AMSO128 if you are interested in purchasing one or a few.
The product is essentially a sack made of a heavy weave polypropylene. Sewn in at the four corners are loops for use in conjunction with ropes or ties to attach the bag to supports. One side has a series of concentric circles on it to act as a target. The instructions suggest that the bag be filled with rags or similar material. In my case I stuffed it plastic shopping bags and you will need a fair few of them. The bag does not come with any closure mechanism so I used a few zippy ties which appear to have done the job.
When stuffed it takes up a shape a bit like a pillow. Beware there is not a lot of material at the edges to stop arrows and so you need to your shots to be in the centre.
Day 1 - Longbow and Recurve
Initial testing showed that it had no difficulties in stopping wood or Aluminium arrows fitted with target points from either a 30lb laminated Longbow or a 40lb laminated Recurve. The arrow holes appear to self sealing to some level after the arrows have been removed.
Arrow Count
200 arrows were shot into the bag.
Total arrows shot 200
Next step will be to trial some Carbon Target Arrows from a Compound Bow.
I would definitely not recommend the use on broadheads or any arrow with a tip that has cutting edges on this target. They will cut the strands and the bag will have a very short life.
Day 2 - Compound Bow
Initial testing using a Compound Bow (Hoyt Raider set at 50lb) with wood arrows showed no penetration and no issues.
However, thin Target shafts (Beman Carbon) resulted in the odd arrow poking through the back. Taking the bag and jumping on it a few times to resdistribute the packing stopped the issue.
Arrow Count
200 arrows were shot into the bag using the compound bow and another 100 arrows from a longbow.
Total arrow count 500
Day 3 - More Compound Bows
Further testing using a Hoyt Protec set at 50lb approx and using X7 Cobalts showed no penetration of the bag. Changing over to Easton ACE’s and the tip of the arrow started to show through. Using a Mathews’ Apex and ACE’s and penetration started to become more common. However it should be noted by this stage that the central area of the bag had had several hundred arrows shot into it.
The intention is to change the packing material – to a cloth material – and do some more testing with respect to penetration.
A small issue did arise with the use of the Beman Target arrows. The arrows use a tip which is fitted over the arrow shaft resulting in a definite lip. This lip would catch everytimee the arrow was withdrawn from the bag causing the edges of the bag material to occasionally be broken. In my opinion – the use of tip which catch as they are withdrawn may reduce the life of the bag.
A FITA Field Target Face was fitted to the bag using some hooks and rubber connecting bands. As part of this process the bag was attached using ropes to two Star Pickets drive into the round approximately 1 metre apart. Checking out the possibility of using the bag as a Field target. Results so far are very favourable however next time I will use “Occy†straps to attach the bag to the Star Pickets. It would be good if the bag was available in a size that enabled use of a large size FITA Field Target Face.
Arrow Count
The bag had another 50 arrows from the three compound bows shot into it.
Total Arrow Count 550
Day 4
More aluminium arrows shot into the bag. 30lb Longbow and 1716 Easton Jazz arrows.
Arrow Count
100 arrows shot.
Total Arrows shot 650.
Day 5 - Recurve and Wood Arrows
Bit of a change. Used my recurve 40lb and POC shafts. The bag stopped them without any problems whatsoever. Although I had to make a point of moving around the target so I did not start smashing arrows.
Arrow Count
100 Arrows
Total Arrows Shot - 750
The intention is to keep testing this product over the longer term to ascertain it longevity.
One of the ongoing questions on this forum has concerned Target Butts. Well perhaps this product may be of interest to you.
Product Review of the Target Ragim.
"The Target Ragin" was supplied by John at AMSO128 for some testing and a product review. Contact John at AMSO128 if you are interested in purchasing one or a few.
The product is essentially a sack made of a heavy weave polypropylene. Sewn in at the four corners are loops for use in conjunction with ropes or ties to attach the bag to supports. One side has a series of concentric circles on it to act as a target. The instructions suggest that the bag be filled with rags or similar material. In my case I stuffed it plastic shopping bags and you will need a fair few of them. The bag does not come with any closure mechanism so I used a few zippy ties which appear to have done the job.
When stuffed it takes up a shape a bit like a pillow. Beware there is not a lot of material at the edges to stop arrows and so you need to your shots to be in the centre.
Day 1 - Longbow and Recurve
Initial testing showed that it had no difficulties in stopping wood or Aluminium arrows fitted with target points from either a 30lb laminated Longbow or a 40lb laminated Recurve. The arrow holes appear to self sealing to some level after the arrows have been removed.
Arrow Count
200 arrows were shot into the bag.
Total arrows shot 200
Next step will be to trial some Carbon Target Arrows from a Compound Bow.
I would definitely not recommend the use on broadheads or any arrow with a tip that has cutting edges on this target. They will cut the strands and the bag will have a very short life.
Day 2 - Compound Bow
Initial testing using a Compound Bow (Hoyt Raider set at 50lb) with wood arrows showed no penetration and no issues.
However, thin Target shafts (Beman Carbon) resulted in the odd arrow poking through the back. Taking the bag and jumping on it a few times to resdistribute the packing stopped the issue.
Arrow Count
200 arrows were shot into the bag using the compound bow and another 100 arrows from a longbow.
Total arrow count 500
Day 3 - More Compound Bows
Further testing using a Hoyt Protec set at 50lb approx and using X7 Cobalts showed no penetration of the bag. Changing over to Easton ACE’s and the tip of the arrow started to show through. Using a Mathews’ Apex and ACE’s and penetration started to become more common. However it should be noted by this stage that the central area of the bag had had several hundred arrows shot into it.
The intention is to change the packing material – to a cloth material – and do some more testing with respect to penetration.
A small issue did arise with the use of the Beman Target arrows. The arrows use a tip which is fitted over the arrow shaft resulting in a definite lip. This lip would catch everytimee the arrow was withdrawn from the bag causing the edges of the bag material to occasionally be broken. In my opinion – the use of tip which catch as they are withdrawn may reduce the life of the bag.
A FITA Field Target Face was fitted to the bag using some hooks and rubber connecting bands. As part of this process the bag was attached using ropes to two Star Pickets drive into the round approximately 1 metre apart. Checking out the possibility of using the bag as a Field target. Results so far are very favourable however next time I will use “Occy†straps to attach the bag to the Star Pickets. It would be good if the bag was available in a size that enabled use of a large size FITA Field Target Face.
Arrow Count
The bag had another 50 arrows from the three compound bows shot into it.
Total Arrow Count 550
Day 4
More aluminium arrows shot into the bag. 30lb Longbow and 1716 Easton Jazz arrows.
Arrow Count
100 arrows shot.
Total Arrows shot 650.
Day 5 - Recurve and Wood Arrows
Bit of a change. Used my recurve 40lb and POC shafts. The bag stopped them without any problems whatsoever. Although I had to make a point of moving around the target so I did not start smashing arrows.
Arrow Count
100 Arrows
Total Arrows Shot - 750
The intention is to keep testing this product over the longer term to ascertain it longevity.