I am a tightwad, so I want to spend as little $ as possible. Can anyone recommend something to fill weight bags with? I have considered used wheel weights (tire stores around here are getting $50 for a 5 gallon bucket). A foundry I know uses steel shot in it's blast machines but getting some is impossible. Sand has been suggested but I am looking for something heavier. Maybe some horse apples .

I use a ratchet strap. Cheaper than lead, and way lighter. Have to be a tad careful cause you can break a stock if held to tight on a heavy recoil rifle.

not sure what you consider "heavy" or "cheap", but things I have seen used are rice, flour, BB's, fish weights, bulk lead shot (for reloading shotgun shells), borax, etc... basically anything that is loose and fine....

another thing I've seen done that works really good for being heavy is to use coins, mainly pennies... and in the end, you'd still have the money

I just use my shoulder!

I've seen sand bags made from old jean legs and they seem to work Ok.

Joe

A friend of mine uses pea gravel. It's cheap from any landscaping place and it's heavy.

Brosia

Try holding it down with a 223 that works the best.

A ratchet strap works well, I strap down the sled only not the gun to the sled, only problem is you can't use a strap everywhere you shoot.

You have to look at the density of the metal.

Sand is not dense, but can make weight by just adding more sand.

Pea Gravel is not heavy at all, you are talking about a LEAD sled here and not a dump truck.

A ratchet strap does not allow the sled to move with the recoil of the firearm and will probably damage the sled with time.

Something more dense than Lead?

Inconel - NASCAR teams abandoned LEAD a few years ago when they found that INCONEL is heavier then lead.

Tungsten - yes that little thing that is inside of a common light bulb is heavier than lead.

Lutetium is the heaviest metal.

Osmium is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Os and atomic number 76. A hard brittle blue-gray or blue-black transition metal in the platinum family, osmium is one of the densest natural elements[1] and is used in some alloys with platinum and iridium. - It is TWICE as heavy as lead!

Iridium

And if you really wanted to be cheap, you could use Plutonium. I'm sure that there are some electric power companies that wouldn't mind storing a couple of thousand pounds of it in your basement, if you wouldn't mind growing a second head.

ok this may sound a lil stupiid...but can somebody fill me in on what yall are talking about??? haha thanks

Apparently some folks get so full of themselves that they fail to read the question, or answer the question.

Caldwell makes a shooters rest called the Lead Sled. If you look it up on Cabela's web site, you will see what I am talking about. To reduce the recoil when shooting, you can add weight to it.

just go buy a bag of lead 6 shot for reloading and be done with it, some times it just doesn't pay to be a tight wad.

Kevin

nothing wrong with being frugal at times but sometimes ya gotta bite the bullet (pun intended) just buy some lead reloading shot

I use the sand I sweep off my driveway everyspring,I put it in a barrel and if I am going shooting I break out some food storage bags (quart size) and fill them with the sandzipe them shut and off too the range(back deck)!You can reuse these bags for a long time,duck tape the bags ,wrap them one way,and then the other way,and they will last months!Now that it the cheapest way I have found!

I would say the cheapest route would be sand. You can buy 50 pound bags that go in a kids sandbox pretty cheap.

He said cheap, shot is going for 45 dollars a bag. I would recomend getting those little sand bags they sell for rifle rests and using them.

Wow, got some answers even though they might not help. I did consider the plutonium but decided I didn't want to grow a third eye in the middle of my chin along with the many other side effects it may cause. Lets see, coins was a good one until I figured it would take about $100 or more to fill the four bags I have. Lead shot was a real good one but as someone posted, it runs $45 a bag . I am really hoping for something heavier then sand and pea gravel but thank you for the responses, I do appreciate them. The rachet strap could be a possibility! It is in my price range, at least until I cinch it too tight and break my rifle . I guess that I have decided to use the tungsten, so if each and every one of you would just send me your old light bulbs I will start collecting. So, from the land that is so flat I can see Old Faithful erupting on a clear day, thanks. Elkhuntfever

sandbags should be cheap enough surely. you can have as much as you want to stack. but, if you need more weight, add water, the most abundant resource on earth. and it's heavy. bungie straps could also work in certain situations.

i have to ask, what is it your shooting that would make you think that sand is not going to give you enough weight? isn't the lead sled designed for only around 100 or 150 pounds?

Looking at some reviews on the web the other day, one guy stated that he used aquarium gravel for the weights on his sled.
I don't know if it'd work or not, and I have no idea how expensive/cheap it is, but thats what one guy was using.