GOOP is your friend

got a little tired of brand new Weaver , Buckingham and other throwbags bursting open during the throw, or on landing. Up here a throwbag starts at about $20 CDN and goes up from there, to around, yes not kidding here, $45 for a cordura one. > so needless to say i get a little angry when they burst. Have had to replace 7 now, and the stores refuse to warranty them.

so i reached into my chemical cabinet (filled with Acetone, Xylene, turpentine, carb cleaner, engine parts dip, exotic epoxies, fiberglass stuff, etc, all the usual stuff found in the shop....) and pulled out the trusty tube of GOOP!

after restitching by hand my Weaver throwbag, i smeared about 4 tablespoons of GOOP all over the seams, and the entire bag. Let it dry - now its armour coated! It handles hitting the hard ground at speed 100% better, and the stitching does'nt abrade fall apart after one throw, nor does the bag absorb water anymore.

WOW!!

Seven of them!

Those things are more fragile than a steel carabiner!

Sarcasm noted... Most were the weaver vinyl bags, the vinyl tore right at the seams. my one buckingham lasted a little longer, but burst after hitting the gravel ground.

Actually, I thought of it as more of a “barb” than as sarcasm; whatever.

Seriously, though, folks . . . . I’m sure that having that many bags explode would be a real annoyance for any of us.

It really does seem strange that several bags would break. I know that you put your gear to a lot more use than maybe any the rest of us do, but I’ve heard of only a few bags bursting. Are there others out there with “bursting bag” tales?

Otto, have you contacted Weaver (or others) to see what they have to say? Maybe a bad run of thread or stitching by Weaver?

Another thought is to check one of the pro sites.

I hope you get to the bottom of this.

kep in mind too i used some of the bags for work.....not just recreational use. A lot of the ground where they were used was concrete., abrasive, tough on the seams....

since i Gooped them, not an issue. I also applied some on the stitching of my kevlar chainsaw pants, to prevent abrasion from dragging coarse bark limbs.

good stuff, thousands of uses.


and Jim, just to shock you, i actually climbed on an aluminum locking biner yesterday...

I have a 2 year old 12 oz Weaver bag that split a seam after hitting pavement a couple of times in its first 2 months of use. I wrapped an electrical tape bandage around the lower part of the bag and it's been fine ever since. I have a 3 month old Weaver 10 oz that just started to split a seam, wrapped some tape, should be good for a few years. Goop sounds good though. I don't think it's the Weaver bags in particular, just the vinyl fabric. I have several New Tribe 12 oz bags that just keep going and going, I've smacked them off pavement and everything else. Now if New Tribe would make a 10 oz and an 8oz I'd be heven happier. And there is always the home-made option, working on that.
-moss

i have some very nice tanned cowhide, thick and soft (treated with Obenaufs Heavy Duty LP), that i'm going to sew up into a throwbag. Recently bought some bulk lead shot for this very purpose.

How about Goop as a preventitive measure? I've killed many a throw bag myself. Leakers- we call them down south. The sound of dribbling pellets is very annoying. The more ya throw, the shorter the throw. Bummer!

Duck tape- ahoy! Restitch- annoyed!

But all said- better than a 16 ounce hammer head.

I haven't seen anyone use goop before but sounds like it would be good. But I have seen guys use rubber dip used to make new hands for tools. Guess it would be pretty much the same thing as the rope dip.