Essential Gear for the Firearm Range—The Range Bag
June 28, 2023
By Jennifer L.S. Pearsall
Sure, you could usurp your kid’s Spider Man backpack or use that worn-out, threadbare (and, admit it, smelly) gym bag that’s been sitting in the back of your closet for the past two years. But you can—and should—do better than that.
Those of us who have been shooting for years always hope that people approaching firearms, target shooting, self-defense, and the like for the first time have that the same a-ha moment we did, quickly discovering that shooting is an absolute ball and speeding down the freeway to becoming a skilled marksman. Whether it happens that fast or not, we who have mentored lots and lots of people taking their first shots have found that having the things that make time on the range meaningful, entertaining, and easy are what get people over that hump of “I’m not sure I’m going to stick with this” to “Let’s do this!”
So far, we’ve covered hearing and eye protection. Both are mandatory on any shooting range, but we also talked about making sure that these necessary items fit you comfortably and how certain features can greatly enhance your time on the firing line. But there’s one more item that can also take your range time from a blah experience without much purpose to one that is organized, efficient, and helps put you in the mindset for success.
Range Bags—Purpose-Built Tools
If that last line sounds like a lot to expect from a bag, well, could be, but stay with me here for a moment.
The primary purpose of any range bag is to safely transport to and from the range all the things you need to shoot. That includes the hearing and eye protection we’ve already talked about, either or both of which you may have been convinced were worth spending a little more money on. Neither of these items fit in a garment pocket, and you’re not going to just toss them in your trunk and then put them on in your car before you head for the range. Another consideration: Let’s say you spent $75 to $125 on a nice set of electronic hearing muffs, and another $125 to $200 or so on eye protection that has interchangeable lenses in a variety of tints. Maybe $200 to $325 isn’t a big investment for everyone, but, even if it isn’t, you want to take care of that equipment. A range bag covers both transportation and protection of this necessary shooting gear.
Explorer Tactical Range Bag
Naturally, there’s more to the range experience than this. You have your gun—hopefully a Biofire Smart Gun® at some point—ammo, targets, magazine loaders, speed loaders, a baseball cap, spare ear plugs, a staple gun for putting up targets on an outdoor range … . The list goes on, depending on how involved you get, but even if you stick with just the minimum of eyes, ears, gun, ammo, and targets, that’s an armful of stuff to get from your car to the firing-line bench. That’s where a purpose-built range bag gets the thumbs up.
I shot both competitive action pistol (IPSC) and sporting clays (NSCA) for years, and I bought a dedicated range bag for each, up front, even before I’d acquired all the gear to fill their many pockets.
For IPSC pistol shooting and general pistol range practice, I had one of the original sky-blue Dillon Precision Products range bags; Dillon is well-respected manufacturer of reloading presses, related components, accessories, and shooting gear. That company has long since upgraded the bag since the one I had years ago, but the core build remains the same. A large central compartment holds a hard-cased gun and a generous stack of ammo boxes. Pockets inside that main compartment store extra magazines, a field-cleaning kit, and other small gear. Outside pockets on either end held eye and ear protection, and outside side pockets hold extra guns with a soft-sleeve insert. Every bit of it was thoroughly padded to keep the heavy stuff (ammo) from crushing and damaging the more fragile stuff.
My sporting clays bag, a Browning that I think has been discontinued, was equally well-organized. The main compartment could hold a full eight boxes of 25-count 12-gauge shotshells, more than enough for a 100-round tournament day and a bunch of side games. That compartment was well-padded on all four sides, which kept all that heavy ammo from crushing stuff in the outside pockets. A big front pocket held extra choke tubes, side pockets held a cleaning kit and choke tube wrench, and the pocket on top of the padded “lid” held my very expensive shooting glasses and all its interchangeable lenses, completely protected from being damaged by the load beneath it if the bag was upended. An expandable pocket at the rear of the bag held up to 100 empty shotshell hulls to be saved for reloading.
Browning Shotshell Bag
Both bags served the sports I was shooting well and kept the specific tools I needed for each one in one piece. I didn’t have to search my storage room for spare magazines when heading to an IPSC match, just as I didn’t have to scour around for choke tubes for a sporting clays tournament. All the gear for each pursuit lived in their respective bags; all I had to do was replace the empty ammo boxes with full boxes. That kind of organization may seem like a little thing, but if you’ve headed to the range without a range bag and all your gear and discovered you left something critical at home, then you’re scrambling to borrow whatever it is or you’re making a second round-trip home and back. All in all, that’s a pain in the patooty you can live without, right?
Beyond being an organizational tool, the right range bag holding everything you need actually helps you approach your shooting time in an easier manner. Why? Because you’re not thinking about your gear! Your mind is free to concentrate on the gun in your hand, handling it safety, your shooting technique, and putting those shots on target exactly where you want them.
Five Range Bag Features That Make the Day
- Built for what you’re shooting—Sure, you can make a shotgun range bag pull double-duty for the pistol range, but it’s better to buy a range bag built for what you’re shooting. Pistol bags, for instance, usually have at least a few and sometime numerous magazine pouches, which a shotgun sports bag will most certainly not have.
- Heavy-duty materials—Your firearms are valuable and need protection. So does your eye and ear protection. Ammo is heavy, unless all you’re shooting are a couple 50-round boxes of .22 LR. Search for a bag with heavy cloth construction, reinforced stitching, and heavy-duty zippers.
- Padded dividers—These help customize bags to your gear, especially if the dividers are removeable, they provide an additional level of protection to gear housed in the same compartment, and they help separate different kinds of ammo.
- Heavy-duty shoulder strap—Make it wide, thick, strong, attached the bag by solidly constructed brass or polymer hardware, and make sure it has an adjustable padded shoulder piece.
- Pockets—You may be overwhelmed by the number of pockets you’ll find on today’s range bags. Trust me, at some point you will find a use for every single one of them, so the more the merrier.
Tidify Tactical Range Bag
Resources: Where to Find the Range Bag Right for You
Google “pistol range bags” and you’ll come up with dozens of hits. The following is a small sampling of what’s out there, and don’t forget to check out what your local firearm retail store or range pro shop has in inventory.