Shooting Bags & Contents

Via Insty, I saw this article (What to Bring to the Gun Range) and was immediately drawn to read it because guns.

Sheesh.  What a disappointment.  Hearing protection, eye protection and a couple other okay but sometimes silly suggestions.  In other words, duh.

So as it was time to tidy out my own range bag, I thought I’d share what it carries, more or less permanently (with some other stuff that I’ll get into in a moment).

Here’s the bag:

Alert Readers will spot that it’s not yer typical 5.11 tacticool range bag, but a humble tool bag available from any hardware store.  Reasons:  I want tough, and tool bags are tougher than they need to be;  and cheap:  this one cost about $15, compared to the typical range bag’s $50 (or more).  You can use a cheaper tote bag (I have), but they wear out pretty quickly.  Also, the Husky bags come in all sizes.  This one is a medium — I could have gone smaller, but I’ll give the reasons for that decision anon.  Also, note that little outside pocket, because its contents come next.

Now for the permanent contents.  In that outside pocket:

1 – Band-Aids, 2 – blood coagulant, 3 – eye drops, 4 – lens wipes, 5 – spare batteries for scopes, 6 – pen and marker, 7 – ear plugs, 8 – aspirin (for minor pains or those sudden heart issues), and 9 – Swiss Army Champ.

It’s by no means a comprehensive collection, but anything requiring more than that means a different set of circumstances.  (The coagulant, by the way, is for minor scrapes and scratches, because nothing screws up good bluing like blood.  Ask me how I know this.)

Now for the main body of the bag — and let me remind you that these are just the permanent contents:

1 – tape (for targets); 2 – Wheeler gunsmith’s screwdrivers, 3 – ratcheting screwdriver set, 4 – borelight tube, 5 – Loc-Tite, 6 – adhesive targets (familiar to those who’ve seen my ammo/accuracy tests), 7 – spare .45 ACP ammo, 8 – eye pro which fits over my glasses, 9 – hearing pro with volume control, 10 – cleaning rags, 11 – shooting gloves.

Okay, a few explanations:  the .45 ammo is in case the other guns I’m taking that day have a problem, in which case I can always just pull out the 1911 (which as you all know never leaves my side).  I generally don’t use the shooting gloves unless I’m doing shotguns and need a little heat insulation.  Finally, I don’t take any cleaning gear to the range because I do my cleaning at home.

All that, however, could fit into a smaller range bag.  Now here’s the reason why I got the bigger one:  regardless of what guns I’ll be shooting that day, I like to take a .22 (pistol or revolver) plus a bag of ammo with me every time I go, so I’ll just drop those in the bag.  That’s just in case I have something go badly wrong with the other guns, I’ll always have something else to shoot.  Obviously, those other guns will have their own case, and if for example I’m playing with the Frankenpoodleshooter, I’ll drop the spare mags into the Husky.  Also, I always add a can of Ballistol to the bag (it wasn’t pictured because I’d just finished cleaning my guns when I wrote this).

By the time I get to the range, that Husky is plenty full, as you can imagine.

Anyway, that’s my range bag.  Feel free to comment and add criticism or suggestions, as always.