Have anything not-obvious that you keep in your range bag? Eye and ear protection, sunscreen, bug spray, hand sanitizer, etc. are all pretty obvious.
Mine is nail clippers. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten into a class only to find that my nails are digging into my palms or otherwise scraping on things. Back to the bag at a break, trim off the offending nails, much improved!
Being a cigar smoker I also keep a cutter and lighter in the bag, and I’ve found the lighter handy for burning the loose ends on nylon gear many times.
Those air-activated handwarmers, regardless of season, for when somebody forgets that a thermal sight requires that the target have a signature that stands out from the background, and only brings paper.
I can get by with 9mm brass sticking out of my ears and carpenter’s goggles if that’s all I have, but if you aren’t actually doing something to improve while you are on the range you might as well have just left all the great stuff at home safely hidden in the safe, walked to the firing line with an arm-load of ammo and hurled it downrange still in the box. It would have saved a lot of time and cleaning.
Hey, maybe you like to go to the range for the company and conversation :rolleyes:, but I don’t. I want every round I launch into the berm to do something beneficial to my skillset. It was how I grew quickly when I first got into “speed precision”, and it’s where I need to be since I have had a long break away from my favored weapons.
A simple written list of things to work on will keep you on path and prevent just dumping mag after mag into the same circle/box with no real growth or challenge.
finger nail clippers, lighter, fiber optic…if I lose the fiber in my pistol.
hand wipes…for after I touch an oily BCG.
hand warmers…only in the winter. A couple of lunch bags for the warmers…if you seal them up you can get another use.
pre-moistened glasses cleaner.
This thread could be very helpful and funny if people really contribute. We used to have DopKit contests to see who had the most unusual item in them.
Range Bag: Long list of oddities… I do carry Bar Towels (Newcastle & Guinness, hoping for a Shamwow:D) to be able to quickly dry gun/gear during wet sessions. I hate putting a wet rifle into a dry range bag. Always Ziploks various sizes to redistribute/organize gear and collect brass. Redman in case I run short of Skoal, I can always rejuvenate the Redman with a mouthful of water and survive:p I have Oakley Lens Cleaner holster & cloth clipped to outside of Range Bag (its always easy to remove the CLP when over lubed:cool:
I also have a briefcase dedicated to carrying a LARGE binder with drills, training philosophy, ballistic info, notebook, etc. I’m with F2S in that if I show up at the range without a proper plan I’m really pissed with myself. (F2S you are heavily represented in the binder;))
Fingernail clippers wouldn’t be a bad choice, but I always carry those around with me anyway.
My odd range bag addition is a cockpit door hinge pin from a UH-1H Huey helicopter. At roughly 9-10" long with a improvised handle at one end, it makes a great clearing rod for handguns.
fingernail clippers are always on me, but I always keep the hand sanitizer in my car and in the bag, along with a few golf towels. The most odd thing I have would probably be detailing clay. It was retired to wheel use, and then before it met the garbage, I decided to use it to support some random targets I wanted to destroy.
The clay stuck to the backstop and the target rather easily.
I always keep a Craftsman stapler in mine cause more times than not the range I’m on does have and or just ran out of tape and staples. In my i-SHOT bag I always have my Oakley ballestic array, two sets of ear muffs, a pack of ear plugs, and a set of punches to round out the essentials.
Reese’s Pieces. Not much of a candy person, but having a fiance that is type 1 diabetic got me in the habit of keeping sugar around when I know I don’t have easy access to it. Plus, it’s a nice treat on a day that is a treat in and of itself.
the detachable ear and horns came from a TAD gear jacket that someone on lightfighter bought. it was a creature hoodie or something like that. he wasn’t going to use them and was going to throw them away, so i said 'i’ll take ‘em!’, so he sent them to me. so, when the rangemaster says ‘get your ears on’, i do, or if i’m feeling horny, i show it.
