What are your range bag essentials?

General Firearms New to Firearms & Shooting
1

Besides mags, ammo, eye & ear protection and maybe a stapler, what else should you always carry in your range bag? Anything that makes your life easier with a particular firearm?

I’m not new to shooting but I decided to put this in the “New to Firearms/Shooting” section because there are things that can the more experienced among us can pass along.

I’ll go first since I started this thread.

I’ve really come to love the UpLULA (pistol mags) & the StripLULA (AR mags)from Maglula

I have yet to find a range bag essential for my shotgun.

2

Rag and lube. That sounds dirty…:smiley:

Anyway, if you have electronic ear pro, batteries for said ear pro…or standard ear pro.

I also keep Sharpie markers / pens or stickers and labels to mark suspect magazines.

3

screwdriver, with allen head bits too. along with a little POS crescent wrench.

4

Leatherman MUT and duct tape… Bottle of water. I’ll bring a drill and screws to repair wooden targets

5

Trauma kit.

6

all of the above…add a spotting scope, benchrests to assist with zeroing in your rifle, tablet for recording hits and adjustments for zero, 100yds, 200yds, etc. and ammo fired, shooting glasses.

7

a pair of binocs. And a range finder if I’m plinking from my truckbed at randomly placed targets or I go to a range that’s new to me.

8

A roll of black and a roll of white masking tape for taping targets.

9

Bore snake just in case. Lube. Tinted and clear safety glasses. Cleaning rod in case anyone gets a squib. FAK. Electronic ears. Water.

10

I have one of them long cleaning rods that fits the .17cals. Help to keep from running a great day when a shooting partner used the )(&)(^ TULAMMO in their mini. Was able to backout the jammed casing.

Also a camera (cell or real), stapler, tape, rangefinder(soon), boresnake, and ONLY the ammo I have budgeted to shoot, a paint pen (used to mark troublesome magazines) and finally some kind of bag to carry the spent casings. I dont reload but I usually leave the bag by the range house and someone that does picks them up.

11

I think that everything I have in my range bag has been covered by this thread except one. A box of staples for when my stapler runs out.

12

Good point. We ran into that issue yesterday. :slight_smile:

13

Basic gun maintenance Tool/Cleaning Kit so that little things will not interrupt the fun. Extra foam ear plugs for the same people who always seem to forget that things can get a little loud while shooting. Bandaids/“New Skin” Liquid Bandage… and the Trauma Kit mentioned above (with at least 1 Bolin Chest Shield) if something really goes wrong.

14

[ol]
[li]hearing protection (w/ backup buds)
[/li][li]Knife
[/li][li]Duct Tape
[/li][li]Perm markers
[/li][li]cleaning kit
[/li][li]multi-tool
[/li][li]small rear bag
[/li][li]eye protection
[/li][/ol]

15

All of the above plus hand sanitizer and some snacks if you plan on being out there a while.

16

The standards listed above, several times, plus a tourniquet and GSW blow-out kit.

17

I only have a couple things to add to the list that haven’t been covered yet…

Some twine because one of the ranges I shoot at has steel posts in the ground with string to hold your targets up. This way if there isn’t any twine and I forgot my target stands I can still or can use my stands plus the twine for multiple targets if nobody is around.

I also carry binder clips for holding my targets to the twine. They’re dirt cheap and hold well.

Others have mentioned water. I like my metal water bottle with sport lid that doesn’t require me to touch it with dirty hands or my plastic bike bottle that has the sport lid PLUS a plastic cone over it so it’s lead/dust free.
I recently fell in love with the “Hydro Flask”. It’s a double walled stainless water bottle. It’s amazing. Comes in 21oz, 40oz and 3 liter (I think). I’ve got the 40oz & it’s perfect for keeping some coffee hot on a cold day or ensuring that I have plenty of cold water for long days in warm weather.

18

This was going to be my addition. I keep my bag pretty well stocked with everything listed above, but started keeping trail mix/energy bars because I’d race to the range and forget to eat.

I started keeping a “clip-clip” in there for indoor ranges as well. When paper targets fly around in drafts, it helps keep them in check.

19

Ear pro, eye pro, hat, gloves, lube, and that pretty much covers it besides ammunition, mags, targets, and that stuff.

If I didn’t have a knife, multi-tool, long sleeves, etc on me at the time I will throw those other things into it.

20

I went to an outdoor range for the first time, I brought binoculars and shoot-n-cs.

If you are looking for a faster way to load a magazine other than the uplulas, try buying stripper clips. You can load 10 at a time and it’s reasonably cheap.