Gun Range Accessories: Must Haves in Your Range Bag

What safety equipment do you need?

Every trip to the range, you should be bringing your safety equipment. There are some hazards that can be easily avoided by bringing the proper personal protection equipment. Ear protection like ear plugs or muffs help save your hearing from the high decibels of the shot being fired. You can double up and use both ear plugs and muffs if you feel more comfortable. This is common practice at indoor ranges because shooting in an enclosed space can make the shot sound louder than it would be in an open space. Just make sure you can hear people talking on the range in case of an emergency. Eye protection helps reduce the risk of fragments or physical objects injuring your eyes. A ball cap can also be worn to help reduce the risk of anything falling behind your eye protection. Your eye protection should be ANSI Z87+ rated and most prescription lenses are not impact resistant. There are options for glasses that go over your normal prescription glasses. 

If you would like to take precautions and show that your firearm is empty on the range, you can use a chamber flag. These help signal to other shooters on the line that the firearm is clear. If you have to go forward of the line to reset your targets, the chamber flags help signal to the other people on the line that it is safe to proceed forward. If you do not have access to a chamber flag, you can cut off a piece of weed wacker wire and feed that through the barrel as a quick solution.

If you have a large range bag, having smaller soft cases for each gun can help you keep guns, magazines, and equipment separate because there are only so many pockets in the larger range bags. The smaller bags also give you a quick and easy way to move your firearm safely from one shooting lane to another, if you are not permitted to move the firearm from lane to lane uncased/unholsered (normally this will be a rule at indoor ranges). Please read the range rules for every new range you shoot at. 

First Aid Kits and trauma kits are great to have on hand! You never know when you will need to patch up a scrape or cut at the range. It is better to have it on hand and not need it, than need it and not have it. If you don’t know what kit best fits your needs, a great place to start is to find a class in your area that covers first aid or a stop the bleed course.

What to wear to a gun range?

Always start with your personal protection equipment. Make sure you have your eye protection and ear protection. Ideally you should cover up. Hot brass can make its way down your shirt or into your shoes if it has an opening. The injuries from hot brass are usually minor but if you are not expecting the brass, it can be easy to forget the 4 rules of firearm safety and just react. By covering up, with long sleeves, long pants, closed toe shoes, and high collar tops, you can minimize your chances of experiencing the unpleasantness of hot brass contacting your skin. Your clothing should not hinder your movement during shooting. 

What training accessories should you have?

Right off the bat you should have some snap caps and a Pink Rhino Laser Training Cartridge. Snap caps can help you at the range, because you are able to create your own gun malfunctions. One example of a malfunction drill you can try on the range is the Ball and Dummy Drill. This helps you train for malfunctions that occur as you are shooting with live ammo. The Pink Rhino Laser Training Cartridge can help you with your dry fire practice. If you only have the laser, you can use any target and get visuals of where you would have hit with real ammo during live fire practice. It’s just a quick confirmation of your skills when you are unable to get to the range or want to brush up on your skills in between sessions.

If you have a little more room in the budget, you can skip the Pink Rhino and get the Laser Academy Standard Kit. The kit comes with a Pink Rhino Laser Cartridge in it, so there is no need to buy them separately (unless you want to shoot with a friend or get an additional caliber). The kit comes with targets, stands, and access to the Laser Academy App. Using the system can help you see what your groupings will look like on your target at the range. If you go to the Mantis website and find the targets, you can print them out and shoot them at the range so you can really compare apples to apples! You will be able to track your progress and the app does score up your targets for you. You can test out your abilities by moving farther away from the target or trying out some of the timed drills. 

Ultimately, striving to have the Mantis X10 would benefit your training journey the most. The X10 can be used at home during dry fire, or on the range during live fire. So it gives you the opportunity to really test and compare your skills. As you shoot, the X10 is giving you real time feedback on every shot you take to tell you where you pulled your shot, why you pulled your shot, and how to correct it. Basically, the X10 is like an instructor that you can bring with you everywhere. When you look at how much a basic handgun course costs with ammo included, you are almost paying yourself to train when you have an X10! The X10 can be used at home for dry fire training or at the range with live fire training. So you can compare your training sessions from at home, with your training sessions at the range.

What are some of the “extras” that would be nice to have?

Magazines can be difficult to load at times. If you need help loading the magazine, there are tools to help enable you to load your own magazine. Some of the easy loaders are called Uplulas and another version is the BLT- Bullet Loader Tray. These two options can help save your thumbs during your range day! If you carry your ammo in an ammo can, you can shove those in with your ammo so that you always have them while you are shooting!

Tool kits can come in handy when you are at the range. You never know when you will need to adjust your sights or help someone else with a firearm malfunction. Fix It Sticks make kits specifically for the different types of firearms. These can help you with adjusting your sights and other small fixes on the line. 

Range Bag Checklist Summary

• Gun
• Ammo
• Eye Protection
• Ear Protection
• Ball Cap
• First Aid Kit
• Proper Attire
• Range Bag
• Gun Case
• Chamber Flag
• Snap Caps
• Pink Rhino Laser Cartridge
• Laser Academy
• Mantis X10
• Magazine Loaders
• Ammo Can
• Fix It Stix
• Targets