How heavy is your range bag?

Allen Bundy

How heavy is your range bag and what do you carry in it?

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Question No. 1-How heavy is your range bag(s)?
Answer No.1-Very

Question No. 2-what do you carry in it?
Answer No.2-it feels like everything, including the kitchen sink!

Sorry couldn't resist but typically carry three bags to the range with me, all of them getting heavier as I grow older.
One bag is for the handguns, usually 4 or 5 of them, each in their own soft sided case.

Second bag is all of the range stuff like spare mags, screwdrivers, cleaning rods, a SAK, hearing protectors, targets, something to mark the targets with, protective lenses, tape for the targets (staple gun if I'm shooting at an outdoor range), shooting gloves, mag loader, and a small flashlight. Probably forgetting some things but this is the bulk of it.

The 3rd. bag is for ammo and the brass I bring back for reloading. Sometimes there's a 4th bag if I bring along my .22 target pistols in their own separate case. At this point I enlist the assistance of someone who has come along with me or else I just get myself a front end loader to haul this stuff around!

Hi...
Which range bag???
I typically take two to the range...a large black leather bag with 6-8 handguns and a smaller leather bag with 5-6 handguns.
My son brings his NRA rolling bag with 10-12 handguns , plus two hard sided cases with 4 handguns each.
We also carry eight .30cal ammo cans filled with ammunition.
Add in a chronograph targets etc and it becomes a bit of a chore to load and unload.

But, we are generally at the range for several hours testing loads and practicing drills.

If we take rifles, it just adds to the number of cases and ammunition boxes.

sparkyv said:

Those are handy.

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Can't complain about how much room they take up. And, you catch them on sale they are nicely priced.
Win/Win

I have several depending on what I'm shooting. Each is in the 20 - 30 lb range. I keep ammo separate in bags designed to carry scuba weights. Typically 500 rds of .22lr and 200 rds each of whatever centerfire caliber(s) I'm shooting that day.



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I have a large range bag for guns and gear. Ammo is carried in the good old 50cal ammo can. My plastic reloading ammo cases pack nicely in the ammo can.

My range is a clearing in the woods and my range table is my pickup tailgate. So there isn't a lot of carrying.

I haven't been to an indoor range in near 35 years. How do they charge?

I never transport firearms or ammo in my primary range bag. They have their own dedicated cases &/or ammo cans. Here's a few...

This is my new shooting bag. The box holds 12 magazines and the bag is big enough for my ammo, loaders, cleaning supplies, binoculars and ear muffs. When fully loaded it weighs about 20 pounds. The best thing about it is I made it.

When I go to the range, I typically use handguns and rifles at various distances in different locations on the complex. Occasionally I will pattern turkey guns on a pistol range. My range bag is a tough box about the size of a army footlocker. Targets of various types for zeroing, staple guns and staples, a spotting scope, laser range finder, basic tools, cleaning equipment, and lube for guns, a hammer and nails, sight adjustment tools, spray paint for steel targets, spray glue, rabbit ears and rear bags, a box cutter, scissors, muffs, extra eye pro, a bag of foamy ear plugs, pasters, and more things I can't think of right now. I regularly use everything in it. All I have to do is stick it in the back of my jeep before I leave home, then put it in the shed when I get back. No idea what it weighs because it doesn't matter. My range is set up so I can park right behind the firing line areas, and I can even drive downrange if need be to set up targets on the zero range. To go downrange on the long steel ranges (800 meters from the principle firing line) the club has a john deer gator to do so- all I need is the spray paint for the targets to do this. My ammo for the day is packed in a military ammo can.

My "range bags" get used as much or more for going out to the hunting property as they do to formal shooting ranges.


I have several of these cheap tool bags from Harbor Freight, both the 12-inch and 15-inch versions. (You can sometime get them for free with a purchase) The are perfect for throwing every think I need for one handgun. Room for a few boxes of ammo, some magazines or speed-loaders/moonclips and belt pouches, a holster, and the gun in a soft case. I have one setup form my Model 10, Webley, and M29. I just drop the handgun into the travel case and everything else is already in there ready to go.

I use the 15-inch version for ready to go rifle kits too but in those case the rifle rides in a separate case but some ammo, magazines, mag pouches, suppressor, and a simple cleaning kit.

In either case these are light ~10 lbs


This Shooters Connection Tournament Bag. Won this one at an Area shoot many years ago. This bag is big and easily hold all the gear for two handgun and their competition rigs if needed. It is primarily use for going to shooting matches, though it does range duty too. Dedicated pocket for magazines (an my moonclip cases fit perfectly their too.), I carry a tool kit, small bottle of lubricant, paster gun, towel, squib rod, ear and eye pro, timer, etc. With two setups this bag get heavy, sometime I use a wagon to haul it depending on the match.


This is my new heavy range "bag" Love this tool box. It made up of three boxed that snap together. The top is an open top crate that is just a catch-all for whatever random stuff I want to add at the last minute.
The middle tool box in my range/hunting tool box. It always goes with me to the range, match, or hunting property and is more about general use than specific to shooting but it covers that pretty well to. I have shared the contents of that box in another thread (lots of tools). The bottom box get the spotting scope, tripod, shooting bags, stapler, targets, chronographer and gives the whole stack wheels.

" How heavy is. . . "

Not as much as it used to be.
I've done it like everything else.
Gets dumped out, I don't remember
the last time this got used, out you go.
I do that often. Of course, the essentials,
targets, stapler, staples, muffs, plugs,
glasses, notebook, pens, markers, pasters,
A decent screwdriver set, brass hammer,
brass drift, minimum first aid kit , sectional
rod and tips stay in the bag
Less than 10 easy
Firearms and fodder are always a
separate thing depending on the mission
at hand

It’s always lighter coming back

Be honest, how many y'all contemplated buying a used little u-haul pull behind trailer for "range /hunting" gear? Lol
I've fantasized of how nice it would be to have a little box trailer or box truck to modify into a small mobile armory!!

It's fine until I put all the ammo in it lol

chicharrones said:

Light. Always light. Years and years ago I'd go heavy.

The difference is I like doing more light and quick trips to the range than fewer heavy and long trips to the range.

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Similar situation here. I can find time to make five or six one to two hour trips to the range over the course of a month than two or three four-five hour trips.

My bag is generally on the light side. Unless I'm heading to a 3 Gun match it's probably under 20 pounds. I repurposed a diaper bag similar to this one



Lots of little pockets inside including a row of padded pockets just the right size for magazines and a removable center pouch that great for brass. Much better than any tool bag I've ever used.

My range bag carries my essentials including extra eye and ear protection plus a good first aid kit, I bring my ammo I'm going to use that day in the ammo cans.

LonewolfMcquade said:

how many y'all contemplated buying a used little u-haul pull behind trailer

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LoL. Two more sets of bearings to keep up with; watching for dry rot in two more tires (and another Registration fee) kinda dumps cold water on the notion for me.

Now, if I had acreage, I would, for sure, have an M274A4 Mechanical Mule:

Not fast, but that 1/2 cross-country cargo capacity makes up for it.
The A4 variant has electrical start to supplement the pull-starter, and has a slightly better muffler (but, If I'm off to go shoot, I'd already have hearing pro).

kje54 said:

My range bag carries my essentials including extra eye and ear protection plus a good first aid kit, I bring my ammo I'm going to use that day in the ammo cans.

View attachment 1057216

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Same bag as I use for Rifle stuff, just in MarPat Woodland instead of Blueberries. I have some random MOLLE pouches in mine to sub-divide the storage (ACOG bags are very handy).

CapnMac said:

Same bag as I use for Rifle stuff, just in MarPat Woodland instead of Blueberries. I have some random MOLLE pouches in mine to sub-divide the storage (ACOG bags are very handy).

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The only Blueberry item I own is a recently purchased boonie hat, I have a small collection of boonies I typically wear to the outdoor range.

Seedy Character said:

Does "need a Bobcat", tell you anything?

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I bought my 50hp tractor with a front end loader and forks primarily for handling hay for the horses but it sure is handy for dragging an excessive amount of shooting stuff out to my back yard range.

These days, the only reason I go to a shooting club/public range is to shoot skeet. I have a range bag that I usually take enough ammunition for four or five rounds of skeet and the various small tools and bits to service the shotgun.

kje54 said:

The only Blueberry item I own

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Lol. Uncle required that I have blueberries (and avocados, too).

CapnMac said:

Lol. Uncle required that I have blueberries (and avocados, too).

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I got out in 74, did my time and decided I was more of a civilian than a sailor. Even got in trouble once for mixing my utilities....... Dungaree pants, (Zumwalt) pull over grey top and white cap. Oh well. Being med/den I mostly wore whites.

CapnMac said:

LoL. Two more sets of bearings to keep up with; watching for dry rot in two more tires (and another Registration fee) kinda dumps cold water on the notion for me.

Now, if I had acreage, I would, for sure, have an M274A4 Mechanical Mule:
View attachment 1057220
Not fast, but that 1/2 cross-country cargo capacity makes up for it.
The A4 variant has electrical start to supplement the pull-starter, and has a slightly better muffler (but, If I'm off to go shoot, I'd already have hearing pro).

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Ok, I could live with that! Lol

I used to carry my rest bags in mine but that got heavy especially when I wasn't using them for that trip, now I carry them in a musette bag.

kje54 said:

decided I was more of a civilian than a sailor.

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Yeah, after 24 years "they" get their hooks into you.
Mind, the blueberry pattern stood out in the display at the gun show, then the $25 price did the rest.