By Terry Houin
As hunting and shooting seasons are slowing down, it’s time to restock, refit, and un-ass my range bag and get it ready for the next range session, which always shows up faster than I think it will. With a quizzical look at the mess and wondering if I should grab a tall bourbon before I dive in, I had an epiphany: readers might actually want to know what lives inside my Eberlestock Bang Bang range bag.
The Eberlestock Bang Bang is my go-to for every range session. It has plenty of room for the critical gear, plus the pile of crap I rarely use but refuse to remove because the one time I do, I’ll need it. The zippered bottom compartment has a plastic-lined exterior to keep mud and water out, and it doubles as a miniature workbench for all my tools. Up top, the main compartment and padded dividers keep the important stuff organized and protected. The large side pouches house my Walker’s hearing protection, med kit, and a stack of spare batteries.
My range tools are pretty straightforward and give me the flexibility to adjust, replace, or repair just about anything my “special shooters” manage to loosen or break. Most problems? Loose sights, loose lights, loose grips — hell, I’ve even seen the occasional loose barrel nut. In the bottom compartment I have a Wheeler Engineering gunsmith tool kit that fits just about every sized screw on most weapons, a Real Avid Torque wrench for mounting optics and torquing receivers, along with the Fix-It Sticks All-in-One kit and bubble levels. I also keep a couple AR tools for carbine work.
Inside Uncle T’s Range Bag
In the main compartment, the first things you’ll find are my ballistic tools — the Kestrel 5700 Elite and the Garmin Xero chronograph. With those two, I can build a clean rifle profile for my students and confirm it at distance. Next to them is my Condition 1 Lone Star ammo bag, stuffed with spare parts: extra rings, a Reptilia AUS mount, M-LOK bits, Cherry Bombs, optics plates, and whatever miscellaneous hardware has migrated in over time. My second Lone Star bag carries 9mm ammo, which always finds a purpose on any range day.
If it’s a rifle-heavy session, I’ll toss in a few spare optics — currently a Trijicon Credo in a Unity Tactical mount for LPVO duties and a Kahles K318i in a Reptilia AUS for longer-range work. I also keep spare bipods because someone always shows up with the cheapest junk available and spends more time wrestling gear than shooting. I keep a Gunwerks Elevate, an Atlas BT10, and a Q Kickstand to cover all the bases.
Some of the miscellaneous gear that’s in my Bang Bang is a Med Kit and some basic meds for bubble guts and hangovers, a stapler, pasties (not the stripper kind Pete), multiple color Sharpies, notebook, Surefire light, and a couple Armageddon Gear shooting bags. A few spare mags, some basic cleaning gear, and Gun Butter Pen Oilers round it out — why make a mess with spray lube when a needle applicator puts the good stuff exactly where it needs to go?
The Travel Bag
I keep a small travel kit that rides with me on every adventure. It all starts with the Condition 1 Lone Star ammo bag, then gets loaded with my Kestrel 5700, Garmin Xero, and my Fix-It Sticks tool kit (with the blue 25-pound and red 65-pound torque limiters plus the bubble levels). And of course, a Gun Butter Pen Oiler — non-negotiable. The whole kit packs up small enough to live in a rifle case or even a carry-on if I’m borrowing a rifle on the trip and traveling light.
Uncle T’s Take
Do the work early and be prepared for your range session. Time is valuable, and it’s painful to lose shooting hours over something stupid and preventable. And if you teach special shooters like I do, you’ll always find new and creative ways your students can break things — so pack accordingly.
