Just the right bag
By MARJ LAW
“I bought the Ruger Mark IV 22/45, almost like your Ruger!” Annie says happily. “Except you have the Mark III and your gun is all stainless. Mine has that easy way to break down, and mine is blued instead of stainless. Can’t wait to shoot it! It’s my birthday present to myself!”
“Great! So will you join us at the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range on Wednesday morning around 10?” I ask. “And did you find .22 LR rounds?”
“Sure did! They came in this nifty box. And, get this, they fit in the pocket of my new gun bag!”
“You bought the bag already!”
“Yes! You said never carry around a ‘naked gun,’ so the nice guy at the gun shop showed me this really cool bag. On one side, it has a bunch of little pouches for my magazines. On the other side, it has two pockets that are large enough to put in a few boxes of ammo. The middle is a zippered pouch for the gun. It’s got lots of padding.”
“So, now you have your gun, magazines and ammunition. What kind of ‘eyes’ did you end up buying?”
“Oh yes. Eyes,” Annie thinks for a moment. “You said I should look for antsy eyes. I forgot what antsy eyes are.”
“ANSI eyes stands for American National Standards Institute. This is a non-profit organization which provides safety standards for your glasses.”
“Aren’t all glasses safe?” she wonders.
“I’m sure most glasses are safe. However, these glasses can withstand the impact if a hot casing were to shoot out of a gun toward your eyes.”
“Don’t the casings shoot out sideways?”
“For the most part, yes. But we don’t take a chance with our eyes.”
“I get it,” she says. “Well, I think a pair of those glasses will fit inside the case with my gun.”
“Maybe, but what about your ‘ears?’”
“Ears?” she questions. “Oh, yes. I’ll need to get those too. You showed me several kinds, but the ones I like best are ear-muffs with the ability to reduce sharp sounds and still allow me to hear people talk. You always want to know if someone calls the range ‘hot’ or ‘cold.’”
“Those’ll be good. Did you buy them? And your eyes?”
“Well, no. In the excitement of getting my first gun, I totally forgot eyes and ears. Is this going to cost a fortune? I’ve spent a lot already!”
“The safety glasses can be very inexpensive. Maybe between $5 and $10. You can find them at gun shops, but also at department stores and hardware stores. Safety glasses are easy to find.”
“And what about those ear-muffs? Are they cheap too?” she asks hopefully.
“Unfortunately, no. If you want the kind that dampens loud noises, but still allows you to hear people speaking, they run maybe $40 to $250. There’s quite a wide range of prices, but you can find a good pair somewhere in the lower end.”
“I hadn’t quite factored in the price of eyes and ears,” Annie says ruefully. “But since they’re necessary…”
“When you have them, how will you bring them to the range?” I ask her.
“Oh, I’ll put them in my gun bag!” she says, then thinks. “Wait a minute. They won’t fit in that bag. It’s plenty big enough for my gun, magazines and ammo, but there really isn’t room for eyes and ears, too. Well, I can just carry them in my car,” she decides.
“Will you be putting your targets in your car too?”
“Oh. Targets. Yes, I guess they’ll go in the car too.”
“Since you wanted to save money on targets, you’re going to use paper targets, right?”
“Yes. They are so much cheaper. And I can even print them out using my computer and printer!”
“How are you going to attach them to the range’s backboards?”
“Oh. I’ll need a stapler. Dad has one.”
“And staples!”
“Dad has those too. I’ll borrow his.”
“That’s kind of a lot of stuff to be rattling around in your car. Have you a bag that will carry your eyes, ears, targets, stapler and staples?”
Annie thinks for a moment.
“If I throw them all in a bag, the targets will get bent out of shape. And the staples might slide out if the bag tips over!”
“They might,” I agree. “And what about those little binoculars you bought so you can see the holes in the targets better?”
“Yes, they really do work. I’ll put those in the bag too.” She has another thought.
“Last time we went to the range, dew was all over the shooting bench. You had a microfiber cloth and you wiped off the wood. I want to put one in my bag too.”
“Wait a minute!” she continues. “We cleaned the shooting residue off our hands with disposable wipes. They were in your bag too. And, not to be nosy, but I saw a small first aid kit in there. And a jackknife. And a multi-tool. And a small pack of Kleenex. You sure do keep a lot of stuff in your bag. Your UpLula is there too, but I don’t need one for my Ruger. But, bug spray? That’s not a bad idea. Paper and pen? Well, I’ll probably use my cell phone for any notes or phone numbers of people I’ll meet at the range.”
She closes her eyes, remembering.
“Okay, you always carry extra baggies of those foam-type ear cushions. I think those are if someone forgets their hearing protection. That’s probably why you’re carrying another two sets of eyes too. Oh, and you put your range membership card in that outside pocket.”
Annie looks surprised.
“Wait a minute. That’s a bigger bag than my gun bag, and you’re not even carrying your gun in it! Your big bag has a pocket on one side for targets. Safety glasses are on the other side. You put staples in a pocket on one end, and opposite, there’s a pouch for your bottled water. All that other stuff I saw, it was in your big bag! Why don’t you put your gun, magazines and ammunition in there too?”
“This bigger bag is called a range bag. It’s meant to hold all the accessories I need for a few hours of shooting.”
“Again, why isn’t your gun in there? Isn’t it simpler to carry it all in one bag?”
“Okay, Annie. Shall we toss your new, blued Ruger in with the stapler and the multitool?”
“No!” Annie’s horrified. “They might scrape the finish on my new, expensive gun!”
“That’s why I carry two bags. A gun bag for my gun and ammo, and the range bag for everything else. Besides, a big bag with all my stuff in it would be pretty heavy. I’d much rather carry two lighter bags. Why don’t you think of all the things you’d put in your range bag, and find one that suits your needs?”
“I’m going to start looking around for my own range bag,” Annie grins.
“Now my parents will know what to get me for my birthday!”
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.