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Exos Gear range bag: upscale features at a moderate price

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Don’t let the slim appearance fool you, this bag can expand to hold quite a lot!

The title encapsulates my thoughts on this bag by Exos Gear, but I’ll back that up here with actual consumer information.

Exos Gear is a small producer of accessories that I’ve become quite fond of for their style and durability. Having experienced the company’s gun belt, tactical backpack, and the first edition of the bag featured here, I’ve come to respect these products as they’ve served me well as companions for an active lifestyle.

This gun bag has outside dimensions of 17 inches long, 14 inches wide, and 8 inches deep, without excessive loading. The main compartment is accessed from an easy-pull, double-zippered flap on the top, and is 12 inches long, 8 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. A stiff, padded divider serves as an organizer for this compartment. A strip of elasticized webbing, with stitched-down sections that can secure up to five pistol magazines, is sewn onto one side of the divider.

Ready to burn some ammo! Elasticized webbing on the divider makes for good organization and fast retrieval of magazines.

On each long and narrow side of the rectangular bag is a separate zippered compartment, one with a mesh pocket inside. On one narrow end is loop material for your favorite morale patch. One long side is finished with MOLLE, making the bag quite expandable as attachments are added. I put a FlatPak tourniquet carrier on there to keep critical first aid close at hand.

On the outside of the bag is my tourniquet, installed on MOLLE for fast access. On the narrow side panel is a place for a patch.

On the other long side is a subtle, matching Exos Gear emblem, handsome and classy. The company doesn’t expect its customers to be walking billboards, and to me that’s more appealing than in-your-face logo marketing.

An adjustable, padded shoulder strap is included. It attaches with easy, handsome snaps that appear to be well built for their job. There are two nylon carry handles that can be joined together with a Velcro wrap. Also on top are two Velcro loops that make it easy to carry bulky objects like ear pro securely but out of the way of the bag’s interior.

A feature I really love are the zippers and their pulls. The zippers are heavy-duty all around. The pulls are teardrop-shaped, about two inches in size, and covered in a soft plastic that makes them easy to use in a hurry, allowing for lots of leverage with little effort. Being a big fan of products that allow for gross-motor operation, these are a winner in my book.

Thoughtful, practical features include heavy duty zippers and easy-to-use pulls.

The bag is made of water-resistant 600 denier nylon and trimmed with black webbing. Dirt brushes off easily. The interior of the main compartment is smooth, padded, nearly luxurious.

For those familiar with the first rendition of this bag, produced only in bright “kitty pink,” Exos Gear has responded to consumer feedback and installed a stiffening board on the bottom floor. It keeps the bag from sagging, contributing to both better function and appearance.

What the Exos Gear range bag doesn’t have is “feet” to keep it off the ground. While there are nylon webbing panels across the bottom, providing some protection, I’d like to see more.

A view of the side compartment with mesh pocket, and the velcro loop on top for adding to the payload.
Exos Gear says this is a best-selling color. The new floor plate keeps prevents a saggy bag.

This is one handsome and very useful range bag. It comes in black, gray, and pink. For all its intelligent features and good construction, I’d expect the price to be upwards of $50. As of this writing, the listed price is $39.99, but a sale on the Tactical Intent distributor site brings the price down to a crazy-low $24.99. After said sale is over, they can be found on Amazon for $35 and free shipping. Even at full price, this bag’s a bargain, and should provide many years of good service.

Last Minute Ideas: Build Dad a Range Bag for Father’s Day

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With Father’s Day right around the corner, you may be wondering what to get dad. This is where I toss out my generic list of sponsored items right and in a Top 5 gifts for dad. Unfortunately, I don’t have sponsors, so instead my idea for your Dad and Dad’s everywhere who shoot is build them a range bag.

What goes in a range bag you may ask? Well, I’ve picked out a few items I own and love in my range bag and present them to you. They may not be perfect for your dad, but hopefully, they get the creative juices for gift giving flowing.

The Range Bag

Well, of course, we have to start with a Range Bag. There are lots of options out there, but I’m going to throw a more affordable model at you. The Blackhawk Sportster. It’s no Vertx or Grey Ghost gear, but it’s a big, reliable, and well-made bag. I’ve had mine going on 4 years now and it shows no signs of wear. Since I’ve gotten it I’ve used it countless times to carry and store just about everything I’d ever need for shooting.

It features one massive front pocket, and two side pockets, plus a few super small pockets for the little things in life. It’s well suited for the gear needed for handguns, shotguns, and rifles. It can easily hold over a thousand rounds of rifle or pistol ammo, and still have room for guns, cleaning kits, magazines and more.

The Ear Pro

The new Peltor 500s have quickly become my favorite set of hearing protection. This ear muff style ear pro is incredibly comfortable and I’ve been using extensively for months now without any comfort issues. They are electronic of course and even have Bluetooth capability. It makes blasting a little WuTang Clan while shooting possible.

Of course, you can use it to make phone calls if you’re the practical type. They provide great sound balance and make conversations, instruction, and education possible with guns going off behind you.

The Targets

Ditch the old Bull’s eye targets, they’re boring and there are so many better options out there. For self-defense training, I’ve become a big fan of the Modern Warrior T1 targets from MyReadyRoom.com. These anatomy targets feature a life-size male armed with a handgun. There are X-Ray sections that display the target’s pelvic bones, heart, and brain.

These targets aid in learning and making proper shot placement a habit. They are high-quality targets printed on nice thick paper. The contrasting colors make spotting hits easy, and the targets are thick enough to be used with pasters for repeated use.

Multi-Tool

Every range bag needs a multi-tool. Some form of multi-tool complete with at least a knife, pliers, and flat head screwdriver. I’ve become a big fan of the SOG Batons. These ultra small and lightweight tools are perfect for the range bag. The Q3 baton being my go to. That being said any quality model of multi-tool will work.

Companies like Gerber and Leatherman even produce purpose built firearms multi-tools that might work well. I don’t have much personal experience with these tools, but they were becoming popular with the Marines I served with near the end of my enlistment.

Magazine Loaders

If your dad is a high volume shooter consider giving the gift of a magazine loader. Models from companies like Uplula are some of my all-time favorites.  They make loading and unloading rifle and pistol magazines a breeze. If I didn’t have these, I would barely ever load my Colt SMG magazines.

Even easy to load magazines get tiresome after several hundred rounds. If your fingers are fatigued from loading magazines, you’ll likely see a performance degradation on the range. So be a good kid and pick up a mag loader or two for his favorite guns.

General Range Bag Must Haves

So we covered the sexier stuff, let’s take a look at a few other must-haves for the range bag that aren’t so specific.

  • Target Stapler – A light duty hand stapler is perfect.
  • Ammo – It’s high on the list, but hard to be specific for. Know your dad and know his calibers
  • Cleaning Kit – Like ammo its a must have, but hard to be specific for. Get a nice, purpose-built kit from Otis or even Hoppes.
  • Mini Flashlight – Something mall, simple and affordable. Any of the hundreds of mini Cree LED flashlights on Amazon will work or for major points snag a Fenix headlamp.
  • Lens Cloth – For wiping those filthy optics down.

So that wraps up what I like in a range bag, and hopefully, you have an idea of what your Dad will love. If you’re still lost on what to get dad, then the best gift to give is time. If he’s a gun nut, maybe buy him some range time and go with him. Learn a thing or two about dad and his hobby, and you’ll be better prepared for next Father’s Day.