Hopefully the holiday season saw something of a ballistic nature make it’s way under the Christmas tree or beside the Hanukkah menorah. Now that you’re in possession of a shiny new pistol and hopefully some ammo to go with it, it’s off to the range for some quality time poking holes in paper. Sure, your firearm came with a perfectly acceptable case, but that’s hardly up to the task for repeated use. Plus you’re having to stow your ammo and other accessories in another bag or case. Hardly convenient. So, what do you do?
Enter the Lynx Defense Pistol Range Bag…
My range trip bags tend to be borne of convenience. I use a diversion bag for my rifles, and I’ve repurposed a backpack for pistols. It works, but it’s not specifically designed to keep everything I need for a session at the range in one convenient place. The little fiddly webbing for a laptop power supply becomes an ammo holder, and everything else gets chucked into various pockets and pouches throughout the backpack. It’s all there, but it gets a little crowded, especially when there’s already sundry survival items like an IFAK, #fenggang radio, and other things I like to have handy. I considered a dedicated range bag, but it’s always been like 50 on my list of gun things to get.
So, I was pleasantly surprised when the folk at Lynx Defense reached out to me to offer up their Pistol Range Bag for review. Fans of my newly-launched podcast no less, they dropped me a line just before Christmas and offered to send one down. Of course, I was intrigued, and took them up on their offer. I also got to check out the Lynx “order process” as it were. Though this is a review item, Lynx Defense put the wheels in motion as a normal customer order so I could check out the full customer experience. It’s the little things…
For those that don’t know, I publish Regular Guy Guns the hard way. This isn’t WordPress. It’s a static site generator called Hexo, which basically means to publish, I have to go into nerd mode. So I tend to notice when vendors of firearms and firearms accessories such as the Lynx Defense Pistol Range bag do things right. Within moments of my “order”, I received a standard confirmation that the transaction was successful. Easy enough. Where Lynx shines though is with their comprehensive tracking and order fulfillment – plus their CS team was super-responsive via email and social channels. Again, it’s the little things. The Pistol Bag isn’t an impulse buy per se, so it was rather reassuring to the paranoid side of me to have that “oh, there’s a human on the other side” feeling. By their own admission, Lynx did say that it was crunch time for the holidays – I didn’t expect the bag until after Christmas. But lo and behold, on Christmas Eve, the Pistol Range Bag arrived on my doorstep. I even got a “delivered” email. Nice touch.
Here in Miami, we have a rather large Latin community (duh!). Since the Lynx Pistol Range Bag arrived on Christmas Eve, I kind of wanted to push off opening it til Christmas Day. However, in a lot of Latin households, they open some or all of their gifts on Christmas Eve. Indulging in the Colombian half of my heritage (no – not that way!) I decided to open up the box from Lynx and check out the new arrival.
Out of the box the Lynx Pistol Range Bag already looked like a durable piece of kit. This isn’t a $25 Amazon special cranked out by some random factory in Red China. This is made-in-the-USA goodness.
Features
Copied and adapted from the Lynx Defense website since I’m lazy.
- 100% Made in the USA – Fabric, Zippers, Thread, and Sewn in America
- Exterior Dimensions: Length: 13in Width: 10in Height: 8in
- Includes two gun/magazine inserts (More add-ons are available for purchase)
- Inserts fit most pistols
- Recommended maximum of four inserts
- 500D Cordura Fabric Exterior
- Built-in Detachable Rollout Cleaning/Range Mat
- Removable Hard Bottom Provides Increased Durability
Berry Amendment Compliant
With every firearm or ammo product I’ve purchased and/or reviewed, it’s always an educational experience – and this item from Lynx is no exception. On their website, they state that the Pistol Range Bag is Berry Amendment Compliant, which is a law requiring textile items purchased by the Department of Defense to be sourced from the United States. Something I had no clue was a requirement. Go figure.
The Pistol Range Bag, made in Selma, North Carolina, consists exclusively of US-made fabrics, zippers, and thread. Soup to nuts, made by our fellow citizens in the great state of North Carolina. Excellent.
The Lynx Defense Pistol Range Bag Experience
OK, I’ve bored you to tears with the specs and the ramblings about some obscure law which only DoD nerds would find fascinating. So, how does it handle?
Quite well, actually.
Functional Parts
The first thing that struck me was the overall build quality. This is definitely built to last. No finicky plastic clips on the shoulder strap. Instead, they are solid steel. On various no-name ChiCom junk I’ve had the “pleasure” of owning, the first things to go are often the clips, connectors, and other plastic components. Especially down here in the Florida sun, the incoming light and UV, over time, can be murder on low-quality plastics. And when you’re paying $25 for something alley-ooped over your fence by the Amazon guy, you get what you pay for.
Definitely not the case with the Pistol Range Bag. Those solid metal connectors and clips will stand the test of time.
Another key component Lynx took time on was the zippers – made here in the US by Ideal, they’re solid and reliable. I’ve had clunky plastic ones fail on me before, and it’s a mission to get into your bag when the zipper fails. I don’t get that feeling here. Zip on, zip off. I really hammed on it and I didn’t even feel an inkling of failure. Solid.
The straps, velcro and pads are all quite sturdy and comfortable. I toted around two pistols and a few hundred rounds of ammo for about an hour (because I have no life outside of this blog, ha ha) and it was actually not discomforting. With some bags and backpacks you feel like you’re going to lose circulation. Lynx did it right here. The velcro closures are solid and require some “oomph” to open – I’m not a velcro engineer but the connection is “tight”.
Furthermore, the reinforced bottom inspires confidence, especially that your pistols, ammo, safety accessories, and other important range items won’t sag the bag or spill out unexpectedly. The moveable dividers are similarly solid.
There’s external un-zippered pouches as well. Perfect for those random little accessories like pens, flashlights, and so on, that you may need to get at quick during a trip to the range.
One key feature I hadn’t seen before in a range bag was the integrated cleaning mat. While useful for cleaning your firearms, in my mind the utility of this component is when at the range, and you need a covering of sorts to spread out your various accessories and items, including random things like threaded barrel protectors that have a nasty habit of rolling away sometimes.
A little note on that actually – the fabric on the mat (and bag) itself is durable, but not overly heat resistant. I wouldn’t recommend setting a suppressor that’s been used on it. It’ll melt and mar the material. Actually – a cool feature for a revision of the Pistol Range Bag could be a “suppressor mat” of some sort – or a pouch where you can store your can in the bag without fear of burning it.
Function-wise – the Lynx Defense Pistol Range Bag is solid.
Style
OK, the bag works, and it works well. But hey, some people care about looks. I’ll offer that the Lynx Defense Pistol Range Bag is a pretty stylish item, especially in Wolf Gray.
Most “tactical” items tend to be black, flat dark earth, or some variant of green. Sure, that’s nice, but there’s something to be said about Wolf Grey. It’s very H&K actually in an odd sort of way. I’d recommend this color not just based on personal preference, but the color tends to shrug off random stains and usage marks rather easily – the bag should look sharp for years.
Another thing worth noting is that in this color, the Lynx Defense Pistol Range bag doesn’t really look like a “gun” item. Lynx, whether by accident or by design, cleverly put their branding on the top of the bag, where someone would have to be quite close to you to scope it out. Combined with the color scheme, the bag is rather discreet, and only to the trained eye would it stand out as a firearms item.
This can be important in several use cases. Thieves have been known to scope out their quarry based on brands. Items festooned with GLOCK, SIG, or Heckler & Koch logos can draw their attention. They know something that goes bang is in there. It’s been a problem for photographers actually – seasoned pixel shooters debadge their bags or use nondescript cases for their gear. Lead shooters can take a cue from that.
On a more mundane level, having a discreet carrying bag for your firearms will also keep the questions from the nosy neighbors to a minimum. Some people have opinions about things, and if you’re dragging big green cases across the parking lot, those people might let you know their opinion. I don’t have time for that, and neither do you.
The Lynx Defense Pistol Range Bag hits the nail on the head in the ‘discreet’ department. It’s a sturdy bag, with no indication really as to what’s inside. As they say – “go grey”.
As the only gun blogger who can wax intellectual about a bag, I’ll cut to the chase here, or as the kids say – TL:DR
Pros
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Made In the USA. When it comes to guns, it’s easy to support US manufacturers. Lynx is worthy of your dollars.
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Durable Cordura, nylon, and velcro construction.
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Bag itself is easy to clean.
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Metal clasps and zipper components on the hard-use points.
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Handy pouches inside and out for accessories, magazines, cleaning agents
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The dividers and bottom are rock-solid, not strange floppy cardboard. Clunk!
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This holds a lot for it’s size. At least two full-sized duty pistols – say an H&K VP9, GLOCK 17 or something similar, and a few hundred rounds of 9mm ammo. Along with safety gear.
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Discreet. It’s a bag for your guns, but doesn’t look like one. Is it a camera bag? A fancy gym duffel? Only you know.
Cons
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Certainly not a dealbreaker, but the materials aren’t overly heat-resistant. Suppressor shooters should let their cans cool before placing in the bag.
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A nifty future add-on could be a waterproof enclosure of sorts for cleaning fluids in case a bottle leaks, etc.
Bag | Cost | Buy Now |
---|---|---|
Pistol Range Bag | Varies | Buy Now! |
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Source link: https://regularguyguns.com/2021/01/05/The-Lynx-Defense-Pistol-Range-Bag-Review/ by Regular Guy at regularguyguns.com