New Range Equipment

In my eternal quest to find new and improved ways to haul my stuff to and from the firing line, I saw and purchased a new piece of range equipment. I also put it through its paces during my range session on Saturday.

You all may remember my R2 range unit that I purchased last summer. I was looking for a rolling unit that would hold firearms and ammo, as well as all of the other stuff you need when you go to the range (eye and ear protection, rags, cleaning supplies, targets, etc) and I found R2 for $20.

R2 served his purpose well and I logged a goodly number of trips with him, but he had his shortcomings. First off was that he was completely made of plastic; when loaded with ammo, I could still lift him into the truck, but the groaning of the lower half flexing under load was discomforting. Also, if I was going to the rifle range, I still needed a second box for my benchrest and bags and my spotting scope. And lastly, my Ruger MKII with the 10in barrel was, in no way, ever going to fit inside, a minimum of three inches too narrow in any dimension.

Those things put together was enough for me to downgrade his status to R1 (R=rifle) and find a second option.

Which is where P1 comes in.

This unit is just about everything I think I’ll ever need, so long as it stays in one piece, which it should since it is 75% steel. It has three compartments, all of which separate, an extending/retracting handle and those very handy drawers.

The top part is an oversized tool box, long enough for my Ruger 10in, with a removable tray. It has a pair of side latches which hold it to the whole unit. I have a cleaning kit and tool set in there and I can still get two to three pistols below that in there.

The middle section has a full sized drawer (where I keep targets) above a pop-down door that give you access to the eight smaller yellow drawers. I have eyes and ears in one drawer, various mag loading helpers to save the thumbs during those extended range sessions and then one drawer each for mags for the Ruger MKII and CZ83 and two full of 1911 mags. I’m still thinking of things to put in the two emptry drawers. It too has it’s own top handle and latches that detach it from the bottom portion. I have just been leaving the top two portions connected to one another and disconnected the lower set of latches and lifting the them up for access to the bottom bucket.

The bucket will hold more ammo than I think I can shoot in a range session before my feet get tired. If I don’t fill it up with ammo, I can put a couple of pistols in there as well.

I found this at the ‘Do It Yourself’ place with the orange logo for $75 after a coupon and WA state sales tax. Not a bad deal, although it comes close to matching the price of Rivrdog’s “Total Trolley”.

It worked well on Saturday, but there were two downsides: It is wide and you will need full access to a doorway to get it through. If the door doesn’t open all the way, you’ll be lifting it. It also doesn’t roll well on household carpet. Pulling it is fine, but pushing it is a chore.

It has a bungee on either side, about halway up, with a corresponding 2in wide shelf at the bottom, but neither the bungees or the shelves are wide enough to accomodate a rimfire or pistol caliber carbine in a hard case (soft cases seem to be OK). I’ll be fixing that. It also absolutely needs side handles. I can load it to the gills and it’ll hold it without so much as a creak, but trying to lift it into the back of my truck with just the latch handles is precarious as they can (and did) unlatch in the process.

But both of those are quick, 15 minute fixes, if they take that long. All in all, this thing kicks ass and I stopped counting how many compliments I got from both shooters and the range staff.

So if you’re lazy like me, or just tired of making multiple trips from the vehicle to the shooting lane with ‘yer stuf’ grab one of these before they discontinue them like they did the R2.