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Why use a rifle bag?
The sole purpose of a rifle bag is to transport your rifle in it. You can do this in a rifle case too, but many prefer a soft rifle bag because of the ease of use and the adequate level of protection. And they’re right, as rifle bags are indeed very easy and comfortable to carry. They’re also light and take up a minimum of space. For the reasons above, the soft rifle bag often is the transport protection of choice. And the ease of use in the field is another good reason too.
How do you carry a rifle bag?
There are multiple ways to carry a rifle bag, which mostly depends on the options offered. Most soft rifle bags have double carrying handles for carrying by hand. Often, a shoulder strap is featured too, so you can keep your hands free. Some examples even feature backpack straps, with which the weight of the gun is evenly spread over your shoulders. Especially outdoors when covering significant distances, this can be of great value for comfort.
Is a rifle bag waterproof?
As there’ll always be a zipper, a fully waterproof rifle bag doesn’t really exist. We do have variants with a water repellent or even waterproof exterior, that’ll prevent the material from soaking up water. With these, you don’t need to worry when carrying them for a short while through some rain, but we do want to emphasise that even a water-resistant rifle bag should be left open to air at the end of a day. For extensive carrying in the rain, we’ve got waterproof covers available.
How much protection does a soft rifle case offer?
A rifle bag has a soft padding to protect the rifle. Often, the rifle lies loose inside the soft rifle case. The advantage of this, is that you can grab it immediately after opening the bag. However, sometimes elastic or Velcro loops are used to secure the rifle and prevent it from sliding inside the bag. This is only needed when other equipment like magazines is stored in the same compartment. These will have their own straps to prevent them rubbing or rattling against each other. Some rifle bags use thick egg-crate foam that’ll firmly hug the rifle, keeping it in place.
Most of the time, a soft rifle case is all that’s needed to safely transport your rifle. A good one will offer adequate protection against minor bumps and scrapes. Think sliding in the boot of a car or involuntary hitting a doorpost. Besides that, is a rifle bag light of weight and comfortable to carry, making for an obvious choice. Some can even be locked. These will have double zippers with interlocking eyes through which a small padlock can be hung.
How to choose the best rifle bag
As with anything, it all depends on the intended use and your personal preferences, which rifle bag is best for you. For a ride to the shooting range, a thinly padded one will be all you need. But rattling in the boot of your car when you’re hunting and greenlaning on bumpy single tracks, a bit of extra thick foam won’t hurt. In that case, a thickly padded rifle bag is best.
And think about how you want to carry your rifle bag. Are the double handstraps good enough or do you prefer a shoulder strap to keep your hands free? Or do you need backpack shoulder straps? In short, will you be carrying the soft rifle bag for a short distance or will you be carrying it for miles? In that case, the best rifle bag is the one that offers you the most comfort.
Lest we forget the size either, an important factor. We take great care to put both external and internal sizes on our website. Keep in mind that if you’re using a rifle scope, that the rifle bag should have space for it to keep it mounted on your rifle. A word of advice though: however tempting it might be to choose your rifle bag nice and spacious (so you can use it for all rifles in your collection), please don’t. A loose and sliding rifle doesn’t feel comfortable and it kind of surpasses the use of a rifle bag as a protective way of transportation anyway.
One last thing to keep in mind, is the additional storage space a rifle bag needs to offer. Think document compartments and pouches for magazines, moderators, ammunition, et cetera. Often these pockets and compartments are placed on the outside of the rifle bag and many can be closed with a zipper or Velcro.