I have found, over the years, items that were never intended for firearm hobby to be useful. Please add anything else you can think of. Most of these came about when I was coaching the kid's SASP action shooting team in high school.

1. Tote tool bag. Perfect range bags. The outside pockets and sometime internal organization make it ideal to organize all your shooting gear . Mag loader, optic adjustment, tools, lube, etc are in easily reachable spots instead of digging into the pit of hell I call most range bags.

2. Yoga mats. Perfect cleaning mats. Instead of those fancy mat that are printed with a firearm model exploded views. Just get yoga mats and cut them up to use. After it gets dingy, throw it out and grab another. Also, bright colors make finding parts easy when you are cleaning guns.

3. Golf travel bags. Perfect gun travel gear. Want to not draw attention when traveling for shoots or matches. These golf bags with rollerblade wheels are perfect. I like the ones that are soft with some rigidity...not the hardshell ones. First, no one gives you a second glance. You can wheel 4 rifles and 2 shotguns up to your hotel room without no one ever seeing you. I have also used a tennix racquet bag to transport pistol caliber carbine to the range. The look you get at the front desk is comical. That's more for incognito for transport.

4. Tablet/small laptop zippered bags. Perfect pistol rug/bags. Perfect size and perfect for what it does. When I moved, I grabbed a bunch of these at the local thrift store about $2/each. Pistols were put into each bag and they all went into the golf travel bags.

Yes, you can just buy the items like cleaning mats, gun range bag, and such. I just find some of these a bit more useful than those.

Hope this helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Beanhead,

Canned compressed air for keyboard cleaning. Great for blowing out internal areas with the red straw.

Tampons for cleaning shotgun barrels.

Yoga bags for discreet rifle carry.

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Tampons for cleaning shotgun barrels.

410, 20, 12, or even a 10 gauge? I’ve not delved, maybe different sizes?

Guitar gig bag for carrying long guns. Wouldn't want to make my neighbors nervous.

I'll sometimes use a brass .25 caliber brush to clean mic and headphone jacks in the airplanes I work on. Make sure power is off before you try that.

Hot soapy water and shaving cream for cleaning a machine gun

pipe cleaners

On the flip side; the sand filled forened support bag is great for holding the neck of a guitar when working on it

ETA: "Dime and washer drills" [Pre GWOT Army, money and ammo were not so plentiful. We would lay on the ground in the prone for hours with a cleaning rod sticking out the end of our rifle. Your battle buddy would balance a dime or washer on the end of it then you tried to dry fire it without the dime falling off. It taught you clean controlled trigger squeeze)

Surgical Lap sponges, perfect for almost every cleaning job around the house, and don't skimp on the surgical blue towels, and the q-tips from the surgical prep trays. Maybe some bowls that we usually just toss in the trash.

Ask me if I work in surgery without asking.

Learned this trick from a rifle class years ago:

Paint can openers for stuck cases.

You can run into a malfunction on your AR (or other rifle) in which the case gets stuck in the chamber and the extractor tears off that portion of the rim. This requires either a cleaning rod down the barrel to push it out, or a small extractor-like hooked tool to reach into the chamber and pry the case out.

Back in the day, some soldiers would keep a cleaning rod taped to the side of their rifles.





Nowadays, it's easier to just have a small paint can tool paracorded to your gear.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Tampons for cleaning shotgun barrels.

410, 20, 12, or even a 10 gauge? I’ve not delved, maybe different sizes?

I believe those are differentiated by flow.

I have a vise on strong magnets that I mount on my lowered tailgate for those times in the field when a third hand would be useful.

Dental tools, like those used to scrape teeth. Use carefully.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Dental tools, like those used to scrape teeth. Use carefully.

Also available in plastic, so you don't have to use carefully.

YouTube

Helped me with instructional videos, research before buying, and education via Ian McCollum and others.

A 3D printer for near instant creation of tools and organization help.

Medical Applicators. Basically Q-Tips with longer, wooden handles.
They're wound tighter and don't come apart easily.

+1 on the dental picks; they're great for getting into crevices.

Large Ziplock Freezer bags for taking mags apart or anything with springs that you would like captured, instead of looking across the room for them.

quote:

Originally posted by rizzle:
Large Ziplock Freezer bags for taking mags apart or anything with springs that you would like captured, instead of looking across the room for them.

Very handy when installing the front pivot pin on AR lowers.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Dental tools, like those used to scrape teeth. Use carefully.

Also available in plastic, so you don't have to use carefully.

Army "Fieldcraft" [tip]: cut a ~2-4" piece off a cheap metal coat hanger then beat the end flat with a smooth face hammer. The metal is relatively soft and good for scraping carbon.

Q Tips for cleaning in those tight spaces.

This little tote/shoulder bag I found in an antique store for $25.





I use it mostly for toting shotgun shells at the range. It has a myriad of other possible uses that I haven't explored yet. Each of the large compartments will hold a boxful (25) of 12-gauge. They are also large enough to easily take a subcompact pistol, even a medium-sized pistol with a little more difficulty, or a compact first aid kit. The flap closure pocket could hold a magazine, a pocket knife, a flashlight, etc. In the small zippered compartment, my Garmin chronograph with the tripod removed fits, as can a small camera. What it could carry is limited only by the size of the object and my imagination.