Range Day Load-Out & Interview with Don Welch

First video back after my vocal surgery — no more gravelly laryngitis sound — and we're doing a full range day loadout, from safety gear to apparel to bags. Starting where you always should: safety. As a former military guy who's heard a ton of explosions and gunshots, protect your hearing now, because it only gets worse. My regulars are the Walker Razor Slims — electronic muffs that cut sound over about 26 decibels while letting you hear your buddies — and the TRACKR Blues from Axil, which work the same way but add Bluetooth so you can pipe your phone through them. For rifle days I switch to low-profile electronic earplugs so the muffs aren't banging off the stock. I've even got a cheap comms setup: a cable into the Walkers, a push-to-talk, and a Baofeng UV-5R — right around $100 all in for complete comms plus hearing protection.

Eye pro is non-negotiable. My eyes are light-sensitive — LASIK made it worse — so outdoors I run the Oakley M Frame 3.0 ballistics with smoked lenses, and I keep a clear-lens M Frame 2.0 set for indoor ranges. This isn't theoretical: I've had steel splash back and hit my arm off an old target, and I've shot guns that threw brass straight back at me. I would never go to the range without hearing and eye protection, and neither should you.

Now my favorite part: gear. On my chest it's either the Viktos Taculus MX — super lightweight and streamlined when I only need a couple mags — or the setup I'm wearing today from our new friends at HRT Tactical: their H harness chest rig with the admin pouch and mag holders. Three rifle slots (the middle one carries my comms), two pistol slots, admin pouches holding an AR tool and a red dot adjuster, and a tourniquet — which is always on me somewhere. On my hips, HRT's gun belt, and I hate to say anything other than I'm just absolutely in love with it. Real Cobra buckle, inner and outer belt, laser-cut MOLLE that's super clean, and quick-release mag holders with plastic inserts that make reloads effortless. Add the dump pouch so I'm not throwing mags in the dirt, and my Adams Gear drop-leg holster for the P320 with TLR-1 on the Safariland QLS system. The full HRT belt setup will run you maybe $150–200, and the finer touches are exactly what the extra money buys.

The advice portion: pick what's comfortable and functional for you. I bought a Condor Recon rig because everybody raved about it — too many flaps flying around, just not my jam. I've worn a Tacticon Battle Belt V3 for over a year with no real complaints — great quality at an affordable price, a little on the heavy side — but their V2-style friction belt with no inner belt? Not a fan of friction belts, period. And don't just buy the cheapest Chinese stuff on Amazon; you'll end up buying twice.

Apparel and bags, quickly: Born Primitive's new tactical line — started by ex-military guys tired of lowest-bidder junk — is some of the most comfortable stuff I've ever worn, combat shirt and pants both. Oakley combat boots on my feet, though I actually prefer my side-zip Under Armours. A 2A Patriot Ranch hat, obviously. For hauling: a Voodoo Tactical extra-large range bag plus a dedicated pistol bag that holds six guns and stopped everything from rattling around loose. And the unsung heroes: ETS speed loaders — a pistol mag in under 30 seconds, a PMAG in under 5. The one catch is Sig double-stack mags don't feed well in the ETS, so those get the Caldwell loader instead. Pro tip: load your magazines the night before. I didn't, and paid for it.

Then the best part of range day: shooting with a guest. Don Welch came out — outlaw dirty country rap rage music, as he calls it — and we talked about the 2A community connecting us through Instagram, getting shadow-banned for gun posts, and his move from Texas to Florida. First person to shoot here for an extended session, and an amazing dude. Find him everywhere at Don Welch Music.