Firearms training is a necessity to owning a gun. To be proficient in exercising your Second Amendment rights, you should spend as much time as possible focusing on drawing, accurately firing, and holstering your weapon. Something that is far too often overlooked is being medically prepared. That is why we are extremely excited to review a first aid kit from MyMedic — the Range Medic.
Be Prepared
When reviewing this product, I couldn’t help but think of a story a friend of mine told me during a range day a couple of years ago. He was active in the competition shooting circuit and was attending an event. An extremely experienced competition shooter took his position, the timer started, and he drew his weapon. Unfortunately, something went awry, either a snag on the holster or some other fluke incident, and the first round of .22LR went right into his leg.
In the midst of firearms professionals, everyone just stood and watched. Luckily, one attendee acted quickly to jump in and control the bleeding. A routine day at the range, for an extremely talented marksmen, went south in a heartbeat. Without quick action, it could have been far more tragic. I challenge everyone reading this to ask yourself, are you prepared for a fluke accident on the range?
If you’re like me, the answer is probably no. We all focus on holsters, guns, magazines, and tons of rounds. Then we grab some nice ear and eye protection. A medical first aid kit is probably last on your list, but in all actuality, it should be first.
Now that we’ve covered the why, let’s take a look at the what. Insert the MyMedic Range Medic First Aid Kit.
The What — MyMedic Range Medic
If you aren’t familiar with MyMedic, check out everything they have to offer. Their focus is on building various first aid kits that keep you prepared for a bad situation. As people who carry firearms, we always focus on the “firing back” part of an emergency situation. What we often overlook is the “what happens when the shooting stops” aspect. The very first thing once a situation is under control will inevitably be applying first aid.
Made specifically for the gun range, the MyMedic Range Medic has everything you need to stop the bleed. The kit we reviewed is their Advanced model — which comes with exactly what you need for an emergency situation. Specifically, the Advanced model is equipped with the following items not included in the Basic model:
- Chest Seal
- QuikClot
- Emergency Pressure Bandage
- Liquid Skin
- Rapid Tourniquet
Although the Advanced model is more than double the price of the Basic ($150 compared to $60), it’s really no comparison in my eyes. The Basic comes with what you would typically think of: gauze, EMT sheers, gloves, and misc. medicines like Tylenol and Benadryl. The real value of this kit lies in the Advanced items above. Being able to apply a tourniquet, chest seal in case of a punctured lung, or QuikClot, are invaluable items to have. Tracking down Advil on the other hand would be much more common in someone else’s range bag.
Specs – The Low Down
Taking the Range Medic out of the box, I could immediately tell the quality. The latches, zippers, and fasteners all feel heavy duty. After opening the kit, you’ll see that everything is thoughtfully laid out in order to be compact and efficient. In fact, without even opening the kit you have quick access to the Rapid Tourniquet. It’s very easy to tell that this isn’t a company that puts items in a container, but rather develops a product that delivers useful features. God forbid you have to use the kit, it will be easy to access exactly what you need. There’s a lot to be said for that.
The Advanced kit also comes with straps to attach via MOLLE. I put it right on the side of my 5.11 24 Hour bag and was ready to go. What’s also slick is that the MOLLE portion attaches to the kit with Velcro so you can just tear the kit right away from its attachment. Once again, just a small but thoughtful design element. When you need to use this kit, you can just rip it right from your chest rig, go bag, or vehicle grid and rush right into rescue mode.
Coming in at just about 1.25 lbs, you’ll hardly notice it’s there as well. My go bag is usually loaded down with much more cumbersome items. Adding the MyMedic Range Medic onto the bag made virtually no difference. It’s something you can take everywhere very easily.
My Recommendation
The hard part but best part of this review is that I didn’t actually use the items included. That’s the hope of all of us, to never need to use an emergency medical kit. It is something though that all of us need to have.
So should you go with the MyMedic Range Medic? As long as you go with the Advanced model, then my answer is absolutely yes. For $150 you get a very solidly-made first aid kit with advanced medical items that can absolutely save a life. If you’re just looking at the Basic model, you can get a similar set of items for a better price — though you’d be hard pressed to find a better designed kit.
I’ve always kept cheap bottles of acetaminophen, Benadryl, etc. along with some simple bandages in my range bag. The Advanced Range Medic by MyMedic took my game up ten notches. It’s a pretty phenomenal kit that I would recommend to everyone who spends any time on a gun range. After feeling the quality of the Range Medic, I’ll be taking a good hard look at their larger first aid kits. Medical preparedness is so overlooked and we in the Second Amendment community need to do better. A med kit should be on everyone’s list.
Disclaimer: After getting a kit, (or before!), we all need to know how to use these life-saving items. Like any tool, it’s only as good as its application. Take a first aid course as soon as you can and familiarize yourself with the items in your kit ASAP.