3V Gear: The Best Tactical Backpacks On The Market

Ranger 42 Padded Double Gun Case

Okay, you have your AR, your friends AK (he always wants to pit them against each other), and some handguns that you’re taking to the range. Obviously, you can’t carry the guns into the range outside of a case, or the Range Safety Officer would literally have a heart attack. No literally, they’re usually not young fit guys. How do you transport them from your house, to the car, and to the range and back? Pelican cases are a great tactical backpack if you have a furniture dolly or three strong friends, but those things are heavy for just one person, and not everyone needs a full-blown military-grade case just to go to the range. 3V gear has the perfect solution in the form of a tactical backpack. 

At less than $100, the Ranger42 is a perfect tactical backpack for transporting 2 guns to the range while not breaking your bank account or bulging a disk. The case is divided into two parts, so you can carry two guns without them scratching against each other and not only damaging them but making an awful noise. The case also includes two padded handgun pockets, so you can each bring a rifle and handgun in one case without hiring a moving crew to get your stuff out of the car or taking 4 trips to the car. One thing you might want to consider is that some ranges don’t like you to open the case with gun barrels facing up range (towards the firing line), so make sure you place all the gun barrels facing the same direction and draw an arrow that shows which way they will be facing. The case can also be used to carry spare magazines, and the pockets can be expanded to carry anything from ear pro to spare magazines and eye protection. Really this case can be your one-stop range bag. There are two MOLLE panels on the bag, both the left and right. This is a perfect place to store a tourniquet, which you absolutely must-have in your range kit, as well as maybe a small medical kit for cuts and scrapes should they happen.

It cannot be stressed enough that a tourniquet should be in every shooter’s range kit or tactical backpack, as accidents can happen, and with an arterial would, or even just a very bad shot, death can occur in seconds and having a tourniquet mounted to your gun carry case is a great idea, especially since the case is generally placed very close to the firing line. This is also coincidentally where most accidental shootings occur. This tactical backpack also has straps to carry this as a backpack, so you can have a hand free to open doors and sign paperwork without placing your case down on the ground just to pick it up again. When comparing these other products like a hard-sided case, take a look at the weight of the case, they are often as heavy as another gun or more and can be quite awkward to load into a car, especially when going into a small trunk opening or being placed on an ATV. Soft-sided cases are a much better option, and the 3VGear 42 Padded Rifle case is a great value to protect your guns when transporting up to 4 regular size firearms.

Subrosa Urban Assault Pack

You want to go out to an event, a parade or march, and want to stay covert and protected at the same time. How would you go about carrying medical equipment, spare magazines, and other miscellaneous items, but also give yourself the ability to take IIIA soft or hard body armor with you, and not cause a stink about someone wearing a vest to an event? Now, what about just traveling to another airport with some gear that you always carry? Would you use two different bags for this? Why?

With the Subrosa Urban assault pack, you can carry everything from laptops to body armor in the same exact tactical backpack and keep a low profile with a stylish bag. The Subrosa Urban Assault Pack gives you enough room for a “personal item” on the airplane, even one that won’t ruin your legroom, and can carry all the aforementioned articles if needed. 3VGear even sells the specifically sized body armor plates that are rated to IIIA. IIIA body armor can protect against .357SIG, and .44 Magnum bullets fired even from longer barrels, so it can protect against almost every type of regular handgun. However, this rating will not stop rifle bullets, and harder armor might be a consideration depending on where you’re operating. This can also be incorporated into the tactical backpack without showing how bulky the plate is, which is a major plus. The Subrosa Pack is not just a body armor carrier though, and the SOB (Stealth Operator Bag) line of tactical packs is useful in everyday life as well. The bag includes a padded laptop sleeve, which will hold most 15” laptops, and also a tablet pocket that will hold most tablets up to 10”. This is key for a bag this small because currently, you cannot have your laptop or tablet out of the bag on flights, and it has to be stored during takeoff and landing, if you have your bag under your seat, this means you can have your laptop out faster to work on the flight.

The bag has a full clamshell design, which allows you to put the bag on a flat surface, rip open the zippers and access literally everything in the pack at once. This feature makes packing and unpacking the bag a breeze as well as providing fast access to a medical kit or spare magazine at the bottom of the bag in case of an emergency. Often, bags geared toward a tactical crowd stand out as a “tactical backpack” and make you immediately identifiable in a crowd. This is not the case with the Subrosa pack, with a modern black exterior with a minimum of external tactical features, you can be sure to blend into the masses while carrying everything you’d like to keep with you at hand.

Posse EDC Sling Pack

While concealing a subcompact or compact pistol is easily done by many folks, there are situations that call for a larger handgun to be concealed, and also ones that don’t lend themselves to carrying a larger handgun on body, or even a handgun on body at all. Athletic shorts or swimsuits are a great example of this. The Posse EDC Sling bag is a perfect companion for this situation since it includes a pocket on the back for just this situation. The pocket is specifically designed to conceal a slightly larger handgun, and have it pressed against your body, so printing is an impossibility.

The EDC sling pack is just the right size for a day pack on vacation as well as an everyday pack (hence the name) for carrying just the right amount of stuff with you. A small traumatic bandage kit, tourniquet, phone charger, and a few odds and ends are a great combo to carry in this bag, along with a full-size gun and spare mag or two. The spare magazines can be easily managed in the elastic magazine straps and the firearm can be up to 8”x8” which includes many full-size options such as a SIG P320, Glock 17, and any other similarly sized weapon, but just barely. All of this ends up in a package that is small, easy to pull over onto your shoulder and get up and go. The small side strap makes sure that the pack is secure on your back and will allow you run and catch the train without holding it tight across your chest, attempting to not bounce your gun directly into your spine. Sling packs are a great addition to vacation bags as well, as many countries require you to have your passport with you at all times, and you’ll more than likely be needing to carry a spare phone battery pack, charging cable, snacks and foreign currency.

This pack stands out as more American than most but isn’t so over the top that you can be seen out of a crowd of folks. At only $36, and with same-day shipping, this bag can be a last-minute purchase to your EDC lineup without breaking the bank or waiting for someone to ship your equipment. At 1.6lbs, this pack is a great option for a runner or hiker as well, since most easy hikes don’t really need much more than this pack can hold, and everyone knows that ounces equal pounds when it comes to hiking or running. If not needed, the extra strap can also be concealed inside the pack, which may make the pack slightly less conspicuous.

Another quick feature is the elastic strap keepers. This is a sign of a quality pack, as this allows you to roll the hanging extra straps into a tight ball, and make sure they don’t come apart. This helps clean up the look of the pack, but also makes certain that you aren’t hung up on a twig or door handle when moving quickly.

Velox ll Tactical Assault Pack

So, you need more than just a slight carry on bag, and want more features from 3VGear, what would your next choice be? That’s easy, the VELOXII Tactical Assault Pack. This pack has it all, with 1600ci of storage you can easily pack a 3-day flight into the bag as well as room for snacks and toiletries for you folks that fly often and need a one-stop pack. However, the VELOX was not designed to be a namby-pamby carryon bag. With a padded laptop sleeve, you can carry either your MacBook for work or Level IIIA ballistic plates for other types of work. If you’re going off the trails and needing to carry water, hydration packs are a great way to keep water flowing and quickly accessible. The laptop sleeve doubles as a hydration pouch and can store up to 3L of water, with a quickly accessible hole for threading the hose through.

Compression straps are another welcome addition to this pack, anyone who has had to slam clothes and gear into a bag has dealt with the zipper issues very quickly, and the compression straps can help you cram just a little more gear into the tactical backpack while keeping it closed easily. The EVA molded back panel keeps your back cooler and less sweaty than other packs, which is nice, and as an added bonus “Veni, Vidi, Vici” is molded right into this panel, this was said by Julius Caesar at the battle of Zela near 47BC and it means “I came, I saw, I conquered” which is the version you’re likely more familiar with. MOLLE webbing is all over this tactical backpack, and this provides you with not only the ability to expand your pack with other modular packs, but you can add accessories such as a tourniquet, IR marker, or just a flashlight.

The VELOX II is a great assault pack for getting a significant amount of gear to your destination while keeping it tight and organized. They have thought of everything here, especially with the elastic strap keepers, that help you organize the extra straps hanging off the bag and making sure they don’t catch on anything when adjusted to your body. Little things like a padded grab handle, large zipper, and nylon webbing are added bonuses, but you really only notice the little things when you deal with an inferior pack before purchasing this tactical backpack.

This pack measures in at 27 liters, so you can compare other backpacks to this assault-style pack. The pack weighs in at 3 lbs and comes in Black, Foliage Grey, and Coyote tan to make sure that you have every color available to match your other gear and direct as little attention to you as possible. All zipper pulls are threaded paracord for durability and most importantly, noise reduction. This pack has it all and will make a welcome addition to your loadout.