You NEED a Bag Gun
- June 10, 2021
- By Jared Daub
Backpack guns are trendy and that is for good reason. Last year we saw a massive spike in riots, looting, and general chaos in many of our cities across the nation. It’s no surprise that regular citizens were looking to find ways to carry larger, more accurate firearms on their body or in their vehicles in response to these situations. Americans have the natural right to defend their lives. We also have the right to use modern weaponry to do just that. We are in the midst of a civil rights and a culture war and part of how we win is normalization. Let’s begin to normalize regular citizens carrying rifles, shall we?
The first thing we’ll quickly go over: What are backpack or bag guns? Any firearm that is built or designed or retrofit to be able to be stuffed into a bag safely is a “bag gun” in our mind. In the video we recently dropped to our YouTube covering this topic, we mostly focused on SBR and Pistol platforms. Some folks carry sidearms in bags as well. For us, the backpack is a way to carry medical gear as well as a secondary rifle or AR/AK pistol variant. Shown below are three of our personal bag guns that are built to be able to be discreetly carried daily, no matter the environment.
You might be asking yourself: Why would anyone want to carry a larger firearm in a bag? What really prompted us to talk about this more and more were the riots and looting in 2020. We saw what societal collapse looks like. We witnessed first hand what happens when cities decay into violence. The depravity of humans is real and the capability of humans to do violence is virtually limitless. For this reason, we saw MILLIONS of new gun owners jumping into our community. Many of these new gun owners were in the heart of the violence last summer. When cities collapse, a pistol may not be enough. Our mission is to equip citizens with knowledge surrounding modern fighting platforms and a rifle is the American tool for defense of life. We want to normalize the carrying of rifles covertly in public spaces. Culture changing starts here.
If you find yourself wanting more than just a sidearm and you also value keeping medical equipment at arms reach (you should value that), then a bag probable makes a ton of sense. If you find yourself here, welcome! Now we need to figure out how you can carry that gear along with you effectively while remaining covert. The goal is to fully blend in and camouflage often means grays, blacks, simple patterns in urban environments.
That brings us first to camouflage. Not the kind you might be thinking of…we need to blend in. Ask yourself this: As a “gun guy” or “gun girl”, would you guess that “x” bag that someone is carrying contains a rifle? We want the answer to be a resounding “no”. I like to try my best to just look like a college dude with a bag and most likely his laptop and some office stuff. I personally don’t fully subscribe to the argument that obviously carrying makes you a specific target. With that being said, society doesn’t need to know currently what we are packing. We want to blend in yet be capable of deploying a rifle or larger pistol platform in seconds.
Once you decide that you definitely want to start carrying a firearm in a backpack, you will need to ask a few basic questions. The most important question to start is: “what barrel length?”. Caliber is a close second, but because we are confined to certain sizes of bags (larger bags can seem “out of place”), we will need to closely analyze the size of the gun we are carrying, especially if you are carrying an SBR or something like an AR15 pistol. We KNOW we lose velocity on shorter barrels but typically even a short 556 has better ballistics and is easier to land shots than, say, a Glock 19. Typically the largest barrel length that could be considered reasonable without actually taking the gun apart (upper and lower) would be a 12.5″. That will be pushing most bags and you might need to run a standard bird cage flash hider to make it happen. My 12.5″ 556 barely fits into my Vertx Gamut 2.0. A 10.3″ tends to be the minimum length for a 556 that I will carry at this point and even that is a bit big for more urban/starbucks/shopping mall occasions. This is specifically why I have three different bag guns. Each one has its own strengths.
On the topic of calibers I’d encourage you to not get too deep into the weeds. There are some considerations, but we KNOW we lose velocity. We know a tiny gun may not be as accurate as a 16″. We are carrying a rifle to be able to put more rounds into bad people quickly and accurately. We want to be able to explode with force against evil in seconds before more lives are taken. If you are super scientific, a 300 BLK will yield better velocity and heavier, nastier bullets vs a 556 in an equally short platform. My 5″ 300 blackout is launching 130 grain varmint projectiles at just under 1600 FPS at 10 feet. My 7.5″ 300 BLK is launching the same loads at 1900 fps at 10 feet. That is substantial compared to the wimpy 1100 fps of my 147 grain +P loads in my G19. Plus I have a powerful light, better optics, extra ammo in the bag. Overall, this is a topic we could debate or discuss for days on end. Maybe eventually we will do just that. What matters most is training and practicing with your load out. Do that most, debate the specifics less.
Any other considerations surrounding backpack guns? With regards to the sizes of bags, keep in mind what would look “normal”. We are trying to blend in so walking into a restaurant with a massive bag that looks like you are about to descend into the forest for a week probably won’t fit in. A 5″ 300 blackout in a small sling bag would probably fit in. If you have kids, maybe you can get away with a bigger bag. People might think “Cool. That’s a man bag with diapers and toys in it.” We’ve all seen little stuffed animal toys on lanyards or key chains. Hang one or two from your bag, stick an exposed diaper in the side pouch. Make it look like a diaper bag. These are things you should consider for each instance where you carry a bag with a rifle. Make it look normal. Most people aren’t paying that close of attention to this stuff. For those that are, either they are on our side, or we are going to eliminate their fears by how and what we carry to different locations. Blend in. Blend in. Blend in.
Aside from all of that, train with what you carry. It is unacceptable to simply toss a rifle in a bag and call it good. Get out on the range and dry fire with your gun. Do some live fire. Critically analyze how and what you carry. You’re doing this for yourself but you are also doing this to assist your community. Innocent lives need defenders. Our duty is to protect, defend, and become an asset for our communities. One last thing to note: in my opinion my “sidearm” is still my primary weapon. It is and will always be faster for me to draw my Glock 19 than to deploy my rifle. With that being said, if I have time, I want my rifle. I want firepower. I want 200 yard capabilities. I want to have horsepower behind my weapon. I also want my 1400 lumens on my cloud defensive REIN. All of it matters to me and for that reason I commit to carrying a carbine daily.
What will you do?
Author: Jared Daub
Vice President of Design & Marketing
