I have tons of magazines, loose ammo, cleaning kits, and more hanging out in a disorganized manner in a room I call my office. The same goes for my range bag. I often throw things in and get mad at myself for being so disorganized by the time I get to the range. Since this has happened a time or two, I finally decided to do something about it, and that led me to the GPS AR Magazine Tote.
The GPS AR Magazine tote isn’t a piece of tactical gear. It’s nothing like the Tactical Tailor Active Shooter Response Bag. It’s aimed more at organizing your magazines and gear than providing a fighting platform. It’s a very simple setup.
The tote carries eight AR-15-sized magazines. This setup includes four on each side and a simple velcro strap to secure the magazines in place. Across the top is a carry handle that makes grabbing and going easy. The main material is a simple nylon mesh that allows you to see through and to the magazine. If you are using transparent Lancers or PMAGs with the window, then you can see the ammo status of the magazine easily.
GPS also installed a stiffening board at the back, which makes inserting magazines easy and keeps the setup from twisting and tangling. It’s very minimalist in size and is 14″ long, 1″ wide, and 8″ tall. When empty, it weighs nearly nothing.
What’s the point of the GPS AR Magazine Tote?
What’s the point? Great question. It’s certainly not designed to be tactical. However, that doesn’t mean it’s useless. In fact, to be perfectly honest, I use nontactical stuff way more than I use tactical stuff. This is an organizational tool. It makes it easy to pack eight mags in a loaded condition. You don’t need an ammo can or mag box. While those work, they do tend to be bulkier than the GPS AR magazine tote. This is thin enough it can be slid under a bed, hung in a closet, or put nearly anywhere.
From a practical perspective, I like tossing it in my range bag. It’s small enough to fit in my larger range bag and holds the eight mags in an organized fashion. It makes it easy to replace what’s on my belt or chest rig without digging through empty magazines. It also allows me to store ready mags in an accessible location whenever I might need them.
On the Go
The GPS AR Magazine Tote fits inside most larger rifle cases and makes it easy to carry your ammo and gun together. If you compete, you don’t want to be the guy slowing the match down. Having eight magazines that are easy to grab to replenish your stores keeps things moving.
The more imaginative can also see this as a means to cache ammo in an easy-to-grab-and-go location. Who knows what the future brings? After watching a few episodes of the Last of Us, I’m on board with some caches!
If you plan to use the retention straps, you are stuck with 30 to 32-round magazines. Anything longer just won’t work. The tabs are adjustable and secured via velcro. They can be totally ditched if need be.
The mags are held decently secure just by the mesh and rigid board. They slide in smoothly and slide out fine. The design doesn’t make it tough to use, but the pouches are cut high enough that it’s unlikely the mag will just pop out with the retention straps gone.
Use Your Imagination
Beyond just holding AR magazines, these pouches can be pretty handy dandy. They can hold more than AR magazines if you are the creative type. For example, I was able to fit a CAT GEN 7 tourniquet into one of the pouches. In another, I fit an Aridus Industries detachable shotgun side saddle. You can also squeeze an elastic shotgun side saddle, with shells, into the magazine pouch.
You could fit cleaning gear, a small notebook, and pin, a candy bar, or whatever else you may need. Using just a hair of imagination makes it easy to use the GPS AR magazine tote for a wide variety of purposes. It can be retrofitted to work for shotguns and rifles, but PCC mags tend to bounce around a bit.
It can just be an organizational insert with a stapler, stables, eye pro, hearing protection, and more. It’s handy, very simple, and easy to use. It keeps your crap organized, which can be uber helpful at the range and in the field.
What would make it better?
Honestly, I’d prefer the option to attach a shoulder strap. It would make carrying it outside of a range bag easier. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but the walk from the parking lot to the range can be long, and you might already have your hands full. Being able to toss it on your shoulder like the manliest purse ever made would be quite handy.
That’s about all I would change, and I just might. I have an old G3 sling lying around somewhere that would make a good strap.
Beyond the AR
GPS also produces a similar setup for pistol magazines. This allows you to have an armful of mags stored and ready. The pistol variant can hold ten double-stack magazines in a tight and tiny package.
GPS seems to make a ton of stuff focused on helping you better carry and organize your crap. This includes a range backpack with slots for handguns, a foam cradle for handguns, rifle cases, pistol rugs, and so much more. Give them a look at GPS Outdoors brand page. They make some neat stuff to make your organization more efficient and effective.
The GPS AR Magazine Tote is just the tip of a big iceberg. They’ve carved out a great niche for themselves by producing handy dandy products that don’t have to be uber-tactical. They just work and can stand on their own in several different ways.
