Range First Aid Kit

[FPrice]

I am wondering how many people have a first aid kit for the range? A quick search shows several threads on first aid kits, go bags, and general preparedness, but nothing on range-specific kits. Do you have one made up for the range, or do you depend upon your car/truck kit?

And for those who have had to use a kit at the range, was it for common cuts, scrapes and bruises or have you needed something more serious?

[Radagast]

I use my car kit,which is fairly comprehensive, the only thing it's missing is oxygen, this was knocked off by some junkie. In general we mainly get cuts and abrasions. I've had to deal with one gashed hand after a 1911 kaboomed, ( I think he did it trying to bash the slide back into battery. The barrel launched down range) and one richochet hiting my GF in the upper lip. That was pretty bloody, but not serious.

My kit contains bandaids, waterless hand cleaner, sodium chloride and clorhexidine bottles, clorhexidine and alcahol swabs, non stick dressings, wound pads, triangular bandages, tampons, asprin, pmt tablets, heartburn tablets, tweezers, shears, torch and latex gloves. Clorhexidine swabs and bandaids will handle 9 out of 10 injuries.

I've dealt with a lot more serious injuries on the motorcross track. Now that's a dangerous sport. Broken collar bones, nose, feet, fingers,legs,arms and multiple cases of suspected spinal injuries ( luckily none that turned out to be real.)

Ban mini bikes! It's for the children!

Radagast

[KSFreeman]

I keep a bag of kotex, latex gloves and white medical tape in my range bag at all times. I keep the same thing in my bedroom.

Everyone thinks they won't get shot. What do they think comes out of the firearm? Noise?

[tommygun45]

My kit never seems to have just what I need. So it keeps growing and multiplying, the big kit stays in the car the GSW kit travelles in the range bag. I was in a high speed tactical pistol class with a well known and well respected trauma doctor, during lunch he gave an abreviated tactical first aid class (good stuff to discuss while eating:barf: ). His personal kit has a pair of Nitrile gloves a compression dressing and a triangle bandage for use as a turnequet. I have added a roll of Curlexx and a tampon for wound packing. This kit is just in case and most of the time the Big kit gets used.

[MarineTech]

I keep my trunk kit handy when I go to the range. It's an old military "Unit 1" bag that I won from a Corpsman in a poker game. I've added/subtracted things from it over the years, but it's nearly perfect for the job. Considering it's stocked for military use, it's got just just about everything you need for handling a gunshot wound or other similar trauma.

I beleive they sell similar kits at Cheaper Than Dirt.

[Courier]

In my range bag I have a handfull of band-aids and a roll of that thin white medical tape. I use this just to pad and tape my trigger finger. I shoot a 5.5 inch RedHawk 44 mag. and also a 2inch Taurus CIA 357 mag., so if I shoot long enough my finger ends up a bit shredded.

[MitchSchaft]

I keep a bag of kotex,

Is that what I think it is?

[darogue1]

IF you can find US Military "blow out" bandages (trauma Dressings) it is about the same thing. Although I did get a smile out of it too!!!! Prob. cheaper too!!!!! I keep a fully stocked medic bag in the truck at all times. Came in handy at the range couple of times. Mostly scratches and dents. Moore medical makes a good fully stocked one for about a C note or so. Hope this helps. DAROGUE1

[Kharn]

MitchShaft: Yes, Kotex are feminine hygiene products. Pretty good for plugging up bullet holes that are leaking blood, and come in sterile packaging.

Kharn

[MitchSchaft]

Heh heh. I hope you didn't get the 'scented' kind.

[KSFreeman]

Scented? Why will that cause a blood infection?

Mitch, are you a doc? Tell us what you use, please.

[MitchSchaft]

LOL. Dude, I'm just horsin' around.

[KSFreeman]

Oh, . Thought you were a corpsman or such and had experience with this kind of stuff. Always willing to listen to those that have experience with gunshots injuries.

/s/ Kirk, pro-doctor

[MitchSchaft]

No, I have absolutely no experience with Kotex

[FPrice]

I appreciate all of those who took the time to answer my questions. A while back I began to carry a small first aid kit in my car for those times when one might be needed. Several times I have had to use it during kids' athletic events when one (or more) of the kids got banged up and needed some attention. (This made me wonder why coaches did not seem to have them as part of their kits.)

Then during the Y2K scare my wife and I decided to stock up on some items, not because we were convinced of all the gloom and doom, but because being prepared was making sense. We did not go overboard, but rather got useful items with long shelf lives, or things we knew we would use eventually even if everything remained calm.

One of my concerns has always been what to do in the event of a GSW, or other major accident on the range. While I don't dwell on the possibility I think it has to be considered. My cellphone does not work on our range and any help would be minutes away.

Some of your suggestions make great sense and have given me some ideas. I will be including a small first aid kit in my range bag for the small, common problems. And in my car I will be keeping a small to medium size bag with some additional larger supplies such as bandages, tournequets, etc for the possibility of a more serious problem. If I never use it, great! But if I ever do need it, it will be there.

[coonan357]

my brother was a aero P.A. in the airforce and when he came home he gave me a trauma kit they built for emergencys , I was suprised to find Kotex and maxi pads in there too. but he said there cheap and work just like the G.I. Issued ones , but recently I saw cheaper than dirt is selling G.I. Trauma kits for about $100 , this is cheap for the money because when I replaced the bandages and ect over the years it adds up pretty quick , I just put mine in to a ammo can and carry it in my trunk or my truck at work . don't forget to label it though .not to good looking using a 30-06 case to plug a hole .

[David Blinder]

Several rolls of kerlix for packing (works much better than kotex which won't penetrate deep enough in wound), a few rolls of coban for securing dressings, surplus GI pressure bandages, duct tape (for anything that needs to be held together, also good for sucking chest wounds) and assorted bandaids. Also keep a few epi-pens around for those bee stings that get out of hand and some odds & ends like antibiotic ointment & saline (for washing debris from eyes). Everything else is fluff.

[KSFreeman]

blunder, so where do we get kerlix and how do you apply??? Please tell!

[vertigo7]

If you shoot at an outdoor range, add sunblock and Solarcaine or aloe sunburn gel to your range bag / first aid kit. I spent last weekend at the range breaking in my pistols and a friend's Mak-90 and ended up getting a heck of a sunburn in the process. No fun whatsoever I will be better prepared for my next range visit.

vertigo7

[David Blinder]

KSFreeman, kerlix is a type of rolled gauze that can be bought at most any EMS supply house. I'd check www.savelives.com or www.allmed.net. There are several methods of application depending on the wound but for a gunshot wound where bleeding can't be controlled by direct pressure, you basically unroll the kerlix and stuff it, inch by inch, into the wound with your finger. In other words, you pack the deepest section first and work your way back to the surface. What you are attempting to do is pack every nook and cranny with the kerlix which will conform to whatever shape it needs to and apply pressure internally. I'd suggest that you find a medic or a corpman with field experience to show you how to do it but this method, if done correctly, is very effective. The problem with using tampons is that they aren't rigid enough to get very deep and although they expand somewhat, they can't completely fill the wound channel.

[KSFreeman]

blunder, thanks much. Always willing to listen to those with medical training!

[tommygun45]

Blunder,
I am not sure about sealing a chest wound with duct tape. Most medics recomend letting it ventalate to avoid causing a tention pneumo thorax or a tention hemo thorax. I for one don't really want to put a chest tube in after the fact. At best you can use an Asherman chest seal with one way valve or at least a three sided dressing, or just let the wound breathe with out cover. Great advice about the currlex. BTW I found it in my local Right Aid.

[HKguy9]

[Mr.T Voice]Kotex maxi-pads are the most absorbent! Stay in school![/Mr.T Voice]

I bring a 1st aid kit...needed it for a couple skeet shooters who got their digits caught either in the action of a bolt closing, or an O/U action.

Scraped up my hand while shooting one handed around a rough wooden barrier, and getting my thumb caught in my Benelli's carrier while loading.

[David Blinder]

Tommygun45, I guess my joke about duct taping a sucking chest wound was taken seriously. Actually there are multiple types of pneumo thorax. The tension occurs when air builds up under pressure and causes dysfunction of cardiovascular system while the simple is due to insufficient buildup of pressure occurs in pleural space which also causes dysfunction. Don't forget spontaneous & traumatic pneumo thorax while you're at it. In any event, a chest tube or needle aspiration is the normal treatment and I doubt if many of us are prepared to perform that in the field. BTW, I forgot to mention that you should also carry WD-40 in case anything is stuck together and needs to be taken apart.

[FPrice]

Guys,

All I wanted was to find out what the average guy like me should have to be able to cope with the unexpected medical problems one might encounter on the range. I really do NOT want to get into field surgery.

At my present level of training all I intend to do is stop bleeding and prevent shock long enough for the trained professional to get there and do what they are paid and trained to do.

Actually though the side trips this thread has taken are interesting, and who knows. Maybe some of the things said here might come in handy one day.