Propper International is a brand name that should be very familiar to anyone who has served in the Armed Forces or in Law Enforcement. The brand is known for making simple and effective gear and uniform items that won’t break your wallet in the process. We have been fortunate enough to work with Propper International in the past and this review marks the 12th piece of gear they have sent us. To date, we have yet to get a product from them that doesn’t pass our evaluations. When you consider the careers worth past and present of our writing staff, that’s an impressive track record for any company.
The 44″ Single Rifle BagÂ
The marketplace for rifle bags is crowded but many of those companies tend to overthink or over-engineer their products. The rifle bag is primarily designed to take a rifle to and from the range or for storage, nothing more, nothing less. Propper International went with the simple and useful design route when they developed the 44″ single rifle bag they recently sent us. The nice thing about simple straightforward designs is that they generally have a very modest price point, this is also the case with our featured bag.
When the 44″ inch bag first arrived I performed the usual inspection of the stiching, buckles, zippers to check their operation and for defects. Like all of our other Propper International gear, there were no abnormalities or defects to be found. The one thing I have noticed about the company is that their zippers are really well thought out and built tough. On all of the bags and packs that I have tested by Propper, the zippers and pulls are always well thought out.
The zipper may seem like a small detail but with a bag of any type, the zipper is the part that is the point of constant use and abuse. On our bag, the zipper and handles are designed like the other bags we have tested. The simple design can be described as this. A leader of paracord covered in a soft rubber sleeve that wraps through a wide metal zipper body. The body of the zipper also features loops where the user can place a small TSA approved suitcase lock to deter people from snooping into the back. This is also a great safety feature to deter children from peeking into the bag and getting into trouble.
Aside from great zippers and quality control the 44″ Single Rifles Bag offers the user several other features that are important. The main compartment of the bag has an orange surface that makes looking for small parts or scope covers that might have fallen off a bit easier to find. Padding in our sample bag was generous but not overly thick, it also wasn’t too firm like a heavier gauge foam. This isn’t an issue at all, the amount of padding is more than the average soft-sided case but not approaching the more solid foam found in hard-sided cases. I would say that this is an ample amount of protection against most bumps or scraps that a shooter would encounter going from the house to vehicle to range and back again. Keeping with Propper Internationals theme, simple yet functional.
Photo:Rick Dembroski
SPECIFICATIONSÂ
Brand: Propper International
Model: 44″ Rifle Case
Colors Available:Â
- Olive
- Black
- Coyote
Dimensions:Â
- Length: 44″
- Width: 12.5″
- Thickness: 4″
Material: 100 % polyester
Features:Â
- Two large velcro secured outer pockets
- One large outer pocket with buckle and loop panel for ID or morale patches
- Fully adjustable shoulder strap
- Two full length zippers that accommodate locks
- Internal retention system keeps rifle secure
MSRP: $79.99
Photo:Rick Dembroski
Impressions and LimitationsÂ
In order to have a complete review of any product, we have to take a look at it’s potential shortcomings as well as its attributes. We went over some of the good things in the sections above but in testing, we found this bag might have a feature that could be frustrating to some users. The issues we found won’t be a deal breaker but we have to mention them to our readers so they can be fully informed and not surprised by anything.
There is really only one thing that I would label limitations, that being the overall case length. This case fits the standard M4 with 16″ barrel or AK-47 just fine, in fact, it fit my Ruger 10/22 and several other rifles just fine as well. The problem arose when I put my CZ455 Training Rifle in the bag and it was a very snug fit and almost didn’t want to fit. The CZ 455 uses a 24.8″ long barrel and after further reviewing the specifications has an overall length of 42.8″. What that means to me is that most hunting rifles I own in calibers 0ver .30-06 won’t fit in this bag.
The average Remington 700 SPS rifle in .30-06 would be longer than this bag by around 1/2″ and if that same rifle was in .300 Winchester Magnum it would have an overall length nearly 2″ longer than this bag. I’m sure if I looked up other popular .30 caliber hunting rifle that the numbers would be very similar. These facts are a knock on the bag at all, it’s just something to be aware of if you intend to purchase this bag for your hunting rifles.
Photo:Rick Dembroski
My overall impression of this Propper International 44″ Rifle Bag is that it’s very well built and uses a simple an effective design to allow some expanded capability of the bag yet not compromise the quality or price of the bag. It’s best suited for rifles with barrels under 24″ and will provide more than enough protection for the routine trips to and from the range. At an MSRP of $79.99, it’s priced very competitively with the rest of the marketplace. It’s always nice to see a manufacturer continue to put out a quality product at a price the working man can afford. Propper International’s 44″ Single Rifle Bag is something that I think our readers should definitely look into if they are in the market for a single rifle bag.
