Being a lifelong desert dweller, I sometimes forget how well-adapted I’ve become to surviving and thriving in 105+ degrees. Even when it’s hot enough to fry an egg, you should still be able to spend all day in the sun shooting a match or learning how to shoot better in a class. But how do you beat the heat?

Here are a few things I’ve been using this summer to beat the angry ball of gas in the sky that seems to hate us so much.

BEST SHOOTING RANGE GEAR FOR SUMMER

Kool Copz Frostplate / Bone Chiller Cooling Plates

Designed locally in Tucson, AZ, these cooling plates are pretty handy and make a major difference on brutally hot days. Basically, these are ice packs in the shape of body armor so they fit standard plate carriers. 

Inside the plates is more or less the same gel/fluid/stuff you find in normal ice packs that you use to keep your beer cold in a cooler. Just more of it. Leave the plates in the freezer overnight, and you’ll have ice-cold plates to wear all day.

How long they last depends on how hot it is and how you wear them. For me, in 95-degree weather, in the bright yellow safety vest that came with the plates, they were cold to the touch for 4 hours of standing in direct sunlight. 

During those 4 hours, I was almost comfortable despite how hot it was. I was also sweating a lot less than normal, making my water intake more effective since I wasn’t losing it instantly. It honestly surprised me just how much of a difference these plates made, but it did earn them a permanent place in my garage freezer, so they’re available whenever I need them.

Since then, they’ve seen more use outside the shooting range as well. Yard work, hikes, and house projects, all are made cooler with the plates.

Worth noting that the effectiveness of the cooling plates depends on how you wear them. The more space or material between your skin and the plates, the less effective they are. If you can, wear something light-colored or reflective on the outside to keep the heat off the front of the plates, making them last longer.

The bright yellow vest that comes with the plates from Kool Copz works well, but it’s… bright. If you need safety reflective yellow, it’s a nice option. They are standard 12”x10”x1” plate-sized so they’ll fit just about any normal carrier.

These are available directly from Kool Copz or via Spartan Armor under the Bone Chiller name. 

And just so no one gets the wrong idea: these are ice packs in the shape of plates; these are not ballistic plates. These are not ballistically rated. At all. These help you beat the heat, not bullets.

The Shooter’s Tent

A simple solution that more of us should have thought of before now, The Shooter’s Tent is exactly what the name sounds like. It’s a pop-up tent designed with the range in mind.

55” square and 84” tall, it’s big enough for one person who doesn’t move. Depending on what kind of table or bench you have, there is just enough room to set something up inside the tent. If you squeeze it, you can fit yourself, a chair, a small table, and a cooler with ease. 

The bottom of the tent has a large circle cutout with a zipper to make cleaning up brass stupid easy. It’s not hard at all to just pick up the tent and use the cutout to shake out all your brass into a bucket.

Walls of the tent are fine mesh that allows air to pass through, keeping the inside cooler. It’s also heat resistant enough that hot brass doesn’t melt it in the slightest. The top is more normal tent material and helps keep the sun off you. 

And yes, it comes with rope and ties to stake into the ground so the Shooter’s Tent doesn’t go flying in the wind.

Upsides of all of this are that it’s super simple and easy to set up, easy to use, and provides a real benefit. I hate policing brass more than I hate almost anything else, and having something to keep the sun off me is pretty nice when it’s 100+.

Downside is that because of the size of the Shooter’s Tent, re-folding it is not super easy. Even after watching the video and enlisting a helper, it still took about 15 minutes before we managed to get it to fold up the first time. Once you learn the trick to it, it gets easier to repeat.

I really wish this had a second door also. Being able to have one door facing the back of my car/where my range gear is staged, and one door facing down range for shooting would be nice. As is, you have to exit one direction every time you want to grab something. If you have a table or something set up taking up most of the exit, that can get annoying.

That said, at this price, the downsides can be ignored. For $70 a tent, these are a great value. 

UPF 50+ Shirt

While your old band shirt or favorite shooting company shirt might be a favorite, a normal t-shirt is like shooting a bone-stock Gen 3 Glock. It’s fine, it works, but it’s not comparable to a high-end 2011 like an Atlas.

Sun shirts or UV shirts or UPF shirts have come a long way in their design, and if you haven’t tried one, now is the time to do it. I promise you, it’s worth it. You won’t go back once you do.

Several brands make a pretty good shirt, like 5.11, Kuiu, Vortex, and more. I’ve tried a dozen or so, and the brand I keep coming back to is Bassdash. Not a huge name tactical brand, but I like their shirt the best.

While shirts from tactical brands are nice, they are normally fairly expensive at $50-70 per shirt, and they often only come in sizes smaller than 2XL. These shirts work best when they aren’t tight-fitting. Having a loose shirt will keep you cooler and give you extra protection from sleeves that cover your hands to deep hoods that keep your face protected from the sun.

I strongly recommend buying at least one size larger than you normally wear, but 2 sizes is better.

Bassdash goes up to 5XL and comes in a huge range of colors. The hood is deep, the sleeves are long, and they’re affordable at only about $25 a shirt. They also last a long time. I wear mine for every range trip and almost every shooting match I attend, and in 5 years of using these, I’ve only torn one.

Even under a plate carrier, these shirts are comfortable and breathe well.

All that said, the shirts from 5.11 and Vortex do look a lot more stylish. If it’s drip you want, both brands offer great-looking sun shirts, even if the sizes are smaller and the price is higher. But Vortex and 5.11 run some good sales several times a year, so it’s possible to get them for a decent price.

One upgrade the Vortex shirts offer that I wish the Bassdash had is finger holes in the sleeve. This makes keeping the back of your hands protected a lot easier. Not a massive deal, but a nice plus. Vortex also has a few styles, like snap buttons, making it a little easier to incorporate the shirt into your daily wear.

Hydration: Liquid IV

Hydration supplements replace the electrolytes you loose while sweating. There is a lot of science about this topic, and if you want to learn more, take a look at our in-depth article: Best Hydration Drinks And Supplements: Keys To Staying Hydrated.

Short version: There are a lot of options on the market, and most of them are varying levels of effective, with almost none of the major brands being bad. Liquid IV, DripDrop, Hoist, Gatorlyte, and Pedialyte are all solid options.

Our top recommendation goes to Liquid IV for covering the electrolytes you need, tasting good, and having additional options like +energy (caffeine). Best of all, Liquid IV is just a good price across the board, either directly from Liquid IV or slightly more from Amazon. The best price is found at Costco, but who knows how long they might carry it.

No matter what brand you go with or what flavor you choose — USE IT. 

LOOSE ROUNDS

Summer is here and won’t be going away for a few months, but these should help you survive it. If you want to see a winter edition of this gear review, let us know in the comments. 

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