Voodoo Tactical Padded Weapons Case Review

vdt14Voodoo Tactical Bag Review: One Year Later, No Magic Here

Voodoo Tactical is a relatively new company that makes all kinds of tactical gear: bags, packs, bipods, accessories, etc. They’re headquartered in Durham, NC, and their
vdt8designs are based on consultations with Todd Swank, a “well-known sniper currently serving in a major metropolitan police department. He is also a firearms instructor, and former army ranger and a member of Team Voodoo Tactical, which competes on the national SWAT competition circuit and in other firearms competitions.”

vdt12We want to be clear that this review is specifically about two products, and our complaints are only about those two products: we have no experience with other Voodoo Tactical gear. That said, dedication to quality and hard-use materials should be at the top of the list for any tactical equipment manufacturers. We may have gotten a lemon, but we doubt it.

 

Purpose of the Bag

 

The “padded weapons case” is a bag, not a case. It is made entirely of soft material, and does not provide the impact resistance that the term “case” implies. It is designed for the transportation of two rifles, and a number of accessories. Overall, it is very well designed. We got this bag about one year ago, and loved it at first. It safely and securely stores two rifles, well-secured by tough velcro straps, and protected by a padded divider. The bag is made of high quality and durable materials, for the most part. vdt4One can easily haul two rifles, ammo, mags, targets, hardware, and more. It’s also MOLLE compatible, so you can attach extra storage if need be. It’s designed to easily transport shooting equipment, and has a shoulder strap, backpack straps, and a carry handle.

 

Experiences

vdt5

We’ve lugged this thing just about everywhere. At first, it was no problem. We stuffed two rifles and four handguns into this thing without even blinking: two rifles in the main bag, pistols secured with the convenient drawstrings on each frontal pocket, and range crap like targets, lube, and tools in the large front pocket. We have another smaller Voodoo Tactical bag that we use for even more range sundries like eye/ear protection and more ammo. The zippers are solid and have never snagged or broken. Until things started breaking, it was everything it should have been: a durable, convenient, and well-designed rifle bag.

 

Come ON

 

This is the bit where we complain. For a few dollars more, Voodoo could have used some black magic to conjure a single quality part that would drastically overhaul our opinion of this bag. The flimsy clips. For some reason, they chose to design this bag, which might routinely be filled with around 40 pounds or more of gear, with cheap and easily-bent clips to adjoin load-bearing straps. All it takes is one or two to bend out of shape, and this bag becomes pretty inconvenient. It’s not a terribly difficult fix, but the principle of the matter is that this the kind of $100 bag that really should not have bargain-basement parts in key spots. There is another problem here: there are just too many straps. Between the backpack option, the shoulder strap, and all of the buckling mechanisms, there are just too many things flapping off of this rig that easily get caught or tangled. The shoulder straps also have retention problems, and even when secured properly have a tendency to come undone. A weapons bag falling off your back isn’t exactly tactical.

 

Smaller Range Bag

 

The small MOLLE bag that’s pictured here does not suffer from the same problems as the larger pack. Although there are still a few unnecessary straps (the front-clasping cover), and Voodoo usedd the same flimsy clips, things work out okay. Since this bag won’t be over laden or adjusted at the angles that the larger “case” will, it holds up just fine. It’s well designed, and we would actually recommend it for someone looking for a MOLLE compatible, bite sized, range bag. The addition of a shoulder pad might improve this piece a bit.

 

Red Hatchet Says…

 

We loved this bag until we discovered some easily fixable shortcomings that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. We don’t believe that Voodoo Tactical is still producing this bag, but it seems from pictures of other products on their website that they are using the same clips. Their designs are functional and well-conceived, but some serious shortcomings of the “padded weapons case” are hard to overlook. For now, we suggest you avoid this product. We’d like to get our hands on other Voodoo Tactical Gear though, because it seems that their heads are mostly in the right place.