Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Craftsmanship => Accoutrements => Topic started by: Ohio Joe on January 31, 2018, 03:53:06 PM
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I'm getting ready to make another Possibles Bag (or Shooting Bag) whichever you prefer to call it... So, out of curiosity I decided to go over to "You Tube" and typed in a search for "Possible Bags" and some hits came up with different ideas and directions on how to make one of these. Thought I might be doing something wrong,,, but what?
Well, it didn't take long to figure out that there is no right or wrong way to make one - other then period material and trying to stay within a time period you want your bag is to represent. It can look fancy, it can look plain. It can look professionally done, or it can look like an amateur made it. (Mine always looks like an amateur made it, but that's the look I want.)
So if you're border line on making one, I'd say to jump in and just do it. They are an enjoyable project that gives you a certain satisfaction once it's done and in use. :bl th up
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They most certainly are, especially if you have ten thumbs like me. Mine are pretty dismal, but I've seen worse....no not really. :o
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It should do the job just fine. Mark
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Looks good from here :bl th up My leather work looks like Moe Larry Shemp an Curly all had a hand in on making it. Guess thats why mine gets plenty of laughs
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Looks good from here :bl th up My leather work looks like Moe Larry Shemp an Curly all had a hand in on making it. Guess thats why mine gets plenty of laughs
:Doh! So that's the guys responsible for my own leather work, I always wondered just who would ever turn out stuff like that.... :P
Uncle Russ....
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Joe,
Looks like you are having a lot of fun with making bags. Good on ya, as they say. Keep it up.
John
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Joe,
Looks like you are having a lot of fun with making bags. Good on ya, as they say. Keep it up.
John
John, that fella Ohio Joe has a pocket plum full of "round-to-its", he has been working on one thing or another for the last 15 years.
Joe is a doer...a real honest to goodness doer. He can create a project from thin air, and spend days perfecting it.
I'd give anything for one-half the drive that man has.
I honestly mean all this in good way....he has been doing this for years!
If he ain't building something he's shooting. If he ain't shooting he's building, and then in his spare time he goes out shooting!
Uncle Russ...
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OMG you youtubed possibles bags. LOL got about a zillion hits didn't ya?
I keep fooling around with a pattern and the old bag I have had hanging around for 3 decades. After several attempts at horrible looking belt bags I upped the game and increased the size of the pattern. Here is the latest.
I used a old webbing belt for the gusset and strap. Waxed hemp thread , a copper ring on one side ,double steel rings to adjust the strap,@ different leather remnants. Measures appx 11x12
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Looks good Bill. :bl th up I'm a remnants man myself. :bl th up
Russ, thank you for the kind words. I probably tinker more then anything else once I get a round-to-it. :toast That's one nice thing about this black powder obsession, there's plenty of avenues to go down finding projects to work and tinker on. :hairy
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I'm getting ready to make another Possibles Bag (or Shooting Bag) whichever you prefer to call it...
Joe,
Now I'm not meaning to be picky; well, maybe just a tad, but years ago I was heard a conversation of shooting bag versus possibles bag. The outcome of this friendly discourse between several old timers was that the shooting bag is small and contains everything needed to shoot and service the firearm, whether rifle or shotgun doesn't matter.
The possibles bag on the other hand, is larger and holds everything you might possibly need to maintain yourself for an extended stay in the woods as a longhunter. In this day & age that would probably be a backpack with all the comforts of home which is why I qualified that with longhunter, as someone in the 18th century. It might contain the flint & steel in a tinder box, some type of cup (gourd maybe), ditto cooking pot/pan, cord or leather lacing, sewing kit, a journal + pen & ink, etc. along with the needed equipment which would otherwise be in a shooting bag.
I first read the term "possibles bag" when I was in grade school in a novel about Daniel Boone (I believe I may have mentioned this in another post). Someone asked him about the satchel he was carrying and he referred to it by this term. When asked where that name came from he answered to the effect that it held everything he needed to stay alive in the woods. That would have been in the mid 1950s that I read this....
YMO&HS,
-Kees-
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I don’t recall that much from Dan’l show but that describes my take on shooting vs possible bags
AE-2 USN 1966-1970
USS Ticonderoga CVA-14
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The bags I make are in the 6" X 7" or maybe 8" range. They are small and true "shooting bags", more or less. But the bottom line is this; iffin it works, it don't matter what it looks like or how crummy the work is. I'm in that category...crummy but works. :hairy
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The bags I make are in the 6" X 7" or maybe 8" range. They are small and true "shooting bags", more or less. But the bottom line is this; iffin it works, it don't matter what it looks like or how crummy the work is. I'm in that category...crummy but works. :hairy
Works for me!
:hairy
Possibles Bag vs Shooting Bag has been cussed and discussed for my entire life, and if anything at all has been resolved, and solidly established, I've never been astute enough to recognize it.
Somewhere between Shooting Bag, Possibles Bag, and Haversack I think we can all find something we can carry our "stuff" in, and fit a persona.....and any of the three sure beats "a brown paper poke".
FWIW; It has always been my impression that the Haversack was a wee bit larger and carried for "extended" treks, hunts, and stays and was often carried in addition to one of the other bags.
The Possibles bag was a shoulder slung bag that you carried the necessities for shooting, plus survival tools such as for fire making.
And a shooting bag was a small belt bag for shooting with limited use....a day-bag, so to speak.
Am I wrong in my thinking?
With some I'm quite sure I am dead wrong, and all for good reason.
For others maybe not so much.
I'm quite sure there's as many views on this subject as there are Muzzleloaders, and that is just as it should be.
Jus'sayin...
Uncle Russ...
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Back in the day, I think we called our bags either shooting bags or hunting bags. Tried to steer clear of the whole possible bag argument.
It must have worked for us. We sure sold enough of them. Nobody complained either about the name or the bags.
Go figure.
John
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I'm getting ready to make another Possibles Bag (or Shooting Bag) whichever you prefer to call it...
Joe,
Now I'm not meaning to be picky; well, maybe just a tad, but years ago I was heard a conversation of shooting bag versus possibles bag. The outcome of this friendly discourse between several old timers was that the shooting bag is small and contains everything needed to shoot and service the firearm, whether rifle or shotgun doesn't matter.
The possibles bag on the other hand, is larger and holds everything you might possibly need to maintain yourself for an extended stay in the woods as a longhunter. In this day & age that would probably be a backpack with all the comforts of home which is why I qualified that with longhunter, as someone in the 18th century. It might contain the flint & steel in a tinder box, some type of cup (gourd maybe), ditto cooking pot/pan, cord or leather lacing, sewing kit, a journal + pen & ink, etc. along with the needed equipment which would otherwise be in a shooting bag.
I first read the term "possibles bag" when I was in grade school in a novel about Daniel Boone (I believe I may have mentioned this in another post). Someone asked him about the satchel he was carrying and he referred to it by this term. When asked where that name came from he answered to the effect that it held everything he needed to stay alive in the woods. That would have been in the mid 1950s that I read this....
YMO&HS,
-Kees-
And I agree complete with the terminology, Kees. Have even said this very thing myself here on our forum. As John has reminded me; yes, the hunting bag. In my circles (those I shoot with) I seldom hear it referred to as a hunting bag, though that is very appropriate. :shake
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And now I read the Ruxton quote from RobD in another thread:
"Ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deer-skins for moccasins, &c., are carried in a wallet of dressed buffalo-skin called a possible-sack. His "possibles" and "trap-sack" are generally carried on the saddle-mule when hunting....
Over his left shoulder and under his right arm hang his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, in which he carries his balls, flint and steel, and odds and ends of all kinds...."
So from this it would seem that the "possibles sack" was fairly large to contain "ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deer-skins". Especially the later would make it, in my imagination at least, pretty substantial, to be carried on the horse. The bullet pouch on the other hand sounds like what we now term the possibles bag. Wow, confusion reigns supreme!
-Kees-
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And now I read the Ruxton quote from RobD in another thread:
"Ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deer-skins for moccasins, &c., are carried in a wallet of dressed buffalo-skin called a possible-sack. His "possibles" and "trap-sack" are generally carried on the saddle-mule when hunting....
Over his left shoulder and under his right arm hang his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, in which he carries his balls, flint and steel, and odds and ends of all kinds...."
So from this it would seem that the "possibles sack" was fairly large to contain "ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deer-skins". Especially the later would make it, in my imagination at least, pretty substantial, to be carried on the horse. The bullet pouch on the other hand sounds like what we now term the possibles bag. Wow, confusion reigns supreme!
-Kees-
You make a good point Kees! :bl th up
From what I'm reading, I strongly suspect that I will do my best to call all my bags "Hunting Bags" from now on.
My lovely wife has another name altogether for my "Hunting Bags".
She refers to call all of 'em, even the one real nice one I have, as your "Man Purse"...somehow I feel a wee bit of plain disgust every time she says it, but say it she will!
She who must be obeyed knows a thing or three, and she ain't backward one bit when it comes to saying it either.
Uncle Russ...
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Kinda odd when one thinks about it that the bag that goes with the rifle and horn isn't simply called a "loading bag" - though I have heard the term used "Rifleman's Bag" something we don't hear very often.
I guess the "bag" itself (before it's put to use) is a Possibles Bag as it has several possibilities to be used for various things, so I guess the new/empty bag can't be titled until it's put to use for something or another, so is a possibles bag until this happens. :shake
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Well, Joe, that's kind of a Yes/no, kind of, sorta type of question that deserves the same sort of answer.
But don't forget the presumptive assumption of intended use.
The manufacturer of the bag sells it with a presumed use in mind, that of a shooting bag.
The dealer in fine leather goods buys it with a presumed use in mind, the same thing.
Then the retail customer buys it with a presumed use in mind, usually what everyone else is thinking about.
Hence, it would make no sense at all for a person wanting a shooting bag to go into a high end ladies' shop looking at Gucci bags with a shooting bag in mind. Discount if you will, the guy who goes into a second hand store looking for a woman's purse with the intention of turning it into a shooting bag.
So, intentions play a big part in this.
And Russ, Mama Bear can call it whatever she wants (which she will, thank you), we all know it is not a man purse, but a righteous shooting bag.
Exception: We designed a nifty shooting bag oh so many years ago and they sold pretty well. It was only later that we found out that women, accompanying their husbands into the gun shops, discovered these bags and started buying them for purses. So much for the presumed end purposes of a product.
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I fashioned this one from a woman's leather purse I found @ a Salvation Army store ($2). :toast
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Nice looking bag, PetahW! :bl th up
Yes John, it all hinges on the intended use for sure, and I would say that a Possibles Bag does stand on its own, and a, Range / shooting / hunting / Rifleman's Bag, all stand on their own. Not sure if there's anything left to call 'em? :shake
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a, Range / shooting / hunting / Rifleman's Bag, all stand on their own. Not sure if there's anything left to call 'em? :shake
Give it time, Joe, someone will come up with something. Oh yes, you did forget Man Purse. :lol sign :Doh!
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a, Range / shooting / hunting / Rifleman's Bag, all stand on their own. Not sure if there's anything left to call 'em? :shake
Give it time, Joe, someone will come up with something. Oh yes, you did forget Man Purse. :lol sign :Doh!
:Doh! What was I thinkin'......... :lol sign
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When Carol and I got married she saw my shooting bag and wanted a purse just like it (she also referred to it as my "purse") so I made an exact duplicate. Now she doesn't use it anymore because it doesn't hold all of her plunder, but I can't have it back because it's special! :laffing
-Kees-