Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Craftsmanship => Accoutrements => Topic started by: Hawken on September 06, 2017, 10:10:22 PM
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The very item I've been looking for! Thin with a snap top lid and holds patches inside the pouch with no bulk! Overall thickness about the diameter of a 12 guage shotshell.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/36934152061_e7ba75997e.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/YgKbDc)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/YgKbDc) by Sharps Man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/61286670@N08/), on Flickr
:toast :bl th up
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Nice! I have used Altoids tins to hold lubed wads for my smoothbore, and old cap tins to hold round pre-cut patches. A little time in the fire pit (or a visit from Mr. Blowtorch) takes care of all the exterior paint and advertising. :bl th up
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I've long used a Ted Cash brass tinder box. :toast
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ted-Cash-Early-1700s-Brass-Tinder-Box-W-Eagle-Emblem-on-Lid-/122269622438
(https://www.trackofthewolf.com/imgPart/tinder-box-b_0.jpg)
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Here is a good place to buy inexpensive hinged metal tins. :hairy
http://www.specialtybottle.com/metal-tin-containers/hinged
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I keep my precut shooting patches in the same thin leather bag I use for roundball. So when I fill the bag with roundball I make sure there are enough patches in there for the number of balls I have. Sometimes I pre-lube the patches but often I will leave them dry so I can choose to lube them with grease or spit depending on what I am shooting. This takes up virtually no extra room in my shooting bag.
K
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I use long strips of pre treated cotton (Dutch Shultz's method) and keep them rolled up in those clear yellow/brown pill bottles, but i'd like to find a more "historic"method.
Any ideas?
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I use long strips of pre treated cotton (Dutch Shultz's method) and keep them rolled up in those clear yellow/brown pill bottles, but i'd like to find a more "historic"method.
Any ideas?
I keep a few more patches in than what's needed for the number of PRB inside so as to keep the PRB from rattling around!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4504/37896634326_2d5f7f09d2.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/ZJNa61)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/ZJNa61) by Sharps Man (https://www.flickr.com/photos/61286670@N08/), on Flickr
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Altoids tins, either chemically stripped of decoration or just tossed into your BBQ 1x or 2x, work very well too. Can't take credit for it though as I got the idea from Stumpkiller* on the Traditional ML Forum.
*the originator of "Stumpy's Moose Snot" & "Stumpy's Moose Juice" patch lubes
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I'm a patched ball block guy myself,,, dry patch and ball in my loading blocks. However, I do keep a small #11 cap tin in my shooting bag with TC 1000+ patch lube in it just in case my load will be in the bore for an extended period of time such as when out hunting. Otherwise just for target shooting or at shooting matches I just spit patch.
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Altoids tins, either chemically stripped of decoration or just tossed into your BBQ 1x or 2x, work very well too. Can't take credit for it though as I got the idea from Stumpkiller* on the Traditional ML Forum.
*the originator of "Stumpy's Moose Snot" & "Stumpy's Moose Juice" patch lubes
See second post in this thread. :bl th up :lol sign
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Missed that one, amm1851, which may explain my poor results in the 2017 Silhouette Match! :Doh! OTOH, great minds are said to think alike! :lol sign
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I have a similar "defarbed" tin but I use it for carrying lube. For lubed patches I use either #11 percussion cap tins or a couple of musket cap tins depending on the gun and patch size.
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I have a similar "defarbed" tin but I use it for carrying lube. For lubed patches I use either #11 percussion cap tins or a couple of musket cap tins depending on the gun and patch size.
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Couldn't agree more on the percussion cap tins, Hanshi ...many of us old timers have long realized the value of such a neat little tin, same thing with the Musket Cap Tins, you can pack all kinds of little bitty "seldom if ever used junk" into one of these puppies. (But you do have the satisfaction of knowing it's there if it's ever needed.)
Like many others, I have always been of the mindset, that the fewer things we have to carry in our shooting bag, the better.
And that begs the question....just how much is too much, and where is that perfect medium????
How "often" is something used, and actually needed may be a better question when putting the contents of our bag together.
The lighter in weight the bag the better, is a great rule, but where does that start and end?
I am nowhere to even close on being sure what the old timers of the 1800's loaded down their shooting bag with.
My own reading of such things varies from story to story with the one constant, flint, striker, and punk box....which would take up just about as much room as a Musket Cap tin.
I have never read this, but my own thinking tends to lean toward the Shooting Bag, during the 1800's, was more of a Survival Kit than an actual Shooting Bag as we use the term today.
I suspect we should ask ourselves if our shooting bag is a Tool Box, or a Shooting Accessory.
AMM1851 may have some thoughts on this, as well as Winter Hawk,
Just thinkin out loud....
Uncle Russ...
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Missed that one, amm1851, which may explain my poor results in the 2017 Silhouette Match! :Doh! OTOH, great minds are said to think alike! :lol sign
:hairy
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My own reading of such things varies from story to story with the one constant, flint, striker, and punk box....which would take up just about as much room as a Musket Cap tin.
From Uncle Russ
The above would make a great thread for discussion on bags.
I've got a small leather belt bag strictly for char cloth, flint & steel. I think this is one survival tool you absolutely have to have. Now I'm just throwing this out there, but I'm of the opinion there were two different types of bags carried by the Longhunter's & Trappers;
1. Shooting Bag [Hunting / trapping Bag] (everything you need to load that smokepole along with everything you may need to dip into the shooting bag to keep that smokepole in operation).
2. Possibles Bag (Char cloth, flint & steel [either here, in a pouch on your belt,or in your shooting bag], needle and thread, any cleaning or gun oils you may use such as Sperm Whale Oil, extra flints or caps or both, lead bar strips and your little melting/pouring ladle for running ball. Perhaps a sharpening stone, TOW, Patch Material, perhaps some spare leather for repairing you moccasins at night.
I'm sure there's a lot more that can be touched on for a "Possibles Bag" and I just see no way around not carrying one, without the other [Shooting Bag [Hunting / trapping Bag]...
:shake
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Couldn't agree more on the percussion cap tins, Hanshi ...many of us old timers have long realized the value of such a neat little tin, same thing with the Musket Cap Tins, you can pack all kinds of little bitty "seldom if ever used junk" into one of these puppies. (But you do have the satisfaction of knowing it's there if it's ever needed.)
Like many others, I have always been of the mindset, that the fewer things we have to carry in our shooting bag, the better.
And that begs the question....just how much is too much, and where is that perfect medium????
How "often" is something used, and actually needed may be a better question when putting the contents of our bag together.
The lighter in weight the bag the better, is a great rule, but where does that start and end?
I am nowhere to even close on being sure what the old timers of the 1800's loaded down their shooting bag with.
My own reading of such things varies from story to story with the one constant, flint, striker, and punk box....which would take up just about as much room as a Musket Cap tin.
I have never read this, but my own thinking tends to lean toward the Shooting Bag, during the 1800's, was more of a Survival Kit than an actual Shooting Bag as we use the term today.
I suspect we should ask ourselves if our shooting bag is a Tool Box, or a Shooting Accessory.
AMM1851 may have some thoughts on this, as well as Winter Hawk,
Just thinkin out loud....
Uncle Russ...
I have made many bags over the years, ranging from quite large to very small, some for sale, some for gifts and some for myself, and I seem to change my thinking from time to time.
I think the mountain men only kept the stuff they needed to operate their firearms in their shooting bag. Fire steels were commonly attached to their belt by a leather thong. Other items they used were kept in possible bags, which from my understanding were different from shooting bags. So I have at times carried quite a small shooting bag, with just a few flints, some patch and ball or shot, a tin or two of lubed wads, and some tow and a worm for cleaning, along with a small folding knife in the bottom of the pouch.
I am enamored of the Leatherman bags, and one of my most recent efforts was to attempt to make my own version of one of his bigger bags. There is a large pocket on the back where I can keep the cow's knee and spare flint and steel. An open pocket on the front of the bag can hold a couple of balls and patching material to allow reloading without going into the interior of the bag. Inside, there is a flat pocket sewn to the inside back, where I keep tow and a worm, along with a turnscrew, spare flints in a wallet and a small compass. The rest of the stuff goes inside the main pocket. It is quite a large bag, and while I would not want to use it for a day hunt, it can be comforting to have that stuff at hand in the winter woods.
So I guess that is a lot of words to say very little, other than different bags serve different purposes, and everybody should do what makes them happy or seems right to them at the time. My most carried bag is a simple, medium sized, d-shaped bag with a small inside pocket. It's big enough to store everything I actually need for shooting, yet small enough I don't herniate myself trying to pick it up.
As always, just my thoughts, and your mileage may vary. ;)
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I think the mountain men only kept the stuff they needed to operate their firearms in their shooting bag. Fire steels were commonly attached to their belt by a leather thong. Other items they used were kept in possible bags, which from my understanding were different from shooting bags. So I have at times carried quite a small shooting bag, with just a few flints, some patch and ball or shot, a tin or two of lubed wads, and some tow and a worm for cleaning, along with a small folding knife in the bottom of the pouch.
You hit it on the head, not only about the mountain men but back to the beginning colonization of North America and the longhunters. This subject has been discussed over the years on various websites and the consensus of opinion seems to confirm what you said.
Many years ago, when I was a boy in grade school, I read a book on the young Daniel Boone. I'm sure it was historical fiction for juvenile readers, but I first learned about possible bags from that book. The lad Boone describes his "possible bag" as being a place to have everything he possibly needed to survive in the wilderness - tinder box, needle & thread, extra balls & flints, noggin for drinking, etc. I read this book in the mid 1950s and that description has stayed with me all these years. Time just seems to confirm it.
~Kees~
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The "shooting" bags I've made for my own use - think a 5th grader's project - are all in the 6"-7" range in size. I don't, can't, do treks so only need what's required to feed my gun and that's only a few things. Makes a nice, light load.