Patch box!

[amm1851]

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. 

[Winter Hawk]

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~

[Hanshi]

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.