What side carry? (Horns)

[ridjrunr]

I am curious, what side carry is the most common and why?
Recently I have givin it a lot of thought and am thinking I like left side carry as I am a right hand shooter. Shooting mostly flintlocks, it would I think ,be a good safety precaution  as upon firing ,the sparks from the flash hole will be going away from the horn which is hanging on the left side of me.
Now I do have left and right carry horns at the present, but last week at our rendezvous, I was shooting my .45 flintlock and had my right side carry day horn with me.
One time when I returned from the shooting line to the loading bench,I discovered the pour plug on my horn was out and dangling by its side.
It really made me stop and give this a lot more thought.
I think from now on,my right side horns will hang at the loading bench on a nail.

[greyhunter]

Still haven't figured this one out. Most of my bp hunting is in cold weather, so allowing for a heavy coat, my horn strap is rather long. That being said, carry on the right side, hanging at or lower than my waist, I have had the spout plug come out too. I'm right handed so that is why I carry the horn right and my possibles bag on the left. A lot of illustrations I see, show bag and horn carried high on the right side. Could get exciting if a plug is out and a right hand flintlock is fired! Of late, I have left the horn home, and carried a brass flask tucked into my carried right side bag when hunting. I would appreciate any horn carry ideas also!

[sse]

Regardless of any potential...I think most right-handed shooters go with right side horn and vice-versa...not sure the availability of left sided horns, either...

[Two Steps]

I shoot right handed and carry horn and pouch on my right side.  Just feels more natural to me....I use my right hand to hold the horn and pour, to dig in the pouch for whatever I need.  Since I face the target at an angle, my horn is really a bit behind me when fire.  I've never really worried about the horn blowing up.  IMO, it's one of those--whatever works for you-- things that each person has to figure out on their own.
Al

[Bigsmoke]

Lately, I have been getting more orders for left hand carry horns.
Why?  I dunno.  But that's the way it is going.
I personally carry the bag and horn on the left side, although I am a right handed shooter.  Actually, I am ambidexterous, I can shoot equally as bad right handed as left.  One thing I have noticed is with the bag strap going over my right shoulder, it does give a little padding if I carry the rifle on my shoulder.
As far as left and right side horns, it all starts out equal, one from each side of the cow's head.  With that being said, I do believe that out of a sack of horns, I probably as a rule get more left side carry horns than right.  No idea why that is.  Probably the right side ones all go to a button factory in Taiwan or something.  And of course, they are probably the snowy white ones as well.
John

[Hanshi]

I do pretty much what Two Steps does and I'm also a right hand shooter.  It does feel natural to pour from the horn with my right hand and hold the rifle barrel/measure with my left.  On both my day horns I fitted them with screw-in stoppers so falling out is a slim possibility at worst.

[HORNER75]

This topic has been on every website associated with muzzle loading and debated by everyone, but it is now commonly believed by the "who's who" in Hornsmithing, that it matters more to us modern folks than it did to our forefathers. __ It's just what a person is comfortable with and that's about it!  Right handed or being a Southpaw really has nothing to do with it.  In recent years, I have been getting more custom orders for left side carry horns than ever and the funny thing, is that these powder horns are going to well experienced M/L shooters and the newer smokepoler's are wanting the right side carry horns...go figure?

Rick

[hawkthrower]

In the field on a log slog across rough terrain I switch sides now and again to relieve the strain on my shoulder from the straps - I am a south paw but generally shoot right handed depending on the moment. I'm a slightly better shot left than right but being raised in the time where left-handedness was not very acceptable I was taught to hold and shoot both bow and rifle right handed.....funny thing is It really does not matter which hand I grab the powder with, what matters is that I can get it measured and in the barrel fumble for a patch and ball and get the second shot shouldered should I need to! It's all good.... ;-)

[Longhunter]

I'm a left hand shooter and carry bag and horn high on the left side. Been doin it that way for 45 years and I ain't blown up yet.

[Rocklock]

......Since I face the target at an angle, my horn is really a bit behind me when fire.  I've never really worried about the horn blowing up.
Al

X2. Most of our Shooting positions are at or near right angle to the line of fire.  That alone makes same side carry pretty safe.  In addition, I find my bag and horn are usually rotated slightly behind my right hip.

When shooting from the box I cap the powder can before dumping the charge down the barrel as would rather have 50 gr Roman candle go off than 5-6000 gr bomb. Pulling and holding the horn plug with your teeth kinda encourages you to replace it first also.
TC

[HORNER75]

Been doin it that way for 45 years and I ain't blown up yet.

Ever here of Murphy's Law?

[prairie dog]

I am of the opinion that it has always been a question of the shooters preference.  

When I started hunting with a muzzle loader in the 1980's I was hanging my horn on the left and the bag on the right.  Somewhere along the way I switched to carrying both on the right side.  It just seemed easier and more natural to carry that way.

The last horn I had made, my horn builder said "right side carry, are you sure?  most people want a left side horn."

As far as safety is concerned, I feel the horn is farther from the flash slung with my body between it and the gun.  And yes, I have also discovered my horn plug hanging loose after making a shot.  Something that gave me a fright at the time.

[Jack Ryan]

I'm right handed but when I'm just carrying my rifle it's in my left hand mostly and if slung it's on my left shoulder most of  the time. Any thing hard that clinks or scratches making any kind of noise touching something hard, I want on the opposite side as my rifle. Since a pistol is going to be strong side carry most times, rifle is left.