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.
,
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...