Possibles Bag

[Ohio Joe]

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. 


 

[Hanshi]

They most certainly are, especially if you have ten thumbs like me.  Mine are pretty dismal, but I've seen worse....no not really. 

[mark/wi]

It should do the job just fine. Mark

[wattlebuster]

Looks good from here   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

[Uncle Russ]

Looks good from here   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

  So that's the guys responsible for my own leather work, I always wondered just who would ever turn out stuff like that....

Uncle Russ....

[Bigsmoke]

Joe,

Looks like you are having a lot of fun with making bags.  Good on ya, as they say.  Keep it up.

John

[Uncle Russ]

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...

[blackpowderbill]

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

[Ohio Joe]

Looks good Bill.    I'm a remnants man myself. 

Russ, thank you for the kind words. I probably tinker more then anything else once I get a round-to-it.     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. 

[Winter Hawk]

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-

[Rocklock]

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

[Hanshi]

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. 

[Uncle Russ]

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. 

Works for me!
 

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...



 

[Bigsmoke]

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

[Ohio Joe]

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.