Smoothbore shooting bag

[rollingb]

I just finished up this 7" wide X 8 1/2" deep shooting bag.
The bag is made from commercially tanned buffalo hide and trimmed with buckskin, and the pewter button is one I cast after makin' a button mold. 

The inner pocket will store my "wads/tow/patches".

[Lonewolfe20]

That looks awesome.
I love the look of buffler hide!
And the contrast on the edging is really nice
 

[Ohio Joe]

Looking good Rondo! 

[Winter Hawk]

Looking good Rondo! 

+1! 

~Kees~

[rollingb]

Thanks for the kind words fellas,.... I usually stick with "plain and functional" when making shooting bags, in my attempt to make something a trapper in the early 1800's would have (or make), while sitting around a mountain campfire. 

This bag probably represents something more "eastern" made (due to the commercially tanned buffalo leather, rather than brain-tanned),.... and found it's way to the Rocky Mountains during the fur trade.
The buckskin "edging" serves no practical purpose ('cept decoration), so I probably won't ever do it again ('sides my fingers are sore from all the itty-bitty saddle-stichin' ),.... BUT, I really like the size of this bag and it's wide shoulder strap. 

[prairie dog]

That's nice

[Uncle Russ]

,.... BUT, I really like the size of this bag and it's wide shoulder strap. 

I now have several bags I have made over the years, but do we ever have enough? Or do we have that particular bag that is just the right size?

Over the years I have thought that the 7"x 8.5" would indeed be that "just right" size....although I don't have one,  yet!
I do have a couple that I have replaced the straps on, realizing finally that wider can at times be better.
(Plus the wider ones can easily take a few essential pockets, such as powder measurer, and short starter.)

Since we all have thoughts on that "just right size" of shootin bag, it seems every one of them must be kind of an individual to the shooter's own preference.

Rondo's bag is a good looking bag, and if he has never had one that same size before I do think he's going to find it very useful.

Russ...

[Bigsmoke]

I used to go for larger than normal shooting bags, as I would load it up with everything I anticipated needing before I left.  One time I weighed it and found it weighed in at about 35 pounds.  Well, two boxes of round ball will do that for you.  Of course, when I got wherever I was going, I did take a lot of the extra stuff out of it.

Another thing that I found interesting was that when I was at some rendezvous and had the trade table set up, I would have my shooting bag hung on a tent pole.  Without exception, someone would walk up and want to buy the silly thing.  Hah, they just could not leave well enough alone.  Oh well, I sold shooting bags, so why not?

The strange thing now is that I am using a bag not of my own manufacture.  Instead, a few years back I commissioned Beaverman to make a bag for me.  Nice bag, I don't think I will sell it for a while, yet.  Of course, I carry a horn with it that I made.  Real pretty little thing.  Both keepers.

I will try to get photos of them later today and try to add them to this post.

John

[rollingb]

John,.... I too, used to use bags a bit on the large size. 
Until I made a bag (identical in size to this last one) about 20 years ago. 
That was when I discovered how much handier it was to simply have the stuff I actually "needed to load with" in my shooting bag,... and everything else in my haversack. 

The beauty of this was, I could take the haversack off and hang it close by (when at a shooting range, hunting camp, or firing line), and if I need something out of it, it's still pretty close at hand. 

Switching to 2 bags greatly reduced the stuff in my shooting bag, and made the things I need to load with much easier to find with my fingers. 

An extra side benefit of carrying things in 2 bags is, it also distributes the weight on one's shoulders more evenly. 

I use that original bag so much, it has long since became my "favorite",.... but, it's a pain when grabbing one of my flint 20-bore Trade Guns, and the stuff in the shooting bag is for my .58  percussion rifle. 

I guess,.... one could rightly call my haversack, "MY OTHER favorite bag",.... since it contains, 3 different sizes of flints, a small leather bag of various sized jags, extra percussion caps, extra patch material, extra tow, billfold, tobacco, flint and steel, a non-PC *Leatherman*,..... (and sometimes) a ham sammich. 

It's impossible, for a fella to have,..... too many "favorite bags".   
And that's why I just finished makin' another one. 

[Bigsmoke]

It's impossible, for a fella to have,..... too many "favorite bags".   
And that's why I just finished makin' another one. 

 

[Winter Hawk]

   Please enlighten me; what is the thong on the back for?

~Kees~

[rollingb]

  Please enlighten me; what is the thong on the back for?

~Kees~

Kees,.... the thong will get a medium sized cevron slipped onto the thong about half way, then a knot is tied in the thong, so the cevron can't slip back off.

When shouldering the bag, the cevron gets tucked down behind my belt until the cevron is below my belt,..... all of which, prevents the shooting bag from swinging around in front of me when/if I lean over. 

[Bigsmoke]

Pure genius

[rollingb]

Pure genius

I actually got the idea from Chuck Burrows some years ago.

[Uncle Russ]

Pure genius

I actually got the idea from Chuck Burrows some years ago.

I suspect we all miss the writings, and the pictures, from Chuck Borrows. I have a lot of "stuff" from CB saved on my old computer out in the shop....which is the major reason that old PC is not in the trash.

Russ...