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I just copied the hammer stall from the painting shown above. Not sure where I got this image:

Friendship

Made a priming horn Lots of file work Turned White Oak stopper Turned Black Walnut end plug

I used that painting to fashion my hammer stall. It's certainly a more esthetically pleasing design than any others I've seen. I used my hammer stall all the time. I'm in the habit of placing the stall on my frizzing after every shot, I don't even think about it anymore, totally automatic. Why...

It is my understanding that early powder horns (pre-1800) tended to be quite large (13+ inches), and extended well past the left and right edges of the rifle bag. Later powder horns became shorter. I am not 100% sure of that transition date, perhaps someone with more knowledge can chime in...

Cry me a river. I went shooting the other day in my Appalachian backyard. 95 degrees F 89% humidity, kinda foggy I was sweating profusely just standing and shooting. The sweat pouring into my eyes made it difficult to see the sights & target. My powder was caking up in my pan and on the...

Yes, I am much more tuned to avoid standing to the right of anyone on the line.

At Friendship in June, I had set down my safety glasses and was standing behind the shooting bench at the offhand range. I got blasted in the eye by someone's pan flash.

I was at a local shoot with a friend. He was not wearing safety glasses. On his third shot of the day, the pan flash shot a small jagged fragment of flint into his right cornea. I could see the flint particle with my bare eye, but we couldn't get it out with an eye wash or Q-tip. We drove an...

Thanks! Seems like most of the historical ball bags that have survived have bone spouts. I'm gonna get some bones next month, and try turning some bone spouts. Until then, my ball bag work is on hold, too busy.

This is another simple bag ball, ca. 1800-1810, for balls up to .45 caliber. There's not much to it -- just a turned 2-inch tall Maple spout/stopper and folded over 4-1/2-inch deerskin bag. I didn't quite duplicate the spout in the photo, but too bad. The original bag had a welt sewn into the...

I made a smaller version of the gourd-like ball bag above. This one is for me, and I extended the spout so that the stopper is more secure. It's just under 3 inches in diameter, excluding the spout. It carries three dozen .50 caliber balls, and sits nicely inside of my shooting bag.

I tried that today according the advice of @Buckskinquin (post #10) I used a spit patch to seat the patch/ball. It didn't make any difference.

I took all of yinz advice, and I went out to the shooting range in my backyard. It was challenging today at 9 a.m. - very hot (85 deg F) and humid (82%). I was sweating buckets just standing there shooting. Occasionally there was a misting rain. The powder was caking up in my pan and powder horn...

This is a ball bag for large balls (.50 - .70 cal), ca. 1780. It's thick hardened leather, 3-1/2 inches in diameter. It's way too big, IMHO. It will easily hold a hundred .50 caliber balls. I may make one of these for myself, but only about 3 inches in diameter. I sewed the two halves together...

Here's another colonial ball bag, ca. 1770. It's not the prettiest style of ball bags, but I'm going through and reproducing as many ball/shot bags as I can. Including this ugly duckling. Making this bag presented me with a conundrum. The bag is all leather, except for the stopper. That means...

I always use a stitching chisel to make the holes. Depending on the curve of the edge, I use a chisel with one, two, three, five, or ten forks. Sewing the bag was easy. I chiseled the holes all the way around both edges, and then it was a simple single-needle whip stitch. I don't use a tack...

This is a colonial shot bag, ca. 1760-1770. The original was found with a medley of shot sizes still in the pouch. The entire pouch is leather. The spout is a tube of thick leather (7-8 oz.), 1-1/8 inches in diameter. It was a real bugger trying to figure out how to sew the bag onto the spout...

I got lots of bear grease

Why?