Crazy collectibles

[tenngun]

There is a story of two Mountian men who needed to make a trip between forts. They traveled light one didn’t even have a cup, asked about that he said he could borrow from a friend.
Survival in the woods depends on knowledge not stuff, but stuff sure can be nice
I have a bag for each gun, and each bag has a knife, pulse several belt knifes and a couple of pocket knifes for my kit. I bet few people had more then two or three.
Of course we have our guns. Few oldtimers had more then one or two at a time
For sure I have too much cooking stuff. I have more then I’ve seen in galleys on museum ships.
I’ve seen boys with chevron beads on everything, short of bags thrown in to a potlatch I bet few ever owned that many.
What your historic over purchased items?

 

[LongWalker]

Powder. Lead. Flints. This year alone I've put >1,300 rounds through one rifle, with students shooting another 1,100+.

 

[Rancocas]

My worn-out old body requires me to stay relatively close to home these days. Back in the day, however, I would roam far and wide.
On foot, my gear was sparce and light. For cooking I carried only one cup and one quart size pot. I carved a spoon out of a stick as needed, and skewered meat on another stick to hang over the fire or wrapped dough around a stick to bake over the fire. I had a light tarp and a bedroll. Two knives, usually, a belt knife and a folding pocketknife. Always, carried a hatchet/belt ax. Not a tomahawk. Always had a handgun (except in Canada), and depending on the season, a rifle or smoothbore.
I made a lot of long canoe trips. Then, of course, I could carry more gear. However, I still had to keep it reasonable in order to make the portages as easy as possible. I usually made two trips over a portage. One to carry my gear, and another to carry the canoe.
I have plenty of gear here at home, duplicates of many things, but out on the trail I kept it all at a bare minimum.
Ah, the good old days. I miss them.

 

[Daveboone]

Ball bags for each caliber. From what I have read (memoirs, etc) it was very common to just drop your extra balls in your shooting bag, as the every day guy likely only cast up enough for his immediate demands. Same thing with powder horns....I want a horn to go with each bag, but really only need one for priming (which likely isnt needed anyway) , one for FF and one for FFF. And there again, I use FFF for .50 and under, and FF for .58....I am sure I would be fine with just FFF, but some of that is simply supply.

 

[Coot]

Bags & horns are cheaper than guns, therefore I can have a dedicated bag & horn for each gun. Grab the gun & the bag & horn with it have that which is needed to shoot that gun. (Wish I had "just one more" gun).

 

[Rifleman1776]

I never did any trekking but often hunted deep into the woods. I carried my shooting bag with just shooting fixings. Balls were in a bag or dedicated pouch, flints were loose in the bag, always a lot of flannel swabbing patches. My shooting patch cloth was a pre-lubed strip on the bag strap with more inside the bag. For non-shooting stuff I had a canvas haversack that held a large variety of items. My cooking gear consisted only of a small tin frying pan. There was always my flint and steel fire starter kit but I 'cheated' on the pc thing by carrying several Bic lighters, one in each bag plus pockets if my outfit had them. Dying a cold, miserable death is real pc but I ain't that dedicated. The lighters were for genuine survival if needed. I carried a patch knife, larger belt knife and often a Ft. Meigs small tomahawk/axe. That Ft. Meigs hawk/axe was one of the most useful and handiest tools I have ever owned. Cried when I sold it.