Home Made Shooting Accessories

[Nutnfancy]

So, I'm retired, disabled and on a fixed income but do enjoy shooting, especially black powder. I also like to work with wood so I incorporated the two to save some money. Using scrap wood in the shop, a piece of leftover nylon ramrod and a little imagination I made my loading boards for .50 & .54 cal. round ball, short starters and powder measures from 60 - 90 grains.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Well that should keep you out of the bars for while.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Nice woodwork. Sometimes homemade is the best. Custom made is just a more fancy term... I like Homemade.

 

[Carbon 6]

Making your own accouterments is half the fun.

 

[BullRunBear]

Carbon 6 got that right. Making your own accoutrements is a lot of fun. I really like those powder measures, BTW. They look just homemade enough to be interesting. If I saw you at the range, I would be the one asking where you got them.

Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

 

[Kansas Jake]

Nice work on all of them.

 

[jae]

Nice work. I really like the way you made your powder measures.

 

[appalichian hunter]

This is one of the parts I enjoy the most with this craft. Making your own accountment's adds to the individual style. Why buy it when you can make it. I do all my own shooting needs. Very nice work and the plus side is only you have them.

 

[hanshi]

Wow! Excellent work. It's is a lot of fun making your own accessories for shooting. I don't do very nice work but can cobble up stuff that's at least functional.

 

[Nutnfancy]

I don't see any cobble up stuff there, it all looks good to me!

 

[Tobie]

Great work! I like stuff that folks make with their hands- makes a gift really special.
My address is............

 

[Jay Templin]

In my decades in museums, I have seen some of the most appallingly ham-fisted cobble jobs you could imagine- made and used and passed down through the centuries. Too often, curators' emphasis is on showing the most magnificent examples of things, and that makes us too hard on ourselves. Not to say we shouldn't strive to do our best work, of course. But I promise you that for every craftsman turning out gorgeous cut steel powder measures, there were 3 who just whacked a hunk off a piece of river cane, and 12 like Nutnfancy and Hanshi who produced perfectly good, workmanlike pieces.
Jay

 

[hanshi]

Thanks for the kind words. IMHO function beats fancy every time.

 

[Nutnfancy]

If its pretty but doesn't function properly what good is it, right? Never had enough money for fancy, thus my name........Nutnfancy!

 

[Daryl Crawford]

I really like the powder measures. They would be lighter than brass. Did you use a lathe for them?

 

[Nutnfancy]

Yes I used a lathe. The reason I made them from wood was I saw in some videos where shooters were hanging their antler/horn measures from their powder horns which I thought was very handy. I have an adjustable brass and an adjustable plastic measure but they were too heavy and bulky. Since I didn't have any horn or antler I thought "Why not wood?" I weighed the brass measure and it weighed 2.8 oz., the wood weighs only .4 oz.

 

[Dibbuk]

Nice work. Now make a set of single row ball boards for hunting.

 

[jimhallam]

In my decades in museums, I have seen some of the most appallingly ham-fisted cobble jobs you could imagine- made and used and passed down through the centuries. Too often, curators' emphasis is on showing the most magnificent examples of things, and that makes us too hard on ourselves. Not to say we shouldn't strive to do our best work, of course. But I promise you that for every craftsman turning out gorgeous cut steel powder measures, there were 3 who just whacked a hunk off a piece of river cane, and 12 like Nutnfancy and Hanshi who produced perfectly good, workmanlike pieces.
Jay

I certainly agree with Jay about museums .
I am Asst Curator - unpaid volunteer! - of the British NRA Musuem at Bisley and my twin brother was the Curator of the Museum of Science and Engineering in Newcastle-uopon-Tyne -- - now trendily called "The Newcastle Experience" !
There are a lot of uniforms of Field-Marshals and Admirals on display in museums, but the rarest military uniform is the WW1 one worn by the peasant soldiers of the Tsar of Russia's army -- of course it was better than what they had at home so they took them home and wore them out ;-)
In like manner my brother said that the "powers that be" didn't want the collection of firearms from Vickers Elswick Works on display but the Joicey Art Galley did have several fancy Flintlocks. I bet that it's the same with the basic, functional items made and used by the trappers and hunters -- either rejected or stored away.

Congratulations to those who have made the effort to become part of our cultural heritage.

 

[Stony Broke]

Making your own items is half the fun of playing with muzzleloaders. I get an urge and really stink up my little shop doing something with antlers now and then. By the time you cut, sand, polish and whatever you need to open up the doors and get some fans running. I have always loved playing with stuff like that and it gives us old guys more hobby stuff to do.....as well as the pride we get from the items.

 

[Nutnfancy]

I restore vintage straight razors and on a couple of occasions made new scales out of Ivory and bone and they both stink to high heaven while cutting and sanding. I can only imagine antler would do the same.