looking for shooting bag

[FishDFly]

"A shooting bag is a bag used to rest a gun on usually while shooting off a bench. The OP probably should have used the terms hunting pouch, shot pouch, etc. (assuming that's what he really was looking for)."

Why do folks worry about what someone calls something, everyone knows what the OP wants?

After hunting, I was putting stuff in my truck at one of my outside gates. My neighbor stopped by to visit as he was passing and he had his grand kids with him.

One of them walked over to where my bag was hanging from the mirror on my left front door.

He stared at it and turned around and said "Nice PURSE mister". It was a Leatherman bag.

When I get ready to go hunting I hear my wife, don't forget your PURSE, cringe.

I have 2 Leatherman bags, 1 Leatherman belt bag and I can not remember the name of it, but a really nice contraption that Cutfingers makes. I had him add a leather strp for carrying it. It's called a Port-something.

 

[azmntman]

:rotf: And I'm sure it was very nice!

 

[Crewdawg445]

quote] keep it small and simple - not one of those over-sized carry-on handbags people keep making and filling with every conceivable thing, whether it is needed or not (mostly not).

BINGO

If you say to yourself "well maybe I'll..." STOP right there you simply do not need it. No better way to complicate a bag than to load it with the kitchen sink.
:thumbsup:

 

[Artificer]

But I know of one depction of a Rifleman of the AWI from the Anne SK Brown collection, and his bag is pretty large..., bigger I'd estimate, than 8" x 8". You can see what may be a powder measure hanging on his bag-strap too.

While difficult to judge from the primitive nature of the illustration - lets assume the hawk blade is ~6" across (based upon a modern reproduction), then the bag is right at 8x8 inches.

I agree the illustration is primitive and questionable as to taking any one item and trying to use it to check the scale/size of another item. For example, original FIW/AWI powder horns were often on the large size and if we use that information to scale everything else, the Shot Bag or Shot Pouch would be very large.

The problem is the original/extant 18th century Shot Pouches seem to be of the small type we would call a "Day Pouch" and intended for a day's hunt close to home.

The Rifleman depicted in the drawing is a Soldier with the Army and not a precisely detailed image by any means. We know he would have had to have carried his mold with him, as the issue Musket Balls would not work in his rifle. He most likely would have carried a small ladle to cast the balls in his mold. So where would he have carried these and other essential items that would not normally have been carried in a period "Day Pouch?"

The answer is we don't know for sure, as there does not seem to be documentation on it. If the Soldier/Rifleman carried his mold, ladle and other things we know he needed in a Snap Sack, Market Wallet, etc. - that would allow him to use a smaller pouch. However, such sacks/wallets/packs and similar items were often/usually taken off and "staged" prior to a battle with the intention of coming back later to retrieve them. The problem then would have been if the battle was lost or if the enemy wound up taking the position where such items had been staged previous to the battle. Since the Americans lost many of the battles in the AWI and the staging areas with their extra gear lost or abandoned, this would have been of concern to a Rifleman Soldier that a civilian might not have ever come across.

Bottom line, since many of the Shot Pouches for Riflemen made in the 18th century were home made or "bespoke work" for the owner of the rifle, it seems probable they would have made their pouch or had it made for whatever they deemed reasonable/necessary to carry in it. Thus the size of the pouch would have varied according to the desires of the owner.

Gus

 

[Redstick Lee]

to: any and all

TOTW ....very reasonably priced ($42) long-hunters gusset bag with a nice strap and beavertail front.......
2 nice roomy inside pockets on the back wall



getting this smaller bag has made me recover partially from my possibles bag hoarders disorder.....and taken a bag of 8.3 lbs down to a featherweight 3.5 lbs

 

[Loyalist Dave]

While difficult to judge from the primitive nature of the illustration - lets assume the hawk blade is ~6" across (based upon a modern reproduction), then the bag is right at 8x8 inches.

I was thinking more like look at the bag in relation to the horn, horns being on the large side and holding a pound back then, and then using the fellow's wrist since it's almost parallel with the bottom edge of the bag..., seems closer to 12 x 12.

LD

 

[Elnathan]

While difficult to judge from the primitive nature of the illustration - lets assume the hawk blade is ~6" across (based upon a modern reproduction), then the bag is right at 8x8 inches.

I was thinking more like look at the bag in relation to the horn, horns being on the large side and holding a pound back then, and then using the fellow's wrist since it's almost parallel with the bottom edge of the bag..., seems closer to 12 x 12.

LD

Which would also mean that his rifle (?) has a 24" drawlength....He also has thighs like a carthorse, but really stumpy little legs overall. :grin:

Y'all are reading way too much into a really rough sketch.

 

[kemart17]

totw has a nice 1 for around 130, its a mid-size bag. wish just a little smaller. extra space kinda has a way of accumulating un-needed things......lol.

 

[kemart17]

thanks for all the reply's and info!!!!

 

[Pete44ru]

Occasionally there's a shoulder bag at a charity resale shop or somewhere that would work great.
:haha:
Never have got one but been tempted a couple few times.

I embraced the temptation. op:

This one cost me $2 sans my strap & roundel, and is made of leather - not from the hide of a wild Naugah. :wink:

YMMV, but my Green Eyed Monster wouldn't be caught dead wearing it. :shake:

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

The best bag is the one you make your own.

Take pride in what you are doing. Don't buy someone else's bag.

Thank me later.

 

[Mockingbird]

For those who make their own...what leathers do you use for which bits?

 

[Black Hand]

For those who make their own...what leathers do you use for which bits?

I use fairly light-weight leather with belt-weight leather for the strap. The issue I have with most commercial bags is their construction from heavy vegetable-tan leather throughout, which makes them look like purses from the 1960's (as the OP discovered)...

 

[Mockingbird]

So for the lighter weight leathers do most still use cow or is that where the goat and buckskin come in?

 

[Stumpkiller]

One of my favorites is done in moose hide. It stays soft and quiet. Deer hide is fine as well.

Oh, and another "mail order" source for finished bags (in deer hide)

http://www.turkeyfootllc.com/powderhorns.html

Scroll down past the horns.

 

[Black Hand]

So for the lighter weight leathers do most still use cow or is that where the goat and buckskin come in?

Depends on what you want as a final product - Anglo or native(?)...

 

[tenngun]

In size of your bag it’s an us vs them thing. Short starters and bullet boards were rare, and in fact may not have been invented yet. The whole shooting kit would have been some ball, spare flint patching and grease a worm and some tow, maybe a turnscrew.Some of this might’ve in your patch box if you had one. A powder measure may be in the bag or on the strap, however we have lots of discriptiins of the time of pouring the charge in to a cupped hand. Even the wealthy and well prepared were often minimalist afield.... or they had a batsman to lug ‘emergancy’ gear around.
Sometimes we compromise and hang too much stuff on our shoulder. 99% of gear I’ve hauled afield for ‘just in case’ was nothing more then dead weight.

 

[Caterpillar Hunter]

Try Bill Smith in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

 

[Mockingbird]

Depends on what you want as a final product - Anglo or native(?)...

Well The persona I eventually want to portray is an ancestor who was Anglo but spent a lot of time among the Lenape in the Lackawaxen area of the upper Deleware R. The bag I would be making would be for my son. I am also building him his first rifle for Christmas. I figure the more I can build myself the more special it will be.

 

[tenngun]

We are caught in a us vs them mentality. Back in the day they carried ball, spare flints,maybe a turn screw, patching worm and tow maybe a bit of grease.
Short starters and bulletboards were rare, maybe not even invented yet.
Powder measure were known and used however we have plenty of accounts of old boys loading in cupped palm.
Even the wealthy and well prepared had little in his bag. Tools might be kept handy in camp at home or in a saddle bag. They were minimalist in general.
I know many of the things I packed for ‘just in case’ were never used in the field and were just dead weight.