My Leather Projects

[123.DieselBenz]

Howdy All!

I decided I needed to do some leather work today, since I’m in charge of a team virtual woods walk, details here: http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/261673/ Come join in the fun!

I don’t have a shooting bag, so I figured I better make me up one!

I made this:

It is about 7” wide, by 5” tall, a little over an inch thick . . . I sewed it inside out, and had the straps turn into the sides, I took one of my dogs bones she had not finished . . . and made the button:

Sits right at my hip:

It is big enough for all the stuff I should need for a day of chasing bunnies with my .36, and of course the ten shots needed for the woods walk . . .

I didn’t have a ball bag or leather capper . . . so I made some! The ball bag holds 25 balls! It is a tad tight, but figure it will loosen up in time . . . not sure, but I think I’m gonna hook the capper to the strap, and then tuck it in the bag when not needed . . .

With it all loaded up it weighs less than 1.5 pounds!

I’m a happy camper, now I just need to practice using it . . . :wink:

 

[Macon Due]

Pretty nifty outfit amigo! :thumbsup:
Macon

 

[hoochiepapa]

Nice color, too! :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Make a "Range box" for your gear. You don't want to be taking those various jags into the woods with you on a day trip.

When you do take them, you want them in a separate leather wrap, or bag so that they don't fall out and you lose them. Make another pocket inside your bag to hold these pieces of gear. I have a separate leather wrap for my extra flints that I carry in the bottom of my bag.

You can get by on most squirrel hunts, given the daily bag limits, to using a small flat horn that fits in a pocket of a vest. Or use pre-measured powder charges carried in tubes in your bag.

If you use a single barrel shotgun for hunting squirrels when the leaves are on the trees, use pre-measured shot load in a tube to carry into the field, rather than a similar bag with lots of shot you won't need.

You will go a long way to find a better capper than the ones sold by Tedd Cash. I have the oval style that hold 100 caps- a whole tin-- at once. It usually rides in my shirt pocket, where it stays warm and dry. Your home made one, altho very nicely done, exposes the caps to the elements.

We all seem to want a round bottle-shaped ball bag(me, too!) our first time out, but a straight tube one, with a small neck, fits your hand better, and is easier to hold as you push out one ball at a time up that neck. Make the length of the tube the width of your hand, for the main body, and the neck beyond that.

Who needs 25 balls on a hunt? I'd rather have one or more Extra ball bags filled in my range box to grab if needed, than have to drag around more balls than I need. Those .35 caliber "peas" don't weigh very much, but that weight "Grows" as the miles add on to your legs, especially when you get older than 40 years. And having a lot of weight banging against your hip, or kidney gets to be a big bother towards the end of a day.

Consider making several ball blocks, so that you load both the lubed patch and the ball into the block before you go hunting. You can carry extra ball blocks in the bag, or in your range box back at the car, if you need them. That eliminates the need to carry patching in the bag.

Instead of the narrowed neck, just sew a thick layer of leather around the neck area, so that in order to get the balls in or out, you have to squeeze the two ends together. Once you stop squeezing, the neck closes up again, as the thicker leather will want to flatten out, again.
Its a much faster "system" that involves much less hand movement when you are hunting.

If you "cone" the muzzle of your gun, you can dispense with the need for a "short-starter" for your gun, and eliminate that from your bag, too.

I have worked for years- as do most of us--- to find ways to NOT haul gear into the woods. It dawned on me, one evening, as I was watching for the umpteenth time the movie, "Sergeant York ", and the scene where York is chasing a fox thru the yard where his future wife, Gracie, is watching from her porch, that he has no visible horn or bag.

Now that might just be Hollywood, but I have met a lot of old time hunters, who hunted back during the Great Depression, who never carried anything into the woods that wasn't in their gun. I have known two men my senior, who told me they would get a beating if they came home having wasted a "cartridge". One man shot Deer with his .32 caliber Mler to feed an extended family. All were head shots.

I am trying to reduce my "gear" so that I can get away for small game hunting using only my Belt Bag, at most! If i can carry everything I need in my pockets, I won't even use the Belt Bag! :shocked2:

I never thought to weigh the bag, but you have given me that idea to remember to do. Thank you.

All I want in my bag is that ball block, with no more than 5 balls in it, my capper, some cleaning patches, and my Hawken Shop Flinter's tool- a combination tool that does just about anything I need done in the field. Or, if I am using my flintlock, the flint bag, instead of that capper.

I learned years ago to carry an old towel to wipe my hands and gear if I reload in the field, or have to clean some game I have shot. I either have a jug of water in my SUV, or a smaller bottle of water in my day pack, or both.

 

[123.DieselBenz]

Paul,

Bottom row:

Spare nipples, powder measure that came with the gun (22 gr) (I just keep it with the other stuff :idunno: ) combo screwdriver nipple wrench, adapter, ball screw, patch worm, pick, and brush ALL fit into the light brown square pouch just above the bore brush . . .

When I built the ball bag, I figured on about 12 balls . . . rabbit limit here is 10 cottontails, and as many Jack Rabbits as you want, or can find! :grin: But . . . I just kept shoving them in . . . and that is how many fit . . . I do like the idea of a long tube . . . Thanks!

I put the square pouch in the back lefthand corner, and tuck the capper between that and the back . . . I'll see how that works . . . I have a TC capper, but never really liked it . . .

I have two ball blocks for the .36, just never warmed up to them . . .

My tin for my pre-lubed patch strip is kinda bulky, but that is what I have . . . for now.

I just wipe my hands on my pants . . . keeps my washing machine busy! :rotf:

 

[123.DieselBenz]

A couple more things . . .

Mike,

Thanks! That was the color I had gotten in a batch of other leather . . . didn't really want to use it for a gun holster :redface: I figured it would make a nice small bag . . . I see many people have a bag almost twice the size of mine . . . I wanted small, less temptation to carry more stuff . . .

Paul,

I normally carry those blue nitrile gloves with me for cleaning game, as I mostly hunt rabbits, and you never know if they have tularemia until you open them up. Plus a small 8oz water bottle for cleaning up my knife, but then dry it on my pants . . .

I also always have a jug of water back at my car . . . living in the desert, makes you appreciate a good slug of water!

The pink flannel patches are from an old bed sheet . . . I use those for wiping between shots, I use the little spray bottle to wet them with a combo of Hydrogen Peroxide, Ballistol, and mostly water . . .

 

[123.DieselBenz]

We all seem to want a round bottle-shaped ball bag(me, too!) our first time out, but a straight tube one, with a small neck, fits your hand better, and is easier to hold as you push out one ball at a time up that neck. Make the length of the tube the width of your hand, for the main body, and the neck beyond that.


I never thought to weigh the bag, but you have given me that idea to remember to do. Thank you.

You mean something like this I made up this morning?

Holds ten (10) of my "pea's", and fits in my hand:

Lost 1.9 oz by replacing the round one, with this one!

 

[Birdman]

got me a little 32 cal n that tubular ball holder looks sweet. Thought many a time on a better way to hold a days worth a shots for squirrel hunting n I'm thinken I just found the perfect way to do it.Might make several n pack all of them with ball, maybe carry two full ones with me at a time just in case I just want to pop off a few rounds fer fun, 32s don't weigh much so what the heck. May even try makeing one up for the 45 n the 50 too, they don't look like much work so may try both softer leather n some stiffer stuff too n see which I like better. Great idea, thanks for posting those pictures, YMHS Birdman

 

[jethro224]

That'll work.
IMHO you made it just the right size. :thumbsup:
But... it's green. :barf:
:haha:

I gotta make me some of them ball tubes.

An Altoids "smalls" tin makes a nice pre-lubed patch box if you hammer out the raised lettering and burn the paint off. The mints ain't bad either.

 

[chance]

Great looking bag!!

 

[omarick1948]

Nice little pouch, but I can't say that "I'm green with envy", about the color! ... :rotf:

Just fun'n with ya, ... nice job! :thumbsup:

Rick

 

[paulvallandigham]

That tube will work, obviously, and is one way to make it.

I was planning on making a tube from two pieces of leather, with a slight bottle neck so that the balls can shift around in the tube bag a bit, rather than lining up in a row. The thicker leather wrap around the short neck would be sewn over the neck, to keep the neck closed even when t4he tube is upended.

Only when you push on the two "seams" of the neck will it open to pass a ball, and then only one at a time. A .308 cartridge casing gives you the general idea of what the shape of the tube would be.

Th extra nipples, the jags, pre-lubed patches in a separate container,- all that gear gets left in my range box in the trunk of the car or truck. If you use a ball board(s), you can dispense with carry that container of pre-lubed patches. The PRBs are in the ball block, ready to load. If the block has gone un- used, and the patches seem to be dried out, you can freshen up the patched round balls by putting a drop of Olive Oil on the patches from the bottom of the block, before leaving home- preferably the night before.

All that current goes in my bag is cleaning patches, my flint wrap, with extra flints and lead wrap, my flinter's tool, a short starter, and the ball block. The powder horn goes into a pocket. A towel goes into another pocket. A plastic water bottle carries extra water. in either a cargo pocket, or in my daypack.

Accommodations have to be made based on weather, and location of the hunt, of course. There is NO ONE solution, and you may have to carry additional gear on some kinds of hunts. But, the whole idea is to try to not drag around anything you won't absolutely use on the hunt. Its not the extra weigh, altho that becomes a factor as the day wears on. Its the weigh constantly banging against your hip or leg, or waist that causes the PAIN.

I learned that very early in life, after making my Bowie Knife, and carrying it for a day, with The sheath slit for my belt. The heavy, long, blade banged against my hip all day, and that night, I had black and blue bruises on my hip to show for it. :shocked2: :barf: :shake: :surrender: :hatsoff: