organizing possibles bag?

[duke21]

i am trying to remove some of my frustration with muzzleloading. my possibles bag and accesories are a nightmare. i seem to spend more time fumbling along , than actually enjoying the shoot. currently i typically carry either my 32 cal CVA squirrel rifle, or my T/C Hawken 50 cal, with my favorite sidearm, my 1858 style lyman remington 36 cal revolver. needless to say having three different ball, patch sizes adds to the complication. typically for lube i use the natural lube 1000, but i have the t/c no. 13 lub, and also hoppes no 9 availble, but havent tried them out yet. i do use the wonder wads with the revolver so i dont have to grease the cylinder. i dont have issue with using speed loaders for the rifles, but i still seem to be fumbling too much. i have a couple friends who love to shoot cartridge guns, but i cant get them to shoot muzzle with me, as they see it is so much work. any ideas or pics on how you guys mangage this would be appreciated. i love shooting the old style guns but must eliminate some of the frustration.

thanks so much in advance<

duke21

 

[Claude Mathis]

I would guess that, in historic times, people probably didn't carry a bunch of different calibers as some folks do today. They probably hand one one gun and a bag that supported it.

One solution would be to decide what you want to shoot and put together a bag for it. That simplifies things and will give your friends a much better impression of what shooting a muzzleloader was/is like. IMHO

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have a different bag for each MLer. I am working on having a different horn for each but have only 2 horns, and three guns at the moment. I think this is the best way to keep things straight. It does mean buying or making separate powder measures, and other gear, but that has not posed as much a problem for me. Right now, I transfer the gear I need from one bag to another, leaving in the bag only those items special to the caliber or gauge of the gun it matches. So, I have separate cleaning jags, ball pullers, patch pullers, and bore brushes for each gauge or caliber. The Capper remains with the bag for my percussion shotgun. I have nipple wrenches and picks for my flintlocks. Etc.

 

[Darkgael]

Separate bag for each caliber. One bag serves the .50 rifle and pistol, both flinters. One bag for the SXS shotgun, another for the Fowler.
Pete

 

[sundog]

I used to mess around and switch stuff back and forth then one day on a trip to the range I brought .50 balls and caps when I was shooting my .54 flinter. That was the end of that.
Now I have a bag my .58s flint and cap share.
Another bag my.54 flint and cap share. Another bag my flint and cap share and a bag my .32 and 36 share, might have to split them up into seperate bags but so far no mixups. In addition I have a pistol bag and last but not least I have a spare bag that is my woods walk bag that just the bare minimum goes into for woods walks for whatever I decide to shoot that day. The woods walk bag is kinda crummy so I am in the process of making a fancy sunday go too meeting woods walk bag.
I must add I have a very tolerant wife- most of the time.

 

[Rancocas]

i am trying to remove some of my frustration with muzzleloading. my possibles bag and accesories are a nightmare. i seem to spend more time fumbling along , than actually enjoying the shoot. currently i typically carry either my 32 cal CVA squirrel rifle, or my T/C Hawken 50 cal, with my favorite sidearm, my 1858 style lyman remington 36 cal revolver. needless to say having three different ball, patch sizes adds to the complication. typically for lube i use the natural lube 1000, but i have the t/c no. 13 lub, and also hoppes no 9 availble, but havent tried them out yet. i do use the wonder wads with the revolver so i dont have to grease the cylinder. i dont have issue with using speed loaders for the rifles, but i still seem to be fumbling too much. i have a couple friends who love to shoot cartridge guns, but i cant get them to shoot muzzle with me, as they see it is so much work. any ideas or pics on how you guys mangage this would be appreciated. i love shooting the old style guns but must eliminate some of the frustration.

thanks so much in advance<

duke21

Like others have said, use one bag for one gun/caliber.
For myself, in my bag I carry some basic cleaning supplies, ramrod attachments, and extra rdballs, flints, and patch material. The various ramrod attachments are all in a little, leather bag. The extra rdballs are in another leather bag, the few other things are loose in the shooting bag. HOWEVER, I don't need to go into the bag at all in order to reload.
I wear a loading block around my neck that contains patched roundballs. I carry a powderhorn on a strap over my shoulder and a powdermeasure is attached to my shooting bag strap with a throng.
To reload, the powder goes from the powderhorn into the powdermeasure and is then poured down the bore. A patched ball in the loading block is centered over the muzzle and rammed home with the ramrod.
If I'm using a flintlock, I prime the pan directly from my powderhorn. (I use 3F blackpowder for all my shooting, including priming with it, so I only have to carry one horn) If a purcussion, I have caps held in holes punched in the end of my shooting bag strap. (If the weather is bad, I do have a capper in my shooting bag)
My shooting bag only contains the tools and extra materials I might need to correct some minor problems that might occur while in the woods and fields. I normally do not go into the bag at all during the reloading process.
The whole process of reloading is simpler and takes less time then it took for me to write about it.
As for your revolver, I don't know. I've seen revolver shooters with a flask over their shoulder, and a small cap box on their belt, but I don't know how they carry their balls, or grease for sealing the cylinders.

 

[duke21]

thanks for all the feedback. i dont take both rifles to the woods at the same time. but i usually have the revolver with me with ONE of the rifles. i can appreciate the seperate bag idea, and probably where i am going in the future. just trying to make sense of it for now. i have been using FFF goex for all three and since they are all percussion i dont need primer. i dont quite get how you guys are storing your caps on a strap. are you just punching starter holes and then pressing the caps in like the speed loader blocks for balls and patches? have any of you pics of your setups?

thanks again,

duke21

 

[MikeChapin]

I only use one bag but have a shooting box. I keep the various caliber balls and patches in the shooting box. At the range I just use the box. When at a rendezvous or shoot I just need to swap out the patches and balls for the particular gun I'm shooting. I keep the priming horn and capper in the bag at all times. I use spit for lube in those situations so don't need to carry lubed patches or a bottle of lube in the bag.

When hunting I just carry five quick loaders in a pocket along with a capper or priming horns.

 

[bwhoffman]

I have and use 1 big range box to get from home to the range.
BUT.... I went thru the same scenario as you describe and ended up making a seperate bag for each gun and acquiring powder horns for the 2 grades of powder.
Granted, its either the shooting range/bench or a trail walk, so I usually only carry 1 gun at any given time.
As to the clutter and extra kitchen sinks I used to carry.....
I just recently finished a "possibles" bag.
So for clarity...a "shooting bag" supports your gun and a "possibles bag" supports YOU!
...in the sense that it will hold things that YOU might think needed but seldom get used, lunch, TP, the 20 extra flints, ect.
Has made my methods a lot simpler and I had fun making the bags and weaving the straps!

 

[Bob Gular]

The answer for your frustrations can be found on the Forum classifieds. Three fine shooting pouches at giveaway prices are listed as we speak.

 

[chapmans]

I use a Ted Cash capper with a leather lanyard attached, I keep it in my pocket with the leather hanging out and all you have to do is grab the lanyard and pull out the capper and cap your rifle then put it back in your pocket. Ted Cash makes several different kinds, I have one of each but use the standard rifle capper most of the time, the revolver capper will work for a rifle as well and it holds 100 caps, I would guess the rifle capper holds around 75, he also makes straight line capper that only holds 15 or so.
Longball 58

 

[Black Hand]

I agree that having a bag (and horn) for each gun is ideal. However, as both my tradegun and rifle are the same caliber, I use the same bag for both (at least until I can make another bag). The only thing different, is that I use a thicker patch for the rifle, but I have both thicknesses in the same tin.

I gave up using a range box years ago, though I still carry it to events as I may have something in there that someone else can use. I also shoot exclusively out of the bag/horn, and it keeps me from carrying a lot of extra stuff.

 

[Tman]

Just getting back to shooting with a group I found out what a yardsale I carried in my shooting bag! Some items needed to be in the possibles and some were fine in the shooting bag but unorganized.

I came home from my first shoot with the club and redid the bags. Also, since many guys load at a table on the range I am modifying my methods (always worked out of the bag before.

Also noted, all the folks with more than one gun at the shoot had separate bags/horns for each.

This was also the first time I saw a range box.....since I like having a place for every type of tool I plan on doing this as well. Beats tossing my cleaning supplies in a cavas ruck where I have had things leak and make a mess.

 

[Black Hand]

Little lives in my "shooting bag" that isn't used to feed and maintain my gun. I make an exception for a compass in the bottom and a firesteel/flint and mini fishing kit in the back pocket. Most folk now-a-days carry way too much excess crap in their gun bags that they don't need. The bag I carry is ~7" wide by 8-9" high single bag.

 

Duke 21,

I made a small belt bag for my 1860 colt, flask holder holster and belt from Track of the Wolf company. The 1 rifles equipment is in 1 bag and lastly a powder horn.This set up works ok when i'm tramping around among the mesquites and cedars and rocks.

James Taylor

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Separate bag for each caliber.

Dayum straight! Only way I've found to do it!

 

[shmrck1]

I used to mess around and switch stuff back and forth then one day on a trip to the range I brought .50 balls and caps when I was shooting my .54 flinter.

sundog,
Had the same experience....More than once!:redface:
So, one at a time I obtained bags for every
B/P
gun I have.Outside of poor shooting on my part
have not had an :redface: situation as yet.But
next time out could change that :rotf:
snake-eyes

 

[RC]

I have separate bags and horns fer each gun... :grin: now I jus found another bag.....I should get a gun to go with it huh? :thumbsup: :wink:

 

[bwhoffman]

I just finished another card woven strap, was going to make a bag to put it on.
Does this give me free license to obtain another gun???

 

[RC]

If'n ya don't,.... ya just made a worthless strap... :shake: better get ta lookin fer another gun,,now, I'm havin Roy build one....SOOOOOO, to be proper should get me a new bag..(new rifle deserves a NEW bag right?) course that'll still leave me with a extra bag... oh gees it never ends! :shocked2: (ain't it great! :rotf: