Patchboxes...What for?

[Onojutta]

Just curious, do you put anything in your patchbox?

One of the authors of "Recreating the American Longrifle" commented that patchboxes are rarely used in favor of shooting bags. That may be true today, but I'm sort of wondering how they came to be, since shooting bags have been around for a long time. That author even went so far as to suggest that since patchboxes rarely serve any functional purpose, they might be substituted with a decorative inlay that looks the part but saves the effort.

Me, I don't use my patchbox for anything but decoration. My mortise is too small to hold anything useful.

 

[Black Hand]

Cleaning jag, a couple greasy patches, tow worm, tow, toothpicks and an extra vent pick.

 

[Vaino]

Not utilizing a Pbox for storage might be a "modern thing".....possibly at some earlier time Pboxes were put to use. Afterall...the brass Pbox replaced the wooden Pbox and both were probably used for storing items.

I don't use my Pboxes for storage, but some do....and besides, a LR IMO needs one.....Fred

 

[coloradoclyde]

I use mine....Just have to remember it's a "patch box" and not a steamer trunk. :wink:

I think the writer had a little bias....

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I think it stands to reason that they were in fact used.

Otherwise, why have them?

 

[George]

That may be true today, but I'm sort of wondering how they came to be, since shooting bags have been around for a long time.

There are good references showing the old boys kept grease in the box for the patches, or put pre-greased patches in them.

Spence

 

[Onojutta]

Cleaning jag, a couple greasy patches, tow worm, tow, toothpicks and an extra vent pick.

Why not keep these items in the shooting bag?

 

[Artificer]

That may be true today, but I'm sort of wondering how they came to be, since shooting bags have been around for a long time.

There are good references showing the old boys kept grease in the box for the patches, or put pre-greased patches in them.

Spence

Here is one of the best that I know of:

James Audubon, c1810, describing his host preparing to go raccoon hunting:

"”¦ He blows through his rifle to ascertain that it is clear, examines his flint, and thrusts a feather into the touch-hole. To a leathern bag swung at his side is attached a powder-horn; his sheath-knife is there also; below hangs a narrow strip of homespun linen. He takes from his bag a bullet, pulls with his teeth the wooden stopper from his powder-horn, lays the ball in one hand, and with the other pours the powder upon it until it is just overtopped. Raising the horn to his mouth, he again closes it with the stopper, and restores it to its place. He introduces the powder into the tube; springs the box of his gun, greases the "patch" over with some melted tallow, or damps it; then places it on the honey-combed muzzle of his piece. The bullet is placed on the patch over the bore, and pressed with the handle of the knife, which now trims the edge of the linen. The elastic hickory rod, held with both hands, smoothly pushes the ball to its bed; once, twice, thrice has it rebounded. The rifle leaps as it were into the hunters arms, the feather is drawn from the touch-hole, the powder fills the pan, which is closed. “Now I’m ready,” cries the woodsman”¦.
Journals, Vol. 2, (1972 reprint), page 492."

Gus

 

[wattlebuster]

Tow worm an tow. 3 new flints an a small piece of once was welding rod for the hole in the jaw screw to change the flint :hatsoff:

 

[arquebus]

".....the feather is drawn from the touch-hole, the powder fills the pan, which is closed."

Reads as though he's self-priming from his main charge(?).

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Turn screw, extra flint with leather, and worm with tow.

LD

 

[Pete G]

Why not keep these items in the shooting bag?

I much prefer to keep tools specific to the rifle, along with a spare flint in the patchbox, with enough patches (cleaning and shooting)to keep anything from rattling around. I will also, in some cases outfit the pouch as well, since I well know that Murphy can come along at any time and hit the patchbox release. Perhaps I have been influenced by my years of Naval ship design where they insist on redundancy in all important systems, but I feel much better knowing that I have spares.

 

[SgtErv]

Keep greased patches in mine. Easier than fiddling in a shooting bag to open a tin or something like that

 

[Artificer]

".....the feather is drawn from the touch-hole, the powder fills the pan, which is closed."

Reads as though he's self-priming from his main charge(?).

That is what it sounds like to me as well.

Gus

 

[George]

Epaphras Hoyt, _Practical Instructions for Military Officers, for the District of Massachusetts_, 1811

"In the butt of the rifle there is a box for grease. This must be always well replenished, that the patches may be kept suitably greased for loading with loose ball, the lock properly dressed, and every part of the rifle in complete order for service."

Isaac Weld, Jr., _Travels Through the States of North America and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, During the Years of 1795, 1796 and 1797_

"The best of powder is chosen for the rifle barrel gun, and after a proper proportion of it is put down the barrel, the ball is enclosed in a small bit of linen rag, well greased at the outside, and then forced down with a thick ramrod. The grease and the bits of rag, which are called patches, are carried in a little box at the butt-end of the gun."

_A British Rifle Man : The Journals and Correspondence of Major George Simmons, Rifle Brigade, During the Peninsular War and the Campaign of Waterloo, Edited, with Introduction, by Lieut-Colonel Willoughby Verner, late Rifle Brigade_ 1899

Discussing the Baker rifle: "A supply of greased patches was carried in a small box with spring brass lid in the side of the butt of the rifle."

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

Just curious, do you put anything in your patchbox?

One of the authors of "Recreating the American Longrifle" commented that patchboxes are rarely used in favor of shooting bags. That author even went so far as to suggest that since patchboxes rarely serve any functional purpose, they might be substituted with a decorative inlay that looks the part but saves the effort.

.

Like I said;
A clear case of personal bias.....The author clearly has a dislike for patch boxes and is using the book as a platform to voice his opinion and change public perception.....

Don't believe everything you read folks.....Turn on your :bull: meters......

 

[coloradoclyde]

Now if a person wanted to argue the transformation of function to ornate artistry....That might be a better argument. :hmm:

 

[Grumpa]

When my Harpers Ferry was new, I carried a strip of greased ticking, along with a worm and a ball puller. During one hunt, I glanced down and the lid was sprung open! I backtracked, and found the patching and the worm. I never found the ball puller.

Now, I only keep some patching in there.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[Loyalist Dave]

But still, the patch box remains functional, does it not? What I mean is, do we find elaborate inlays in many rifles on the right side of the stock that are only decoration, and do not open in any way to a compartment underneath?

Seems even when it's a simple, wooden cover, to be a lot of work for something that isn't "functional"...(in one author's opinion) and barely an embellishment when they first appear...., so they had some function at some point.

LD

 

[Artificer]

Just curious, do you put anything in your patchbox?

One of the authors of "Recreating the American Longrifle" commented that patchboxes are rarely used in favor of shooting bags. That may be true today, but I'm sort of wondering how they came to be, since shooting bags have been around for a long time. That author even went so far as to suggest that since patchboxes rarely serve any functional purpose, they might be substituted with a decorative inlay that looks the part but saves the effort.

Me, I don't use my patchbox for anything but decoration. My mortise is too small to hold anything useful.

Modern shooters often have many things that were unknown or not commonly used in at least the early flintlock period. We have a plethora of small tin/iron/steel/copper/brass tins that while are authentic replicas or "close enough" to period pieces, were most likely not that available in the period. We think nothing of having a tin in our Shot Pouch just to carry grease, but back in the period they may have thought that an incredibly expensive and foolish waste of money when the patch box was already there for that reason.

There is plenty of evidence during the period for not having a patch box at all on very basic rifles and instead just boring a hole on the right side of the stock to put grease in for patches. Though not limited to them, this is a feature most of us recognize on many plain Southern Rifles.

Also, even WHEN they commonly had tins for things such as caps during the percussion period (as the caps were sold in tins), they sometimes added a second "patch box" on the left side of the stock to hold the caps. This was especially common in (West) Virginia rifles and without looking, I think from Hampshire county.

It was also known to have been used on at least one PA rifle originally built by a rather famous maker. The second photo from the left shows the small "patch box" for caps.


Gus

Edited to add: P.S. Sorry, forgot we are not supposed to link to the Rock Island Auction site.