I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question or if there's an actual correct answer. Which side should your bag and horn be carried? I'm use to years of Civil War reenacting where all your accoutrements have a proper place to be worn. Is one side more convenient than the other depending on if your right or left handed? I ask this question because I want to try my hand at scrimshawing my powder horn and want the most visible side showing my work......................Thanks!
To quote Pasquinel, the trapper: "
Rules! We don' nid no more rules! We got enough rules a'ready!"
There is no "rule" for civilian wear, as far as I know, but there are
conventions. In his book,
Wild Life in the Rocky Mountains (the sequel to
Adventures in Mexico), George Frederick Ruxton described the trapper's dress: "
Over his left shoulder and under his right arm hang his powder-horn and bullet-pouch, in which he carries his balls, flint and steel, and odds and ends of all kinds" (p.153). This gentleman from California shows us how they did it:
This is "Bigfoot" Wallace:
You see the same thing in a lot of period paintings, but a lot of people now appear to distrust artwork, if it doesn't show what they want to believe. The photos above show older guys posing for the camera with the guns and gear they carried when younger.
In
Rocky Mountain Life, Rufus Sage wrote this description of the typical mountaineer: "
His waist is encircled with a belt of leather, holding encased his butcher-knife and pistols -- while from his neck is suspended a bullet-pouch securely fastened to the belt in front, and beneath his right arm hangs a powder-horn transversely from his shoulder..." (p.38). I thought the phrase concerning the bullet pouch, "
fastened to the belt in front," was interesting. This may be the historical precedent for the thong-and-toggle arrangement that
@smo uses (see post #31). Have a look at this photo of an old Kansas "Free Stater" showing how he used his rifle in his glory days:
I see the powder horn on his right, but that looks like a pouch affixed to his belt on the off side. I don't know how common that was, but there it is.
One final thought, respectfully submitted, is that the term "possibles bag" was apparently never used on the frontier. You do occasionally see the expression, "possible sack," but this referred to a very large bag or "wallet" that was used for extra clothing, ammunition, and other possessions which would not have been carried on the person. Every time I have seen it printed, the expression used was "possible" (singular) and "sack" (not bag). The "possible sack" was analogous to a soldier's duffel bag or a sailor's sea bag, and out west it eventually evolved into the "warbag" or "war sack" (both terms were used) which was carried by the cowboys and later frontiersmen. According to at least two old dictionaries I consulted, Hispanic people in the American southwest referred to their property or personal possessions as their "
posibles," but I doubt this word is used in this way by native Spanish speakers nowadays. In any event, the early traders and trappers evidently borrowed the word
posibles from Spanish, Americanized it to "possibles," and combined it with "sack." The pouch we are discussing in this thread was generally called a "shot pouch" on the eastern frontier. The early westerners also used that term, but the one I've seen most frequently in the period literature of the early west is "bullet pouch." They evidently carried their balls loose in the pouch, where they would gravitate to the bottom and be easy to find without looking. We know that "bullet pouch" in this context refers to the pouch slung from the shoulder and not the little bottle-shaped ball bags because so many of the references describe reaching into the pouch with the hand, as well as using the bullet-pouch for carrying a flint and steel, a bundle of sinew, and even souvenirs.
I know some folks reason that they should carry the powder horn on the off side, so errant sparks falling from the flintlock won't land on or in the horn. I would respectfully disagree. A right-handed shooter typically places his left foot ahead of the right, which rotates his body slightly and in fact places the spout of the powder horn closer to the lock of his firearm, and possibly directly under it. If the horn is on the right side, it is actually rotated farther back and out of the way. It is for me, anyway.
Anyway, there is no rule, but as far as I know, the old timers
tended to carry the pouch and horn on the side of the dominant hand. Ergonomically, this works best for me in practice. If the OP is concerned about which side of the horn to scrimshaw, I might suggest waiting on that, and just go out shooting with a plain horn to find what works best for himself in practical terms, and then add the scrimshaw so it shows to best advantage.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
