Possibles bag sizes.

[Cruzatte]

I went through 20 pages of Bodmer's paintings on line and found only two that illustrated guns and pouches.

In this one the pouch is very small: http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=46500

However, in this one, it is pretty large: http://www.albion-prints.com/ekmps...int.-north-american-indian-31-[2]-96746-p.jpg

Gus

I find it interesting that in the first illustration the subject seems to be equipped with a slit pouch something like this one, minus the fringe.

 

[Black Hand]

I thought we were talking about shooting bags here. I often carry two bags. One my shooting bag with rifle loading/cleaning/etc. necessities only. On my left shoulder I might have a plain cloth haversack with modern day necessities like wallet, cell phone, etc.

Exactly!
A gun (shooting) bag contains only gun items while the other bag contains the other items. Helps balance the load and prevents the gun bag from being cluttered with unnecessary items.

 

[tenngun]

Looking at the painting you posted I have a question about the woodland Indian bag. There is no horn with this??? Is this a shooting bag, or a 'possibles sack' ? Meaning does it have not only shooting supplies but his fire kit, jerky or pemmican, 'medicine' , smoke and pipes ect.

 

[excess650]

I have (1) bag from The Leatherman and (3) from Greybear http://www.greybearleather.com/shooting-bags/

The Leatherman is from Carlisle, and Greaybear from Harrisburg, both in Pa.

 

[DennyDucet]

Strange. That did not work when I tried. It has happened before on here and I am not sure what causes it.

Thanks for all the input as well as the additional site which seems to carry some good gear as well. I am leaning towards the T-501 Trail Bag 8x7x1 1/2 . It has a main pouch, an outside pouch and one small inside ball pouch. Really that seems like all I will need. I will likely go with a hunter star on the outside.

 

[Artificer]

My eyes are not good, but it looks to me like the pouch is suspended from the white belt by a loop? However, that may not be the case.

Gus

 

[Artificer]

Looking at the painting you posted I have a question about the woodland Indian bag. There is no horn with this??? Is this a shooting bag, or a 'possibles sack' ? Meaning does it have not only shooting supplies but his fire kit, jerky or pemmican, 'medicine' , smoke and pipes ect.

I don't know and I have to admit I never heard of Karl Bodmer until you brought him up. WIKI says he traveled and painted from 1832-4 and I haven't done that period since the mid 70's.
http://www.albion-prints.com/ekmps...int.-north-american-indian-31-[2]-96746-p.jpg

Since he does not seem to be carrying a horn on a separate strap, I wonder if his horn is in the pouch?

Did you notice the tomahawk at his feet that appears to have a spear point blade on top the normal "hatchet" blade?

Oh, would they have carried their medicine pouch in a hunting pouch or shot pouch? The little I remember seems to me they would not have done that, but that was from a long time ago in my experience.

Gus

 

[Artificer]

Do I hear someone saying "do yer own thang"? :wink:

Or maybe, do what is best for you. :wink:

Gus

 

[tenngun]

This may have been from a quick sketch and filled out after the fact.
Sometimes medicine bags were medicine bundles, being larger. When I said medicine I was thinking esoteric or magic items, but a 'first aid' kit is handy. Buzzard neck feathers and yucca root for wounds. Wads of sinew to stitch with. Willow, slippery elm and choke cherry bark., puff balls ect for medicine in the modern thinking is handy too. ( my own first aid kit is a little less then hc)

 

[Artificer]

Ah, OK, sorry I misunderstood.

Gus

 

[tenngun]

Well when I wrote it I was thinking esoteric medicine, only after the fact thought medical.

 

[BrownBear]

Here's how I measure my bags for just right:

I want them just big enough I can shove my hand inside, close my hand around something, and withdraw my hand without it hanging up.

For me it's a shooting bag. Anything not needed to shoot the gun right now, this very minute, is just so much carp in the way when sometimes seconds count. A good rule of thumb is that whatever you need is going to be at the bottom of the bag, and a bunch of extra carp is just going to be in the way.

If I feel the need to carry extras, those can go into a separate bag swung around onto my back or on the other side, but I feel pretty religious about keeping the extra stuff entirely out of my way when it comes time to reload.

How big are my bags? About 7" wide by 6" tall with a 1 1/2" gusset. They're never more than about 1/4 to 1/2 full of stuff either.

 

[jon math]

I agree, I’m really stingy about what goes in my hunting bag””even down to the number of balls and amount of patching material I bring. My shotgun bag is a bit bigger than my rifle bags only because the components for them are a bit bulkier””but I still pick them over hard.

 

[Artificer]

How big are my bags? About 7" wide by 6" tall with a 1 1/2" gusset. They're never more than about 1/4 to 1/2 full of stuff either.

This brings up an excellent point we have not talked about in this thread.

That size gusset allows one with large hands to easily get something out of a pouch that size. :thumbsup:

Some designs don't have a gusset that large, or no gusset at all, and that requires a somewhat larger pouch for the hand to dig something out.

I mention this because it is not just the size of the pouch that counts, but also whether it has a gusset in it or other ways to get more room, such as a "blocked" or wet formed pouch.

Gus

 

[Black Hand]

I think part of the problem is that people are using leather that is too thick for making pouches. Thick top-grain vegetable-tan leather is stiff, requiring a wide gusset for ease of entry. Make your pouches from garment-weight leather and the size can be reduced.

The pouch I currently carry is 6x7" and has more than enough space for everything I might need.

 

[BrownBear]

That's a good point. On reflection all my favorite and most-used bags are 2-3oz leather, thinner than the 4-5 oz most folks recommend. Some have seen over 5 years hard use, and they're holding up just fine.

One thing I've found, 2-3 oz straps are too thin and tend to want to roll. I'd still go with 4-5 oz there.

Another point worth passing on, with thinner leather closer stitching is almost mandatory. Most I see on here is somewhere around 5-7 stitches per inch, but I use 10 per inch on the thinner leather.

 

[Black Hand]

The pouch above has a leather belt as a strap. The price was right...

It has been in use for over 10 years.

 

[Artificer]

Good point, but if one has very large hands like I do, that small of a pouch doesn't work for me.

Gus

 

[BrownBear]

My experience with big hands sezz bags should be wider than deep. In fact bag depth is a real problem with any size hands and too much carp in the bag. With wider, shallower bags, stuff can spread out more with less tendency to get lost in the bottom.

 

[Black Hand]

I have mine set up so the tin of patches and the ball bag are on top. No need to put my hand very deep into the bag at all during normal shooting. Only when cleaning in the field do I need items at the bottom, and since this is done in camp, I can remove the contents from the bag.

This pretty well takes the size of ones hand out of the equation... :wink: