What is needed in your bag?

[Pee Wee]

I had no idea you needed so much. Where do you keep the deuce-and-a-half to carry every thing when in camp?

I thought balls, patches-both for shooting and wiping, pick on my strap and a worm. I carry my Dirk that was carried by my mothers brother at the Battle of Culloden on my belt and my Black knife hung around my neck. I though this would be enough in my shot bag for a walk along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers in the 1790's. My horn will carry about a pound of powder with my measure on the horn strap.

​

 

[Notchy Bob]

I had no idea you needed so much. Where do you keep the deuce-and-a-half to carry every thing when in camp?

I thought balls, patches-both for shooting and wiping, pick on my strap and a worm. I carry my Dirk that was carried by my mothers brother at the Battle of Culloden on my belt and my Black knife hung around my neck. I though this would be enough in my shot bag for a walk along the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers in the 1790's. My horn will carry about a pound of powder with my measure on the horn strap.

​

I think you are on to something, @Pee Wee . This quote from the memoirs of pioneer Texans was posted earlier, but it won't hurt to repeat it:


From Goodnight, et al., Pioneer Days in the Southwest

I guess I've led a sheltered life, but I did not understand the "deuce-and-a-half" reference. I looked it up:



Now, that's a truck! A two and a half ton, all-purpose, all-terrain vehicle, second only to the Jeep in numbers produced in WW2, and likely one of the reasons we won the war.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I figured there might be one or two other forum members as ignorant as myself but were afraid to ask. I, on the other hand, have no shame.

Now, back to those pouches...

Notchy Bob

 

[david w]

I always have a Snickers in my hunting bag.

 

[SciAggie]

Those trucks are beasts. A lot of rural fire departments converted them to fight grass/range fires. You cannot believe the terrain they can climb through.

@Notchy Bob in your above post - do you think folks also carried some sort of ladle to melt the lead (in the shooting bag)? I've read similar accounts that they carried a bag mold and perhaps a bit of lead - it seems natural they needed a ladle - but that is often not listed. Clearly they needed some way to melt and pour the lead. I'm just wondering if the ladle wasn't part of the shhoting bag contents. Maybe they carried it elsewhere?

 

[Coot]

In the pouch, as little as possible. A small flint wallet containing 2 flints and a turnscrew filed to fit the gun that goes with the pouch, a bit of tow for wiping the barrel if needed, lead balls and precut patches.

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

A mix of traditional and modern for me. The orange rope is my length of deer drag.

Thanks Larry Benoit.

 

[SciAggie]

This is the bag I carry with my .45 flintlock longrifle.

 

[FishDFly]

This is the bag I carry with my .45 flintlock longrifle.
View attachment 178997

No excess and do like the banjo horn. Don't see many of those.

 

[Notchy Bob]

@Notchy Bob in your above post - do you think folks also carried some sort of ladle to melt the lead (in the shooting bag)? I've read similar accounts that they carried a bag mold and perhaps a bit of lead - it seems natural they needed a ladle - but that is often not listed. Clearly they needed some way to melt and pour the lead. I'm just wondering if the ladle wasn't part of the shhoting bag contents. Maybe they carried it elsewhere?

Good question!

While several period accounts mention a bullet mould as one of the essential items carried in a shot-pouch or tied to its strap, I don't recall seeing any reference to a ladle being carried on one's person. However, I have seen ladles mentioned several times. Off the top of my head, I remember Washington Irving described blacksmiths making them to equip an expedition, Granville Stuart reported using his bullet ladle to smelt an ore sample, and John Kirk Townsend cast some bullets on the trail, using an old spoon as a ladle. I believe Ned Roberts told about knowing an old-timer who carried a ladle and bullet mould in his western travels, and described casting bullets over a fire of buffalo chips. So, they would have had ladles available. I just don't know for certain where the ladle would have been carried.

I think a ladle would have most likely been carried with one's extra powder and lead in a supply wagon, or in the "possible sack" or "war bag." As we all know, rifles in the old days were not all of standard calibers, and moulds were made to fit the individual rifles. A mould would have been hard to replace. Ladles, on the other hand, could be improvised and were more generic. Ladles could also be shared, so I suppose not every member of a traveling group needed to have one of his own. I think moulds were carried in the shot-pouch to keep them with the rifle. If your pack horse ran away or fell off a cliff with your ladle in its pack, or if your camp was "plundered" by Indians while you were out checking your traps and your possible sack was stolen, you would still have that essential bullet mould, and you could borrow or improvise a ladle.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob

 

[nhmoose]

Tamworth Fire dept NH has a deuce and a half for sale at the South Tamworth station. $10,000 or best offer. Great condition. Seems the young guys get in it and say "what is the third pedal for"

 

[Grenadier1758]

The third pedal is an antitheft device.