What is the proper name for "possibles bag"?

[MrMackc]

The top bag could easily pass as a hippie purse c1970.

Isn't it strange that Hippies didn't really get into backpacks till they got back from Nam, well the ones that did make it back... actually it is a make-it-yourself- kit, so what ever you decide, maybe it could have a gay type muzzleloader influence, ......it takes all kinds of people to make this world, I'm just glad I ain't one of them! LOL

 

[Cosmo]

I believe Murse is the correct pronunciation...

 

[Grenadier1758]

Bear in mind that the original use of purse id to describe a leather bag. Nothing gender specific.

Origin of purse. before 1100; (noun) Middle English, Old English purs, blend of pusa bag (cognate with Old Norse posi) and Medieval Latin bursa bag (≪ Greek býrsa hide, leather);

 

[toot]

read the fine print--it is indeed a CALIFORNIA PURSE left over from the 60's. I think that TIMOTHY LEARY is the seller?

 

[Brokennock]

From an Amazon products search:

Listed as Possibles Bag Kit
View attachment 38985Just one example of several listings


One more on Amazon:

View attachment 38987

So Amazon descriptions are our standard for historical accuracy now?

It has long been noted that one should not rely on a vendor's description for what is accurate for any given time period. Using Amazon descriptions would bring us to an all time low.

 

[olskool]

From an Amazon products search:

Listed as Possibles Bag Kit
View attachment 38985Just one example of several listings


One more on Amazon:

View attachment 38987

amazon? do you think these boobs knows what they are talking about? LOL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[FishDFly]

After nine pages there is no consensus here yet.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Let’s just call them our purse or man bag.

 

[Bob McBride]

I think we can get a plurality to agree that a Possibles Bag is a distinctly different bag than one would hang next to their gun. I always saw a possibles bag as one that you would carry to town, to the neighbor’s, or on a quick overnight stay somewhere. It would be slung with the hunting/shooting pouch if walking and probably attached to the saddle or thrown on the floor of the wagon so what you might need to have to hand, outside of your small number of shooting accoutrements, was accessible when away from the house. We have to remember that everything was carried everywhere. Think about the stuff you throw in your truck when you go here or there. What you carry when you go for a walk, go fishing, or go on a hike. All these things were carried in bags, and I'm certain even the poorest had two to three different bags on a peg, preloaded with the basics for this trip or job, to be added to before walking out the door for that particular day.... Haversack, day bag, fishing bag. If on a farm, a bucket of tools.....

These thoughts are based on living and working full time on the farm, where every day has me loading the toolbox on the tractor or putting this thing or that in the front rack of the 4-wheeler for what is several hours of work up to a half mile away from the house. I keep the basics on the tractor or the 4-wheeler but that is just the core of what I will need for my day which could be any of a hundred different places or jobs. If I was walking a mule from the barn to my worksite every day there would be a set of bags hanging in the barn to throw over ol' Stubborn's back with my sammitches, water, and whatever specifics I needed for what I was doing. This was day to day life back when.... One bag for this, one for that, and a Possibles Bag for what you always need, regardless of what you're day is going to look like, work, calling, or just going to take a nap under your favorite Hickory tree while momma thinks you're plowing the back 40.

So to answer the OP, I think the proper name for a 'Possibles Bag' is Possibles Bag, among others. It had the same function as a ladies purse.

 

[Mongo]

Possibles is mentioned in the 1850 book "Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail", to mean a bag or container for personal property, not a shooting pouch, hunting pouch, nor shot pouch.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Hmmm. I recently saw an ad for a used 'possibles' bag [on another site . My deceased wife carried that exact bag for a while. We bought it in Juarez, Mexico in 1953. My shootin' bag does not look like that. Polecat

 

[Dale Lilly]

In 1611, when the King James Bible was written, women were oftrn referred to as 'handsome'. and men as 'pretty'. My .02 cents worth. polecat

 

[oldwood]

In a number of accounts in old books , it's called Shot Pouch....Call it what you want......... oldwood

 

[Scott]

I still like "possible bag". I have several for several different possibilities.

 

[Ajgall]

I like shooting bag for a small bag that has only gun specific items. I usually just say bag or pouch for a larger bag that I keep my fire kit, any cooking items, food stuffs, spare socks, or things like that in.

 

[david.stieghan]

The term 'Dope bag" has been used by target shooters to contain their shooting needs for at least 100 years. Col. Townsend Whelen adapted the term to name his shooting column "The Dope Bag" which debuted in 1921 in the "American Rifleman" magazine. Having a "dope bag" and "doping the wind" kinda sound bad in today's world.

DOPE Is an acronym for “data on previous engagements.” Many shooters record each shot from their weapons by date, temperature, wind speed and direction, bullet and cartridge data, shot placement, etc. It is useful for working up a load and predicting shot under a variety of ranges and conditions. I have too many guns to remember how they all shoot under varied conditions, so I keep tabbed notebooks with punched hole forms.

Dave

 

[Tanglefoot]

To stumble back to the original question, Jeff ---- I call my hunting pouch a lot of things, some of them printable, especially when I can't find what I'm looking for in it. I s'pose you can call yours whatever you want.

 

[tenngun]

Intelligence or intelligencer ie news and newspapers. Today we use intelligence as how smart a person is, not information except for spying agencies.
Musket started out as a large two man gun, not a single infantry mans arm.
We often define it as a smoothbore flintlock made to carry a bayonet. And eye brows go up if a fowling piece or trade gun is called a musket.
We don’t seem to get our breechclot in a wad of some one calls a fowling piece a fowler. Fowler is the hunter not the gun.
Jaegar rifle is not a jaegar. And we don’t get our breechclot in a wad when some one brags on this forum about how their jaegar works or the new jaegar they just bought.
If you see a kilted ARW or F&I soldier don’t ask him about his claymore. However when the Skye Boat song was written in the middle nineteenth century the Scotsman swords were called claymores. At least the term was understood at that time as a highlanders sword.
We wink at some terms and get over concerned about others.