what's in your possibles bag?
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CrackStock
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First question: Flint, Cap or combination?
Second: Precut patches or cut at muzzle?
Third: by "possibles bag" do you mean a shooting specific bag, a hunting equipment bag or an all purpose camping bag? Not trying to be a smart alec, but all of these are commonly in the minds of various people when using that term.
Assuming that you mean a shooting bag, I will say that I have a bag for each long gun that I own.
I carry:
Leather ball bag -- often similar to the pattern mentioned many times by Mike Nesbitt. He uses a Welch's frozen grape juice concentrate can as the pattern. Works very well. I also make them from an old softball cover that I unstitched and folded one half on itself and cut the connecting flap. I did that for my first two and then just used them for the pattern with better leather. Makes a dandy bag. There are many ways to secure the top. I fill this with enough of the proper balls to get through a day hunt with some reserve.
Powder container either inside or attached to or beside the bag. I generally keep a small day horn or other small container inside my bag since it is a bad thing to spill all of your powder or get it damp while on a hunt. Been there -- done that. Never again.
Knife inside or on strap
Patch strips -- I do not precut normally, but have tossed a few inside an old cap box to use in a pinch
Cleaning patches inside a small thin leather sack
Short starter for rifles
Spare flints with a vent pick or caps in a good capper
Turnscrew/flintknapping tool or a nipple wrench
Fixed powder measure as I cannot see up close well and cannot remember my load on some guns (can be attached to strap, horn or gun)
Adjustable powder measure in case the fixed is lost or damaged. this also helps out friends who might not have their measure along for that day -- this has been my greatest use of the spare by far.
Leather hammerstall/frizzen sleeve
Round toothpicks or feather to plug vent
Cloth to wipe the frizzen, pan and flint
(I sometimes cheat by slipping in a leatherman tool for my convenience if I am not in a PC only location)
Compass (Nope, it is not a PC one -- just a reliable modern one) I never go out in the woods without it
Most of these items are organized into small cloth or leather bags to keep from dipping through the clutter.
Welcome to ML and the forums!
CS
Second: Precut patches or cut at muzzle?
Third: by "possibles bag" do you mean a shooting specific bag, a hunting equipment bag or an all purpose camping bag? Not trying to be a smart alec, but all of these are commonly in the minds of various people when using that term.
Assuming that you mean a shooting bag, I will say that I have a bag for each long gun that I own.
I carry:
Leather ball bag -- often similar to the pattern mentioned many times by Mike Nesbitt. He uses a Welch's frozen grape juice concentrate can as the pattern. Works very well. I also make them from an old softball cover that I unstitched and folded one half on itself and cut the connecting flap. I did that for my first two and then just used them for the pattern with better leather. Makes a dandy bag. There are many ways to secure the top. I fill this with enough of the proper balls to get through a day hunt with some reserve.
Powder container either inside or attached to or beside the bag. I generally keep a small day horn or other small container inside my bag since it is a bad thing to spill all of your powder or get it damp while on a hunt. Been there -- done that. Never again.
Knife inside or on strap
Patch strips -- I do not precut normally, but have tossed a few inside an old cap box to use in a pinch
Cleaning patches inside a small thin leather sack
Short starter for rifles
Spare flints with a vent pick or caps in a good capper
Turnscrew/flintknapping tool or a nipple wrench
Fixed powder measure as I cannot see up close well and cannot remember my load on some guns (can be attached to strap, horn or gun)
Adjustable powder measure in case the fixed is lost or damaged. this also helps out friends who might not have their measure along for that day -- this has been my greatest use of the spare by far.
Leather hammerstall/frizzen sleeve
Round toothpicks or feather to plug vent
Cloth to wipe the frizzen, pan and flint
(I sometimes cheat by slipping in a leatherman tool for my convenience if I am not in a PC only location)
Compass (Nope, it is not a PC one -- just a reliable modern one) I never go out in the woods without it
Most of these items are organized into small cloth or leather bags to keep from dipping through the clutter.
Welcome to ML and the forums!
CS
Precut & lubed patches, flints, flint leather, balls, turnscrew, powder measure that's attached to my horn strap, sometimes a vent pick, & a couple of round wooden toothpicks for pluging the touchhole while cleaning.
A hunting pouch should only contain items for servicing the gun IMO. I can load in the dark just by feel without junk getting in the way. I never take mine off while in the woods. I even sleep with it on and with my rifle where it can't be taken away from me in my sleep. I suggest pointing the muzzle down away from your head if you do this. :grin:
A hunting pouch should only contain items for servicing the gun IMO. I can load in the dark just by feel without junk getting in the way. I never take mine off while in the woods. I even sleep with it on and with my rifle where it can't be taken away from me in my sleep. I suggest pointing the muzzle down away from your head if you do this. :grin:
Crackstock has a pretty good list, you will find as you grow with the sport how gadget oriented you want to be and what you feel you can do without or what you cannot do without, some will noy have enough room in a 12"x12" bag others can get by with a 3"x5" one.
paulvallandigham
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What you carry in your bag is going to change with time. Don't ever think you can adopt someone else's list as your own, and you will never change your mind. That is not how it works.
Crackshot has given you a very thorough list. But, please notice that his list describes in order what he needs to make his gun go " boom ". That is the System of anaylsis that you use in deciding what you carry. If you don't know the system, you are never going to have something you really need, and will carry a lot of stuff you don't need.
When I was shooting percussion, I carried:
1. Ball in a ball bag made of leather, to keep them from rolling around in the bottom of the bag.
2. Cleaning patches in a pocket in the bag;
3. Pre-lubed patches for my gun in a brass round cannister;
4. percussion caps in a separate brass tin;
5. A Capping tool filled with caps.
6. A Nipple Wrench.
7. A Screwdriver.
8. a bottle of moose milk for cleaning the gun nightly.
9. Extra nipple.
10. Ball pulling screw.
11. Patch pulling screw.
12. extra jag.
13. My Adjustable Powder measure.
14. My Short starter. ( soon to be eliminated by coning the muzzle of my gun barrels.)
I carried my powder in a horn separately.
I also carried a knife separately or on the strap of my bag( when I got a new bag.) I always left the cleaning jag on the end of my ramrod, even though it would get black with residue when the gun fired. I used a cleaning patch with a little moose milk if I had time, spit if I didn't, to first wipe off the nipple after firing, and around it. Then the same patch was run down the barrel to pull out the gunk. Then a new patch was run down the barrel to dry it.
Over the years, I began leaving the ball puller, the patch puller, and the extra jag in my range box. Since my capper held upwards of a full 100 caps, I stopped carrying the extra tin of caps.
I don't like the knife on my strap, as I thought I would, and am contemplating sewing a keeper on the back side of my bag to carry both my knife and camp hawk, so I don't have to carry them on my belt. I usually don't carry the hawk when I am hunting.
That is what I mean by evolving choices as you gain more experience. Now that I primarily shoot flint, my new bag contains other things. The secret is not in carrying enough, but in carrying too much. Its hard to pare the list of things you carry in a bag.When my barrel is coned, I will stop carrying that cannister of pre-lubed patches, and simply cut them at the muzzle, and lube them using Dutch Schoultz's dry lube method. I have a ball block, so I am going to probably leave that ball bag in my range box, too. I don't need 20-50 balls in my bag to go deer hunting.
Crackshot has given you a very thorough list. But, please notice that his list describes in order what he needs to make his gun go " boom ". That is the System of anaylsis that you use in deciding what you carry. If you don't know the system, you are never going to have something you really need, and will carry a lot of stuff you don't need.
When I was shooting percussion, I carried:
1. Ball in a ball bag made of leather, to keep them from rolling around in the bottom of the bag.
2. Cleaning patches in a pocket in the bag;
3. Pre-lubed patches for my gun in a brass round cannister;
4. percussion caps in a separate brass tin;
5. A Capping tool filled with caps.
6. A Nipple Wrench.
7. A Screwdriver.
8. a bottle of moose milk for cleaning the gun nightly.
9. Extra nipple.
10. Ball pulling screw.
11. Patch pulling screw.
12. extra jag.
13. My Adjustable Powder measure.
14. My Short starter. ( soon to be eliminated by coning the muzzle of my gun barrels.)
I carried my powder in a horn separately.
I also carried a knife separately or on the strap of my bag( when I got a new bag.) I always left the cleaning jag on the end of my ramrod, even though it would get black with residue when the gun fired. I used a cleaning patch with a little moose milk if I had time, spit if I didn't, to first wipe off the nipple after firing, and around it. Then the same patch was run down the barrel to pull out the gunk. Then a new patch was run down the barrel to dry it.
Over the years, I began leaving the ball puller, the patch puller, and the extra jag in my range box. Since my capper held upwards of a full 100 caps, I stopped carrying the extra tin of caps.
I don't like the knife on my strap, as I thought I would, and am contemplating sewing a keeper on the back side of my bag to carry both my knife and camp hawk, so I don't have to carry them on my belt. I usually don't carry the hawk when I am hunting.
That is what I mean by evolving choices as you gain more experience. Now that I primarily shoot flint, my new bag contains other things. The secret is not in carrying enough, but in carrying too much. Its hard to pare the list of things you carry in a bag.When my barrel is coned, I will stop carrying that cannister of pre-lubed patches, and simply cut them at the muzzle, and lube them using Dutch Schoultz's dry lube method. I have a ball block, so I am going to probably leave that ball bag in my range box, too. I don't need 20-50 balls in my bag to go deer hunting.
My Possibles bag has limited supplies.4 spare balls,Patched in a ball block.Capper(A dozen caps)A few cleaning patches.A co2 discharger(I'm practical not PC)(Not that there's anything wrong with PC)Nipple wrench,Short starter.4 individual Pre-measured powder charges.This works for me,.I usually get my Buck every year with a patched Ball.
CrackStock said:
I think most would agree that your shooting bag contains only what's needed for shooting and your "possibles" are things like, flint/steel, food, etc., which would go in your haversack or possibles bag.
As always, people are free to call their gear whatever they wish and carry it however they see fit. My point is, when discussing something, it helps if people use common terms.
CrackStock
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Claude,
I would agree and that is the reason for asking the question. At least it sets a baseline for discussion while pointing out the varied uses of the word outside of our group.
I just wanted to discussion to be focused on his needs.
CS
I would agree and that is the reason for asking the question. At least it sets a baseline for discussion while pointing out the varied uses of the word outside of our group.
I just wanted to discussion to be focused on his needs.
CS
CrackStock
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My list was simple to compile -- I just got my bag and opened it.
I left off my cleaning jag and a tow worm for field use should my regular ramrod become lost or broken. I have had to fashion one in the woods to load and use a worm on that to clean.
I think that my compass is my only extraneous item and that is because I have gotten myself turned around with a cheap compass in the past. Bad experience and bad feeling.
CS
I left off my cleaning jag and a tow worm for field use should my regular ramrod become lost or broken. I have had to fashion one in the woods to load and use a worm on that to clean.
I think that my compass is my only extraneous item and that is because I have gotten myself turned around with a cheap compass in the past. Bad experience and bad feeling.
CS
CrackStock said:
:thumbsup:
