Using a ball bag?

[longcruise]

I was looking at sligobill's wonderful work on his ball and shot bags  in the accoutrements section and got wondering how they are actually used.  Let me say that my system is about as basic as it gets.  Dump a handful of balls into the shooting bag and go!

So, if you use a ball bag, how and where do you carry it?  Is it a convenience to use?  What is the loading drill with a ball bag?

[Daryl]

I had a ball bag many years ago - still have it somewhere, for the .69.  I attached straps to it to fit over a belt and actually used it a few times, then decided it was a pain in the posterior and I went back to loose in the possibles bag for target or bunny hunting, with big game hunting having a 4-shot loading block with lubed patched balls, to big game hunting using paper ctgs. in a pocket with a disk-shaped primer holder.
The ball bag was not of use when hunting - however I do have a few labeled ball bags (felt pen) in the shooting box for storage.  I also like to use large bore jacketed bullet boxes for ball storage. They are easy to label on the ends and allow for stacking on a shelf.

[Ky-Flinter]

I use a ball bag that I made.  Carry it in my hunting pouch.  It's soft leather so I can count how many balls are in there.   At matches that require loading from bag and horn, I put the needed number of balls in the bag.  keeps them from rolling all over the place in the bag, or worse, if I take a spill and end up loosing a bunch of loose balls.

Loading sequence:
At shooting matches, stick a patch in mouth to soak up spit.  If hunting, start with next step.
Measure charge and pour down barrel.
Grab ball bag, pull plug, roll one ball out, replace plug, drop ball bag in pouch.
Take spit patch out of mouth (If hunting take greased patch out of tin), place over muzzle.  
Set ball in center of patch, press into muzzle.
Seat ball with ramrod.
Step to the line, prime and fire a 10X.  If hunting, put a heart shot on a 10 point buck.

-Ron

[nosrettap1958]

I always have used one and those made by SligoBill seem like just the ticket. Keeps the balls from ruling around if you use a possible bag.  For hunting I slip a small ball bag in my pocket while hunting. For target practice I use a flat bottom bag to hold balls and wads.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/41/1/BAG-BALL-S

[smylee grouch]

I have a couple of ball bags and have used them on a few hunts. I didn't find them a problem as I don't feel the need for that "fast follow up shot" like some magazine ads used to expound on. I prefer a loading block over a ball bag but sometimes I forget to bring one along and then resort to the ball bag,plan B2. Plan B1 is the loading block.

[Hungry Horse]

 I have a ball bag made from a rawhide dog chew, and painted with flat artists acrylic clear mixed with red chalkline chalk. Its shaped like a bottle, and has an antler powder measure for a stopper. I've carried it for about thirty years.

  Hungry Horse

[bgf]

I have a leather one with antler neck dispenser.  it is a pain in the backside, no matter where it is carried.  Last time I shot from bag, I just loaded a bunch of balls into a sturdy little  pill bottle with wide twist top, which works much better and is easy to carry in my bag.  I'll probably make something more period correct along the same lines.

Ky,
I wish you'd told me the 10x part--that would have really improved my score .

[hanshi]

I usually carry ball in something to keep them together but not necessarily a ball bag.  A tube that will hold 4 balls or so works for me; that's for deer.

[Ky-Flinter]

Ky,
I wish you'd told me the 10x part--that would have really improved my score .

Ya gotta think positive B, ya gotta think positive.

-Ron

[Darkhorse]

I have a nice, soft ball bag I used for a couple of years but, in the end it was just aggravating. The soft neck made it hard to quickly get a ball out. Maybe one with a hard neck would work better. I also have a couple of loading blocks around somewhere. The blocks just never gave me the speed and ease of use I expected.
So I now do it the way I began with back in 76', I have a number of round balls just lying in the bottom of my bags. There are a couple of prelubed strips of cloth patching material lying on top of the roundballs. I try not to have anything else in the main pocket except at times a cow's knee. My short starter is in a loop outside the bag. Powder measure, priming tool and a couple of premeasured containers of powder are in a sewn in pocket.
There is a fairly large front pocket also and it contains mainly cleaning patches, a jag, a couple of worms, 1 flint w/leather and a vent pick.
Unless pressed, I load the next shot as slow and deliberate as possible. I charge mostly from a horn and powder measure but sometimes from a premeasured container, then reach down and grab a ball and strip of prelubed cloth, short start and cut at muzzle, ram the charge home, and prime.
For me, this is the fastest, best way I've found for hunting. It has worked great for around 3 decades.

[Daryl]

Each to his own, but if shooting a rifle of larger calibre than about .54 - nothing is as fast as a paper ctg. in flintlock or cap-lock.

I carry a "Wheel" capper holding 24 caps. I keep it full & it's easy to cap without looking to align a cap.  When practiced, I was able to get a second aimed shot off 8 seconds after the first. The gun's design (English and perhaps Jaeger) is vitally important in the speed of the second shot's aim time.

The paper ctgs. were quite tight in my bore and with pure lead or WW alloy, gave the same accuracy as patched round ball loads & shot to the sights as well - at least to 100 meters.

DPhar and BobintheWoods have used paper ctgs. as well, with good effect in their 16 and 10 bore guns.

[EricEwing]

Thanks for the nice comments about the bags I made!

If I'm shooting for fun or at a woodswalk, I use a ball bag of any type and there's no rush or pain or problem. Nobody moves quick at those types of events and the pace is usually pretty slow.  If I wasn't too busy or lazy the night before maybe I'll take the time to load a larger ball block.

If I'm deer hunting, I use a smaller ball pouch that maybe holds 10 balls max, or a little ball block.  I also keep a few lose balls rolling around too or in a small pocket inside the pouch if there is one.

I haven't encountered every situation possible by any means, but in my limited experience so far, if a deer is bewildered enough after being shot at (and maybe even hit, has happened to me) and not panicked and is sticking around to give me a second shot, then it doesn't matter where you get another ball from as long as you do it in a hurry but take your time. In other words, if the deer isn't running like $#*!...no need to panic, you'll get a ball out of a pouch, a block, or even the bottom of your bag in plenty of time. I've even rolled out a ball from a pouch, put the stopper back in, cut and greased a patch, loaded, and shot again while one was blinking around after being shot at.

If I'm hunting with shot, and I really want a fast second shot because the dog might kick up another pheasant or rabbit, I stick with paper cartridges. Otherwise it seems like there's too much stuff to fumble with for fast moving small game with wings or fast feet. I've been slow-loading with shot in a pouch or bottle and loose wads/cards for squirrels with no problem as of yet, but I want as dense a pattern as possible for them also and can't get that from a paper cartridge.

[Tim Crosby]

I stick with paper cartridges.

 What are you talking about here?

   Thanks, Tim

[Hungry Horse]

The rigid rawhide ball bag works best for me. I have made several soft leather ball, and shot, bags, and have given away, or sold, most of them. Soft leather tends to fold over at the neck of the bag, and make removing a ball, or shot,a two hand affair.

  Hungry Horse

[Ky-Flinter]

......Soft leather tends to fold over at the neck of the bag, and make removing a ball, or shot,a two hand affair.

  Hungry Horse

HH,

How do you get a ball or shot out of a ball bag with only using one hand? 

-Ron

[hanshi]

These are both interesting and informative posts on the subject of ball bags.  I've made several, quite crude, but they work.  I've made soft drawstring & plugged bags as well as hard leather ones.  They are used mostly at the range and only occasionally in the bush.  Seldom are they used for deer as only one or two shots would be taken.  Small game usually provides plenty of shots and BBs work great for that type of shooting.  As I mentioned, mine are crude but functional.

These two are used frequently at the range.


This "stomach" bag turned out weird.


Another soft one.

[WKevinD]

My one handed ball bag. Holds about fifteen .54s

[Ky-Flinter]

Isn't the next step to shake a ball out into your OTHER hand?

-Ron

[bones92]

I pulled the trigger on the turtle ball bag...  the seller negotiated a bit on price.  I could probably make it for less, but I don't mind giving business to a private individual and craftsman.

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/pp-classifieds/showproduct.php/product/12015/cat/13

[EricEwing]

I stick with paper cartridges.

 What are you talking about here?

   Thanks, Tim

Tim,
I roll up a charge of powder in newspaper. This gets ripped and poured down the barrel, with the wadded up newspaper quickly following down the barrel.  Then a charge of shot, rolled up in greased newspaper, goes down the barrel whole, as is. It's a lot faster than using measures and wads and cards.

[Hungry Horse]

Ron;

  Not necessarily impossible, I learned to retrieve the ball from the rigid ball bag with one hand at a rendezvous that had a trappers run that was in about thigh high water.Loading with the butt of your gun on the ground was not happening. So with the ball bag tethered to the inside of the shooting bag, and the stopper tethered to the ball bag, it was pretty easy( but not with a soft bag) to pull the stopper tip the bag up by the neck, gripped in the palm of your hand, and shake a single ball out into the same hand. the gun was held by the muzzle over my shoulder for loading. No patch, just a wad  to hold the ball in place. I won that event two years in a row with my home grown trade gun.

    Hungry Horse

[WKevinD]

Isn't the next step to shake a ball out into your OTHER hand?

-Ron

If your handy- squeeze the bag and role it into the palm of the same hand.

[Tim Crosby]

 Neat, Thanks Eric. Off subject here;  Years ago, like maybe 56, I had a '63 Springfield and used a piece of old Garden hose with a wooden plug in one end, filled it with powder and pushed a .58 Mini-ball in the other, worked great. I bought the rifle with my paper money, 50 bucks, in '59 and shot it to death, it went everywhere I did.

  Tim 

[bob in the woods]

I have a few ball bags, [different calibers ] but I usually carry them in my pack. When using my .40 I carry a few bullet boards with preached balls . My pouch easily holds 5 or 6 of these and that can translate into 40 + shots
If shooting my .54 [target ] I'll carry one or two along with a bunch of loose balls in my pouch. If hunting with the .54 I'll use the boards , although I tried and sometimes use paper cartridges with success. The .54 is about the smallest cal I've used these in. For anything larger...ie my 62 and 10 bore , it's paper cartridges along with a few loose balls in the pouch.

[hanshi]

For shot, with the emphasis on "crude", I cobbled this one together but when filled with shot is much to heavy to tote.  Finally it hit me; make one with a SMALLER piece of bamboo.  I'm not all that stupid; just a little slow on the uptake sometimes.  I hope to get to the smaller one before too long.