Shooting bag size

[Scota4570]

I am planning a bag.  I got "Recreating the 18th century hunting pouch" by TC Albert.  I have made bags in the distant past.  The bag patterns in the book are very small by my sensibilities.  I am thinking  something around 9" x 9" would be more in line with modern ideas. 

Thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Scot

[Hungry Horse]

That would have been considered a suit case in the muzzleloader period. They carried only the basics back in the day, so don’t think you need a bunch of extra room for all the “what If’s”.

 Hungry Horse

[hanshi]

I made a couple of hunting bags and they were in the 6"-7" range.

[trentOH]

My squirrel hunting pouch is 8" wide by 6" deep, and I carry a small powder flask in it. It is entirely adequate, and could be a little smaller (maybe 6"x 6" or less) without any problem.

Quite frankly, next year for woods walks in weather when I wear an extra shirt or light jacket, I'll carry a powder horn, and 2 Altoid tins in pockets.

Carry less. You'll thank us later.

[Scota4570]

For actually hunting a small bag is fine, I agree. I'm in California, not much hunting out here.

For a trail walk or range bag, larger would be needed.  That is probably where I was going off the rails.  A 50 shot day would require, 15 to 50 cleaning patches,  50 shooting patches, 50 Balls, powder, priming powder, Moose milk, powder, extra flints,  flint leather, screwdriver, pick,  short starter, maybe a patch knife, ball puller, and patch puller.   That's a lot of stuff. 

Perhaps I should make a historically sized bag for show and a big one for go. I have seen a guy use a carpenters tool belt.  Worked very well.

[Clark Badgett]

For a trail walk or range bag, larger would be needed.  That is probably where I was going off the rails.  A 50 shot day would require, 15 to 50 cleaning patches,  50 shooting patches, 50 Balls, powder, priming powder, Moose milk, powder, extra flints,  flint leather, screwdriver, pick,  short starter, maybe a patch knife, ball puller, and patch puller.   That's a lot of stuff. 

Get a wad of Tow, ditch the cleaning patches until done. Carry powder in a horn. Use precut and wet lubed patches. One flint leather will last a long time. Keep the gun tools in the patchbox with the tow.

[David R. Pennington]

Most of the original bags I have seen were very small. I assume about the only thing they carried in them was patching and lead. If you were needing to load quickly you wouldn’t want to fumble through a couple dozen items to find your ball and patch. They must have kept other necessary items elsewhere, maybe back at camp or in a belt bag? Also in hunting situations in most cases a half dozen balls would be plenty for a day.
If you need more stuff for woods walk bag then I would make it bigger. It is sort of like the low verses high sight question. Low sights work ok for 18th century use in dark forest but are useless shooting a modern competition where 15-30 consecutive shots are taken.

[Dale Halterman]

I don't suppose they allow pack mules at your trail walks…..

Dale H

[pathfinder]

Also depends on the type of firearm you use. Rifle? What caliber? .32’s use up a lot less room than a larger bore. Trade Gun/ Fowler? Bigger is better just because the require more stuff. I normally use wasp nest for shot. Or wads and cards in at tin. Fire kit. Cows knee and so forth. Just make sure your hand can fit in comfortably.

[scottmc]

Here's an idea I have used a few times.  Use your bag as you normally would for the necessary items and then carry a small haversack on the opposite side which contains the other items such as cleaning material, lubes, etc.  Now u can have the period correct smaller bag but still have your other things at your disposal if needed.

[Hungry Horse]

I think while you are evaluating how big of a shooting bag you are going to need, you might also evaluate how much of this stuff is necessary. If you need a haversack, or maybe a pack animal for all your stuff, it might be that you just have too much stuff.

  Hungry Horse

[Marcruger]

I have to agree that a pertinent piece of information is the ability to grasp something inside the bag and still get your hand out. 

I think "going small" can go too far.  You don't want to be that proverbial caught monkey. 

If you are going to build one, either try out someone else's bag and see how it feels to you, or make up a poster paper pattern and give it a try.  Ball up your fist like you are holding something and see if it is comfortable coming out. 

I was looking at an old engraving from the late 1600s or early 1700s recently.  The shooter's bag is clearly shown.  It is not small.  An no, it isn't shaped like a haversack either. 

To each his own.  Different bags for different wants and needs. 

God Bless,   Marc

[Mike Lyons]

I am planning a bag.  I got "Recreating the 18th century hunting pouch" by TC Albert.  I have made bags in the distant past.  The bag patterns in the book are very small by my sensibilities.  I am thinking  something around 9" x 9" would be more in line with modern ideas. 

Thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Scot

I’m glad you brought this up Scot.  I’m in a big stupor trying to figure out the same thing.  I just bought a big piece of leather and plan on making a pouch and some other little leather items.  My current bag is 7”x7” and is fine. I have a lot of stuff crammed in it and most doesn’t get used much. It’s a good small place to keep most of my muzzleloader stuff.   I’m looking at maybe doing one a bit smaller this time but I’m not sure.  9x9 isn’t a bad size at all in my opinion.  You’ll probably do a smaller one later on.

[James Rogers]

 My old mentor told me big bags were for bad hunters so they could tote samiches : ) You have to go with what YOU want and what you want to carry. Modern shooters use a bunch of modern paraphernalia and need more room to carry it.

As far as 18th century,  here is a typical sportsman (a fowler) with his "fowler" bag and flask  Quite a bit different in size from what most envision.

[Mike Lyons]

I wear that same outfit coon huntin!!!

[trentOH]

I wear that same outfit coon huntin!!!

White stockings before Labor Day??? How gauche.

[Fowler610]

I made my first (and only) bag following T C Albert's instructions "to the letter."  Turned out great.  I'd attach a photo but don't know how--sorry.   Smaller is better, really.  No trouble feeding my .50 flinter from that pouch on trail walks, but I leave all the other hardware behind at camp.   My two cents--your mileage may vary.   

[Curt Lyles]

Scot   If 9x9 is what you want I say go for it as thats a good size for a hunting bag .You will learn in one season what to carry in it and what to leave home .If you have to drive a long distance to the woods its best to be prepared for the worst,tow worms,ball pullers, flints, patch goods, grease cleaning stuff, lock springs and vise dont take up much room ,just to name a few.   Curt

[Huntschool]

Eastern bags will be smaller in general..... in general.

I have made some pretty small bags and had second thoughts about some of them ie. the monkey with his hand in the cookie jar kind of thing.  I really like a bag of about 7" bottom and about 6" top.  This is a gusseted bag with a 1-1/2 gusset at the bottom tapering up the sides.  Single pouch with a small ball pocket on the rear panel.

I have built some double pocket bags of slightly smaller dimensions and found them to work well for me but that's me.  My Eastern setups are for .40 and .54.  The .40 ball pocket does not take up much space but the .54 does so I adjust the pocket size.  Since these are for flinters I need enough room for a flat priming horn, some patch material, two extra flints and a jag.  I also usually tend to carry my fire kit in my bag but that is enclosed in a Ted Cash hinged lid box that really does not take up too much room.

I have made bags from all leather and some with fabric.  A mixture of the two seems to fit well with the 1750 and beyond Eastern style. 

I have to say that back in the day some of the finest bags I had ever seen made at that time came from Lew Sanchez.  They were amazing.......

[Mike from OK]

My old mentor told me big bags were for bad hunters so they could tote samiches : ) You have to go with what YOU want and what you want to carry. Modern shooters use a bunch of modern paraphernalia and need more room to carry it.

As far as 18th century,  here is a typical sportsman (a fowler) with his "fowler" bag and flask  Quite a bit different in size from what most envision.

Perhaps a tad misleading, his manservant with shooting fooferaw, horse-mounted ice house, and wet bar are out of frame... His pouch is for snuff.

Mike

[Pukka Bundook]

MIke,

I think you are stereotyping a bit!  :-)

Some worked very hard for a small bag of game.   Good footwear and a lot of slog....

[Mike from OK]

 

Mike

[davec2]

I've shown this before, but I put a disassembled tool I call a "gunner's mate" in the patchbox of every one of my rifles, along with some tow to keep the pieces from rattling around.







With a jag, a worm, a vent pick, a knapping hammer, a turn screw, a "T" handle for the ram rod, a ball drill, and a ball puller, I always have everything I need to service the rifle short of freshing the bore or making a new mainspring.  Then, this is everything I need to carry in a shot bag to fire a dozen rounds or more.  All fits in one hand.



Even then, I can do without the bullet board (or the loose ball), the oil bottle, and the pan brush.  So, with only that much gear to carry in a pouch, all of my bags are really too big and the largest one is 8" x 8".  I usually just put all this stuff in a pocket, wear the horn, and have a powder measure on a lanyard looped through a button hole.

Not HC I suppose.... but then I am telling you about this on a computer...

[rich pierce]

You’re one of a kind!  Creative and classy rifles and accoutrements.