General discussion > Contemporary Accoutrements
Possibles bag and horn practicality
RAT:
Personally... I think most originally put loose balls and patches in their pouches. All you needed to do was reach in and grab one. Some pouches came down to us with their original contents. You're right... they didn't carry anywhere near the amount of stuff people do today. I've read that some have been found with pre-cut patches strung on a piece of thread. I've never seen that being done today.
My personal opinion is that makers are putting too many pockets and rings on their pouches these days. Here's one I made at the beginning of the year...
There are no additional internal pockets. I did use a small brass ring to fasten the powder measure to. But I wish I hadn't. I don't really like it.
Notchy Bob:
This fellow is Adulphe Delegorgue, a French adventurer and explorer in South Africa in the 1840's:
I'm not so sure the hat with ostrich plumes would go so well, crawling around in the bush, but he has a very neat belt pouch, and his cape buffalo powder horn is suspended from his belt, South African style, rather than from his shoulder as was more commonly seen in North America:
Here he is again, with a couple of native companions, loading up for another shot at an elephant:
His kit looks very simple, but he was a very successful hunter so it must have been adequate. It shouldn't be too hard to cobble up a pouch like that. As for the horn, Delegorgue's buffalo powder horn appears to be one piece, with a groove around the neck for the suspension cord, but I think a lot of South African powder horns had separate tips attached. I don't know if they were made to screw off, or if they were permanently attached. These Voortrekker horns appear to have separate tips attached, and they also show the suspension cord, for hanging from the hunter's belt:
These views of Voortrekker horn butts show typical incised carving, but they also provide a little information about attachment of the suspension cord. A lot of these look as if they have a metal band around the base, with a loop or staple of some sort for the cord:
Just some more options for you to consider.
Notchy Bob
Greg Pennell:
RAT, I really like that bag…it’s very neatly done, and looks like a very practical rig. As for me, it’s balls, patches, starter, and a small wallet with extra flints and a small turn screw, IN the bag…other stuff is carried either in a belt pouch or in my snapsack, depending on how often it’s needed. Like many, I keep a knife, pick/whisk, and measure ON the bag, for convenience. Makes it easy if I want to go on a quick hunt…to just grab my rifle, bag and horn and go…knowing I have the necessities.
RAT:
I got tired of a lot of stuff hanging off the strap. I drilled a hole into the end of my powder horn stopper and epoxied in a vent pick. Now, when I pick the vent, I just pull the stopper and pick away. Being stored inside the horn, it no longer gets bent, and I don't stick myself.
I don't use a short starter, and I don't use a priming horn. I prime from the main horn. The horn is suspended from a separate cord. I wear my horn on my right side and my pouch on my left side. This makes it easier to get into the pouch.
My first pouch (30+ years ago) had a patch knife on the strap. It worked great. Then I went to wearing one in a neck sheath. That worked pretty good too. It was nice having access to a small knife when I wasn't wearing the pouch. This is the first time I put a full size knife on the back of the pouch. We'll see how I like it. The knife is a Kyle Williard 6" English trade knife. What was known in the fur trade ledgers as a "scalper". I bought a smaller knife from him to use for this, but really fell in love with the simplicity of the trade knife.
The simplicity of the pouch I posted was hard to achieve. I wasted a lot of leather and went through several pattern revisions before getting one I liked. Just getting good buckles is tough.
I found some reasonably close-to-original-looking brass buckles. I bought a bunch of iron buckles from several sources that were very poor. Finding good quality, original looking, iron buckles seems to be impossible. Somebody should really do a better job at studying the originals.
thecapgunkid:
Bushfire there is no shortage of good advice here, but your first step is to figure out what you are looking to do.. You might also get used to the fact that you are gonna get restless and try more than one thing.....in this sport stuff rules and I can guarantee you hanging around the muzzleloading community is going to show you at least one piece of stuff that you can't live without at least once a year.
Check out MarcRuger and Brokennock especially , the latter submitting a pretty little bag that will prove itself when out in the woods. You can trust guys like Daryl and Rat posted a really nice piece. I say that even tho I just recently got away from the over the shoulder type of rig and made myself a bag on my right hip for anything connected to shooting and another , smaller belly bag containing car keys and cleaning items. That's because I do mostly trail walks. That's also about ten or fifteen rigs into the years I have been doing this, salivating over some of the work I have seen guys turn out.
I would also point out that you are in a make-or-buy situation which time will prove ongoing. I posted a whole bunch of pieces under the title of "Every Man A Cobbler " for guys like you. I made no bones about showing off examples by guys like Marc and Brokennock and James Rodgers. The next piece I write is about small bags for day hunts, and Mike From Oklahoma was kind enough to let me use one of his pieces as a good example.
The point here is that your journey is very much enhanced by these coyotes in this section of the forum. Just don't think you will be one of those guys who settles on one thing forever.
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