# Show us your kit and possibles bag



## leoparddog (Oct 2, 2018)

I'm not going to be able to hunt BP opener a week from Saturday but that doesn't mean I'm not getting my kit organized.  Here is what I'm carrying when I'm headed to camp.  I won't carry all this to the woods, its just too much for a half day hunt.  Some of this I've made and some I've bought.

I made the hunting bag, the bullet bag, antler powder measures and the short starter.  When I go hunting, I make 4 paper cartridges and store them in the wood block and leave the powder horn and bullet bag in the Jeep.  I bought the flint wallet from a guy on a FB flintlock page and like it a lot.


I just finished the short starter this week; its made of wild cherry from a tree on my grandma's farm.  I didn't really want a short starter but need one for my flintlock until I get brave enough to finish coning the muzzle.  I bought a coning tool and opened up the muzzle to about .545 and got scared that I'd gone too far.  I went to shoot it 2 weeks ago and I can get the .54 patched ball thumb started about >3/4 of the way but I need to go a bit more.  The good thing is that I no longer need to hammer the ball to get started.  I've tried the skinniest patching material I can find about 0.015" and it is still a tight fit for the first 3 inches.  After that, its all good going down the barrel.  

Anyway, no hunting for me until 10/27, until then I'm busy making stuff and thinking about shooting the first deer with my flintlock that I built this year.

So for entertainment, show us your kit, possibles bag and ML rifle


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## Muldoon (Oct 2, 2018)

Untitled by Sharps Man, on Flickr


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## Darkhorse (Oct 3, 2018)

Nothing fancy here. This is my kit for the .40 caliber. The shooting bag came from October Country, there is a patch knife on the shoulder strap and a 30 grain antler measure hangs nearby.
I made the powder horn in '76 and I still carry it to this day. It hangs on a 1/2" leather strap I had lying around.
Sometimes I carry the bag with my .54 when deer hunting because it's smaller but I mostly use the bag bought for that purpose.


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## pdsniper (Oct 3, 2018)

Here are a couple I made


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## leoparddog (Oct 3, 2018)

That is some beautiful work PDSniper.  Is that hand stitched?  Really like the cell phone pocket.  For that pocket, did you roll and glue the edge before stitching?  What weight leather did you use?  

I think my next pouch needs to be about an inch wider across the back and about 2 to 2.25" wide across the bottom.   I've got enough leather to do one more full size pouch I think.  Tandy has a sale going on right now as usual and a whole side of leather was runing about $80.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 3, 2018)

Darkhorse said:


> Nothing fancy here. This is my kit for the .40 caliber. The shooting bag came from October Country, there is a patch knife on the shoulder strap and a 30 grain antler measure hangs nearby.
> I made the powder horn in '76 and I still carry it to this day. It hangs on a 1/2" leather strap I had lying around.
> Sometimes I carry the bag with my .54 when deer hunting because it's smaller but I mostly use the bag bought for that purpose.


 Guys, I didn't deliberately cut off my head on this shot. I had a tripod set up and the intent was to get a good photo of me and my turkey. Trouble was my camera doesn't allow enough time when shooting delayed. You can't hardly tell but the ground is covered with vines and sticks (I cleaned them out around the turkey) so by the time I got through the vines and across the log the camera was already taking pictures.
After the shot I adjusted the camera higher but never did across that old log in time to get in a photo.


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## pdsniper (Oct 4, 2018)

They are machine stitched and I think it was around 3 1/2 to 4 oz leather and for the pocket I skived the edge first then glued it and folded it over, then stitched it, I also lined it with thin leather on the inside,I know the cell phone pocket it far from traditional but it a good thing to have for hunter safety so I include it


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## Steve-ALA (Oct 4, 2018)

Bag and horn by Jerry Rice and Ron Hess respectively, both from GA and .62 cal smooth rifle by Don Bruton of SC.


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## leoparddog (Oct 4, 2018)

Darkhorse, I thought you were a secret agent and couldn't show your face on a public forum or it might compromise your missions.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 4, 2018)

No, I retired from that several years ago. But on a serious note, I worked for the DOD for 34 1/2 years and that restricts me in what I can write. I can show my face though but you wouldn't want to see it.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 5, 2018)

My bag and kit for the .54 and deer hunting. I bought the bag in 1996 from October Country. I had put in for a muzzleloader elk tag in New Mexico but didn't get drawn. It was to be a horseback hunt and I needed a little larger bag with a closure. It's a good bag but it's tanned in such a way it doesn't seem to age.
Shown are short starter, cow's knee to cover the lock, frizzen stall, patch material, cleaning patches, pan charger, a small plastic zip lock holding flints, leather, pick, worn, bore scraper, ball puller and cleaning patches. There is a special ground screwdriver for cock screw, a few pieces of brass for knapping a flint and powder measure. My old powder horn is also in the photo.
When small game or turkey hunting I measure from the horn and cut my patch at the muzzle, but when deer hunting I load at home with 80 to 85 grains of 3f , .530 round ball, .018 ticking patch cut at the muzzle. I carry 3 tubes loaded with 75 grains of 3f, a lubed .015 patch with a .530 ball seated in one end. These tubes have a cap on each end. This load I can start and seat with the ram rod even in a box stand. These are not in the photo.






This is my .54 on my portable bench rest. This is the first rifle I built around 20 years ago. I built it to shoot and it is very accurate. I missed the architecture a little but I'd never seen an original longrifle and had no one to ask.


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## trad bow (Oct 5, 2018)

Here’s my setup. The ball flask, small knife, nipple pick and my bag are all I made. Rifle is a TC Renegade 54 caliber. 
I usually shoot rb’s but am going to try the Great Plains 425 grain on a couple hogs later this fall.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 5, 2018)

I started out with a .54 Renegade. I only shot roundballs and with the right load it was a very accurate gun. I sold it a few years ago because I just had too many guns and muzzleloaders around the place.

Now here's one from the past. I shot this buck on thanksgiving day many, many years ago. He was chasing a doe running flat out at about 25 yards. I shot like I was shooting doves and dropped him with a high shoulder shot.
Its' hard to see it but my kit was a fringed suede bag from Uncle Mike's and my old powder horn. The bag held mostly the same things I carry today, except then I carried percussion caps and now I carry flints. I still have that old fringed bag.
For the young guys the shirt is flannel in the original Tree Bark pattern by Jim Crumley. It was a very effective camoflauge. The hat is the original Mossy Oak by Bill Jordan. At the time he had only this one pattern if memory serves me. Like I said, this photo was taken a long time ago.


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## trad bow (Oct 6, 2018)

I’ve had my Renegade since 1991. Bought it used. I take good care of it , still looks new. Many a hog and deer have fallen to it.


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## SASS249 (Oct 7, 2018)

I started shooting muzzleloaders in 1979, not many sources of things and money was tight.  I also quickly got involved with living history and most of my stuff reflects that.  My main rifle bag I made in 1983.  I was developing a character of a settler living on the frontier and making everything he could.  The bag is pigskin, the horn nothing special but has served me all these years.


I know the strap is wide, I made it that way on purpose and like it.

I made a similar bag for my smoothbore, also of pigskin.


Both bags contain much the same things, 


I always carry a compass both in my shooting bag and haversack.  Then going clockwise, a shortstarter and powder measure, a vent pick, a screwdriver and knapping tool,  the small leather bag holds flints the larger balls, a tin of lube, a patch knife and a tin of lubed patches.



I also carry on longer hunts a complete set of springs and sear for my lock.  We used to do extended hunts a long way from anywhere, nothing ruins a hunt more than a broken spring and you ar 50 miles from anywhere.

I use a number of haversacks depending on what I am doing but just because I include a a couple of pictures of a creek Indian bandolier bag.  This is a very classic southeastern bag pretty much restricted to the creek and seminole indians.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 7, 2018)

Did you make those SE indian bags? I think they look cool, I have a  smattering of Creek and I find bags like that and beaded western bags very interesting.
Things are a lot different now than when I started in 1976, just go on the internet or ebay and you can find anything you want. Back then the only bag I could find was the one from Uncle Mikes and I had to order it from a gunshop. Once I had made my powder horn I thought my kit was complete.
Many counties had gun clubs back then and each month different clubs hosted matches, mostly rifle but I pushed and got muzzleloaders included. Nobody knew anything about period correct or creating a persona. It was  only after I started attending Rondevou's in the northern part of the state that I started seeing all the neat stuff like capote's and custom flintlocks.
In the early days I had a couple of friends with muzzleloaders I'd hunt with but now I don't know anybody locally who hunts with the old traditional guns anymore. So for decades now I've been a lone hunter and I'm real comfortable with it. Even though I have at times been ridiculed for hunting with a flintlock when I could be carrying a scoped centerfire. When it would get under my skin I would often issue a challenge, 10 shots, 50 yard offhand.
Who can refuse? It's a sure thing, that old rifle probably won't even go off.
Most of those guys didn't know how bad of a shot they really were.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 7, 2018)

You gentlemen have such fine plunder that I`m ashamed to show my loot.


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## SASS249 (Oct 7, 2018)

Darkhorse, That is the only one of those I have made.  Growing up in south Alabama we had a lot of interaction with the local Creeks.  Family lore said we were part creek, but DNA says otherwise.  Then one of my Wife's Aunts is descended from William Weatherford, Chief Red Eagle of the Creeks.
In 1983 Muzzle Blasts had an article on Creek Bandolier Bags and how to make one.  I am a big fan of wide straps and liked the looks of the bag, but wanted no part of all that beadwork.  I had bought an old desk full of stuff, including several hundred brass page connectors, each with an acorn embossed on it.  One night looking at them I decided I could make the bag and use them for decoration.  I like the way it turned out but it was a long time consuming task.
I remember the late 70's and early 80's when period correct was Fess Parker in Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.  However I got lucky in meeting some guys who were interested in the southeast and being period correct.  One in particular who is a professional artist and museum designer. He is a real expert on period clothes and accoutrements, and has been a great help over the years.  We ended up forming a club dedicated to period correct camping and hunting.  Nothing came into the camps that we could not document to being available on the Georgia frontier prior to 1790.  We had a lot of fun and still do, but our hard-nosed attitude did turn off some folks. I spent a lot of time in the Georgia State Archives and various libraries trying to document things.  It is surely easier now.
I suspect you and I crossed paths at various shoots, we used to have lots of clubs and lots of shooters.  Still a few around but the shooters tend to be older guys, young folks do not seem as interested.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 8, 2018)

In your research did you find any documentation mentioning the use of short starters and the earliest use of them?


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## pdsniper (Oct 8, 2018)

Nice looking Bags guys I like all of them


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## SASS249 (Oct 8, 2018)

Darkhorse:  Not really. Closest thing I found were descriptions of loading early rifles without patches and using a hammer to seat the ball. Never found a reference to short starter use with patched groundball and never saw any original bag with one. I think we use a larger ball than was common.  I actually shot some 457 balls out of a50 using really thick patching and they were easy to start a d pretty accurate.


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## trad bow (Oct 8, 2018)

SASS249 what was the style rifle used on the Georgia frontier in the 1790 time period? I’m looking into buying a flintlock and creating a persona for that time period in Georgia. 
Jeff


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## SASS249 (Oct 8, 2018)

Trad bow:  That depends.  If you are looking to portray someone living on the frontier in North Georgia either mountains or Piedmont then almost any of the early virginia or lancaster rifles could be appropriate.  Most of the settlers in this region seemed to move in through Virginia or North Carolina.  A high quality rifle such as a Beck or Isaac Haines style would be possible, but so would most any other.  For a production rifle today TVM's early Lancaster would not be a bad choice.

However, If you wish to portray someone moving into Georgia either from the Coast or the South then you have lots of other options.  People forget the French and spanish influence in that part of the state.  I personally think that the french Fusils were used more than people want to admit.  They were a very common and versatile gun.

Look at this link: http://www.northcarolinalongrifles.com/longrifles.html
Gives you a good idea of what would have been found in North Carolina and would fit the Georgia Frontier fine.


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## trad bow (Oct 8, 2018)

Thank you. My fathers side of the family were in Bencumbe County North Carolina in 1790 thru the 1830,s before settling in Murphy NC area. Most still in that area around Murphy.


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## Darkhorse (Oct 8, 2018)

SASS249 said:


> Darkhorse:  Not really. Closest thing I found were descriptions of loading early rifles without patches and using a hammer to seat the ball. Never found a reference to short starter use with patched groundball and never saw any original bag with one. I think we use a larger ball than was common.  I actually shot some 457 balls out of a50 using really thick patching and they were easy to start a d pretty accurate.



I agree, I used to think a short starter was used so frequently nobody saw a need to document their use. But now I think the patched ball was not nearly as tight as many shoot today and could be started with the ram rod. This makes more sense to me as in an indian fight a tight combo requiring a short starter could get you killed.
I've always used a .530 ball and .018 ticking patch, I thought I needed this for accuracy. But now with the shoulder problems I have this combo is now hard to start and seat. So last year I tested some .015 patch material and was surprised at the accuracy I was getting. Further testing showed the patches showed no burn through or shredding up to 80 grains of 3fg, after that they started coming to pieces.
So I shot some groups with 75 grains 3f and the thin .015 patch and got some tight groups and good patches. I used this load last season and harvested an 8 point and a doe with complete pass throughs on both.
I can start and seat this load with just the ramrod.
The .015 material I have is has the tightest weave I could find at the fabric store but not nearly as dense and tight as real pillow ticking. So I ordered some different .015 material from a new source I'm hoping this material will be better. I also ordered some Mr. Flintlocks patch lube for testing.
http://www.emshootingsupplies.com/store/p703/DISCOUNTED_BULK_.015"_STRIPS.html
Best prices were on their ebay site.


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## leoparddog (Oct 9, 2018)

The Lancaster I built this year is hard to load with a .530 ball and .015 patch.  Initially I had to hammer the ball down to get it started.  I bought a coning tool and did a 3/4 coning job to the muzzle - basically stopped short of 100% complete and shot it a few weeks ago.  I still needed the short started but could use my hand without bruising my palm.  I really don't like the short starter though.

So I find myself considering completing the muzzle coning or finding some .012 or .010 patching material.  When I've gone to the fabric store all of the thin materials seem very flimsy.  Have y'all run across decent patching material thinner than .015?


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## Darkhorse (Oct 9, 2018)

Eastern Main shooting supplies carry several types of both shooting and cleaning patches so I had to read each one carefully. The one I chose was advertised as a tight weave pillow ticking in sizes .010,.015 and .020. What I"m after is a dense, tight weave like real pillow ticking. But I won't know what I've got until it gets here.
If I remember rightly you have a Rice barrel in your Lancaster? I had the same problem with my Rice when I first started shooting it. The way they do the barrel end causes this I think, chamfer is too short and tight, rifling to sharp, stuff like that.
So I just got a rubber mallet to whack the short starter to seat the ball and just kept on shooting.
That was hundreds if not a couple of thousand shots ago. It's still a little hard to start the .018 patch but it's a whole lot better than it was.
My .015 material loads real easy.


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## leoparddog (Oct 10, 2018)

After a bit of internet searching I found some 0.010 patches from the possible shop.  Not cheap but I'll give them a try.  Yes, its a Rice barrel.  I'll give the new patches a try when they arrive.  The sell it by the half yard and pre-cut.  If the pre-cut work I'll probably buy a yard which will last me a long time.


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