Practice bag

[hotfxr]

I have slowly become clear on the concept of shooting (or possibles) bags and find that having one is a necessity , not a luxury. I went down to an old friends upholstery shop and scored some leftover leather scraps to play with. Being that I was using thinner leather than I should, I decided to make a practice bag first. My tools were a near useless wheel leather punch, a real punch for when the cheap one messed up too much, a measuring string with marks every 3/4 inch, and a pot full of paper clips.



Three long evenings later;

Had a fun time punching out 299 holes with that stupid Harbor Freight tool, when will I learn! Made the front and back panels out to two pieces glued together with plastic between for stiffening. Wrapped an old leather belt for the piece that makes the sides and bottom. The stiching is all high strength hemp cord, and the strap is an old belt. Hey, it's a practice bag.

Front with flap down:

Back:

Front with flap up:

Sides:



Inside:

I chose the size from TOW's catalog that said this is the most popular size. Well not for me. I found it to be too tall (10 inches), too narrow front to back (1 3/4 inches), and a bit too stiff. I'm glad that this was just a practice one as now I have a better idea of what I want and need.

[flintboomer]

1) It looks good
2) The price was right
3) I think you will want a longer strap
4) You now have a better idea of what you like/need without having to spend a bundle of $$$
5) It will work ok for now while you decide what goes in it and get supplies to make one that you like better

[Dogshirt]

Looks pretty good. Check out October Country at http://www.octobercountry.com/ .They have big selection of sizes and shapes
to look at. I have their Coeur d'Alene bag and like it a lot. I think it's 9x10 and has room for everything. When I pare things down for
hunting it even has room for lunch!

[beowulf]

not bad at all !  longer strap on it you could use it !

[hotfxr]

Thanks for the comments. It's a funny thing about that strap. I was trying to decide on what to do for a strap when I needed to leave to meet with a friend of a friend who had been a reenact-or for a long time and was going to learn me some things about rondys. So I just grabbed a belt, took off the buckle and strapped it on for a temporary strap for the evening. He said it needed to be longer also.

[Hanshi]

My "practice" bags turned out to be my "using" bags.  There may be times when that bag will prove to be just the thing.  Like most of us you'll end up with several, anyway.  All mine are rather smaller and are "shooting bags".