Survivor Man?

I was thinking about the best all around caliber thread last night. If by some accident of fate, you were to become lost/trapped in the wilds,which muzzleloader would you want with you?What would you pack in with you? How much of your current possible bags contents would actually be of use? Would you change your usual M.O? Just curious as to what some of y'all would pack.

45 cal.flint-flint can be found on the ground-caps can't-2horns of powder-300 balls-patching-knife-and hope I make it-- :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

45 cal.flint-flint can be found on the ground-caps can't-2horns of powder-300 balls-patching-knife-and hope I make it-- :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

I would also carry a bullet mold and ladle to recast recovered balls from game.

flint CAN be found but working it into a usuable shape requires skills beyond the average BP shooter IMO. I know I can not.
I don't own a smoothbore (yet) but I'm thinking a well equipped feller w/a smoothy is MAYBE a step ahead of a rifleman if he carries some shot+RB's in his bag. ditto on the mould. definitely some stout cord and a fish gig besides the normal gear.

i would use a .45 Cal. Flintlock rifle.
a mould to recast spent balls or cast new.
and 3 - 4 pounds of powder would do the trick.

Dave

Still, if you had two or three good flints, they would get a guy through until he hiked out or was rescued. But, the same could be said for a full tin of caps I suppose. I would feel pretty well prepared with my 12 bore and my usual possible bag load, I carry a shot snake, .32 balls and some .690 as well. I recently began toting a flint and steel just for fun,ya never know, and I always carry a good knife.

I'd want my smoothbore flinter as well, with shot I'd have good chance at smaller game which is usually easier to harvest than bigger game and still have some round ball if I was to stumble on to something bigger. I carry a small fire kit in my shooting bag, and if I'm caught without a belt knife or my neckknife I have a patch knife on the strap and if I remember to switch it out of another bag a folder. I also keep a small compass in my shooting bags as well.

I gave this some thought long ago after reading Eckert's book about Simon Kenton and how he got chased out of his camp one night with nothing. I figured I'd do my darndest to grab my gun and shot pouch (with powder horn) and I might be ok. I also only take my neck knife off if I'm going swimmin... I'm not paranoid and hopefully will never be in a position like that, but it is fun to what if.

Yes, I thought pretty long and hard about this last night.Roughing it would be a lot easier if you knew you were going to have to. I would be sure to pack my belt axe if I knew I was going to have to "run the river" so to speak.

I hadn't thought of fishing gear like Blizzard suggested. I can noodle for catfish, but a gig would be easier.

Getting "lost/trapped" you don't have much choice. So lets just say is I were to have a choice I would probably hope for a .45 as I could carry more ball and powder - or make what I had stretch further.

For small game I'd hope for a couple six foot lengths of wire to fashion a couple snares and check them in the mornings to save even more powder.

When I go hunting (big game or small game) I carry a pretty full kit, and the same gear regardless. Trying to get the feel of what it was like. One of my favorite "hunts" is to head out and pop a squirrel and then prepare it where I took it. Roasted on a green stick over a flint & steel struck fire with a cup of hot tea. Good stuff.

Here are Carp and I as we deer hunted last Fall. I've got the fixins for 40 shots, as I usually do. This is about the same kit as I would have for a fun shoot or a squirrel hunt. The rifle is a .54 The haversack has enough fixins to set up light camp and hold out for a week. I'd be missing blankets for sure, but I'd be alive and alert. I'm out of parched corn but have a half pound of rice and some jerked venison, a billy cup (corn boiler) and cord, tinderbox, compass (a flashlight and quart of water - I'm not suicidal), folding knife and a dry pair of heavy wool socks (aka "pot mitts, mittens, berry buckets). Also the waxed cows-knee for my flintlock.

The hunting pouch has only what I need to shoot and clean the rifle.


When I hunt during regular season I often carry a .50 T/C New Englander and a belt pouch with seven shots in a ball block and pre-measured powder in tubes. I don't consider that "proper" for a primative season but it is a fine, sporting firearm (I can't use a C.F. rifle and a muzzleloader with round ball is much more accurate than a slug shotgn). That's as much a practical concession as a sporting one.

But, for extended survival, give me a .22 WMR in a bolt action and a couple hundred rounds. I'm gonna have too much to do to worry about hunting and using my hands for gathering to carry along a heavy gun, and I can pop what opportunities come along with that. ;-)

You might be surpised about making the flints. I have made many. You would pick up a piece,get another rock to hit it and before you know it you would have a chip to work down to fit the gun. I beleive it is in us from way back. Once you start it is hard to stop. Some flint easier to work then others. Always use safety glass. In the woods you could use a piece of bark with slits cut for eyes and strip of dogbane for string. Dilly

Setting out on a survival venture, I'd leave behind the rifle and fixins in exchange for the same weight in light and heavy snare wire plus blankets. It's a whole bunch easier to snare deer than to shoot them. Same for most other eatin critters.

But gettin stuck out overnight and longer, it's going to be whatever I have in my hands and on my body. The rifle is likely to be my 54 GPR cap gun with 20 extra loads. There's always an extra layers of clothes, rain gear and a light tarp in the pack on my back plus an extra day's food.

Yeah, survival isn't a fun academic exercize up here, and more than one extra night in the field has honed what goes into that pack. We just had a couple of lost hunters (cold, wet and miserable after only one night) picked up by the Coast Guard, and shoot, it's not even winter yet.

After my first cold, wet and miserable night in the field I never had another, even though I spent other nights out in worse conditions. Experience kinda hones down what you really need fursus what's useless dead weight in the pack. I bet those two hunters that got a free ride in an orange and white helicopter won't be cold, wet and miserable the next time they get caught overnight, either.

I like to think our forefathers' thoughts ran along the same lines, especially since they went out with the intention of surviving with what they were packing, rather than playin "just in case."

I think a .45 cal. flinter would be perfect. Small enough for squirrels, rabbits and turkey, yet big enough for deer size game. It uses less powder and less lead than a smooth bore. You might get by with one size powder with a smoothie, but you have shot, balls and all them different wads to carry. Try to keep things simple. The lock, itself, can be used to start fires, so no need for a fire starter kit. Your pouch should already have a ball bag full of .440 balls, cleaning jag, a handful of flints and a good small knife. Throw in a mold and laddle for recasting recovered balls and tie a tin cup on the strap. This can be used for boiling water, minor cooking and rendering tallow. Your powder horn full of FFFg powder. With your rifle, bag and horn, you should be OK. Or at least til your wife calms down or your mother-in-law goes home :rotf: . I'm sure others can add to the list. Just my thoughts.

I found out while I was in college that snares made out of plastic baling twine work well for rabbits.My college buddies all thought I was an incurable redneck anyway.They couldn't understand that I had to go run my trap line before I went off drinking beer.I guess what you pack in your ditty bag would depend on where you were hunting.I am reading all these posts with an idea towards what to pack.Lot to be said for the small caliber flinter. May have to get one.... :grin:

No fair gettin all real world on us Brownbear :nono: .Actually, the poncho idea is a fine one.I used to always have a backpack loaded and ready when I trapped(and was single!). I liked to sneak out on weekends and run my line and then camp in a likely spot.I had an old army poncho/shelter half that did yeoman duty for years. I have gotten out of the habit of being prepared to rough it. This whole post is making me think more along those lines again.

Actually, the poncho idea is a fine one. I carry one of those ( and a surplus wool blanket) in my car at all times. If you want to go period a wool watch cloak is near nuff.

We loose the occasional hunter hereabouts. You can go a long time without food, days without water, but if your body core gets down to 90º in a few hours of cold and wet or just exposed and you're just a big suet cake for the chickadees. ;-)

First you gather your wits, then shelter, then water, then food.

The older I get the better a suet cake for the birds I am.

Flint-knapping isn't all that hard--I kind of taught myself, using some books, back when I was a very young adult and didn't know enough to doubt I could do it. After a couple of not-too-successful flints when I first started out, I've been able to do a passable job since.

As with many things in life, it makes sense to bear in mind that the old timers weren't all geniuses or mechanical whizzes--but they got the job done, and did so with an adequate degree of reliability. Surely, regardless of your own perceived lack of skill at such things, there were Revolutionary War riflemen, colonists, hunters, etc. who kept their guns firing with less inborn skill than you've got. You can do it!

I carry a short brown bess in the woods. This gun will handle any animal that walks the earth. In my shooting bag I carry 40ea rb and 20 preloaded shot cartridges, also a handfull of buckshot. I have all nessesary tools to maintain the gun and carry 1/2 a dozen flints at all times.My Horn is attached to the bag strap and hold 3/4 lbs of powder.I always carry a canvas haversack with my essentials. I have a folding knife, stone, period compass, flint and steel kit, fishing kit,roll of sinue, 3 premade rabit snares, cornboiler and tin cup, candles, eating utensils,extra flints, 20 rb, small shot pouch, sewing kit, spice kit, TP, mirror, first aid kit,ramrod puller, squirl fork,block of tea,parched corn, rice,chocolate bar and jerky. Plus other sundry items including a poncho.I also wear a belt knife and a tomahawk at all times. These things are always in the bag and i always replenish my supplies upon returning home. I have a water flask and add additional food items depending on where im going.I always have my wool capote with me when hunting. With the items I carry I can be very comfortable when out in the woods, In an emergency I can survive for months with the gear I carry every day.I never leave my survival to chance, as im the one who will suffer if unprepaired. Living and hunting in Alaska makes you very aware of being put in a survival situation, It can hit the fan real fast here. Better to carry the extra weight now than be a statistic later.

So all up, how much weight are we talkin here? What does your pack look like?