What is the proper name for "possibles bag"?

[Jeff Marshall]

I read in another post that using the term "possibles bag" is incorrect and bothers some folk.
Is it really incorrect; and if so, what should one be called?

 

[Frontier's]

Lots of names. Shooting pouch, shooting bag, hunting pouch.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I prefer my own term, “shootsman’s sack.”

 

[Brokennock]

If you are referring to a bag or pouch to carry one's supplies to feed and support one's gun, to make a shot, "shot pouch," comes to mind. "Hunting pouch," has been used.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

The truth is, nobody really knows the answer to this. Guys are set in there ways and are repeating things they’ve heard from rondivous from 20-30-40-50 years back, but where is the proof? Where is the hard evidence?

Until then, it’s all conjecture.

 

[Enfield58]

Any nomenclature is better than calling it a purse.

 

[Cobra6]

Yes, please lets not call it a purse.



Cobra 6

 

[Ames]

Wife says it's my pocketbook. Obviously, she dose not shoot.

 

[nkbj]

Mine is "hoodoo" 'cause of the design of the flap.

 

[smo]

Man purse.... if ya’ can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Lol

I’ve heard the term possibles bag all my life, however shot pouch I think is the more appropriate term.

It’d be like calling a haversack a pocket..... it is what it is.

 

[Tumbledown]

I would not call it a shooting bag or pouch, which generally has only what you need to shoot with: ball, patch, caps or spare flint, and *maybe* a couple of tools. You shouldn't have to dig through a bunch of items you don't need to get to what you do need to load and fire.

I guess it also depends on what your persona would need. If you are in battle, you aren't going to worry about having the tools to field strip your gun immediately at hand. They will be in the bottom of your haversack/knapsack or back at camp. If you're a trapper, you might have it all in one bag, or leave the seldom used stuff with your camp or on your mule.

What do we call those bags? Are you out there strictly for fun, or portray an aspect of history? Although "Possibles" seems to be a modern term, I personally don't find it obnoxious. If someone is making an effort to portray an aspect of history, perhaps it would be better to refer to it as a hunting/day/game bag, depending on the portrayal.

 

[Whitworth]

I like an English term, "Kit" for the bag. I'm not big on "possibles bag" either, just slightly better than "purse".

 

[Tumbledown]

Men historically carried purses, but they were small and worn close to or on the belt with loops.

 

[Tumbledown]

I like an English term, "Kit" for the bag. I'm not big on "possibles bag" either, just slightly better than "purse".

I like "kit" as well.

 

[mooman76]

But isn't it reasonable to assume that some people years back would call their bag they carried their possibles in, a possible's bag? I think some get too much into being PC just because there is nothing wrote down to prove something.

 

[Enfield58]

Yes, please lets not call it a purse.

Listen closely to what he says about his customer base at about 10:30...

 

[Daryl Crawford]

When I was a young man an old man told me, with no source evidence given, that the bag that fed my weapon was a shooting bag and the bag that carried everything else was a possibles bag. Haversack, he said, was for food and food related items. Perhaps these terms varied in meaning quite a bit based upon time (1750 vs 1865) and region. Perhaps people then we're less concerned with exacting diction and more concerned with meaning? I don't know, but I am certain I have several black powder purses in my den.

 

[Nyckname]

Possible that it depends on it's main use. If you're primarily carrying money and related items in it, then "purse" would be appropriate. That's where the term for a prize in a contest comes from, and I doubt any'f you would turn down that.

 

[stink koat]

Always called mine " a hunting pouch"

 

[Whitworth]

To my dumb old country boy brain the term "possibles" evolved from "possibly need this, possibly need that, so anything you might need was a "possible". Still a clumsy term in my book, sounds made up to confuse cartridge shooters