Very large powder flask info???

[Dalton Masterson]

Howdy. I was browsing a local antique shop last weekend, and didnt have my camera with, so here goes.... There was an extremely large powder flask laying on a shelf for 125.00. Was approximately 1 foot long, had an adjustable spout, and looked just like the remington or colt style that cabelas sells, only huge. Looks to hold almost a pound of powder. Any idea what this would be for? Worth the 125? DM

[St. George]

Without a photo - it's impossible to say.

A flask of that size is associated with hunting with a muzzleloading shotgun.

What you need to know is that powder flasks have been made in great profusion since the 1960's and those replicas now have some realistic-looking age to them.

Most antique dealers know how to thoroughly research their wares - it's priced accordingly for a fake.

Read Riling's 'The Powder Flask Book' for more information.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Dick Dastardly]

Sounds a mite unhandy for main match shootn'.  I don't like my powder flask to hold more than my whiskey flask.

DD-DLoS

[Dalton Masterson]

I dont know, somedays I might need that much whiskey after!!
I will try to get out there and take some pics. They have some old wristwatches I want to get anyhoo. DM

[Howdy Doody]

Dalton, I have a real big flask made of smooth leather that my brother gave me. It isn't for powder though, it is for shot. The shot that is in it is stranfe to me too. It is more like lead shards. I don't know the history of my muzzle loading shotgun flask, but my brother told me it was antique.
I could take a picture of it though.

Also, my brother had, but sold an old commercial goose gun. I remember it as about 8ga and super long barrel. The jist of it was that commercial hunters used it around Long Island NY and shot geese out of the sky and sold them to markets way back when.

[Dalton Masterson]

Well howdy Howdy!! Long time no hear from ya! Not since the cowboyactionshooting.org days.
This flask is copper/brass and the measure is a lot like what is on the old shotgun reloading measures. With the little pin and notches you adjust it with. I will try to get out there this week. DM

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Howdy,

My bride and I, on a genealogy expedition thru Arkansas, stopped an a little museum.  They had a SxS that looked all out of perportion.  I immediately looked it over and asked questions.  It is a 7ga front stuffer.  They used it around the rice fields for pond swatting flocks of ducks.

Now, I'm thinkn' that that big flask might just have an application there.

DD-DLoS

[Howdy Doody]

Howdy Dalton,
Yes we go back a ways pard. I still haunt some of the old websites that still will have me though. 

So, I went out to the shop to get a picture of the shot flask and I can't find it. Probably it is in a box somewhere buried and I will find it when I am not looking for it.
However for interest I took some pics of the few antique items I have beside me of course. 

Pic one is a brass flask that must have been used for powder for a muzzleloading shotgun. The spout is large and it twists out to about 3 positions to make the spout longer. It has a small makers mark of Dixon&Sons. Don't know the age.
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL977/3725357/16523493/306919742.jpg

Next is a shot flask with round different sized shot in it. It is embossed leather and has a complicated spout of a push lever and mechanism that opens the flask to release the shot.
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL977/3725357/16523493/306919331.jpg

Here is a picture of the corroded looking shot. It looks to be around maybe #4 and maybe #6 size
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL977/3725357/16523493/306919333.jpg

Just for kicks, since I am turning this into a show and tell, even if I don't know any histories of the stuff, here is a powder horn. It is carved by the spout end and that may be for a lanyard or ? and the bottom looks to be a plug of wood.
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL977/3725357/16523493/306919329.jpg

Then in keeping with show and tell, in the box of stuff I dug out this morning, here is one of two holsters. This one has a belt and is not in too good of shape, but looks real old. The leather looks like my skin 
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL977/3725357/16523493/306919335.jpg

And finally, I know you are now glad of that, here is a shoulder holster that is pretty old, but actually in good shape.
http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL977/3725357/16523493/306919325.jpg

Well, Dalton, it doesn't answer your question. I wish I could lay my hands on the big shot flask to show you, but it may come to me where it is hiding soon. Meanwhile, maybe some of the pards will have an idea of what it is I actually have that might be antique beside me. 

[Dr. Bob]

Koooool stuff Howdy!   Thanks for the pics!

[Howdy Doody]

Thanks Dr. Bob 

DD, I went on a genealogy trip too. I went out in the woods and checked all the trees and matched up knots and I found that I come from a long line of northern pine mixed in with some sugar maple. That explains why I am such a sap, and from shooting so much BP, I am kinda gooey too. 

[Steel Horse Bailey]