30/30 butt wrap and 6 packs!

[Hags]

OK, not Bud Light. I have a young man that is a timber cruiser up here in the Great Pacific North West.  I made a chest rig for him a year or so ago for a S&W 686 in 44mag. 6"barrel. He loves the thing. Says he wears it 6 to 12 hrs a day in the woods and can't imagine any other way he could wear it. Understand,  up here we have bears, and cougars.  And he is in the deep woods, not at a campground. Last deer season,  he bought an older Marlin 30/30 with a 4x scope and asked if I could make him a sling. After some discussion , we came up with a simple design with a 1" 8/9 oz HO strap with a 2" wide adjustable  shoulder pad so he could move it around to suit the situation. By this time I had made his girlfriend a holster for her glock, a belt to put it on,  a belt for him, and then, there's the in laws. Needless to say he and his are favored customers. And as such, I  call on him when I want to try something. When he bought the rig for the 44, he wanted a reload. All i could think of was a 6 rd belt loop. He liked and a way he went. I was just not very happy with it. It was good work, just so long! It took up a lot of belt space! Anyway, he asks me if I can come up with reloads for the 30/30 on a butt wrap. Never done this, so I ask him to bring it over and I'll see what I can do.  Lots of time later, I've come up with a working butt wrap. It's plain, but this is a tool, for this young man, not a collector's piece. I know I need to work on my lacing, but, he's ok with that. I'm trying something outside my box.

All that said,  I struggled with coming up with a good way to put 6 rds of 30/30 in a butt wrap a d so many had complex loops and stuff. I have done belt loops, and am honestly not a big fan.so this is what I did. See the pictures. I cannot believe it to be original, but love the simplicity.

Then, he has a 44 mag. Next post.

[Gezzer]

I seem to remember Federal selling cartridges in a similar carrier except it was an awful plastic thing and didn't really fully trap the cartridges .  VERT NICELY  done 

[dikman]

That looks great, very practical. It's a different way of holding the cartridges but looks a lot simpler to make than "conventional" loops. If it's going to be carted around in the woods then it's going to get the stuffing knocked out of it so there's little point in making it pretty.

[chuck123wapati]

your lucky to have someone that actually uses and tests these things in real world settings, i have thrown out a few of those cartridge holder butt stock things in my day when i got back to camp with only half of my shells.

[BruceGibson]

Awesome work! 

[Fraulein]

Woah that is some seriously awesome work! I've never seen bullet loops like that, but that's a really great design. 

[Littlef]

That looks really nice!!  I've been thinking of making a similar setup for my 1873 Winchester.  How did you attach the strap in the front?  I wouldn't want to wrap over the top of the barrel, which would impede the sight line.  I was also a little concerned of the strength of the sheet metal for the magazine tube, If I tried to squeeze in between the barrel and mag tube.

[Hags]

Thank you all. I did not put any leather on the front of the gun. That is a typical mount for a 30/30 tube he bought off Amazon. It clamps over the tube very securely and does not cause any deformity. It is for a standard 1" sling.

[Littlef]

9 hours ago, Hags said:

Thank you all. I did not put any leather on the front of the gun. That is a typical mount for a 30/30 tube he bought off Amazon. It clamps over the tube very securely and does not cause any deformity. It is for a standard 1" sling.

Gotcha, Thanks Hags!

[DoogMeister]

Love the simplicity of the cartridge loops.

[JWheeler331]

Very nice. Do you find the bullets hold well like this? Are they easy to remove one handed compared to traditional style of single bullet loop? 

[Hags]

Yes J, they come out very nicely. You put your finger on the business end and lift up and they pop right up. Please understand that I used an under sized punch (5/16) top and bottom. Then wet the leather, then forced the rounds in. I let this dry, then oiled it, then replaced the rounds. The flaps are to ensure the rounds stay in place in the future. It has dried for several days now, and I still have to use a bit of force to get the rounds in. Dang sure a lot easier than loops. Wouldn't work on a cowboy rig though.