Leather Shotgun Boot Buttstock Ammo Holder

I wanted to make an ammo holder for an over-under .22/.410 for a while and figured now was a good time to try making something a bit more complex with leather. I picked up some 4-5 oz leather after reading a chart that suggested that would be a good weight. After holding it, I does seem to have the rigidity I wanted. I'm not sure how quickly it increases but I don't think I'd want it too much stiffer. 

I started by folding the piece over the gun stock and etching an approximate outline that I wanted and cut it out. 

Then I placed some eyelets along the side to get the spacing I wanted and marked those spots with an awl. I used a leather belt hole punch and then affixed the grommets. 

I took a strip of the remaining leather and sewed it on. I've never done this before so I'm sure there are way better, more accurate and aesthetic ways to do this but I used an awl to poke holes for some waxed thread and then stitched the leather strap on. Then with a .410 shell, I snugged the leather strap up and approximated where it needed to be for a tight fit. Then made it a little tighter, and again used an awl to mark/enlarge the holes and stitched the strap down.

I kept going...

Once I had enough ammo holders I measured the pouch I wanted and started by sewing the 'lid' on. I held the whole thing on the gun stock to mark this so it was level first.

Once the top was on, I added an 'almost' rectangle on top. The top of the rectangle was slightly wider so it would 'bow' out when stitched on 'square'. This gave it just enough room to hold some .22 shells snuggly.

I messed up the snap on the top and it wasn't closing well so I had to remove it, and reattach it in a different hole. So now there's a slight hole visible under the snap.  

That said, I've never worked with leather before and this is just going out on grouse hunts and likely will get dirty/banged up. I'm not too concerned. I'm much happier using handmade leather than the bulky nylon one I had before. I think the 'pros' burnish the edges and stuff but I wasn't too sure I cared enough to buy an edging tool and honestly didn't figure that out until I was done!