The packs you had at loevestein weren't even 10 kilo's... more like 8..
Yeah so? As I said, they won't be able to hold more than 10-15 kilo depending on the pack. And they really do not have to. There isn't that much stuff you have to carry with you.
A blanket, a spare shirt, spare socks, brush, whip, cleaning kit, sewing kit, washing kit, fire starter kit, spare gaiters, food, greatcoat, distribution straw sack, a pot or pan to cook from.
I don't think that this could add up to much more than 10 kilos, if it even reaches that. It depends on the greatcoat and the blanket, as different materials can easily add to the weight significantly. Cheap cotton is always thinner and lighter than expensive wool. It's probably already the maximum you can put inside these packs anyways. But it will fill them up to the rim, so it definitely won't look retarded, like an empty backpack does...
Now ofc if you add another 3-4 kilos of weight to your pack because you feel like you have to carry beer in glass bottles with you, then you are easily going to exceed that weight limit. Especially with the bad paki packs in civil war, that have this extremely stiff leather they are going to rip your arms off (IF the cloth of the pack doesn't rip before that...
)
There is a common problem in reenactment though. You barely spend more than 2 full days at an event. Why would you bring 4 days worth of food (Which is what they would have gotten) if you only stay for 2 days?
Additionally, there is always stuff that you do not own yet and are simply missing.
In walldürn, the event we were talking about with the glass bottles, we actually had food for 3 days, because we spend 3 days there. It was great seeing the bread bags stuffed to the rim with food.
The ENITRE weight of the ENTIRE kit of a Napoleonic soldier, that includes the gun and what he is wearing on himself plus an empty canteen, usually does not exceed 20 kilograms. The gun itself already weights 4.5 kilos, so you are left with 15kgs to divide between backpack, cartridge box, and clothes.