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thoughts about adding sling to your rifle

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MIR

32 Cal.
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
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I know its not very common, but historically speaking, how common was it to see rifles of the day with slings on them.
I have been told that when a rifle had a sling on it, that is usually an indicator that it was used for military service.
I dont beleive though that this is always the case, most if not all Jager rifles had slings incorporated on them when built.
 
But they were made in the old country not in america. Americans evidently didn't care for slings on their rifles. It was a whole different situation here in the 18th c. america. It paid to keep your rifle at hand and ready whether you were red, black, or white in frontier america. A slung rifle was probably not a good idea here and so was not in favor.
Military muskets are a totally different issue.
 
Slings seem to have totally disappeared off of American rifles by the Revolution. Some of the earliest American rifles have them, but even then, many of the earliest do not.

I have weaned myself off of the use of a sling. I pretty much don't miss it at all now.
 
I don't know about slings being pc, but I don't have to worry about Indians taking my scalp, so I will have a sling on all my rifles. If for no other reason than to have some place to carry it when dragging out a carcass. I have a lace up sling on my Lyman Trade rifle and it looks good to me.
 
i used to have slings on all my rifles simply because it was easy to carry them but i ended up removeing them. to me it just did'nt look right on a longrifle or a Hawken,but thats just me. i think it just boils down to personal taste and convienience,have no idea how PC they are
 
My persona is a guy that made his living as a hunter/trapper. As a hunter, I can understand no sling on a rifle, but I never could figure out how to set beaver traps with one hand while you carry the rifle with the other. :wink:

So I carry a sling roolled up in my shooting bag. A simple strap of braintanned deer that loops over the barrel at a ramrod pipe, and then ties to the wrist of the rifle. Then when I don't need the sling, it gets untied and put away.
 
If you buy a piece of rawhide lacing, in a 48 " length, to carry to replace broken shoe laces, you can use it to make a temporary sling to carry the gun on your back or shoulders, when you need both hands to drag out a deer, or climb and hill, etc. You don't have to spend a lot of money buying or making a real sling that would be used to steady the rifle during shooting. A length of rawhide lacing is compact, light weight. and works just fine for the purpose. One end around the wrist of the stock, and the other around the barrel, and under the ramrod, if there is room, and adjust to needed lenth. I have carried rawhide and made temporary slings for my rifle for years. I think I am still using the original length of rawhide I bought for this purpose. One day, I will need some of it to repalce a broken shoelace, and then I may just have to buy another. Its a race I am losing to my bootlaces, as to which of us is going to manure out first!
 
what is even better than a sling, is a gunbearer. use them all the time. that way you can take more than one gun along..

just say what cal. you need, and it's handed up..

don't know why you young fellas didn't think of it.. :hmm: :hmm:

..ttfn..grampa..
 
I have sling studs on all my rifles and always have one with me in my belt bag. My rifles are all production rifles though; If I had a nice long barreled gun I doubt I would use a sling on it though. They do come in handy when walking in areas that I can't shoot or when dragging out deer.
 
You know, since the militia involved every man that could carry a gun, military service was pretty inclusive. I have a sling on both my smoothbores and my Brown Bess, they are really handy. I guess I never worried about whether they were PC or not.

Many KLatch
 
I have slings on my English guns as they are PC for them. They are all military, Baker, Ferguson,
1776 Officers rifle and First model Bess.
I do not want them on my American firelocks. The only longrifle I have seen a picture of with a sling ( rev war ) was captured by the British and pressed into service with a Loyalist rifle company.

:thumbsup:
 
I have a .50 Lancaster style that has a sling. I made it out of the same leather as my bags with a buckle made out of deer antler. It is good looking as well as handy. IMO it does not take away from the gun. Also have a English sporting rifle with a woven sling. I feel the same way about it. They work for me.
 
For a scoped modern rifle a sling is almost a must. The sling is not really beneficial on a long rifle. One of the biggest surprises to me about hunting with a longfowler and longrifle is how well they carry off hand. In moderate brush the longrifle actually is the best carrying gun I've ever took afield. I lead with the muzzle and snake through limbs and brush. During the modern season I realized how miserable my heavy scoped rifle was to carry compared to the longrifle. I haft to carry my scoped rifle with both hands. When I tire I sling it.
Slinging a longrifle poses problems where a modern rifle slung over the shoulder may stick up a few inches a longrifle will stick up a foot or more. Thus catching on every low hanging limb or vine. In short a longrifle just lends itself to be carried. Thats OK because you can carry it all day.
 
I have a temporary one I keep in one of my pockets when I am hunting.. Just incase I have to drag a deer out of the woods. :grin:
 
Stophel said:
Slings seem to have totally disappeared off of American rifles by the Revolution. Some of the earliest American rifles have them, but even then, many of the earliest do not.

I have weaned myself off of the use of a sling. I pretty much don't miss it at all now.

I pretty much agree with Stophel here. RCA 17 which is a very early American rifle has been fitted for a sling with a rear stud and RCA 15 has a ring inset behind the guard probably for a sling. Additionally a "Pennsylvania civilian jaeger rifle strap" with leather and needle point embroidery is illustrated in Neuman and Kravic,"Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution",P.35 No.6. I saw an almost identical strap several years ago at a Kentucky Rifle show.I do,however,believe that such straps are exceedingly rare and agree that they were pretty well phased out by the end of the Revolution.
Tom Patton
 
I am not convinced that the ones with existing mounts were all militia, but they do seem to be rare, I would supect a long leather thong with a loop on each end only used when needed may have been a more practical approach nothing to document it but it is very handy when dragging out a buck, My early Virginia has one of woven wool I left it on as the gun is pretty early and I like it though have only used it once when dragging a small doe out.I would say PC yes thru the Rev War but not common, but I have seen no rule book that dictates common and rules out the other 49%
 
Historically? Who's to say how many had a means of slinging that didn't rely on fixed points of attachment. Probably none. In the woods hereabouts a slinged longrifle is a detrement. However, when dragging out a deer it's almost manditory to have a means of low-slinging the rifle across your chest or under an arm. In those times I rely on a slip-on sling.

Sling.jpg


I have no evidence such things existed prior to about 1970, but they sure are handy and don't require you to mess with an otherwise sleek rifle.

Most of the time a sling is unnecessary. If you can carry a rifle slung you don't need the rifle at that time. A luxury folks who survived by the rifle didn't have. When I'm hunting, the rifle is either cradled in my arms or being carried in one hand muzzle forward.
 
The militia duty thing don't hold water, I think. If it were true, you'd see a lot more Rev War period rifles with slings...and they're almost non existent. American sling use early on (what there was of it) is simply a carry over from the German practice. It is a RARE German gun indeed that doesn't have sling swivels.
 
tg, I must be missing something here. I have never slung a Hawken or a Longrifle when bringing in a deer. I carry my rifle in my right hand and drag the deer with my left arm. When that gets boring, I switch off the loads.
 
Various artist of the early to mid 19th century (Miller, Ranney, Kurz, etc.) showed a fair amount of slung rifles, but I've never seen a civilian rifle of that period with sling attachments. Evidently there must have been some sort of extemporized sling strapped onto the rifle. I would think that might leave some fairly distictive wear patterns. Anybody seen evidence of this? I don't have them on my guns (ML's anyway), but I can see where they would be handy.

By the way, I'm in awe of the one handed deer drag--the muleys up here can hit 250+ lbs. dressed out. A far stronger man than I :bow:
 
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