Simple Rifle Sling Recommendation?

[lawaia]

I have an old .22 bolt rifle that has no sling mounts, and I don't want to modify the rifle. I want a sling for the upcoming Appleseed shoot. Anyone have any sling recommendation for something simple that will attach without modification to the gun? Thanks.

[lawaia]

Anyone?

[rabagley]

Get another .22 with sling mounts. They're cheap. Or borrow one from a friend.

You want a stable sling without decent sling mounts. Not going to happen.

[maxicon]

What kind of rifle is it? A pic would help with what kind of attachments would work.

Depending on how the gun's laid out, you can connect a sling with either webbing loops or paracord loops. Both take a little fiddling, but are pretty easy, and materials are inexpensive.

For instance, you could adapt the AR A2 style webbing loop to almost any standard rifle buttpad:

http://www.blueforcegear.com/product.cfm?type=cat&cat_id=5&prod_id=87

The front attachment can be trickier, as it depends on your layout, but a barrel clamp rail could work, or something like this, though it'll be more likely to slide around without a sling mount to anchor it:

http://www.blueforcegear.com/product.cfm?type=cat&cat_id=5&prod_id=86

Some people use zip ties to anchor slings as well. Not pretty, but can be effective, again depending on the layout of your gun.

Here are a couple of links for the techniques. You'd have to adapt it to the layout of your gun, but if you're good with such things, it's an easy and fun project.

Paracord sling and attachments:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=19&t=413437

Making your own webbing sling:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=19&t=252462

[lawaia]

Pic of rifle.

[valleyguy]

You want an M1 sling -- lots of folks have them, including Midway. Ask on the Appleseed forum -- they'll be a lot better about pointing you in the right direction. A sling really helps with accuracy.

[Prowler]

If you want inexpensive and have 550 (paracord), make one. It's easy and you should be able to find a how-to video on youtube.

[maxicon]

Nice, classic rifle - I can see why you don't want to mess up the lines with modifications.

So, the rear stock part is easy - a standard A2 style will do the trick. The front will be a little trickier.

If there's a screw for the mag well or the front of the stock that could be replaced with a sling stud screw, that would be the easiest path. Putting a paracord or webbing loop on the barrel ahead of the stock would also work, and would be pretty stable when pulled back against the stock, but if you pulled too hard, you might deflect the barrel some. You're pretty far back at this point, and this isn't the kind of rifle you'd need to sling up tight.

I'd get some webbing and buckles, and an inexpensive sling, and play around with different attachments. Should be pretty easy to whip up something that'll do the job.

[lawaia]

Nice, classic rifle - I can see why you don't want to mess up the lines with modifications.

So, the rear stock part is easy - a standard A2 style will do the trick. The front will be a little trickier.

If there's a screw for the mag well or the front of the stock that could be replaced with a sling stud screw, that would be the easiest path. Putting a paracord or webbing loop on the barrel ahead of the stock would also work, and would be pretty stable when pulled back against the stock, but if you pulled too hard, you might deflect the barrel some. You're pretty far back at this point, and this isn't the kind of rifle you'd need to sling up tight.

I'd get some webbing and buckles, and an inexpensive sling, and play around with different attachments. Should be pretty easy to whip up something that'll do the job.

Thanks for all the recommendations. My Dad gave me this rifle, and his Dad gave it to him. So I definitely don't want to modify anything. I think the best idea is to attach the sling with a loop to the barrel ahead of the stock, as you mentioned. I'll have to do some searching for the right A2-style sling.

Thanks to all for the input!

[fairfaxjim]

For the rear "A2 thing", what you are looking for is a V-tac adapter. It is normally used to attach a sling made for a colapsable carbine stock to a standard A2 stock. It consists of just the straps that go around and behind the stock and the D-ring. I've never tried to use them with the ring on the bottm, only the top, but I guess it will work. Search for it on line - about $6 - $8 bucks. I know LAPoliceGear.com has the 5.11 brand for about $6.

The front band adapter may be a little trickier - most are designed to go around the front handguard just behind the sight tower and use a short loop through the normal front sling swivel to keep it from sliding back when pulled on. Since you don't have the swivel, you may have to get a D-ring and some velcro and make something that will cinch down on the barrel just forward of the stock.

Have fun.

BTW, here is a tutorial on ar15.com on making a sling that may provide some ideas that you can start with: http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=19&t=252462

[lawaia]

Thanks for the info on the A2 buttstock adapter. I'll definitely check out lapolicegear.

I don't think the standard front band will work. I'll probably have to make something of my own.