Slings please

[IVC]

A cheap sling saved Kyle Rittenhouse's life.

Yup, and it was used to carry the rifle, not as a shooting aid. IIRC, it was pretty loose.

[smoothy8500]

Appleseed is a throwback in time to the revolutionary war so we should keep it in that perspective.

Yeah,can't argue with you on that point....

[hambam105]

I can't speak for what the U.S. Army was doing, but some years ago I've seen a whole Company of Marine recruits on the 300 meter
line going from standing to sitting and then firing 5 shots, reloading, and firing 5 more rounds for score while incorporating a
web sling on a M16A1 under 60 seconds.

Now...Which one of you isn't smarter than a web sling?

...Can't reload when slung-up...It's just just one excuse after another.

[tomk556]

A cheap sling saved Kyle Rittenhouse's life.

Interesting, I didn?t know that. I watched the videos but didn?t notice that. To me a long gun without a sling/carry strap is like a pistol without a holster- fine as a range item, but likely the owner doesn?t anticipate real use.

I think someone also said they had a hard time running the gun with a side mounted strap- I shoot left handed, and I think for an AR that means it should more of a concern, but I haven?t really noticed an issue with getting tangled up. Other than swapping to the opposite shoulder but that?s to be expected.

For the OP, as others have said learning to us a loop sling at something like an apple seed or CMP is good skill to have. You can probably learn it on YouTube.

[hambam105]

In the early days of June 1918, the Battle of Bella Woods took place. While exposed and in the open for all entrenched German
soldiers to clearly see, the Marines went to sitting & kneeling shooting positions and slung up and returned accurate rifle fire.

This is the same battle the Marines picked-up the name, 'Teufel Hunden'.

These guys had a pair. If they can sling up while getting hammered by the enemy, I think knowing how to use a sling on AR while
safely sitting behind a shooting bench 100 plus years later is a moral obligation. Well, airsoft is looking like a good substitute, maybe.

1,800 Marines KIA in that fight by the way.

[Mayor McRifle]

Sadly, it’s a lost art in the age of tacticool internet training, but it doesn’t have to be . . .

IMG_0049.jpg

[BrokerB]

I use MS4 sling. Definitely 2 points. You can use the 1 point on a MS4 as well...especially if you like your rifle bouncing off your balls as you move around : )

[BrokerB]

Wesley Lagorismo at LFI does rifle training. He is in Sacramento Valley area.

[george223]

Good subject and good info in this thread. This is something I've been wondering about since the Kyle Rittenhouse event. I could never figure out how to carry with the rifle in front of me and have it ready when needed, but since most of my shooting is at the range on the bench, I put off doing the research. I just watched the video on the Viking Tactical link posted above and it all makes sense now.

[Dennis]

I couldn't have hoped for a more well thought out and informative response. Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Thanks to everyone really. I tend to overthink most things.

Let's start from the beginning and look into purpose and types of slings, then how to use them.

Modern slings serve two significantly different purposes. One is carrying the rifle, in the same way that holster is used for carrying a handgun. You can think of a sling as "rifle holster." If you have multiple weapons, the rifle is on a sling when you don't use it, while you use your handgun, and after you're done using the rifle. On a cold range, it will be carried with a flag in the chamber and bolt down. On a hot range, or during a course of fire, it will be carried with a round chambered and safety on, much like hot pistol in the holster.

The second use for sling is as a shooting aid. This is more of an old school use, but it's a legitimate use. When using sling to shoot, you wrap it in a specific way around your support arm so that the sling pushes the rifle into your shoulder, giving you extra stability. It's good to know this technique, but you will rarely use it - it's much faster to go prone or use a support structure to get better stability for harder shots.

As for the types, the primary difference is in the number of attachment points. You have single-point slings, the standard two-point slings and the somewhat obsolete three-point slings. The three point slings are generally not used anymore, so I would skip them. But between single and two point slings, there is quite a bit of debate.

Single point slings give you the most freedom and are very convenient for home defense or competition. They have two very specific negatives. The biggest one is that they don't hold rifle next to you if you run or are in a very active environment, so the rifle will bounce around. Also, if you "abandon" the rifle to a sling by putting it on safe and dropping it, it will hit you between the legs. The other negative is that you cannot use them as a shooting aid, at least not nearly as much as you could a two point sling. They could still help if you really wanted to use them this way, it's just not something you'd normally do.

Two point slings are practically the standard, they can be used for carrying and as a shooting aid, the rifle is secure over your chest or back when not in use, a quick rotation brings the rifle into shooting position on your shoulder. One negative for me is that moving a two point slinged rifle around your body snags and hits all the gear you have on your belt, and since my belts are set up mostly for pistol competition, this means hitting the magazines and often pulling them out of the pouches.

Finally, you have materials and attachment methods. You can go with leather, the same way you would with leather holsters - for nostalgia reasons. Otherwise stick to synthetic materials. For attachment, QD rules and there is little reason to play with various clips and proprietary releases. They all end up in the way or make your experimenting more difficult. QD slings will attach in various configurations so that you can find what works.

As a recommendation, here's what I'd look into. Viking Tactics standard two point sling or something similar, with or without padding. But make sure you get QD swivel attachments and a "2 to 1" buckle that allows you to QD sling to itself, so you can convert your two point to single point on demand. Don't get hunting style quick releases designed for studs in wooden stocks, that's not for ARs. (Note that I'm just giving you one manufacturer from the top of my head, there are many high quality brands out there, but they will all be similar.)