if you've been to an appleseed or two, as i have, you might be intimately familiar with the GI web sling, or the M1907 sling, by now. i own one of both. say what you will about the M1907, but i like it. however, i am not very keen on these other green nylon wonders.
there's that little metal cam buckle that won't stay buckled unless it's digging into your skin. if you're a relatively little guy like me, there's a lot of excess sling you won't be using. the weight of the excess sling, twisting in the wind, pops open the latch on the cam buckle even when you are just trying to shoot hasty. also, that metal clip on the rear is a pain to get on or off, for example, an A2 buttstock.
i decided i would take a three-point i wasn't using for anything and sacrifice it to see if i couldn't do better. however, i had to go online and do a fair amount of digging before i found a plastic cam buckle that would fit on the 1.5" nylon i had. i kinda like the big wide "tactical" nylon ribbon, so it didn't bother me.
here's the layout, blown apart.
rear to fore, what we have here is a plastic snap which far outperforms the metal clip but requires some extra, and permanent, attachment to the stock. i weaved some 550 so i could tuck the snap up when i wasn't using it and it would stay in place. weaved 550 likes to hold the position you give it.
the next piece of plastic is a slide reducer. the small loop is weaved with 550 to the other half of the snap, and the big loop has the sling fed through it.
then, in the middle of the figure-eight, is a 1.5" slider. this is the centerpeice for getting your arm in the sling. the center bar of the slider is already inside a stitched loop in the sling, and i suppose without a sewing machine this would be the hardest part to do from scratch.
now, up front, check out that beast of a cam buckle. hell yes. these are sold by strapworks and they advertise them as follows: "They close with a positive lock and do not slip." you got that right! when you use this cam buckle, you will see pinches in the webbing that last forever. it takes both hands to close it, so get your length adjustments down solid. i have not yet cut through the webbing just by closing it on the same spot multiple times, but i will report back and let you know. the buckle also has a slot on the (flat!) backside to feed the webbing through, which allows you to make relatively fine adjustments without a hassle. thicker webbing would not work with this buckle unless you took it apart and hacked on it.
cinched down, you hardly notice the slider/reducer combination is two separate pieces of plastic. they sit perfectly flush and they're on the outside so they don't bug you in hasty. the 550 accepts as much torque as you care to give it. the cam buckle can be located anywhere along the sling but i like it up front where i can tuck my hand under it. with a bigger surface area than the metal cam buckle on a GI web sling, you can apply the same pressure at lower psi on your bones and still have a taunt sling.
the only thing left is to unsnap, open it up, and stick your arm in.
and there's the tucked snap in the rear. fits right behind the telescoping stock latch which i ain't using anyways. feh. will also let you tuck it upwards on the A2, should mostly stay out of the way. 550's great. i'd weave the whole sling out of 550 if i knew what i was doing.
don't forget to give the loop a quarter turn before you get your arm tangled up in it. alright.
i think there's a lot of room for improvement, and i have some ideas, but this is improvised for pennies and it's already been better to me than the green wonder. whatcha think?
there's that little metal cam buckle that won't stay buckled unless it's digging into your skin. if you're a relatively little guy like me, there's a lot of excess sling you won't be using. the weight of the excess sling, twisting in the wind, pops open the latch on the cam buckle even when you are just trying to shoot hasty. also, that metal clip on the rear is a pain to get on or off, for example, an A2 buttstock.
i decided i would take a three-point i wasn't using for anything and sacrifice it to see if i couldn't do better. however, i had to go online and do a fair amount of digging before i found a plastic cam buckle that would fit on the 1.5" nylon i had. i kinda like the big wide "tactical" nylon ribbon, so it didn't bother me.
here's the layout, blown apart.
rear to fore, what we have here is a plastic snap which far outperforms the metal clip but requires some extra, and permanent, attachment to the stock. i weaved some 550 so i could tuck the snap up when i wasn't using it and it would stay in place. weaved 550 likes to hold the position you give it.
the next piece of plastic is a slide reducer. the small loop is weaved with 550 to the other half of the snap, and the big loop has the sling fed through it.
then, in the middle of the figure-eight, is a 1.5" slider. this is the centerpeice for getting your arm in the sling. the center bar of the slider is already inside a stitched loop in the sling, and i suppose without a sewing machine this would be the hardest part to do from scratch.
now, up front, check out that beast of a cam buckle. hell yes. these are sold by strapworks and they advertise them as follows: "They close with a positive lock and do not slip." you got that right! when you use this cam buckle, you will see pinches in the webbing that last forever. it takes both hands to close it, so get your length adjustments down solid. i have not yet cut through the webbing just by closing it on the same spot multiple times, but i will report back and let you know. the buckle also has a slot on the (flat!) backside to feed the webbing through, which allows you to make relatively fine adjustments without a hassle. thicker webbing would not work with this buckle unless you took it apart and hacked on it.
cinched down, you hardly notice the slider/reducer combination is two separate pieces of plastic. they sit perfectly flush and they're on the outside so they don't bug you in hasty. the 550 accepts as much torque as you care to give it. the cam buckle can be located anywhere along the sling but i like it up front where i can tuck my hand under it. with a bigger surface area than the metal cam buckle on a GI web sling, you can apply the same pressure at lower psi on your bones and still have a taunt sling.
the only thing left is to unsnap, open it up, and stick your arm in.
and there's the tucked snap in the rear. fits right behind the telescoping stock latch which i ain't using anyways. feh. will also let you tuck it upwards on the A2, should mostly stay out of the way. 550's great. i'd weave the whole sling out of 550 if i knew what i was doing.
don't forget to give the loop a quarter turn before you get your arm tangled up in it. alright.
i think there's a lot of room for improvement, and i have some ideas, but this is improvised for pennies and it's already been better to me than the green wonder. whatcha think?