It’s a little shameful, and I’ll fully understand if, after I have disclosed this thing, you ask me to take my stupid blog and go home. But I feel that in the name of honesty among friends, a full confession is called for.
Before this past weekend, I had never used a single-point sling. No. Not once in my life.
There. I said it, and whatever the consequences I feel much better for it.
Despite sporadically finding myself in the company of militia types over the years, some of whom really liked to play dress-up, I never really understood – or paid much attention to – the difference between a “tactical sling” and a “sling.” My sense of fashion never went past a set of non-faded BDUs and some VN-era load-bearing gear. And in fact if I looked in the plastic tub in which I stashed all that stuff years ago, I’d probably find even that covered with musty old rats nests because I don’t much play dress-up any more. Even when I did, well, like I said. I’ve never owned a piece of MOLLE anything. Guess that’s another confession.
Anyway, the reason all this came up. Saturday, my friend Ian kindly gave me a gift. He has come to that point where people actually give him free stuff in hopes it’ll show up on his site. And we were loading camera and gun gear into the Jeep when he asked me, “Have you ever used a single-point sling?”
At first I feared this was going to be one of those unfortunate questions that ruins an outing, like “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior,” and we’d spend the next few weeks trying to get comfortable with each other again. But actually he just had one to give away, and wanted to know if I wanted it.
I’m an old guy, but I’m still a guy. And guys like gear. So yeah, I wanted it. And I even took it home and put it on my AK, replacing the old SKS sling that’s been there for basically forever. And then I adjusted it for size, slung it around my neck, went for a walky.
And found it almost worse than useless. You know what happens when you let go of an AK on a two-point sling? It hangs by its sling. Let go of an AK on a single-point sling and it falls a significant distance and then slams into your knees with the full weight of a fully-loaded AK. Which is not only quite unpleasant, it makes further walking problematic. There’s this AK hanging from your shoulder like a pendulum, banging into your knees with each step. Who thought this was a good idea? Try to push it out of the way, and the sling commences what is apparently its secondary function of slowly garrotting you.
I figured I must be doing it wrong, though it seems a simple enough piece of gear. Hey, I’m not ashamed to admit ignorance. So I went to the font of all human knowledge, and asked the mall ninjas on Youtube to show me how it’s done. And as far as I can tell from watching the experts at work and play, the rifle is supposed to bang into your knees. Maybe that’s what the kneepads are for.
So I guess I’m not a combat-ready operator. Sometimes a guy just wants to sling his rifle and take the boys for a walky, y’know? If I think there’s a chance I’m actually going to have to shoot the rifle, I always unsling it anyway. But I thought the whole point of a sling was to free up your hands when you’re not imminently shooting the rifle. And this new sling doesn’t seem to do that very well. The only way to comfortably walk, while your rifle is on a single-point sling, is to hold the rifle in your hands. Which negates the whole point of the sling.
(Somebody is going to mention “transitions” if I don’t do it first. “Transitions” came up a lot on those Youtube videos, and they are clearly very important. So before commenting, please note that this blog entry does include the word “transitions.” I even saw it done well once. It was in the movie Blackhawk Down. That guy died. But I do concede that if my desert Lair is ever challenged by thousands of outraged Somalis, my last thought is likely to be a bitter regret that I didn’t practice more “transitions”. So now this blog entry contains four repetitions of the word “transitions.” Excuse me – five repetitions.)
So anyway: With apologies to all my readers for this airing of my shameful inadequacies and to my good friend Ian for putting aside his kind gift, I have gone back to the old-fashioned way. Thank you for letting me share.
I prefer a nice standard two-point sling. Worked for centuries, still does. Hung upside down on the left shoulder, it’s a fast “transition” to the right shoulder. There’s some African country with the word “patrol” tacked on that position is named after, I’m sure.
Using a single-point sling to go walkabout is like using a Corvette to enter the Baja 1000 (or a Jeep at LeMans.) It is a horrible way to carry a gun in much the same way that a J-frame revolver is a horrible way to win a High Power rifle match.
While it’s easy to make glib “operator” cracks, it reflects more on the person making them than it does the sling itself.
A single-point sling is for people who are only going to be running around for a fairly short period of time and is more like a “dummy cord” for the long gun than anything else. The gun is going to be in your hands the whole time unless you need to climb a wall or ladder, or use both hands for whatever, at which point you let the gun hang on the sling before retrieving it. It’s not a patrol sling.
I don’t think I’ll ever need to go walkabout with my carbine and, barring massive riots in the neighborhood, don’t see any scenario where I’d likely need a sling, but it could happen, so there’s a single-point coiled into a tight ball with a heavy-duty rubber band and clipped to the receiver endplate. It’s out of the way that way, but easily deployable if I ever need to keep a long gun handy around the house for an extended period of time.
I’ve got shootin’ slings on guns that need shootin’ slings, carryin’ straps on guns that need carryin’ straps, and emergency dummy cords on guns that need emergency dummy cords.
While it’s easy to make glib “operator” cracks, it reflects more on the person making them than it does the sling itself.
I am duly chastised.
I think I’ll go out and buy one just to see if I can write a single-point-sling post as funny as yours. Undoubtedly can’t, of course.
Or I could make one out of a big Boy Scout belt, gorilla tape, and one of those tactical black snaps salvaged from a designer suitcase.
I do note one error, your use of the unadorned term “transition.” According to
http://www.thewilderness.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=151&pg=1
the correct procedure requires you to +seamlessly+ transition. Maybe this is where you’re going wrong.
Roflmao! Have you ever noticed your Readership is made up of a bunch of smart asses? 😉
I use a single-point sling all the time–for my camera. I have a small, sturdy rangefinder camera that I carry around with me, and the strap for it is like a rifle single-point sling but with a larger loop and a short piece of metal connecting the loop to the camera. I think it’s wonderful–the strap doesn’t get in my way when I’m using the camera, and when I drop it the camera comes to rest by my right hip where I can easily grab it. It doesn’t even get in the way if I need to draw my pistol.
The catch, though, is that when it’s hanging from the strap it bumps against my body, and every roll of film I lose a frame or two from the shutter release being tripped. The film advance lever also sometimes snags on my jacket. Now, I don’t mind giving up a frame or two from a $5 roll of film for all the benefits, but I think it’s a _really_ bad idea to use a carry system that results in unintentional control activation with a rifle that’s pointing at my feet.
Well, hell. I was gonna try to do useful things today, but now I hafta go to U-tube and see what y’all are talking about. At first I thought I had used a single-point as a Boy Scout, but that can’t be right as Joel didn’t mention having a tournaquet on his upper arm making his hand numb. So much to learn.
I had the same experience. Except I was too dumb to try it out first and bought 3 of the useless things. Still have one left if someone wants it.
I must be built differently, I keep getting whacked in the privates with the damn thing.
“Maybe that’s what the kneepads are for.”
No, that’s how some fellas gain promotion.
Single point sling…. soooo tacticoool and yet sooo lame. Like printing instructions on a hammer. I guess if my bypass surgery last week didn’t prove I am not an “operator” my disdain for all things tacticool has. My rifles all have plain, old, never fail 1907 slings or whatever web version was available.
(The ironic thing is that those risible actual “operators” have largely moved away from single-point slings to two-point slings like the VCAS, VTAC, or MS-3.)
Good discussion on the topic by people who know a lot more about this stuff than me can be found here.Let him who hath ears &c.
I always figured the main advantage of the things was to take some of the weight off your arms while you carried a rifle “optimized” with an extra 20 pounds of grenade launcher, night scope, optical scope, red dot, red laser, green laser, wide focus tactical light, narrow focus tactical light, fleshlight, bipod, monopod, forward vertical grip, the latest ultra efficient flash hider, GPS, tactical Kindle mount, jacuzzi, mag holders, and a plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.
Christ, this is like listening to sixth graders talk about sex…
“I’m not really sure what this thing’s for, but it doesn’t seem to be working right for me!”
I don’t know nothing about single point slings except they seem to cost more. My rifles have traditional slings. If I am transporting the rifle it is slung over a shoulder. If the rifle needs to be ready for use, it is in my hands in a ready position.
What are you getting so upset about, Tam? I think everybody here knows what a single-point sling is for. I was really just poking fun at geardos. Didn’t mean to cause offense.
Thanks for the grinny post, Joel. I giggled.
Personally, no matter what my level of competency may be or might become, anyone who uses that vile and disgusting term “operator” to describe me is inviting a mouthful of knuckles. I am a thinking human being, not a machine.
I’ll fully admit that I have not trained seriously in carbine, but I have in rifle. And ever since first trying out the Ching Sling, which has three points, I’ve seen nothing that would budge me from it. It works great as a carry strap for going walky, which is what most of the discussion here seems to have focused on. But it also is a very real shooting aid for the squat, sitting and prone positions, and in many forms of jackass. Those who have used the military loop sling will understand what this does for steadiness, but the Ching Sling allows you to achieve that same lockup in right around one second, starting with the rifle in your hands. (That is: it’s as fast as the old “hasty” technique, but it provides real leather-and-bone lockup.) I’ve got one on every rifle I own, including lever and M1A, and it amazes me that it’s not a more popular accessory.
I’ll grant that carbine seems to be a little different, with long shots being less of a primary concern than they are with rifle. Still, I’d think that one would want every advantage should a long shot present itself. I’d be curious to see if the -fu of the one-point sling includes its use as an actual shooting aid. I haven’t even taken the YouTube journey that Joel describes, so please educate me gently: do people use it other than as a lanyard? From what little I’ve seen, it would seem that one could at least use it as an isometric steadying aid with muscle tension; maybe more has been done there than I know.
I’ll second the endorsement for the Ching Sling–it really does make a big difference. There’s also a two-point variant called the Safari Ching Sling which works just as well, but requires more time getting it adjusted right.
I had a single point sling on my Sub2k for a while, before upgrading to a proper 2 point from the manufacturer. Tried using it as a single point sling “properly” and didn’t care for that, but I had deliberately sized it (I’d made it out of an old web belt) for semi-whippet carry. Throw the loop over the top of my left shoulder and under my right arm, gun hangs comfortably along my right side flat against my body. Could get it to either shoulder readily, and it didn’t try to point its business end at my feet when I wasn’t hanging onto it. Was working on a belt clip to hold it in place during vigorous activity before I got the two point it wears now. Still haven’t decided if it was an improvement to go to the two point.