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The Lost Art of the Shooting Sling 2

Cav1

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
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243
Location
Central Montana
When shooting a rifle, the weakest links in the system supporting the weapon are the muscles and joints of the human body. As long as the rifleman’s off-hand elbow is supported, the shooting sling binds the rifle to the shooter so that it is supported entirely by bone and leather rather than relying upon ever-changing muscle tension to hold it steady.

M1 prone (2).jpg

The loop sling goes hand in hand with the proper field shooting positions such as kneeling, squatting, sitting and prone, and offers a very significant advantage in steadiness to all of them. Sling shooting does require one to learn how to properly assume these shooting positions, which in itself is a big plus when it comes to marksmanship in the field. Some positions can be rather uncomfortable when assumed for the first time, but the nice thing is that practice is cheap. You can practice looping up, assuming the position, and going through the remaining marksmanship basics (natural point of aim, breathing, sight picture, trigger squeeze, etc.) with dry-fire. That’s why the old school Marine Corps spent days teaching boots to “snap-in” before they fired a live round.

positions.jpg

One caveat already briefly touched on; the shooting sling can only work its magic if one or preferably both elbows are firmly supported by the ground, other body parts, or some improvised rest. With neither arm supported, the so-called Hasty Sling sometimes used in the standing or off-hand position does not really contribute anything to steadiness in shooting. It's more or less just to secure the sling and keep it from swaying in the breeze.

The sling is of course very solid in the prone position, which is itself the steadiest of all shooting positions. Elmer Keith opined that he could get better groups prone with the sling than he could from a bench rest. I wouldn’t go that far but I have come close. I’ve done some very good shooting from the prone position but all too often, even when antelope hunting out in the big wide-open, I find that intervening vegetation or micro-terrain prohibits shooting in the prone position more often than one would assume, but it should naturally be utilized whenever it is “do-able.”

The kneeling position isn’t nearly as solid as the sitting position because it still leaves you with one elbow flapping in the breeze, but it is still hugely preferable to the standing or off-hand position. Teddy Roosevelt, who fully realized he wasn’t the world’s greatest marksman, was a firm believer in automatically taking a knee whenever he sighted game to increase his steadiness over the off-hand stance. Over the years, I’ve also conditioned myself to instinctively and immediately drop into the kneeling position as well. If the range is fairly short and I need to take the shot right there and then, I’m much more stable than I would be standing. If time allows, I will continue on down into the sitting position…”If you can get steadier, get steadier.”

Sitting has long been my hands down favorite and the most useful shooting position in the hunting field, especially in hilly or mountain terrain. Jack O’Connor, Jeff Cooper, Duncan Gilchrist and others have all written that they took the majority of their successful hunting shots from the sitting position, more than all of the other positions combined. Just guessing, but looking back I would estimate I’ve taken something close to two-thirds of my hunting shots from that position, using the shooting sling and/or improvised supports, and have benefited greatly by doing so.

To quote O’Connor again: “In most of the big game hunting I have done, the queen of all positions is sitting. It puts the line of sight high enough so that it can be used in high grass and low bushes. It can also be used on a hillside. It is much more flexible than prone and can be used nicely for running shots whereas prone generally cannot. If used with a sling, sitting is a very steady and practical position.”

The USGI Model 1907 sling still works fine as a shooting aid but, as noted, it isn’t the fastest thing in the world to properly loop up with. Often when I did use it, I tended to be seated on a hillside waiting for game to appear at dawn or dusk, so I could loop my arm up in the sling, then raise the muzzle and rest the butt on the ground and relax. When I assumed my shooting position, it tightened back up nicely.

Fortunately, much faster alternatives to the USGI sling are readily available these days. Versions and adaptations of the old Whelen-type sling are still alive and well. Townsend Whelen created the sling that bears his name just for sportsmen and designed it to be lighter, faster, and easier to use than the military sling. It was the favorite of the likes of Elmer Keith and Jack O’Connor, the latter saying, “The Whelen sling is, for my money, neater, lighter, and more practical for a hunting rifle than any two-piece sling.”

The Hunter Corporation still makes a traditional leather Whelen sling that I’ve found to be quite nice, although the instructions that come with the thing are rather vague at best. Andy’s Leather makes a model called the Rhodesian Sling that I see as a kind of quick modern evolution of the old Whelen sling.

For many years, my favorite shooting leather was the Ching Sling, named after its developer, Eric S. H. Ching, a Cooper Gunsite student who really did build a better mousetrap. The Ching sling requires three rather than just two mounting points, i.e. sling swivel studs; forward, amidships, and aft. This allows the sling to form two separate loops, the front loop being the shooting sling, and it only takes a moment to stick your arm through and cinch it up even as you’re dropping into your shooting stance. For me, I found the Ching to be able the fastest sling to use in the field.

Since many shooters would rather not install a third sling swivel stud on their favorite rifle, there are also some fast, modern two-point shooting slings. Wayne van Zwoll swears by Brownell’s Quick-Set Latigo ® sling (“Pull down-snap out”) but I have yet to try one personally. Galco makes their modified leather Safari Ching sling to work with just the customary front and rear swivel mounts and more recently introduced their web RifleMann shooting sling. I’ve just ordered Todd Dow’s R2 Riflecraft nylon sling to try out; he seems to have put a great deal of thought and practical use into developing his R1 and R2 slings specifically for field shooting. I believe Magpul is also making a quick 2-point shooting sling now as well.

groups - Copy (2).jpg

No matter what rifle or sling you use, you need to verify with live fire at the range whether or not a tight shooting sling has any effect on your rifle’s point of impact downrange. Some of the cheap injection molded synthetic stocks found on modern factory rifles are just not stiff or stout enough to handle the pressure of a shooting sling, twisting or flexing enough to change the pressure against the barrel even way back at the lug. The factory synthetic stocks that came on my Savage Model 111 Trophy Hunter XP and my Remington Model 700 SPS were not up to the job. I reinforced the Savage forearm with old aluminum arrow shafts and Accra-Glass and made it work. I took one good hard close look at the Remington SPS and just replaced it outright with a Hogue full bed block overmolded stock.

If you are serious about sling shooting, you may also find some rifles put the front sling swivel stud too far forward to get the best out of a shooting sling. Townsend Whelen called for the front stud to be located 12-1/2 to 15-1/2 inches in front of the trigger, depending on the shooter’s height and built. He was 6’2” and liked his front stud 12-1/2 inches forward of the trigger.

When it comes to learning how to properly use the shooting sling, I highly recommend investing a weekend at an Appleseed Program shoot or bootcamp conducted by the Ramseur, NC-based Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA). Their Appleseed marksmanship “boot camps” are held in just about every state in the Union and teach all the basic rifle marksmanship skills as well as the shooting sling. Best of all, they use reduced size silhouette targets fired at 25 meters so you only need a .22 Rimfire rifle and ammo to learn on. I’ve attended three Appleseeds and feel like they did a better job teaching BRM than Uncle Sam’s trade school did back in the day.

You can find a lot of resources free on-line to get you started learning on your own. A few good ones I found in the Internet Archive include the old United States Marine Corps Rifle & Pistol Marksmanship guide from the ’03 Springfield era and the US Army’s M1 Garand-oriented How To Shoot the U.S. Army Rifle. Two of Townsend Whelen’s books are also available there, The American Rifle and Suggestions to Military Riflemen. You can also watch the 1942 U.S. War Department training film Rifle Marksmanship with the M1 Rifle.

On paper, still my favorite medium, Whelen’s The Hunting Rifle, Jack O’Connor’s book by the same name as well as his Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, and Jeff Cooper’s Art of the Rifle all give detailed step-by-step instructions on field positions and sling shooting.

My calendar only has two seasons; hunting season and waiting for hunting season. So this summer could be a good time to learn about, experiment with, and get in some practice with the shooting sling on your favorite game-getter or even your .22 gopher whacker to see what it can do for you.
 
Now this was a good thread. The OP talked about vegetation interfering with the prone position in the field hunting. Couldn't be more correct but get into the right position in prone with a good open view and it about as steady as it get's. What I did to by pass that problem is learned to fall into a sitting position naturally but prefer cross legged. Doesn't take a lot to learn to do it either! I seldom ever shoot off hand hunting and seldom kneeling. Between the two If there is something for me to lean on and those are my choice in shot's, I take the off hand every time, leaning on something.

Great thread!!!!!!!!
 
It seems that you have neglected details on two very critical issues.



First the rifle should be held in a state of isometric tension with one third of our energy pushing it forward, that is actually what reduces recoil, and two thirds pulling it firmly into our shoulder.



Next,,,and please checks the sitting position drawings in “Cactus Jack O’Connors” books. Note that the point of the rifleman’s elbow should never be directly on the his knee, as is shown in several of the pictures offered in part two.



This is unstable.



Rather the flat of ones arms above the elbow should rest against the flat of ones leg below the knee.



This is exampled in the photo of the shooter positioned with only one knee on the ground.



To really get into this position one’s back must be able to roll over much more, have a loose back muscles and very little belly. Having a pot belly makes this position difficult and puts stress on the diapram which transfers to the lungs and labors breathing,





Over the decades I have invented my own shooing position I call “Double 3 Point”.



I made a set of shooting sticks with three 5/8” diameter oak dowels that are 48” long. They are held together top and bottom by very strong bands cut from motorcycle tire tubes. The lower band is cut ½ wide for extra strength and the upper band I cut at 3/8” width so it rolls up and down the three sticks easily for height adjustement.



I then sit on my heels with my knees spread, This is the second “3 point”. I then use the Whelem sling to connect to the spread home made shooting sticks tripod.



I also install screws in the end of each stick, cut the heads off leaving a sharp point which sticks right into most surfaces to grab into the ground for immediate stability.



With practice I can assume this position in well under 5 seconds. It is ferociously stable and accurate and adds about 6 inches in hieght over the regular sitting position.



I used to do a lot of plains and moutain hunting and so rigged with my standard weight pre 64 model 70 in 270 so many game animals from elk to deer, boar and antelope died cleanly at ranges which would have otherwise been impossible.

These three sticks also serve very well as a walking stick


Thank You for this post.



MR.
 
Your stick system sounds interesting and would seem to be rock solid, Mustangs. I incorporated a set of ski poles with the handles passed through the opposite poles' wrist straps a couple times to firm up my sitting position on a couple of long shots and that worked in similiar fashion to yours.

And you're right, I didn't mention the importance of getting past the knee to elbow contact. Getting kinda old and stiff and fat these days so my sitting position ain't what it once was. I usually have to go with the cross-legged sitting position on flat ground to help negate my Dunlap's Syndrome, i.e. my belly dun lapped over my belt buckle.
 
When I'd drop into a sitting position to shoot, I found I'd always end up with one foot under my butt and sit on that foot. Just seemed easier to hit and every bit as stable. A kind of sitting/kneeling position.
 
When I'd drop into a sitting position to shoot, I found I'd always end up with one foot under my butt and sit on that foot. Just seemed easier to hit and every bit as stable. A kind of sitting/kneeling position.
For over 15 years I had an active shootong course on National Forest Land. I was discreet,left not any visible sign of my acivity. It wax rather like shooting golf course and i kept records of score in various postions. I fast walked it uphill and shot offhand at about 60 yards for my last of 6 setups. This was my hardest place. At the rare times when any hikers or dog walkers showed up, I stopped shooting immediately

All my targets went back into my backpackevery visit. I was like a ghost

I learned so much on that course and even had a moving target on some old telegraph wire going to a forest fire lookout station. I used a few small pully wheels and my target came zipping down the hill and ran flat and fast for about 30 yards.

I practiced all three of Jack Occonnrs style of leads for running shooting. That came in very handy as i began taking close running shots.

All was well for 15 years until some long range shooters cut the fence,came in with a truck illegally, marked up the land, set up big tagert that stayed there and scared some folks walking their dog shooting over a draw they could not see into.

In the end, the forset service banned shooting there, quite justifed I must admit.
 
For over 15 years I had an active shootong course on National Forest Land. I was discreet,left not any visible sign of my acivity. It wax rather like shooting golf course and i kept records of score in various postions. I fast walked it uphill and shot offhand at about 60 yards for my last of 6 setups. This was my hardest place. At the rare times when any hikers or dog walkers showed up, I stopped shooting immediately

All my targets went back into my backpackevery visit. I was like a ghost

I learned so much on that course and even had a moving target on some old telegraph wire going to a forest fire lookout station. I used a few small pully wheels and my target came zipping down the hill and ran flat and fast for about 30 yards.

I practiced all three of Jack O'Conners style of leads for running shooting. That came in very handy as i began taking close running shots.

All was well for 15 years until some long range shooters cut the fence, came in with a truck illegally, marked up the land, set up big target that stayed there and scared some folks walking their dog shooting over a draw they could not see into.

In the end, the forest service banned shooting there, quite justified I must admit.
That is the pits. I shoot on public property only and never leave a trace myself. About the only moving target's I shoot at are birds and with a shotgun. I have killed a few game animals running but I could darn near reach out and touch them!
 
Losing public land to shoot on is a very real worry and I'm sure most of the people here on HT have cleaned up someone else's messes. Now I'm lucky enough to have a next-door neighbor with a thousand-yard range but in the past I often shot on isolated sections of state land where I had a butte or a steep dirt bank as a backstop. Cardboard targets attached to cheap U-posts driven it at various ranges measured with the range-finder, out to 500 yards, and shot from field shooting positions; sling, backpack rest, improvised rests. When I was done I would pick up everything but the bullets, and I'd pick them up too if I happened to find any. But twice I've had to pick up darn near a truck box full of garbage and shot-up junk left by others.

I remember when the Forest Service closed down the Hyalite area outside of Bozeman to shooting. We used to completely fill a dualy 1-ton stake-bed with trash every Monday morning up there. Not long before it got shut down, I had chewed out two guys I came across who were up a back road shooting cans and bottles with SKSs. Their targets were lined up on the top of a mostly dirt ridge behind and below which was the MAIN ROAD, so any misses and high rounds were impacting there. They were totally oblivious to where their rounds were going.
 
Awesome thread - thank you!
Now I'm off to Amazon to find some of the books listed here.
*tips hat*
Have a great day.
 
Losing public land to shoot on is a very real worry and I'm sure most of the people here on HT have cleaned up someone else's messes. Now I'm lucky enough to have a next-door neighbor with a thousand-yard range but in the past I often shot on isolated sections of state land where I had a butte or a steep dirt bank as a backstop. Cardboard targets attached to cheap U-posts driven it at various ranges measured with the range-finder, out to 500 yards, and shot from field shooting positions; sling, backpack rest, improvised rests. When I was done I would pick up everything but the bullets, and I'd pick them up too if I happened to find any. But twice I've had to pick up darn near a truck box full of garbage and shot-up junk left by others.

I remember when the Forest Service closed down the Hyalite area outside of Bozeman to shooting. We used to completely fill a dualy 1-ton stake-bed with trash every Monday morning up there. Not long before it got shut down, I had chewed out two guys I came across who were up a back road shooting cans and bottles with SKSs. Their targets were lined up on the top of a mostly dirt ridge behind and below which was the MAIN ROAD, so any misses and high rounds were impacting there. They were totally oblivious to where their rounds were going.
I have seen many places where shooting was banned on public land. The problem continues to be the irresponsibilty of shooters.

For many years my close friend was a the District Ranger for USFS. He was and is a lifetime shooter/hunter and committed to having a place where gun owners could shoot on public land The problems however created by the shooters,,,especually starting fires with military steel bullets, were so great and so continuous that shooting had to be forever closed in his district.

Now retired,,,even he does not have a place to shoot.
 
When shooting a rifle, the weakest links in the system supporting the weapon are the muscles and joints of the human body. As long as the rifleman’s off-hand elbow is supported, the shooting sling binds the rifle to the shooter so that it is supported entirely by bone and leather rather than relying upon ever-changing muscle tension to hold it steady.

View attachment 184067

The loop sling goes hand in hand with the proper field shooting positions such as kneeling, squatting, sitting and prone, and offers a very significant advantage in steadiness to all of them. Sling shooting does require one to learn how to properly assume these shooting positions, which in itself is a big plus when it comes to marksmanship in the field. Some positions can be rather uncomfortable when assumed for the first time, but the nice thing is that practice is cheap. You can practice looping up, assuming the position, and going through the remaining marksmanship basics (natural point of aim, breathing, sight picture, trigger squeeze, etc.) with dry-fire. That’s why the old school Marine Corps spent days teaching boots to “snap-in” before they fired a live round.

View attachment 184068

One caveat already briefly touched on; the shooting sling can only work its magic if one or preferably both elbows are firmly supported by the ground, other body parts, or some improvised rest. With neither arm supported, the so-called Hasty Sling sometimes used in the standing or off-hand position does not really contribute anything to steadiness in shooting. It's more or less just to secure the sling and keep it from swaying in the breeze.

The sling is of course very solid in the prone position, which is itself the steadiest of all shooting positions. Elmer Keith opined that he could get better groups prone with the sling than he could from a bench rest. I wouldn’t go that far but I have come close. I’ve done some very good shooting from the prone position but all too often, even when antelope hunting out in the big wide-open, I find that intervening vegetation or micro-terrain prohibits shooting in the prone position more often than one would assume, but it should naturally be utilized whenever it is “do-able.”

The kneeling position isn’t nearly as solid as the sitting position because it still leaves you with one elbow flapping in the breeze, but it is still hugely preferable to the standing or off-hand position. Teddy Roosevelt, who fully realized he wasn’t the world’s greatest marksman, was a firm believer in automatically taking a knee whenever he sighted game to increase his steadiness over the off-hand stance. Over the years, I’ve also conditioned myself to instinctively and immediately drop into the kneeling position as well. If the range is fairly short and I need to take the shot right there and then, I’m much more stable than I would be standing. If time allows, I will continue on down into the sitting position…”If you can get steadier, get steadier.”

Sitting has long been my hands down favorite and the most useful shooting position in the hunting field, especially in hilly or mountain terrain. Jack O’Connor, Jeff Cooper, Duncan Gilchrist and others have all written that they took the majority of their successful hunting shots from the sitting position, more than all of the other positions combined. Just guessing, but looking back I would estimate I’ve taken something close to two-thirds of my hunting shots from that position, using the shooting sling and/or improvised supports, and have benefited greatly by doing so.

To quote O’Connor again: “In most of the big game hunting I have done, the queen of all positions is sitting. It puts the line of sight high enough so that it can be used in high grass and low bushes. It can also be used on a hillside. It is much more flexible than prone and can be used nicely for running shots whereas prone generally cannot. If used with a sling, sitting is a very steady and practical position.”

The USGI Model 1907 sling still works fine as a shooting aid but, as noted, it isn’t the fastest thing in the world to properly loop up with. Often when I did use it, I tended to be seated on a hillside waiting for game to appear at dawn or dusk, so I could loop my arm up in the sling, then raise the muzzle and rest the butt on the ground and relax. When I assumed my shooting position, it tightened back up nicely.

Fortunately, much faster alternatives to the USGI sling are readily available these days. Versions and adaptations of the old Whelen-type sling are still alive and well. Townsend Whelen created the sling that bears his name just for sportsmen and designed it to be lighter, faster, and easier to use than the military sling. It was the favorite of the likes of Elmer Keith and Jack O’Connor, the latter saying, “The Whelen sling is, for my money, neater, lighter, and more practical for a hunting rifle than any two-piece sling.”

The Hunter Corporation still makes a traditional leather Whelen sling that I’ve found to be quite nice, although the instructions that come with the thing are rather vague at best. Andy’s Leather makes a model called the Rhodesian Sling that I see as a kind of quick modern evolution of the old Whelen sling.

For many years, my favorite shooting leather was the Ching Sling, named after its developer, Eric S. H. Ching, a Cooper Gunsite student who really did build a better mousetrap. The Ching sling requires three rather than just two mounting points, i.e. sling swivel studs; forward, amidships, and aft. This allows the sling to form two separate loops, the front loop being the shooting sling, and it only takes a moment to stick your arm through and cinch it up even as you’re dropping into your shooting stance. For me, I found the Ching to be able the fastest sling to use in the field.

Since many shooters would rather not install a third sling swivel stud on their favorite rifle, there are also some fast, modern two-point shooting slings. Wayne van Zwoll swears by Brownell’s Quick-Set Latigo ® sling (“Pull down-snap out”) but I have yet to try one personally. Galco makes their modified leather Safari Ching sling to work with just the customary front and rear swivel mounts and more recently introduced their web RifleMann shooting sling. I’ve just ordered Todd Dow’s R2 Riflecraft nylon sling to try out; he seems to have put a great deal of thought and practical use into developing his R1 and R2 slings specifically for field shooting. I believe Magpul is also making a quick 2-point shooting sling now as well.

View attachment 184069

No matter what rifle or sling you use, you need to verify with live fire at the range whether or not a tight shooting sling has any effect on your rifle’s point of impact downrange. Some of the cheap injection molded synthetic stocks found on modern factory rifles are just not stiff or stout enough to handle the pressure of a shooting sling, twisting or flexing enough to change the pressure against the barrel even way back at the lug. The factory synthetic stocks that came on my Savage Model 111 Trophy Hunter XP and my Remington Model 700 SPS were not up to the job. I reinforced the Savage forearm with old aluminum arrow shafts and Accra-Glass and made it work. I took one good hard close look at the Remington SPS and just replaced it outright with a Hogue full bed block overmolded stock.

If you are serious about sling shooting, you may also find some rifles put the front sling swivel stud too far forward to get the best out of a shooting sling. Townsend Whelen called for the front stud to be located 12-1/2 to 15-1/2 inches in front of the trigger, depending on the shooter’s height and built. He was 6’2” and liked his front stud 12-1/2 inches forward of the trigger.

When it comes to learning how to properly use the shooting sling, I highly recommend investing a weekend at an Appleseed Program shoot or bootcamp conducted by the Ramseur, NC-based Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA). Their Appleseed marksmanship “boot camps” are held in just about every state in the Union and teach all the basic rifle marksmanship skills as well as the shooting sling. Best of all, they use reduced size silhouette targets fired at 25 meters so you only need a .22 Rimfire rifle and ammo to learn on. I’ve attended three Appleseeds and feel like they did a better job teaching BRM than Uncle Sam’s trade school did back in the day.

You can find a lot of resources free on-line to get you started learning on your own. A few good ones I found in the Internet Archive include the old United States Marine Corps Rifle & Pistol Marksmanship guide from the ’03 Springfield era and the US Army’s M1 Garand-oriented How To Shoot the U.S. Army Rifle. Two of Townsend Whelen’s books are also available there, The American Rifle and Suggestions to Military Riflemen. You can also watch the 1942 U.S. War Department training film Rifle Marksmanship with the M1 Rifle.

On paper, still my favorite medium, Whelen’s The Hunting Rifle, Jack O’Connor’s book by the same name as well as his Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, and Jeff Cooper’s Art of the Rifle all give detailed step-by-step instructions on field positions and sling shooting.

My calendar only has two seasons; hunting season and waiting for hunting season. So this summer could be a good time to learn about, experiment with, and get in some practice with the shooting sling on your favorite game-getter or even your .22 gopher whacker to see what it can do for you.
Question... does the “anti vibration “ on the barrel really work? I looked into them a long time ago..
 
You asked about the Limbsaver X-Ring vibration dampener on my rifles. Amazingly enough, I've had pretty good results with them. It started out with an old 180-series Ruger Mini-14 I had forever but never shot because it was like a 3-4 MOA rifle with any ammo. Finally figured I could afford to try a $10 piece of rubber on the barrel and damned if it didn't tighten that Mini-14 up to right around 1 MOA. The results weren't so dramatic on the bolt-action rifles and you have to play around a little with positioning to find the "sweet spot" but they still tightened up my groups to varying degrees, enough to notice the difference for sure. For ten bucks, it ought to be worth a try on your rifle IMHO.
 
That is the pits. I shoot on public property only and never leave a trace myself. About the only moving target's I shoot at are birds and with a shotgun. I have killed a few game animals running but I could darn near reach out and touch them!
Man that sucks, are we going to be able to shoot anywhere anymore?
 
Man that sucks, are we going to be able to shoot anywhere anymore?
25 years ago a 100,000 acre widfire was noteworthy. Last year in the west there were two wildfires that approached 1,000,000 acres. So much of the Forest Service funding is going to fight fires now, district rangers have little choice when moisture levels get critically low.

Add in the trash,broken bottles shooters leave behind and there will just be more ad more closures
 

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