KIT&GEAR: SLINGS

SLING YER HOOK!

“THIS MONTH’S MISSIVE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY BAGELS, CHEESE AND MARMALADE!” ACTUALLY IT’S BROUGHT TO YOU BY FRENCHIE WHO TOLD US THAT HE IS POWERED BY THE DELICACIES ABOVE, FOCUSSING HIS MIND ON THE MANY YEARS HE’S BEEN AROUND AIRSOFT! THIS MONTH HE TURNS THAT FOCUS TO SOMETHING WE ALL NEED AND USE, SLINGS!

Airsoft is a great pastime for teaching you new skills; tactical skills, co-operation, camouflage and convincing yourself that you’re having fun when you are p*ss-wet through and it’s blowing a gale. I’m going to add an additional skill to this short list - sewing. Yup, good old needle and thread skills. If you don’t have them, learn them. You don’t need anything fancy but the ability to securely fasten bits of material together is a bit of a godsend.

To understand why I think this is the case, it’ll help if I tell you I was thinking about writing about slings this month. Now whether or not I can do so for the necessary number of words remains to be seen, but what’s life without a challenge? Being willing to rip things apart and rework them to suit your RIFs and your playing style is more than just handy, it can make a real difference to how well any given RIF works for you.

When I started playing, I didn’t really care too much about slings, in truth I struggle to remember what if anything I actually used. There is also a strong argument for always having your “long” in your hands, and if you do that, who needs a sling, right? I also suspect that the variety of slings was a deal more limited than it is today and the quality leaned towards the amateur end of the scale. There were also good reasons not to sling some of the earlier airsoft guns; Marui M16s were notable for their flexibility at the barrel/receiver joint and stressing this with a sling could be a very expensive mistake. I do however have distinct memories of taking a standard three-point sling, most likely a Viper or some such, and ripping it to bits to create a sling for my very first F1 Famas. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the F1, it has excellent fixed sling loops at the butt, and nothing at all at the front end. Actually, that isn’t quite true. There is a very proprietary connection on the bipod hinge to which the real sling attaches, but I don’t think anyone I played with at the time had even seen a real FAMAS sling. (As an aside, just before I left airsoft retail, I was given a genuine FAMAS sling by a friend. Foolishly, in an act of misguided kindness, I lent it to a young player with a FAMAS, and reminded them to return it. They never did, and so if you’re out there and happen to read this: Bast*rd!).

Back to the past; my solution was to unpick large chunks of the stock sling and create an attachment point which went around the front of the FAMAS’s distinctive handle. This involved a degree of sewing and the result was rock solid and served me well through a number of these guns. My own stitching skills never stretched to major alterations to clothing of tactical gear and I can’t use a sewing machine. I wish I could, I could probably have had a nice sideline in customising gear for players. As it was a lot of my needle time was directed to making slings more useful.

THE CIRCLE OF SLINGS

Just like most players over a period of airsofting I have worked my way through the various stages of sling: The awful one that came in the box; the marginally better one I bought online, my first three-point sling, a good three point sling, a single point sling, many

much better single point slings and finally towards the end of my playing days, a simple two-point sling. Sort of a circle of slings I suppose.

Of those, my favourites were the single and the two-point varieties. I don’t mind three point slings but the only one I truly like, and own, is the L85 issue sling. I used that a lot on Benelli shotguns and a few other things and it works exactly as it should, but I came to feel that as a style it was awkward as you were essentially strapped inside it.

Single point slings were an eye opener as a result, simple in construction and simple to use. It was also the first time I had used a sling where I had the confidence to just let go of the gun, knowing that if I had adjusted it properly, no harm would arise. I can’t remember if I went truly minimal and used only a short strap attached to a MOLLE vest, but I might have, and I also don’t think I did the ‘round the neck’ or threaded through the vest so that it hung centrally. Ultimately there were a couple of factors that dragged me away from single points although I still had at least one Magpul in my collection right up until the end.

Firstly, the single point sling works best with an AR15 platform. Simply swap out the end cap if necessary for one with a loop and away you go. Which is great if you use ARs. I generally didn’t. Putting a single point sling on an AUG or a P90 is a bit trickier. The P90 was resolved by the fabrication of an end strap which went round the butt and had an attachment loop. The AUG was never resolved to my satisfaction. Secondly, the fact is, unless the rifle is already short, it’s quite difficult to have a single point of suspension right at the butt without the danger of the muzzle dragging in the dirt. For the record, I’m not short so it isn’t simply a height thing; in order to work properly single point slings need a bit of slack or you can’t shoulder the gun.

A further minor issue was that when I released the rifle, it would generally hang by my right side. Since releasing it generally meant I was going to my sidearm and I’m right handed, this was a bit of a nuisance.

TWO POINTS OF CONTACT

The solution I finally arrived at was to use a long, two point sling. As I said I shot off my right shoulder so the sling went under my left arm and over my right. I could run it fairly slack without any danger of grounding the gun and when released it dropped across my chest or even round to the left, clearing my right hand side completely. It’s length made putting it on and taking it off easy and I just found that it worked for me. I could apply the basic principle to any rifle, even if I still had to make up attachment points or tweak the design depending on the gun in use.

Once I started doing this, I didn’t go back. This basic sling would handle anything from my PKM down to an MP5 or UMP. It was simple, functional and comfortable. I think the only concession to anything was a quick-release buckle at the muzzle end which in theory made it easy to disentangle me from my gun should the need ever arise. It even had a kind of casual cool about - at least I thought so!

So, in answer to my own question - yes I can write sufficient words about slings. The only advice I would offer regarding them is quality does make a difference; a Magpul or SpecOps sling is far better made and more functional than a £10 three-point sling, and finally, if you think it can be made to work better for you, learn some basic stitching and do it, regardless of how expensive the sling was. Getting it right can make a real difference to how you play and how easily you can use your rifle, whereas fighting a sling is nothing but unnecessary grief. (Thanks to SpecOps and Magpul Brands for a couple of the images. I used their gear a lot and still swear by it).AA