Max Velocity TacticalHere are some things to consider about the use of slings.
I have no experience of using a sling as an actual aid to marksmanship, other than with .22 target shooting in the cadets at school. This post is not about that. I would suggest that it is not an option unless you are set up in a static position, in the role of a sharpshooter.
There are a lot of slings out there on the market, from three point , two point to single point slings. Consider what it is that you want from your sling before making a purchase i.e.base it on practical considerations and not the ‘tacticool factor’.
I still have an issue British SA80 (L85) sling. It goes very well on my M4/AR15. It is officially a two point sling but a buckle un-clips to make it work like a single point sling. I like it, so much so that I just found a civilian vendor and ordered another three from the UK.
I have used a lot of sling configurations, and primarily I preferred the SA80 sling. I mostly do not have the sling over my body, and just carry/manipulate the weapon without one. In the PARAs there was a time when slings were frowned upon and were not used at all. That changed when it was mandated that slings were to be used, and often the sling would be put on the weapon but tightened up so it was out of the way.
Part of that ‘old-school’ logic for not using slings was that a soldier should always be carrying and in control of his rifle. It is of course useful to have a sling on your rifle for when you are doing other things and have to use your hands. Its even useful in the chow line, to be able to sling your rifle on your back.
One of my pet hates is the slinging of weapons on the front in the ready position, but not holding it. Like when you are in the chow line! It kind of sits there, like an accessory. To me, you are either in control of your weapon, or you are in the chow line and put it on your back. Its not an accessory. I try not to be a fundamentalist about anything, I have always found that to be an unhelpful mindset, and I am always open to new tactical ideas, but unless anyone can point out a decent excuse for that, I’ll stick to my opinion.
One of the very good reasons to have a rifle slung to your body is to prevent it being taken. This has happened before and is a primary risk in any kind of fight/mob/civil disorder/riot situation that you may find yourself in. So it is a good idea to be able to sling the rifle to your body, just not in a way where the sling is tight and you are not yourself manipulating and controlling the weapon. That’s why I like the SA80 sling, because when you unbuckle it the weapon is free but if dropped will go to your side like a single point sling. If buckled, it is like a traditional sling and can easily be placed on your back to free up your hands.
I am not trying to sell these slings here so I am sure there are others that mimic this same purpose!
Now we are getting closer to the real purpose of writing this post, but not quite yet: I already mentioned using a lot of different sling methods. One that was really convenient was to use a simple web strap/buckle arrangement attached to your gear on the right shoulder that clips to the stock of the rifle. This is a very efficient single point sling that allows the rifle to hang by your side. It is very good if you are doing operations that involve checkpoints or similar, because it allows you to let the rifle hang while you look at IDs, or whatever.
However, at one point, I got more into being a medic. That was when the light came on. If you kneel down to deal with a casualty, or a similar action, using a single point sling, and take your hands off the rifle to do something else, then the muzzle of the rifle is in the dirt. The rifle will also hang around and bang around. If you take part in a CASEVAC carrying a stretcher, or an improvised one, your single point slung rifle will bang around your hips.
That is why I like to have a sling that I can use as a traditional two point sling where I can put my rifle on my back. That gets it out of the way if I have to kneel and do something, like care for a casualty, or climb, or similar. I can then put the rifle back on my front and either continue to use the sling (unbuckled) or just take it off my body and free-hand the rifle.
There is another aspect to this. On a long patrol you may be tempted to rely on the sling because you are carrying your rifle in the low-ready position, which is insisted upon like an article of faith in the U.S. Military. When you do the low ready for a long period of time, your lower non-firing hand wrist is twisted out and begins to hurt. You will then either let the rifle hang on the sling to relieve the pain, or you will change your grip and even put your hand on top of the rifle, or grip the front sight. That will impact you negatively if you have to react to contact. It’s lazy and its cheating.
It was primarily my experience in the US that led me to get first a VFG and now an AFG. Because if I have to carry my rifle in the low ready position, this relieves pressure on my wrist and allows me to correctly carry the rifle, without relying on the sling or changing my hand position, and allows me to be ready to react to contact.
I will tell you now that in the British Army, and on my other experiences on operations, we did not use the low ready position, at least not to the same degree. Rifles were carried more horizontally. There is a another article of almost religious faith and that is about flagging your buddies. Although we did not flag our buddies, we also did not worry about it too much, and threaten to get into fights if ever a muzzle went anywhere near anyone else. A lot of that is to do with trust in the safety and weapon handing of your buddies. If you are not actually listening to what I am saying, it would be tempting to come back and say that I am not safety conscious and advocate flagging. Not so. I am very careful in the safety procedure on my ranges so that muzzles do not flag others. I use the low ready. We are Americans after all, in the US!
2 PARA Afghanistan – note the closest guy with the 240, slung only over one shoulder for rapid deployment.
I was asked this question in comments copied here:
The other side of it is that in a team there is trust, and you should be competent enough to be trusted to apply the correct safety procedures, and not endanger your buddies. You should be competent with your weapon and safety. There will be times when the lower part of a buddies lower leg, as you say, gets swept. Just make sure your safety is on and you finger outside the trigger guard as you patrol.
So on the one side you don’t intentionally flag your buddies, and on the other you are safe with your weapon handling.
The low ready is actually hard on the wrist for long patrols. Often people will carry their weapons in a more horizontal position. Machine guns, like the 240, are not carried in the low ready but in a more horizontal position. You don’t sit or stand there pointing it at your buddy, but sweeps will happen.
What I don’t like is the fundamentalist attitude of wanting to get into a fight every time it happens. A guy rolled on me, I was stood behind him on the range this weekend doing safety, and he swept his rifle back down range over me as he did so. Did I lose my temper? No. I just told him to watch his muzzle if he was going to do that again.
So on the one side there is safety and being responsible,,and on the other there is safe weapon handling and trust. The answer is in the middle there. If you don’t like what a guy does, say he patrols across from you in a more horizontal position and flags you occasionally, then just have a quiet word and work it out. It doesn’t have to end up with you both rolling in the pit!
British Commandos on Patrol in Afghan. Guy to the rear carries a SAW, two closest guys with SA80 A2.
So what am I really saying here about the flagging thing? When on the ranges you must be careful to keep your muzzle down (or up, if that’s the way you do it) and never flag your buddies as you are moving between positions. That is backed up by always having your safety on and your finger outside the trigger guard while moving. When you are out on patrol/operations, you will also never intentionally flag your buddies, but given the realism of weapon carriage there will be times when parts of your buddies bodies are ‘swept’. Be realistic, have trust and be mindful of your weapon safety: safety on and finger outside the trigger guard.
U.S. Army Paratroopers Afghanistan.
In an experience with the US Army, I had once taken a rifle out of the armory, cleared it, put the safety on, and had it on a table in the team room while I fitted a sling to it. A guy walked in, past the muzzle on the table, and decided to get all feisty with me. Apparently he was going to knock me out if I ever flagged him again. Really? I could not help but laugh at him. Silly man. It’s that kind of attitude, and the thoughtless almost religious faith that goes with the flagging thing, that I am referring to.
Controversial as usual, just how I like it!
Live Hard, Die Free!
MV
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