volume 11.4

Terry Wieland’s On Shooting

Dick Murray’s adjustable sling is even simpler than the ‘Latigo,’ consisting of
a single strap with a buckle that slides easily to adjust the tension, yet locks
instantly in place. It is available in different lengths, to fit individual rifles.

I love ‘em. But then, I’m a North American with a vaguely military background who was taught that a rifle without a sling was only partially clad. Many hunters who grew up in Africa are anti-sling. This dates back to the days of gunbearers who normally walked in front, carrying the rifle on their shoulder with the muzzles pointing forward. The hunter could reach for the rifle and be ready to fi re in a heartbeat. A sling was but an encumbrance to get tangled up in things.

Europeans have yet a different attitude to rifl e slings. Most rifles and even shotguns have a sling attached – usually a long, non-adjustable looping strap that allows the gun to hang horizontal at waist level. Next time you see a painting of a gathering of hunters in Germany, standing around a fire smoking their pipes, look to see where the muzzles are pointing. I have stood in such a group, staring down the muzzle of a gun everywhere I turned. Better no sling at all than a sling like that. Ideally, a sling on a rifl e serves two (but only two) purposes: It is used to carry the rifl e on the shoulder, leaving both hands free and giving the arms a rest; it can also be looped around the arm to help steady the rifle when firing.

A properly fitted sling can be lengthened instantly to the right tension for carrying or shooting, or snugged up tight to keep it out of the way when stalking through the bush. Of course, the term ‘properly adjusted’ demands that the sling be adjustable, which many European straps are not. The sling in America is descended directly from the leather military slings of a century ago. These consist of two pieces of leather – one long, the other longer – with brass hooks, a brass slide, two keepers and a gazillion holes. When assembled correctly, it will open up with a tug, close with a tug in the opposite direction, and lock in place wherever you leave it.

Colonel Townsend Whelen modified the design and simplified it considerably to create the Whelen sling, which became dominant. For years, Brownell’s has made and sold their ‘Latigo’ sling, which incorporates features of the Whelen but is simpler still, with fewer adjustment holes to puzzle over. The soft latigo leather gets better with use, and I have four of them – two of which are pushing 20 years old. Dick Murray, the Texas leather-goods maker, has a sling of his own design which is just one leather strap fi tted with a buckle that slides freely but locks in place, allowing instant adjustments.

Over the years, many enterprising young inventors have looked at the rifl e sling and found it wanting, and set out to make their fortune with a design that would solve all the ills of the world. Most focus on the inadequacies of the human shoulder as a carrying mechanism, and come up with some complicated arrangement of straps that open up into a harness like a backpack. One I came across in 1986, called the Viper, allowed the hunter to carry the rifl e slung diagonally across his chest. When he saw an animal, he could bring the rifl e to his shoulder