Hi all,
This pattern is originally Cedarpole's. These instructions were given to me and eert by him three (?) years ago when we first did a shoot. We built the slings and they have been used by either us or loaned out to students at nearly every shoot we have been to since.
The first photo (841) is of the two buckles I got at a local fabric store. The flip buckle is marked $2.00, and the other one was under $1.00. I can't find the price on it. I used 4 feet of 1" black webbing for the sling, also from a local fabric store.
The second photo (842) shows the finished sling with the Uncle Mike's 1" quick detachable swivels (Model 1461-2 specifically for the 10/22 that fits the front barrel band) that can be found at any local sporting goods store. It fits together exactly like the GI sling.
Photo 843 is a bit out of focus, but it shows how the webbing is sewed to the bar buckle, again, just like on the GI sling.
Photo 844 is a side view of the flip buckle and how the webbing fits through it. It allows the webbing to slide just like the GI sling does, and the flip buckle allows you to grab the end of the webbing and lift it to open the buckle for easy adjustment just like the GI sling does. Note that I folded the end of the webbing and sewed it making it bulky so it can't come back through the flip buckle. I could have simply seared the end of the webbing, but I didn't want the buckle to open accidently and have the webbing pull out and result in a dropped firearm. Incidentally, I sewed the bar buckle on the webbing first, and then assembled everything and tested it to ensure I had the flip buckle facing the proper way, and that the screw side of the sling swivels would be on the side most easy for me to put on the gun quickly. Then when I had everything correct, I sewed the bulky end on the flip buckle last. This required that I put the sling swivels on the sling while making it, and means I can't take the swivels off the sling without taking the stitching out of the bulky end.
The total cost (excluding the sling swivels) was less than $5.00 so they make a good low cost alternative for the 10/22s. You can sew the webbing on any sewing machine, or just by hand with a needle and some thread.
If you have any questions or comments, please state them in a reply.
Roland
Thanks for posting this!
I went a similar route for my first event, but made a few mistakes.
Make sure you use the correct webbing. I used tubular climbing webbing because it felt better. Slipped a fair bit, and had to shave the hardware to work.
Some webbing has more stretch then others. Don't worry about this if you use the same setting each time. Mark your straps for each shooting position.
Use the widest strap and hardware you can get. The wider it is, the more comfortable it is. You will be wearing this all day. Do not forget to have wide enough hardware on the rifle.
Good ideas. Might have to try that for one of my lesser riles.
You can pick from lots of different hardware and webbing widths/colors/designs from here:
http://www.strapworks.com/ (http://www.strapworks.com/)
I've made a few slings out of material I got there.
Josh, that strapworks site looks cool. Might have to order up some 2'' stuff to make a bigger sling for my AR.
What does everybody think about possibly putting this in a more accessible place on the forum? I think that plenty of people have no idea where they could get a GI sling like we recommend, and you can build one of these in about ten minutes for pretty cheap.
Thoughts are appreciated, everybody.
Roland
I feel like we should have a "rifle accessories" section of the forum... Then maybe have a few sticky threads for things like replacements for the GI sling and suppliers for those building custom slings.
As a side note, I've been using StrapWorks.com for building my custom sling prototypes and they've been great!
Sam