Hello,
I am preparing for an appleseed shoot in November, and I ordered an Ammo Garand sling off Amazon. The seller claims that this is the same sling that Appleseed carries. However, the J-Hook is so tight, that even with pliers I cannot open the hook enough to pass it over the sling swivel. Also, the sling is made in such a way that you cannot remove any of the components from the sling. From the videos I've seen demonstrating the use of the sling, the J-hook should attach freely and the components should slide easily off.
Am I missing something? I attached pictures that hopefully show what I'm talking about. Do you guys run ammo garand slings? Do they look like this? Is it nearly impossible to attach the J-Hook without power tools? Are you unable to remove sling components from your sling?
I have about 10 of them for loaners and they work very well.
A couple of tips.
You need to undo the fabric from the two little tabs in the keeper. That will allow you to slide the metal end through the keeper and remove hardware. Doing so will also allow you to use the fabric as a lever if the keeper lock is tight.
I don't always use the J-hook - most times (unless the rifle has a fixed sling mount, like an A2 stock) I remove it and replace it with a detachable swivel that mounts to a stud at the rear of the rifle. So you could go that route.
I can post pics if any of that is confusing.
Yes that is the Ammogarand sling and it will work fine.
The J spring steel hooks are often tight on many sling swivels. To loosen it just take a large, flat bladed screw driver. If you wish you can pad the end of it with some duct tape. Stick the screw driver flat blade into the J hook and twist it a bit to set the hook looser. If it needs to be tighter, you can do that with a pair of pliers or a bench vise.
You should be able to remove the J hook and the cam action sling keeper from the sling. The metal tab at the free end of the sling is pressed on and will sometimes come off. If it should do so, you can press it back onto the end with pliers or a bench vise. The H-shaped metal triglide is stitched onto the end of the sling and is not inteneded to be removed, nor will it ever need to be. But you should be able to slide the sling back through both slots of the triglide leaving it attached to the sling only at its central element. You may need to do that if you want to remove the J hook from the butt stock end of your sling for any reason.
In order to remove the cam lever sling keeper (the thing in the bottom photograph) you need to slide the sling webbing out from under the two little tabs and open the cam fully. The keeper should then slide off the sling. Sometimes passing the free end of the sling with the metal tab through some sling swivels can be a tight fit. You may need to take the tab at the end and fold it back over the sling itself at a 45 degree angle, and fiddle it through some sling swivels. So long as you have a 1 1/4" sling swivel, it should go.