Does anyone use a shooting sling with big bore rifles? I have used Ching slings on smaller caliber rifles, and I am thinking about an andy's leather Rhodesian sling for my whitworth .375. I am little concerned with how it handles the recoil, as you are not really squeezing the rifle hard into your shoulder. Given the rifles some of you guys shoot this may seem silly.

i use slings on all my 416s and 458s. I carry on left shoulder , muzzle down. When I bring the rifle to shoulder i am already wrapped in sling. I do not remember whether i learned the from Finn Agaard or Ross Seyfried but have been doing it since the early 70's.

quote:

Originally posted by Sean Russell:
i use slings on all my 416s and 458s. I carry on left shoulder , muzzle down. When I bring the rifle to shoulder i am already wrapped in sling.

I use the same sling methodology...

Even off of sticks, you will be quite pleased with how steady "slinging up" will make you. That is, if you are practiced at it.

Learned that method from John sundra's writing, been using it since the 90's. There's no reason you can't pull the butt into your shoulder using the method described above. It does however help to pull forward with the forward hand, and back with the shooting hand, keeps everything tight

Its called the "hasty sling", its effective but not as much as wrapping up in a Military sling.

My approach to a sling is a large loop under forend of a military sling (3/4" commercial)I carry like Sean states above, but I run my arm through the loop off the forend and force my hand to the front swivel, its prefitted tight as can be..its fast and as accurate as wrapping up in a military sling, albeit its basically the same wrap, just a little faster to get into...incredibly accurate for long shots

That said, I don't ordinarily use a sling in Africa..I do carry a strap sling in my gear in case I have to help drag something to the road and need to sling the gun while doing so or when Im totally exhusted...

IMO, barrel band swivel slings don't work well for shooting, they are designed for carry..Shooting swivel only work when installed in the forend on a free floated barrel..Ive sighted in rifles on many occasions then shot them with both options and they invariably shoot low with a barrel band, if one can live with that then fine, I cannot..same with swivels in the wood, IMO the barrel needs to be free floated to make them work properly. but rifles are such a inity unto themselves and so are people it has to be to each his own. Learning the hard way can be the best way for that matter.

ray

Thats why i had you put the front swivel on the stock and not on the barrel. and move the rear swivel forward.

I will disagree that military sling works any better than a proper "hasty" sling.

My whitworth has the sling swivel mounted on the stock. I have no idea if that means it is an earlier or later manufacture. What years were the whitworths produced?

Id be just as happy to have a piece of cotton rope in my pocket for emergency as a real sling..

I got some real hoorawing from some friends in elk camp over not liking a sling, so when thee came in from hunting one evenng, I had taken a piece of barb wire stuck in on my rifle as a sling and stood it where all could see!! They deemed me the meanest bastard in the Selway, and nick named me Sling blade ray...That was a fun hunt, something funny happened every day.

Bye the way---

Ray i still absolutely love the 2 stocks you made for me--

quote:

Originally posted by Sean Russell:
i use slings on all my 416s and 458s. I carry on left shoulder , muzzle down. When I bring the rifle to shoulder i am already wrapped in sling. I do not remember whether i learned the from Finn Agaard or Ross Seyfried but have been doing it since the early 70's.

As a kid with a new .270win 700BDL I carried my rifle left shoulder down too. Saw this technique in an article in Gun Digest of mid to late 60s, or maybe American Rifleman by one of the Williams' of Williams Gun Sight co.

This was long before Agaard or Seyfried were in print.

Thank you Sean..It was fun project and a bit different, a little hard to do and I was sorta flying by the seat of my pants..

quote:

Originally posted by Colin Masters:
Does anyone use a shooting sling with big bore rifles? I have used Ching slings on smaller caliber rifles, and I am thinking about an andy's leather Rhodesian sling for my whitworth .375. I am little concerned with how it handles the recoil, as you are not really squeezing the rifle hard into your shoulder. Given the rifles some of you guys shoot this may seem silly.

The Whitworth 375H&H has it's front sling eye on the BARREL! That is not conducive to a wrapped up sling because it causes the barrel to be slightly bent under pressure of the sling being pulled tightly. It will surely change the point of impact on the target. Not the best idea anyone ever had IMO!

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I have the barrel mounted slings on my big bore bolt guns..I only use the sling to carry the rifle, and only then when I need to get it out of the way to do something like drag or pack an animal to the truck..While hunting DG and most game for that matter, there is only one place for my rifle and that's in both hands. The barrel band swivel was never intended to be used as a shooting sling...