Proceedings of the First Scout Rifle Conference
Held at Gunsite Ranch, Arizona, on 6, 7,
8 December 1983,
under the auspices of the Ekeiboloi
Society
SLINGS
It has long been apparent that a properly designed sling has been out of our reach. The military loop sling works fine, and we all understand it, but it is unnecessarily slow to use. The loop sling, properly employed, increases the hitting potential of the combination by about 30% whenever there is a bit of time available. (There are those who fancy the hasty sling but it was the opinion of the conference that the hasty sling provides no real support for the left arm.) The Biathlon shooters in the Olympics have attacked this problem by a simple snap-ring that attaches to a D-ring on the shooting jacket. This is a classic gamesman's ploy, and we gave it the attention it deserves. It is obvious to any serious shooter that the sling must be self-contained as it rides on the weapon.
Various ideas along this line have been considered in the past without any conspicuous success. We were fortunate at the scout conference in the presence of Ben Burroughs of Montana, who has come through with something that may be a great step forward. In the past we have allowed five seconds for loop-up. The Burroughs sling permits a trained man to loop up in two seconds--and it is not essentially unattractive to the eye. To give it body it is made either of good grade leather (increasingly difficult to find) or of a high grade of synthetic leather. The loop stays partially open at all times and is entered by one motion of the left hand without assistance from the right. Lock speed derives from the way in which the loop tightens under pressure of the left arm without any help from the right hand. The left arm enters the loop fully and is then pulled sharply backward, locking the keeper in position on the upper arm. The Burroughs sling is a startling innovation and three members of the conference, including the designer, are currently at work on placing it into production status.