Shotgun slings? Yes or No?

[greyhound]

Had an interesting conversation with a buddy today. We were talking about putting a sling on a HD/skeet shooting shotgun not used for hunting. I figure why put a sling on it if you never have to really tote it around, but his opinion was ya never know, what if there's some civil emergency and you have to "take to the hills" carrying all you can.

Any opinions on the usefulness of a sling on a non-hunting shotguns?
(as you can tell, I'm not really familiar with the "shotgun culture")

 

[Dave McCracken]

Here's my take on this....

My HD shotgun wears no sling in the house. These can get tangled at a terribly unfortunate moment. But, it has QD studs and there is a sling nearby.

Every Home Defense weapon is a Community Defense weapon when needed as such. A sling is essential for this.

 

[Lennyjoe]

My Winchester 1400 has a sling on it.

I use the sling when Im deerhunting with the slug barrel.

Take the sling off when the 28" barrel goes on for bird hunting/skeet shooting.

For home defense, if I had a shotgun for that purpose it would not have a sling on it.

 

[Mannlicher]

My really pretty guns, like my Browning A-5s, do not have slings. My Remingtongs, and mossbergs all have sling studs, and slings, which I use or not, depending on the task.

 

[Dave R]

My favorite hunting buddy has a sling on his Mossy duck-hunting pump. When walking to and from the blind, I see the obvious advantages.

His walk-around upland SXS has no sling, though.

 

[El Tejon]

A sling is to a shoulder weapon as a holster is to a pistol.

You'll never find that on the SATs though.

 

[WJR]

Dave,

What kind of sling do you recommend as a standby? Do you like the tactical type as sold by a Wilson/Scattergun or the plain nylon, a padded one??

Thanks in advance,

WJR

 

[BerettaNut92]

I prefer the old plain-jane type of slings. I have a Singlepoint for my Benelli but haven't gotten the chance to use it much since.

The 3-point slings can be used as a regular sling but create a mass of nylon if you don't use it as such.

YMMV as 3-points bang against my knees and jewels and the Singlepoint works for me, but people like Flory can't use Singlepoints for the same reason and prefer the 3-point. Go figure.

'tactical' type slings may be bad manners on a skeet field

 

[C.R.Sam]

I like a sling for foot powered transport of shotguns.
Not for using the gun.

Sam

 

[Gewehr98]

HD/Field gun has sling...

Slung fairly tight inside the house, so as not to get hung up at the wrong moment. Outside the house, if it's not in my hands, it's slung over my shoulder.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

The sling that came with my Marine Magnun is still in the little plastic baggie in the box it came in----my camo Nova has a camo Browning sling on it------different tools for different jobs.

 

[chadintex]

If one needs to transition to handgun, a sling is a big help. My HD Mossy wears one as do my field guns.

 

[WJR]

chadintex said: If one needs to transition to handgun, a sling is a big help. My HD Mossy wears one as do my field guns.

If that is the case, do you need a tactical sling as Wilson indicates in his catalog? I am just not familiar with using a shotgun with a sling. I am really just learning about shotguns in general and trying to flesh out my likes/dislikes.

WJR

 

[chadintex]

I just use a regular black nylon sling, not too tactical, but gets the job done.

The transition is done by slinging the SG onto the weak hand shoulder while drawing a HG stronghand. Pretty easy afer a while, but practice makes perfect.

 

[Brian Williams]

Yes sling, I have a sling on my HD/turkey/ whatevergun. it is a quick adjust sling pull one strap and it gets bigger, pull the other and it tightens up.

I have the same sling on all of my long guns.

 

[El Tejon]

WJR, I dislike "tactical" sling with their busy straps and rattling metal. I replaced the tactical/schmatical slings on my Wilson/ST "FBI Models" with plain nylon slings.

In transitions I do a Charlie or scramble if I need both hands. YMMV.

 

[WJR]

Thank you for the tips, gentlemen. I appreciate the information and I plan to do some more research on the issue. I saw a couple of slings at Wal-Mart on my last visit. I will have to give them a once over next time.

WJR

 

[combat effective]

Do you carry a handgun without a holster?

 

[Dave McCracken]

WJR, slings here vary from the old military type(O3 Springfield) to newer nylon and synthetics. None are 3 point, I'm behind the curve on that one. None make noise when moving, most of my stuff doubles for hunting. Favorite for hunting is a cobra style leather one. Hooked to my Panic Box is a standard Black nylon strap from Uncle Mike's. I suggest this one for general usage.

Also, I'm one of the last folks living it seems, that knows how to use a hasty sling in the field for slug work. This slows up repeat shots with a pumpgun, but oft a more accurate first one obviates the need for more.

 

[Zak Smith]

I mainly use my shotgun for 3Gun. For the shotgun or rifle, if I will have to transition to the pistol during the stage, and the stage description does not specify what to do with the long-gun, I will just run it with the tac sling (V-Tac adjustable) and the "safe" it and drop it when I'm done with it.

-z

 

[CWL]

I've given this lots of consideration as well and have chosen a Unckle Mikes short sling with plastic furniture. I like this short sling because I can draw it tight for HD and not have any hanging straps to worry about.

For field use and training, a strap comes in more than handy.

Knowing African carry transitions will allow you to move your shotgun out of the way to let you access a handgun, or just free up your strong hand.

 

[WJR]

Dave,

As always. Thank you for your input.

WJR

 

[El Tejon]

CWL, do you have time for Afrikan carry in going for pistol? Doesn't the gun sliding around on your support arm bother/distract you?

It does me, that's why I Charlie or scramble depending on circumstances.

 

[CWL]

El Tejon,

Dunno, never needed to find out. Just like this method of firearm control, beats dropping or hanging shotgun as deadweight off of arm while transitioning to pistol.

Yeah, I'd be moving too.

Now that you point this out, my SG is really for home SD applications, so a dropped SG will most likely be recoverable after the conflict. But I still don't like the idea of potentially leaving a firearm on the ground for any BGs to find (and may use against me).

 

[Jeff White]

I have an Eagle Industries Tac sling on my M121 Benelli. It's quiet and relatively easy to get in and out of. I wouldn't use any long gun, rifle or shotgun without a sling. The comparison to a holster for your pistol is correct.

If I get a different shotgun or do any more mods to the Benelli, I'll change it to a singlepoint type.

Jeff