TargetTalk

I am starting off again after 40 + years away and have questions? I am going to shoot air rifle in 3 position. I have the rifle and a glove I need a sling, but do not know what is best they all look the same to me. Any help would be great also a handstop to go with the sling. Is it the more you spend the better the equipment is ?

MontereyJack wrote:I am starting off again after 40 + years away and have questions? I am going to shoot air rifle in 3 position. I have the rifle and a glove I need a sling, but do not know what is best they all look the same to me. Any help would be great also a handstop to go with the sling. Is it the more you spend the better the equipment is ?

Well not really - it may be the more you spend the better technically it is but it may not fit you as an individual.

Re slings I'd advise you get a fairly simple synthetic sling to start with and see how you get on with that.

Hand stop really depends on your hand size and where you place your hand on the stock. I personally like my anshutz handstop, but others like the MEC ones. I would advise you get a small 'button type' stop and not one of the wide sculptered models. Small is better and gives a better contact and more comfortable position. I can't think of my model number, but if you do a search on handstops here, you'll find a fairly recent thread discussing them.

<edit> a few threads down, this thread
viewtopic.php?t=22328
will be of use - but there are others

Rob.

MontereyJack wrote:I am starting off again after 40 + years away and have questions? I am going to shoot air rifle in 3 position. I have the rifle and a glove I need a sling, but do not know what is best they all look the same to me. Any help would be great also a handstop to go with the sling. Is it the more you spend the better the equipment is ?

you should get a champion sling from champion's choice http://www.champchoice.com/detail.aspx?ID=2585 thats the hand stop that would be the best

Ya, the $165 one, must be gold plated, really help you get some center shots there. Maybe if you have a sponsor.

If you order from Champion's Choice the below are their numbers for decent equipment.

I would go with either the CC2525 for $27.50 or the CC4748 for $17.00
Both will be just fine, and they come with sling swivel.

They should work for most air rifle rails. Some domestic .22 rails may be a little different, as I think there is the Winchester width rail, but most air rifles should be standard and these swivels will work on 95% of the rails out there.

Sling is your choice, probably the CCS35, for $40 is a nice 1-point sling. Can be used for International or NRA competitions.

I don't like the synthetic ones as they seem a little sticky to adjust to me, but maybe if you put some baby powder on them they would slide easier. I have had some experience with the 2-point synthetic in NRA National match, the sling keepers don't slide very easy on them, personally, I like a good quality leather sling.

Mark Skeels

Jeffcaron5371 wrote:

MontereyJack wrote:I am starting off again after 40 + years away and have questions? I am going to shoot air rifle in 3 position. I have the rifle and a glove I need a sling, but do not know what is best they all look the same to me. Any help would be great also a handstop to go with the sling. Is it the more you spend the better the equipment is ?

you should get a champion sling from champion's choice http://www.champchoice.com/detail.aspx?ID=2585 thats the hand stop that would be the best

Shooters that are doing alot of competition shooting are using the synthetic instead of the leather slings know days as they won't stretch. The synthetic slings will give more support then a leather sling. There are a number of choices for synthetic and you can get some synthetic slings and you maybe able to find some synthetics that are about the same price as the better made leathers. The main difference in the more expensive models is in construction of the sling. If you look at the slings you can see that it takes more work into constructing a synthetic versus leather sling. You can see this in some of the more expensive synthetic slings. I like the Sauer slings, but if you don't want to spend the extra money and your not going to shot very much then the leather or cheaper nylon slings will still work.

The hand stop is something you will have to experiment with as some shooters find some of the cheaper one's to pain full to use and they will tend to use the one's that have more vertical length. I like the hand stops made by ESP and FWB. Champion's Choice make one similar to the FWB, but for some reason for me it still doesn't feel as comfortable as the FWB.

My handstop is the 4752 anschutz model, that's on the champions choice website and is certainly very comfortable - for my hands.

I wouldn't advise the 4748 mentioned above, it's too small and the sling will likely pinch your hand unless you have tiny hands, the 2525 looks ok though - but also steer clear of the 3535 models, they're too big and wide.

Rob.

Thank you for you many replies. I was looking on the internet I fund one that looked interesting. This sling had a wire holding the arm cuff part and the hand part. I found this in England, but not an outlet in the us. Anyone know what I am talking about or has used one.

MontereyJack wrote:Thank you for you many replies. I was looking on the internet I fund one that looked interesting. This sling had a wire holding the arm cuff part and the hand part. I found this in England, but not an outlet in the us. Anyone know what I am talking about or has used one.

There's one on here somewhere - you'll need to search recent threads on prone or slings or some such. I would personally go for a more simple synthetic sling to start with and if you experience problems then consider getting something else - as long as it solves the particular problems you experience and that simpler solutions haven't worked.

Rob.

Is the this the HPS AKTIV-flex sling? www.hps-tr.co.uk

This sling is designed to avoid the sling touching the stock (illegal under ISSF and NSRA rules), which can sometimes be a problem for smaller shooters (less space between rifle and sling) or those using aluminium stock with slim fore-ends (such as the System Gemini stocks made by HPS). The wire section is much slimmer than a conventional sling, and should overcome it. I beleive Truttmann offer a similar product (possibly in conjunction with Bleiker?).

I used one for a couple of years as I used Gemini-stocked rifle and then shot with a heavy cant. I found the sling to be sturdy and well made; the buckle that secures the arm cuff is quite similar to a Kurt Thune. I swapped over to a conventional synthetic sling last year, as changes to my position meant that I didn't need the wire section. I also found the forward strap to be too short so the bolts securing the wire dug into my wrist; this may not be an issue for others, particularly smaller shooters but it was a factor for me.

I'd say that unless you find the sling catching on the stock/triggerguard, you don't need the HPS sling, there are simpler and cheaper synthetic slings that will work just as well.

Tim S
Exeter UK