Whether you are a hunter or in the army, carrying a rifle on a sling is one of the most comfortable ways to walk around with a rifle. All the weight is transferred to the shoulder, and you can perform other tasks with your hands. You can walk through very rough roads or walk for long distances with your rifle hanging on your shoulder. It is possible to attach a sling on a rifle with or without swivels. You can choose to buy slings with swivels or decide to purchase slings without swivels. In this article, we will discuss ways on how to put a sling on a rifle without swivels.
Rifle Swivels
Rifle swivels are some of the smallest gun accessories. You might take them for granted, but they undoubtedly some of the essential gun accessories. The sling swivel acts as an interface between your rifle and the sling.
They play a significant role in holding the sling to avoid your rifle from falling off. Most of these swivels are the same size, so if you are assured of their quality, you can use the swivels on different rifles.
Some of the best types of swivel rifles are detachable or removable swivels. You can easily change the swivels if for instance, they are not working perfectly or if you prefer using your rifle without a swivel.
You can sling swivels for all your different shooting escapades and rifles. You can get the swivels for hunting, target shooting and tactical shooting.
How To Install Sling Swivels
Some rifles leave the factory without slings. Luckily, installing the slings is easy, and you can do it at the comfort of your house. One advantage of having swivels is that they make it easy to fix your sling. The swivels also leave your rifle looking neat since the slings are mounted on the swivels.
To install the swivels, you need:
- Sling swivel studs
- Swivels
- Power drill
- Drilling guide
- Thread tap
To fix a swivel:
When installing swivels, you need to consider that you need to install the front and rear swivel. Be sure of the two locations of the swivels to avoid drilling in the wrong places.
- Take the cleaning cradle and place it on a table where you can get a clear view.
- Clamp the rifle facing upside down.
- Check the alignment of the rifle to ensure that it does not shift or squirm.
- Look for a drilling position. Do not drill too close to the toe of the stock to avoid chipping the wood. Also, don’t drill too close to the grip cap, so it does not look goofy.
- After drilling, take the wood tap and screw it into the hole, cutting the threads for your stud and fix it tightly.
- After this step, unscrew the stud and treat the shoulder with a stock finish.
- Seal the wood properly; you can use linseed oil to seal the wood once the oil is dry, screw in the stud, and tighten it.
- Then fix the swivel
How To Install A Sling On Your Rifle
The first step is to have the right tools. These tools include:
- Power drill
- Drillbits
- Tape measure
- Tape
- Superglue/ Loctite
- Hammer
- Paper towels
- Dremel
1. Step two is you mount the gun in the vise. Here, you place the gun upside down with the trigger guard facing upwards and put it in a vise with some padding. Measure your rifle. Rifles vary in size.
2. The next step, ensure you have the screws for mounting the swivels. The shorter screw is meant for the front swivel, while the longer screw is for the back swivel. You should also ensure that the screw is not longer than the stock deep.
3. After this, now you drill the fore-end. When drilling, you need to be extra careful not to crack the wood. Hold the drill as straight as possible and drill a pilot hole with the 1/16″ drill bit first t a depth of 3/8″. One way you can avoid drilling too deep is by using tape around the drill.
4. Then, drill the rear hole. In this step, you follow the previous process but, you will be drilling to a depth of a little over ¾”. Be very careful also when drilling.
5. The next step involves installing the screws. After the holes are drilled, it’s now time to install the screws. Place the screw in the holes and have the small washers installed. You can use the drill bit or small screwdriver to twist it until it is firm.
6. Now, after all these, you are ready to install the actual swivel and rig a sling. For the swivel, you loosen the small grippy knob on the side of the swivel, push it inward and twist. To attach it to the screw, you reverse the process.
How To Install A sling on A Rifle Without Using Swivels
- There are several ways on how you can install a sling on your rifle without using swivels. One way to do this is by letting the slings go around the barrel and around the grip; this method is ideal for the leather slings. This method’s downside is that the sling can slip and drop your rifle if not correctly fixed.
- Another way is by using a stock cover at the back where you can have a tour sling attached at the bottom and well fixed at the top. However, the fixing at the top will be greatly influenced by the rifle type.
- You can also use a barrel and but cups slings. They are mostly used in modern rifles, and they do not require to have swivels fixed.
- You can also use the claw slip-on. These are the best non-slip pads incorporated in a sling. These products are stretchable, and they help keep a rifle on your shoulder without tugging or rolling.
- You can get slings with loops at the end. This way, you don’t require swivels or to drill holes on your rifle.
Conclusion
When buying a rifle, you do not worry much about it not having swivels since we can see that swivels are not very difficult to install. Alternatively, it is evident that you can install a sling on your rifle even without the swivels and have the rifle still functioning well. However, when installing a rifle without really using swivels, you need to be quite careful on the sling choice and the method used to fix the sling to ensure that the sling does not come off.
