I see that there has been some discussion about home brew slings so here is my tutorial that I wrote up a while back. Doc

This might not be quite the way it was done in the field but, it looks pretty good when finished.
I thought I might do a little write up on the way I made my field expedient sling that I've got on my 653 clone.


I started with a general purpose sling that has multiple uses in the military.


I started by Dremiling off the snap hook on both ends.


I then take a piece of 550 cord about 12" long and feed it through one end of the sling.



With a piece of the inner cord from another piece of 550 cord, I then tie and wrap the overlapping ends of the 550 cord.



I then feed the tied ends into the end loop on the sling to hide the tied ends and to give it a more finished look. This becomes the end of the sling to be used at the front sight base.


For the butt end, I take another piece of 550 core, this time about 20" long. I feed it through the end of the sling and loop it back through the end a second time.


The front end must be attached first by feeding the looped end of the sling through the FSB and then passing the entire sling through the loop.


The butt end can then be fed through the stock and tied with a square knot.


When it's all done you've got a nice wide sling that's good and quiet because the metal clips have been removed.

Doc

DocMike,

When you secure the ends of the paracord by tying and wrapping it with an inner cord, I am assuming finished product is strong? It doesn't really look it.

I've got some paracord and some GP straps, maybe I should just try it and not second guess!

I like it.  

I've never had one come loose yet. This might not be quite how it would have been done in the field under combat conditions but, it gives it a nice finished look.

Doc

What about melting the ends & tied guts all together? You'll be hiding it anyway.

Good write up Doc. The last time I seen this I did not have any straps, or para cord. I've got both now, although my para cord is woodland, not OD.

ETA: Just made one up, pretty simple. I melted the ends like I asked, cause I was having a heck of a time holding the guts (white cord) tight & the para cord loop while trying to tie the guts together.

I melted the ends of mine and used a square knot.
You can still get it under the material, although it is very tight.
I felt better about my knot skills than trying to duplicate Doc's method.
My IDF (carry carbine) has one of these slings.
Although it very rarely gets taken out of the trunk of my car except at the end of the day.
I built another for my 635 build (Should have it complete in a couple of weeks) and replaced a 3-point tactical sling with one for my M4gery.

Good info, thanks.

HK send me your mailing addy,,I just picked up 300 feet of OD paracord...
ETA,, Thanks Doc for repostin,,I was hoping you would chime in....

It's no problem reposting this at all. I've got the entire post saved to a CD so all I have to do is copy the whole thing and paste it into the thread. I'm glad that you guys can use the information and modify it to your own needs. The first one I made I tried to tie it with a square knot and then squeeze the knot into the sling loop but it was just sewn too tight and that's when I went to the lashed method of tying the 550 cord.

Doc

In my experience, paracord on a FSB will melt if you use the gun on funamatic.

I just WISH I had to worry about that kind of thing

Doc

Its horrible I tell you.

Its horrible I tell you.

If I had that kind of money, I could afford platinum paracord...

Hey do you guys have a source for GP slings?

I have recently had good luck with finding the older cotton GP straps at clothing sales at a couple of different army posts.  Just brought three back from my TDY in Korea, one at Hood alittle over a month ago and one from Leavenworth back in the summer.  Also most Army surplus stores will have them, most will be the newer nylon ones but you might luck out and find an older one.  Drop me a line if you dont have any luck finding one.

greap tutorial OP!..

i like to up tie my "field expiedent" GP strap slings a bit different:

i like the lashing method the OP shows i'd thought of doing it similar to that way myself, with the difference of melting the ends then using needle and thread to sew the ends instead of lashing them. lashing is a great idea though! but here's what i came up with in lieu of sewing or lashing as i think it is a bit quicker, and i just like the way it looks...

i start by measuring off 2ft of 550 cord and ofcourse using a bic lighter to melt the ends, as well as using a pair of light bolt cutters to split and remove the metal hardware clasps from the GP straps...
* next i feed one of the ends through a sling swivel, any suitable anchoring point, through a front sight base, or around an AR carbine stock(in this instance you may want closer to 2 1/2ft. of 550 cord) etc..
*  then with both ends pulled to the same equidistance i fold both ends back near the attachment point, fold, loop and run through completing double thickness simple knot near the attachment point.
* next i leave about 3 inches of distance and tie another double thickness simple knot several inches from the loose ends.
* after that i run one end of the 550 cord from the left and one from the right, crisscrossing each other through opposing sides of the sewn loop in the GP strap.
* next step is to cinch the GP strap back against the simple knot and gain as much loose 550 cord as possible and tying another double thickness simple knot at the very end of the 550 cord(there won't be much left and it will likely be a chore to tie the knot), this leaves a nice finished end.
* the final step is to fold the knoted end back between the loop on the GP strap and the second double thickness simple knot, leaving a nice finished look(IMHO)...

note that you will probably have to tie and untie, rejudge the distances and placement of the knot and try agin, this does take a bit of trial and error before it will look and feel right!.
i can't take pics of the whole process or shoot video and upload to youtube(i would if i could) so props to the OP, his is probably a much better tutorial. however, i'll take and upload a pic of the finished product, and you folks can see another variation, you have to love options!..

new close up...

older photo...

this is actully a different gun, they now look a bit different, but they are a matched pair(not consecutive numbers though)...


K.

Hey Kar,I'm lookin forward to pics to see what ya got,,sounds good to go! I use a chisel and 3 lb hammer to cut the clips off myself,,1 shot on the vise makes them pop like a zit..I also have 2 other types of slings I'm toying with using only paracord.1 uses total of 6 lengths and I weave it,looks nice when done,but have not figured a way to have a sleek clean end at the stock..The other one I'm calling the oh shit sling.It's a funky knotting and tied clean at the stock end.Loops on the front site like the others do.It takes anywhere from 16 feet for a shoulder carry sling to over 20 feet if you want a usable ready sling.I call it the o shit sling as its a survival sling.If you get into a situation where you NEED 16 feet or more of paracord,you just untie the bottom knot and pull.The whole thing will unravel... Toying with the idea,but been using up the 550 on the gp slings...Yea,,your right,I got too much time on my hands...

it's a lousy pic, it does look better in person, and is about as good as i could do with my cell phone camera. i also don't currently have any other weapons in my apt. it turns out with one of these slings on it right now other than the mossberg. i just took the closeup, and am reposting the other pic i put up earlier...

as said above, this is full wrap around a standard plastic foot ruller(up the front, down the back, and snip, 24" total, melt and tie). this also works well on an AK sling swivel or an AR FSB, but you need a couple more inches if you're going to go around the stock on an AR or something similar. as with anything else, it's trial and error...

hope someone enjoys and gets some use out of this...

i'll poke around, i know there was at least one thread over in the survival forum about weaving and or braiding a sling out of paracord...

K.

Looks good!!,,and ohhh,I'ma scared to leave this forum.I hear nuttin but bad stuff happens out there!!!Here are the 2 I'm playin with.Top is the weave,bottom is the o'shit sling.Bottom one not including the loop and tie string is 36 in long,but takes 16 ft of cord to make it.Untie the bottom knot,pull and it unravels.

well i was going to go look for the tutorial, but it looks like you don't need it!..

nice looking work!..

K.

Man, I love that braid look you are doing. You need to do a little write up and post how you do it.

I'm glad to see others posting their ideas for making slings. My original post was by no means meant to be the only way to do it. I know that in reality my way is probably not the way it would have been done in the field because it would just take too long to do. I just did mine that way because it give you an nice, finished look. Just a couple of loops tied on would be more realistic. On my last one I did I was able to pull the knot on the butt end into the sewn end of the strap so no knots are visible.

Doc

No,called them and they told me they only have the nylon ones.

^^^^^
, all those nylon straps i've mentioned... sportsmanguide...

ordered three different times, all nylon each time...

K.

I ordered mine maybe a little over a year ago and I got the cotton ones. Would anybody be interested in swapping a nylon one for a cotton one? I'm working on my Black Hawk Down rifle and I think the nylon would look a little more modern (maybe too modern?) than the cotton one that's on my 653 clone.

Doc

ETA: I love this place. I already have a trade pending.

^^^^^
hit me up if it falls through or you want more, i'll be you're huckleberry...

K.

This is cool.  I'm pretty sure I've got some of those carry straps in the basement.  Thanks.



ETA - Found 10 cotton straps, brand new.

A double-fisherman's knot is the right knot to use to tie the paracord loop. Much stronger than the whipped version and won't work loose like a square knot.

DocMike,

Great directions.  I used your guide to put a field expedient sling on the XM177E2 I built today.

As soon as I take some pictures, I'll post them.

Thanks.

David

Excellent post!!  Does anyone have a link to the braided nam era para cord sling instructions? That should have been tacked!!

I don't know exactly how to do it but my girlfiriend did a piece of 550 cord for me.She took three pieces of the same exact length and braided them just like hair.After you braid then you leave enough length to tie to the FSB and buttstock.

I like the looks of this sling, and it is a inexpensive alternative to some of the new high dollar tacticool slings.



One question though are you looping the sling across your body, or are you just using it as a shoulder carry sling?

They are long enough to do both. Email sent you.

As promised, here are the pictures of my XM177E2 and field expedient sling.



My cat wasn't impressed with my knot tying ability.

Thanks for the email.  I'm not sure if I wanna start collecting retro parts, my wallet can't handle it.

Taggitty Tag

Good looking cat, makes great como to cover that ticked selector........

Since replaced.  The selector, not the cat!

David

I do everything like DocMike except I actually sew the end pieces together with olive drab nylon thread.  Don't see how it could come apart.  Thanks for original post.  I gave a few away at x-mas with 20 rd mags.  I thought it was a cool thing to do.  A couple tacticool friends were a little baffled.  Only sling I like better is my modified M-60 sling and that's on my heavy rifle 8 lbs.  Most military surplus stores have old cotton straps for $2 in my area.  I usually pick mine up at funshows though.  Seem to find better condition if I look.

....................

BTT before it archives

Bump

Great thread. Here's a way to keep the sling from wanting to spin on the stock attachment point or the rifle wanting to can't or twist when you hang it. Basically attaches just like the front, exept I ran one piece back thru the stock slot. I also used a fishermans knot and melted the ends before hiding it inside the sling.

I played with the GP strap for a while a few years ago, never really liked it, it was too big. The standard web sling is too short to use as an assault sling.



I was gonna braid some paracord to make a FES. I ended up just making a knotted paracord sling. I started by taking two pieces of 550 cord, 6 feet long, and parelleling them. Then I knotted one end, and placed the knot under the barrel between the bayo lug and sling loop. Then I tied the cord together again above the gas block, and again behind the front sight block. So if the barrel melts the cord, the FSB is still holding the sling.



Then I tied knots every 8 inches or so to keep the sling together, and tied the other end to the CAR stock.



I like to be able to get the sling out of the way when I'm not using it. So I grab the middle of the sling, put it through the carrying handle, then through the FSB, and then under the sling on top of the handguard. It holds itself down that way.

Guys, I know this has been covered before but can someone show me the technique for attaching the rear of the strap to an A1 buttstock? I know it involves soaking the paracord but I can't find decent pics with the appropriate knots.

TIA

I havent seen that one before, link to said crappy pics?

BTT

Don't want this to get buried.  

Just ordered a set of ALICE pack straps off of eBay - I didn't want to hack up my actual old ALICE pack - lots of memories in that old thing!  

Going to make myself an old-school VTAC for my RO723/727 project.  

~Augee