Posted: 4/8/2007 6:36:14 PM EDT
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My Sinclair Biothane sling has been giving me problems when I attempt to remove it from my arm. The keepers and sling become so stuck together that I have to have someone else using both hands to free it up. Needless to say this is a pain and embaressing when I come off the line. I was thinking I could put a small amount of silicone spray on the keepers and sling to try to prevent the jamming. Any ideas? |
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Tightline, I have always considerd the "stickiness" of the biothane sling to be a good thing. Keeps it from working loose during a string. I came up with a modified way of rigging my biothane sling that you might find useful: Biothane Slling This approach also has the benefit of reducing the squeeze on the bicep similar to a match sling. |
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Here is what I'm wondering. When it gets wet out, at any given match, a normal Turner sling soaks up and swells a bit. It gets really hard to adjust and all, but when its there its good. My keepers are getting a bit loose though. Now, say I were to take two biothane keepers. I don't think they would stretch and lose their tension, but if it got wet... the leather would swell and the keepers would not, am I incorrect? I'm going to avoid doing that until somebody tells me it works. 
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 Is it related to a Nauga? Naugas are on the endangered species list, which is why you don't see too many naugahide wallets anymore. I believe that Biothane is created from both Bald Eagle heads and old tires. That is why they are so expensive. |
| I love my biothane. First, lube it liberally with talcum powder. You'll smell better too. If you rig it in a fairly traditional way (I use both keepers on one side of the frog), you most likely pull on the strap closer to your body to tighten, and you pull it towards you. Loosening the sling can be done one of two ways: if you have a tag end sticking out beyond the frog, pull it away from your body. If you don't have a tag end (my frog is on the last set of holes for prone), grab the outside strap and pull it away from your body. |
| The holes in the biothane sling are round and the frog hooks have a rectangular cross section. On my sling the holes were cut until they were flat and made full contact with the frog hooks. After this, they haven't continued to cut the sling. I considered it a break-in. It could be prevented by having round frog hooks or cutting the holes square instead of round. |
| If you grab the single part of the sling that is connected to the frogs and push it away from your body, the sling loosens right up. I had the same problem until someone showed me. Another thing to watch for is the staples in the keepers, they can come out. Last year at Perry it happened, I went into the only sling place (John Weller) and he fixed me up with a couple leather keepers. They work and loosen much better than the biothane keepers. I ended up buying a leather sling from him for my match rifle, and am real happy with it. I like the biothane for the service rife, and don't see me changing soon, but if I do, it will be another Weller sling. |
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Yes, they rip. When it is too annoying, buy a new sling. I pass my old ones on to juniors who generally don't use the same settings as a fat old man. FWIW, the Turners seem to rip less than Sinclair's, at least for me. Could be wrong, but it seems so. Editted to add: I take a Dremel or a file and soften the edges of the hooks on a new one to reduce tearing. |