Positional Slings & Hunting

[EastCOYotes]

Is anyone using positional type of slings while hunting, specifically while using a bipod or tripod?

I have an SAP positional sling but only use it to carry my rifle on my back when walking into a coyote stand. Once on the bipod or tripod my sling just hangs beside the gun.

admittedly I’m not well practiced at all shooting with this sling. With a stable platform like a bipod/tripod is it worth the extra complexity to get locked into the sling as well?

I like to keep things simple but I am packing in a positional sling that I know isn’t being utilized.

 

[Zigjib]

Yeah mate.
Personal opinion, Slings have become far too complicated. I have the SAP on my SPR. I've gone back to just an MS1 sling. No loose straps and buckles to get caught on shit and dig into me and ruin my hike. Not picking on SAP, all modern slings are like that for some reason.
WRT "clipping in" to the tripod, the short answer is that it depends on where your tripod is mounted.

The theory that resulted in "clipping in" was that if the pivot point (where the tripod mounted) was forward towards the muzzle, we could have larger movement at the rear of the rifle (shooter error), and smaller movement at the front. That's basic maths and shit yo. The problem was, that the CoG of the rifle was towards the rear. This caused the rifle to want to tilt backwards, particularly under recoil, but as this was discovery phase in tripod use, most camera tripod ball heads of the time couldn't support the sorts of weights that precision rifles are. So the rifle would cause the ball head to tilt backwards under weight. We have less angular effect on the muzzle, but we have now incurred instability due to the weight. The solution here was to attach the sling and pull the muzzle end down to off set the balance. NOW, modern era, we have guns and equipment that allow attachment of the tripods closer to the rifles CoG and ballheads that can support this sort of weight. In that instance, by clipping in, what you are doing is actually causing the same problem of the older style mounting, but instead of the butt dipping down, now the muzzle is being pulled down by the sling. Thus, sling clipping in went away.

TL;DR, if you mount your tripod way out front, clip in. If you have a modern setup, just make sure it's tight and at the CoG of the gun.

 

[EastCOYotes]

That was actually super helpful, much appreciated for the detail and the history lesson. On my tripod I have a hog saddle on top of an RRS leveling head and always mount the rifle as far forward as I can without magazine interference. On most of my guns the balance is pretty good there and the stability is good while shooting.

Maybe my SAP sling will get some real use if I find some stands where I’m rested across a rock or log and not using my tripod.

 

[Zigjib]

That was actually super helpful, much appreciated for the detail and the history lesson. On my tripod I have a hog saddle on top of an RRS leveling head and always mount the rifle as far forward as I can without magazine interference. On most of my guns the balance is pretty good there and the stability is good while shooting.

Maybe my SAP sling will get some real use if I find some stands where I’m rested across a rock or log and not using my tripod.

Too easy mate.
Sounds like you've already got the best setup. I run a similar setup.
The SAP sling has the quick cuff section towards the forward portion (captured by the clip buckle). If you are shooting off a rock etc such as you mentioned you can slip your arm through, cinch it all down and get a lot of stability. Unsupported shooting has gone away alot in the precision world for some reason, but it's still a good skill to have. You can find some good video's on unsupported sling shooting

 

[Emerson0311]

Too easy mate.
Sounds like you've already got the best setup. I run a similar setup.
The SAP sling has the quick cuff section towards the forward portion (captured by the clip buckle). If you are shooting off a rock etc such as you mentioned you can slip your arm through, cinch it all down and get a lot of stability. Unsupported shooting has gone away alot in the precision world for some reason, but it's still a good skill to have. You can find some good video's on unsupported sling shooting

Yes. I tend to be either/or for positional sling use versus a tripod for hunting. I don’t find a sling helps much if the rifle is clipped into a tripod. My overall body positioning solves the tripod challenges pretty well.