Rifle Sling WIP

[amcardon]

Hey guys, not sure if it's alright to post this but I figured since the forum name is "Sheaths & Such" that I should hopefully be alright

Anyway, I just purchased a new rifle and it needed a sling. I haven't ever made a sling so I started looking around the internet and found some that I liked the look of and "borrowed" some aspects of slings that I found (after I asked the designers if I could use their designs, of course!). Anyway, it's been fun so far, and I have a long way to go still, but just wanted to post what I have so far, and I'll keep updating as I go. I'm hoping to finish her soon.

Anyway, here's a couple shots of where she's at right now:

I spaced on taking earlier pics, but who wants pics of the pieces, right? This is at the first "assembled" phase to make sure everything is the length I'm going for before I start stitching/tooling/dying etc... By the way, I'm using 8/9oz veg tanned leather and am still deciding whether I want to pad with foam or wool but won't be able to get to the store till Monday to either pick up some thinner leather for the back or some wool scraps, so that will be fun to decide what to do.

Also, if anybody has any critiques on this (especially things I should change before it's too late!) please feel free to comment. I've made a couple dozen knife sheaths and about 50 hanging strops for straight razors but I know my stuff is still just mediocre. Maybe someday I can hang with the big dogs!

 

[amcardon]

I did some VERY simple tooling on the sling today and cut a piece of suede to use as the backing. I'm going to try a couple different methods as I decided to make a couple slings and see what I like best (just not sure what to do with the other slings when I'm done!) and this one is going to get a suede back stuffed with high density foam. This will be a first for me, stitching stuffed leather, so it should be interesting...

 

[amcardon]

All dyed, I am really liking Antique Gel Stain lately... I started with black in the recessed areas, let it sit for a minute and wiped the high spots with a damp cloth and then hand rubbed burgundy into it, let it sit and again wiped it. I like the distressed look, which was exactly what I was going for (if you couldn't already figure that out by the tooling).

I had lots of elk suede on hand so I decided to go ahead and finish this one (I think I'm going to go with wool for the padding of the second sling), so here it is after its final coat of neatsfoot, hanging in the shower since it's nice and out of the way Tomorrow I'll put her on my rifle!

 

[nate1714]

I think that turned out quite well. Looking nice.

 

[Travis E. Daniel]

You should be proud of that. Looks good

 

[amcardon]

And the finished product... Really comfortable and perfect length... Pretty dang good for never making a sling before and not having any measurements/lengths to go by! By the way, for those who are interested, the rifle is a Remington 700 Mountain LSS in 30.06...

Thanks for the comments, here are the pics:

Thanks for playing!