Rifle sling positioning??

[.Skinner.]

Hi all

Just a quick one - recently I thought I'd treat the .22lr to a couple of accessories - a nice harris bipod and a rifle sling. I fitted the bipod first and it's great (9-13 inch tilt, swivel, notched leg jobby), then the sling, but after putting it over my back, it doesn't sit right. All of the weight up the front end, I guess from the bipod and sound mod, makes the rifle want to slide back and down (hope your starting to see what I mean, kinda hard to describe!!) so the rifle can end up at a 45 degree angle away from my back, which is clearly not ideal!!
I'm sure others have come across this problem - the rifle is a synthetic stock which probably doesn't help, making that end very light. I know there are other ways to position the rifle (e.g. muzzle down), but I much prefer it just slung over my right shoulder pointing skyward! Any suggestions?!? I'm also thinking ahead to when I purchase my first deer rifle (hopefully soon), as I will probably go synthetic again, and maybe have a bipod on that too! And the Tikka T3 synthetic stainless I handled in the gun shop the other day was VERY front-end heavy with the mod on!!

Cheers!!!!

 

[04MAL]

2 options spring to mind, Niggeloh make a rifle sling which is split to enable it to fit at an angle on your back on a similar idea to a rucksack, it comes with quick release clips also.
Or muzzle down, a much safer and easier option IMO

 

[yogi_bear]

i had the same problem, it feels as though its pulling away from you all the time, so I now wear it upside down like a shotgun slip.

Alternative is to use sling and shooting sticks and take off bipod completely. sticks tend to be a cleaner option (standing up) rather then diving into muddy ground or cow pats as my mate used to do to use his bipod, much to my amusement

 

[jim from accy]

had a similar problem with my .270, moderator and bipod digging into my shoulder, now carry muzzle down, much more control over where the dangerous end points.

 

[Overlay]

Yep had the same problem, now I carry my .223 left hand shoulder muzzle to the ground, makes it a lot lot easier and feels safer for anyone with you and to shoulder the weapon as well - as always safety first, I find the muzzle down perfect in most situations wight ratio is a lot better

 

[Mr. Gain]

I prefer muzzle up (pace the muzzle-downers!), but with a moderator fitted it really isn't practical, so most of my rifles are carried muzzle down when slung. It's not only cartridge rifles either, as my buddy-bottle pneumatic prefers to be slung muzzle down too.

 

[User00003]

take the mod off, problem solved! .22lr makes hardly any sound anyway.

I messed around with carrying muzzle down, but found you can now and again knock the bolt handle so that before you shoot, you have to reposition it back down in the fully locked position, I didn't like that at all, but it depends on how firm your bolt locks I guess.

I also found that when muzzle down, I could't quickly kneel, crouch, etc. due to the likelyhood of sticking the barrel in the ground, which had a negative impact on my stalking technique and agility in the field.

I now carry my .22 with no mod and shoot off sticks, which works pretty good. the stalking rifle for roe no longer wears a bipod, as I found 80% of my shots were off sticks, over walls, up fence posts, sitting, etc. etc. it will NEVER wear a moderator. my hill-rifle will be wearing a 9-13" harris S type bipod with notched legs. This will not wear a moderator either. I carry it muzzle up.

I can see the benefit of carrying muzzle down if you're walking around woodland and not kneeling or sitting much, where the ground is reasonably flat and you don't have to worry about plugging the barrel. It's also faster and smoother to get a rifle into your sticks from a muzzle down position.

maybe a nice wide shoulder strap will stop it sliding, or put some rubber lining on the inside.