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Looking for information on attaching a woven sling to a smokepole. Attachment method does not have to be period correct, I just want something that will look less out of place than the usual uncle mikes Q/D swivels I normally use. Searches have not turned up much for me, thinking I may need to sew on leather ends like I commonly see on the woven straps of possibles bags and haversacks and attach those to my anchor points?
Bill, I've seen two methods that I liked. Both were very similar. The first had loops on either end of the woven strap, one for the front, one for the rear. I don't know if the loops were sewn before or after putting on the rifle but both were very tight. The second used leather loops. Again, they were very tight as if sewn small on purpose and then slipped on. Maybe wetted and allowed to dry in place? The sewn edge was down on the stock and left a little long. The woven strap was then sewn to the leather.
I don't know if they were just really tight or "tacked" on some how. I didn't have the opportunity to handle and examine them.
Hope this gives you a bit of an idea.
I believe TOTW offers a front sling stirrup you can install on either one of the ramrod thimble pins or barrel pins. They also offer the big button such as used on Jaegers for the rear sling attachment. They used to offer a Jaeger type sling as well. Dixie may have the same hardware. I have installed two on muzzleloaders, one on my Jaeger and another on a TVM Lancaster. I like them well enough I installed another on my 1870's German double rifle.
Take a look at Levy's leather site.............Canadian firm in NB...........lotta sling designs...........I just ordered a 2" cotton for my Browning '06, but a lot of the stuff they showcase ought to go well with a smokepole.
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Dixie Gun Works (DGW) sells a nice, swivel-less woven sling: https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/...5+WOVEN+COTTON
https://www.dixiegunworks.com/static...ain/AL0712.JPG
Weaving Welshan products are very nice - about $65:
http://www.theweavingwelshman.com/ya...5351_large.jpg
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Thanks for the recommendations fellas. I weave my own straps so I'm good to go there, sew on leather ends as I suspected, still not 100% on attachment method to rifle. I could always use the kind that loops over the barrel but never really liked how they looked, always seemed to foul up the lines of the gun IMO. I saw TOTW stirrup swivels but since my rifles are half stocks with wedge keys instead of pins that won't really work either. I guess an extra tenon could be dovetailed into the bottom of the barrel and drilled, my rifles don't have under ribs so there would be no way to drill the under rib and hook the swivel to that. Maybe I'll make my own, kind of hybridize TOTW's stirrup swivel and rig it up to a small tenon dovetailed into the underside of the barrel just foreward of the forend and make the swivel long enough to give clearance for the ramrod to pass through it?
I don't generally think of putting slings on longrifles though there are some that should work. I do have a sling on my .62 smoothbore and it makes sense; it's basically a civilian "musket" after all.
https://preview.ibb.co/hLOK9Q/PICT0575.jpg
You could consider making a couple attachments out of some brass or a couple framing nails pounded flat.
Thanks for all the ideas. This is what I have settled on thus far as a test subject for a modern arm, I think a similar set up with the older style swivels should do just fine.
Attachment 212949