Two point sling for prone shooting.

[mouse 1948]

Hi iam trying to find imformation on how to use a two point sling and if it would be better than a single point sling, thanks for looking.

[RobinC]

Most of us old enough to have used them have forgotten how!!! Trust me, for target shooting there is no advantage, there is considerably less support otherwise you'd see them in World Cups and the Olympics. The only advantage is to double as a carrying sling.
If you really want to know, hold the rifle muzzle up, put arm elbow first through the hanging loop, then put hand outside the loop around the front of the sling and circle it back to the stock fore end.
Good shooting
Robin

[kemen4]

Dam'n ... yet something else if forgotten ... is this really the age thing?
Had a smith put a 3rd swivel point on a Hunting rifle and use a 3 point ...
This link has a couple of reasonable diagrams and explanation ...

[mouse 1948]

Hi thanks for both your answers and you said what i was thinking and this is why we dont see top shooters useing it,and you have saved me much time and money because i was about to buy a two point sling but will stick with what i have.

[tim s]

Trust me, for target shooting there is no advantage, there is considerably less support otherwise you'd see them in World Cups and the Olympics. Robin

Not quite true Robin, two point slings have been illegal in Olympic and International competitions (well those run to ISSF/UIT rules) since at least the 1950s. Current ISSF rules state that the sling must be attached to the fore-end at a single point only (section7.4.1.4.5).

Back in the early 1960s Wilf Fuller, a leading shooter and author of the classic Smallbore Target Shooting, recommended the slingle point sling as it was more comfortable and forgiving or errors. He noted that the two point sling appeared to give a more solid hold, but that it encouraged too much tension in the upper body.

Some very good fullbore shooters still use the two point; notably Dave Calvert 2010 Queen's prize winner, and 1998 and 2002 commonwealth gold medalist, and Nick Tremlett the 2009 Queen's prize winner. However fullbore shooters keep the rifle shouldered for a much shorter period - a few minutes v 20min+, and a 7.62mm NATO has a much shorter barrel time than a .22LR. Fullbore shooters are also much more exposed to winds than smallbore, and the two-point sling can reduce the effects of buffeting I'm told. I think this is a British oddity, and a throwback to when many older TR shooters cut their teeth with .303s.

[mouse 1948]

Hi Tim s very grateful for that information thankyou very much and good shooting.

[RobinC]

Thanks Tim
It had'nt occured to me that they would be illegal under ISSF, but of couse they would be, sadly I'm old enough to have started fullbore with a two point, as did my wife who steadfastly denies it and also claims she does not even know what one is!
I agree with your comment that they are more a throwback to the old .303 days (there were people still using .303 competitively when we started!) and I remember two points being less stable than a single and of course the position is quite different with the right elbow.
Now only doing smallbore we have enough trouble getting arround the intracies of a modern single point, heaven knows how complex a two point would have become had it developed as much as the single! Just stick to a single Mouse, if you are feeling adventerous try one of the trick anti pulse ones.
Good shooting
Robin

[tim s]

Now only doing smallbore we have enough trouble getting arround the intracies of a modern single point, heaven knows how complex a two point would have become had it developed as much as the single! Just stick to a single Mouse, if you are feeling adventerous try one of the trick anti pulse ones.
Good shooting
Robin

Hi Robin,

Check out Fuller. In the first edition of Smallbore Target Shooting (not the posthumous revision by Jerry Palmer), Fuller described his own development of the two point sling. This had a double thickness section around the arm. The inner section was clipped together ahead of the bicep to steady it.