M1907 Sling M1Garand/M1903 etc. BROWN DYED, choose fittings--to specification

Description: THE DEFAULT ON THIS AUCTION IS THE UNMARKED, BROWN-DYED UNIT WITH BRASS HOOKS. UNLESS THE MILSCO 1942 DARK-DYED IS SPECIFIED WITH ORDER, THAT IS WHAT WILL BE SENT TO AUCTION WINNERS. Rifles, dogs, soldiers, Marines, Parris Island, battlefields, and other items in the background photos are NOT for sale. They're for rigging and setup information. ONE sling per auction. MILSCO 1942 will then be the standard dyed sling with black fittings. AGAIN: this version will be shipped ONLY if specified upon close of auction!!!! The unmarked brass, dyed, is the "default". These use the full nominal 47-49" "long" strap, full thickness brass fittings/furniture, and two stitched keepers, and they're dyed either a walnut/mahogany or reddish "cordovan" or "oxblood" brown. Also, they look "redder" in more direct light. Generally, they're merely "brown". No pressed paper or fake leather, this is made from actual cowhide. No maker's mark or date on brass-fitted units. SPECIFY BLACKENED STEEL ( MILSCO 1942) OR BRASS, PLEASE. COLORS MAY VARY, THESE ARE USUALLY "BROWN SHOE" COLOR, sometimes run more reddish. Recent production. Blackened steel units will be marked "MILSCO 1942" for now. Eventually I'll have unmarked units, when I find them. That could be as early as late May. Inquire if interested. IF YOU DO NOT SPECIFY A HOOK MATERIAL/FINISH, that's O.K. I'll simply send the default: brown with brass fittings (hooks and ring). These were produced new for all military services until the end of World War II, and saw service way into the Korean war and after, but these are NOT military. They LOOK military, and will last far longer than the G.I. units. But they're civilian-made. Fine for a hunting rifle, especially vintage ones!! Unlike originals, which can seem fine but break almost casually, these should last a lifetime of fairly heavy use. These styles were the dominant sling types during all of World War II in combat units, and in the Pacific, were used virtually exclusively by the Marine Corps. The one image featuring the terrier and stacked rifles is from Parris Island July of 1945, long after some loudmouths claim the web sling was used exclusively in all services. The comments of the late Walt Ehlers repeated in the GCA JOURNAL confirm what every single veteran I interviewed over half a century and more said. Incidentally, these are "to specification" but carry no synthetic markings. They are 100% real leather, tanned and dyed, not a polymer or synthetic, but are not "fakes". In order to be that, they'd have to be passed off as old and mis-marked, and they aren't EITHER. They are much safer than 60+ year old originals. Included in the accompanying photo array are a couple of vintage shots to prove that point. DETAILS: The U.S. Sling, Rifle Model of 1907, featured two sturdy hooks ( called "frogs" in some parts of the world ), was comprised 10 or 12 ounce leather strapping, 1 1/4", in two belting components: the longer by regulation ran 46-48.5". The shorter, bearing the "D" ring, was typically 24" to 26.5". Length was adjustable, and they were rigged standard with the hook "flats" facing away from the butt stock. However, originally, there were various other uses and applications for the slings, and they were often rigged "upside-down" by users who wanted the sharp hook ends AWAY from their arms while shooting. These were used on the last of the U.S. Krag rifles at the end of their duty, all '03 bolt action variants, the M1917 "Enfield" U.S. Rifle, the M1 Garand, even shotguns, and pretty much any rifle on military duty which could/would accept a 1 1/4" sling. Rumors to the contrary, if properly conditioned, they held up better to most climate and moisture conditions than the later web. They were slowly replaced by web slings primarily because the web units were much cheaper. Until well into 1942, metal fittings were brass, originally "blackened" ( that finish wore off almost immediately), after 1942 almost entirely blackened steel. The blacking could be phosphate, blue, or various paints or lacquers. It was adjustable for use as a shooting brace/stabilizer with a "sling wrap", and because it was so sturdy to use in that incarnation, many additional nations utilized them. Slings were issue at the unit level, and during World War II, generally, slings were OLDER than the rifles upon which they were first mounted. Part of the reason for this was the huge post-World War I surplus in military inventories, and indeed, many 1917 and 1918 dated slings remained in military inventories LONG AFTER WORLD WAR II!!! These are all "to regulation", with the correct riveting and stitching in the appropriate places, using the newer, easier to adjust hooks. Original hooks seem to have been almost all of the "continuously curved" style, not popular in civilian use because of difficulty of adjust them until holes are somewhat fatigued. The holes were generally elliptical, and numbers varied. The version--NOT PART OF THIS AUCTION!!--for the Browning Automatic Rifle used a third hook, and was called the "Model of 1907, Modified", albeit in service usually called simply the "B.A.R. sling" or the "1918", neither of which is CORRECT, but which are more descriptive for ordinary folks. Some versions of the B.A.R. sling were longer in gross length, and the extant theory is that these were intended for the original "walking fire" concept, albeit no hard documentation exists to absolutely verify that.

Price: 20.49 USD

Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin

End Time: 2025-01-04T13:59:01.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.15 USD