CUT: PREM CUSTOM GI HOOKS ROCK ISLAND 1918 LthR. SLING M1907 REP. STABLE SUPERB

Description: These are custom-equipped with brass plated, steel CONTINUOUSLY CURVED original style (often called "J form", which isn't accurately but helps illustrate the shape!) hooks, fully to specification and designed to be much more stable (albeit harder to adjust) than the more common straight versions. These are premium and superb in every way, 12 ounce select leather. The hooks, rivets, and details almost triple my cost on these beauties. The one you get MAY be the last of these I reconfigure. Ready for the traditional heavy treatment with oil-based conditioners. When issued during WWI, for trench warfare, these were DRENCHED with neatsfoot. The first setting/adjustment may require the use of pliers. As time goes by, this becomes easier. These are stable oil-dyed, fully the equal of competitor's items selling for $90-125.00. I want to get some of these in circulation to determine if it is worth making more. The start price here is less than my cost!!! These are on hand for immediate delivery, but in very limited quantity ( I will probably have only one remaining by Thanksgiving) due to heavy use by reenactors. Additional stocks are always on order. I thought they'd be very fast sellers. These all bear brass and brass-plated, authentic style fittings, NO BLACKENED STEEL. I can produce more, but will normally and in future have only ONE on hand. One per auction, as always. I do have unmarked. BE VERY SURE TO ADVISE ME IF YOU DESIRE THE TOTALLY UNMARKED VERSION, they are listed in another auction but I can use them as an option here IF YOU SO SPECIFY!!!! No, the rifles, accessories, soldiers, dogs, Marines, rigging setups, and so on shown are NOT included or for sale. They are for illustration purposes. I have other authentically styled and cut G.I. hooked slings of various vintages, including KERR CO. 1917 and considerable WW2 dated varieties. Look around in my other auctions if interested. These are appropriate to the '03 Springfield, the later '03A3, the Model of 1917 "Enfield" U.S. Rifle, and more-or-less anything produced with suitable 1 1/4" swivels from 1907 to well after World War II. Yes, that includes civilian items!! Yes, that includes the M1 Garand. Also have unmarked and JT&L 1942 in another auction. Have MILSCO 1942 in other auctions, and so on. New premiums with 1940's dates and black fittings are in OTHER AUCTIONS. Some late brass, too, to include MILSCO 1942 with correct hooks. If you need one of those, let me know. AGAIN: They're in separate auctions. The unmarked versions are great for sporters or to avoid being accused of using a "fake" ( an actual fake is something intended to deceive--a "fake" would be much more money, marked with inspector's stamps, and probably heavily aged) and are also available in another auction.. Not many on hand!! They ARE "to regulation". Genuine vintage specimens go for $100-250 and up , and are often so dried out as to be unsafe for use actually carrying or "shooter forearm wrapping" a rifle. Very highest quality replicas, fully to optimum regulation, drum-dyed, select hide leather Model of 1907 full length and weight straps. In 1941, the government regulation on fittings for rifle straps was changed to reflect that new ones had to utilize blackened steel, rather than brass, hooks and rings. Civilian contractors were given substantial time to change over. By 1943, brass wasn't being produced, but the slings continued on, actually in use, into the 50's in their WWI configuration. This and my pre-conditioned brass fitted versions comprise the best WWI period repro around. Way more authentically styled and cheaper than the actual competition. I do have straight hooked ones for less. But they're not as authentic or stable. Looks right, feels right, these even SMELL right. 1 1/4" wide, leather just over 1/8", long strap 46-48", short strap 24-26", hefty stock all the way around. These should STILL be neatsfooted or conditioned before use, but this type will greatly outlast the lighter weight commercials and look correct. Neatsfoot or other leather conditioner increases flexibility and moisture resistance. Many of these treated heavily with neatsfoot's oil from World War I are still quite usable over a century later!! Rifles and other items depicted in the comparison and rigging shots are NOT included!!! These are the very best of the M1907 marked/dated reproductions, and many precision shooters will buy these because they are so sturdy. No two ways about it: The web sling was very much in the minority in fighting units until the very end of World War II, and was still a minority item in the field then. The M1907 is by FAR the definitive U.S. rifle sling of World War II, especially among combat infantry. Details, M1907 sling: These use the full nominal 46-49" "long" strap, full thickness brass fittings/furniture, and two stitched keepers. 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. 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. Only one premium sling is for sale per auction. Accessories and firearms shown are for setup and other information and period placement ONLY. 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 in 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!!! Brass hooks ( I have shown one tarnished in this photo array) will acquire surface tarnish, and eventually probably some verdigris, over time. The tarnished one shown is more advanced than any oxide you will see on a brass specimen. Bear in mind, hooks on these are sturdy metal, not the sheet stuff used in cheap commercial units commonly sold in walk-in stores. These would've been originally blackened with lacquer dip or leather dye, but that quickly flaked or fell off/got rubbed off. 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: 59 USD

Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin

End Time: 2024-11-22T13:57:30.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.65 USD