People tend to think of quick-detach slings as the stuff of nylon and fast-ex buckles, but these things have actually been around for a long time. One example is this Japanese Arisaka sling. Using two wire clips to attach to sling swivels, it is very quick and easy to detach from the rifle. We don’t know exactly who these were intended for, but they ended up being used on a wide variety of rifles. In particular, they appear to have been fairly popular on the Type 2 Paratrooper model of the Arisaka – although they were made before that rifle was adopted.
Light MGs
Type 97: Kijiro Nambu Adapts the ZB-30 for Japanese Tanks
Introduced in 1937, the Type 97 was basically a copy of the ZB 26/30 pattern light machine gun adapted to use in Japanese tanks and armored cars. The adaptations included mounting an optical sight to […]
Prototype
Japanese Type 4 Garand Photos
Towards the end of WWII, in 1944, the Japanese Navy developed a copy of the American M1 Garand rifle, chambered for the 7.7mm cartridge. This followed attempts to simply rebarrel captured US guns, which did […]
Book review
Book Review: Swords of the Emperor by John Plimpton
Now in stock and shipping from Headstamp Publishing: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/swords Swords of the Emperor: A Guide to the Identification of Imperial Japanese Swords, 1873 – 1945 is a comprehensive reference work examining a little-studied period in […]
Looks like a clever Joe could just get some pliers and bend it down just enough that it would hold a little better under spring tension.
Ian is the actual sling rubber impregnated webbing?
I always considered the web sling for the M1 Garand from WW2 to be a fairly quick detach sling.
How about Hi-Speed Lo-Drag in 1890s? QD rear sling clip on the Mauser Gew 98 (similar used on German GPMGs)?
A QD sling would make sense on the Type 2, due to its takedown arrangement.
However, I seriously doubt that using it as a shooting sling would improve accuracy, as the Type 2’s two-section setup would probably be even more vulnerable to the barrel being pulled to one side by sling tension than a conventional “one-piece” barrel/receiver structure would be.
cheers
eon
I am not very well-versed in the infantry tactics of WWII but AFAIK
a) I am not sure that using a shooting sling was ever taught by the Japanese Army
b) I am relatively sure that even American troops did not use their sling to stabilize their guns all that often.