A review of the Pronghorn Sling, offered by Riverside Sling Company, written by Mike Moore. Mr. Moore is a former SWAT Sniper and Gunsite Precision Long Range Instructor.
I have been testing the Pronghorn Sling over the last month. I do rifle instruction at Gunsite and here in Arnaudville. We are stressing being able to shoot a rifle making first round hits to vital zone areas under real field conditions. This means no benches etc. The sling is a great way to enhance our skills and our “body support”.
Most slings are simply carry straps that can be used as “hasty” slings, but they are slow and also put relatively equal pressure to the rear part of the rifle as well as the front, causing conflict. Military style slings alleviate this and work great but are somewhat complicated (very few people understand how to
use one correctly) and are very slow. The Safari and Ching Slings solve some of these problems, but also have multiple straps to hang up on things. They are also somewhat difficult to adjust. They are pricey too.
The Pronghorn is good, carries good and is fast to get into. The loop remains open allowing my arm to enter easily. Once locked into position, it is a great supplemental support.
I will be using it this October in a general rifle class at Gunsite, a Mule deer hunt and an elk hunt in AZ and a Hunter Prep course here in Arnaudville in December.
Firearm User Network 
Sep 12, 2012 @ 23:41:01
Speed loops, if they really are a loop, are a good thing. Could not link to the sling maker’s site for a look-see though.
By the way, I found a way to use the old stalwart M1907 GI leather sling as a speed loop, pretty much the same way the Safari Ching is used, though you have to set up the forward loop all-the-way-short with the frog and run it and the keepers up to the front swivel.
You just grab the rear of the loop section with the trigger hand, and pull it up under the support arm elbow as high to the armpit as possible, then push forward on the rifle with the support hand to tension the sling and keep it in place against your upper support arm. You can do this while maintaining a grip on the fore-end with your support hand (which keeps rifle/arm/sling tension together) without wrapping your support hand around the sling in traditional fashion, or, you can then grab the rifle at the pistol grip with the trigger hand, let go of the fore-end with the support hand, and push it between the loop straps just behind the front sling swivel, and do the traditional hand-wrap-around the sling, with support hand on the fore-end just behind the front swivel. Either way you are in a loop, though one un-cinched around the upper support arm, just like a Ching.
LikeLike
Sep 13, 2012 @ 08:47:35
Looks like their site is down for the moment. Hope it is temporary as I think they have a good alternative to the Ching when a three point sling setup isn’t feasible. Try these links for a look:
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5508412/New_Shooting_Sling_Available_T
https://profiles.google.com/101098864534106329851/about
http://pronghornsling.com/products.html
Thanks for the 1907/Safari Ching info. It’s also worth mentioning the Whelen sling, Townsend Whelen’s simplification of the standard military 1907 sling. The Hunter Company (http://www.huntercompany.com/slings.html) offers them but I think the Pronghorn design is better. It’s like Whelen with a loop built into it. I bought one recently but haven’t tested it extensively, so time will tell.
LikeLike
Sep 18, 2012 @ 16:27:28
Thanks for the kind words regarding the Pronghorn sling. Our sites server is now working, so you can view our products.
Best Regards,
William Dees
Riverside Sling Co.
LikeLike
Sep 21, 2012 @ 14:05:37
I think the hasty sling is a wast of time. The guy in the pic is accomplishing absolutely nothing. The three fundamental elements of a shooting position are: 1) Bone Support 2) Muscular Relaxation 3) Natural Point-of-Aim A match shooter’s loop sling (attatched ONLY to the front sling swivel) functions as a “bone” ( or more accurately a skeletal brace) by allowing the bicep and part of the shoulder girdle to relax. When you have the sling adjusted properly high on your bicep on your non-dominant side, you have to “build” your position by pushing the rifle forward to get it into the pocket of your dominant shoulder. The tension of the sling will hold it there, as long as your offhand elbow is supported (by your knee, typically). Like SLG observed in another thread, unless your offhand elbow is resting on your knee or the ground, the sling isn’t accomplishing anything because there is nowhere to transfer the rifle’s weight. So, a proper loop sling helps accomplish #1 and #2, and Jeff Cooper and Eric Ching’s Ching Sling accomplishes the same thing nearly as well but is about ten times faster to put into use. All other slings are just carry straps, period.
LikeLike
Oct 01, 2012 @ 22:09:34
The rifle, in offhand without a sling, is held up by a combination of bones and muscles, the two main muscles being the front deltoid at the shoulder (which holds up the upper arm bone) and the bicep (which holds up your forearm/hand). When you rest your support-side elbow on something, you have now removed the deltoid muscle from the picture since it no longer needs to hold up the upper arm (the rested elbow and upper arm bone take care of that).
The bicep muscle remains in play. To remove that, the loop sling, by essentially tying the wrist to the upper arm, keeps the hand supporting the rifle from dropping. This relieves the bicep muscle from work. If the shooter has his support side elbow rested on something, he can then go dead limp from shoulder to fingers on the support side arm. Bones and the sling do all the work.
But, if the shooter is in a loop sling without the support-side elbow rested (as in offhand), the deltoid shoulder muscle is still doing the work of holding up the arm and rifle, even when the bicep is replaced by the loop sling. So, you are removing one of those two muscles from the picture, but still having one doing the work. I suppose that’s an improvement over both muscles working, but only by a little bit. In my own experience, I can shoot a little better using a loop in offhand.
LikeLike
Oct 02, 2012 @ 07:13:30
All good points. Two points of support are better than one- and one is better than none. We conducted an experiment to see if the sling was capable if improving if hand accuracy. We had a shooter who had never used a sling for support and had him fire 3 10 round strings at an 8″ gong positioned 200 yds away. After a little instruction, he averaged 7 hits per 10 shot string. We then had him fire 3 10 shot strings off hand without the sling. He only connected 53% of the time, a decrease of 17%. While the sling shines in prone, kneeling and sitting, it has been our experience that there is a significant benefit in off hand as well.
LikeLike
Oct 02, 2012 @ 08:28:36
Good info, everyone.
I’m convinced that a skilled shooter firing from prone with a good loop sling on a field rifle (not a dedicated, purpose-built benchrest only rig) can shoot up to its level of mechanical precision. Sadly, too many American gun owners have been bench-ridden for so long they’ve lost sight of this. Glad these comments show not everyone is so afflicted.
LikeLike
Oct 02, 2012 @ 16:09:13
Most people now days dont have any idea how to use a sling, especially since the military quit teaching that method years ago. Just my personal choice, but Id. rather pass on bipods (unless varmint shooting) and want to keep my hands free for glassing, so that leaves out shooting sticks. both work fine, but are slow and cant be used in all positions one might encounter. A good sling is quick, doesnt ruin the balance of your rifle and can be used in any position.
LikeLike