Self made rifle slings.

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NightShade

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Finally made a rifle sling. Picked up some paracord and got to work. Thinking about having some more available for sale and custom orders with a few different designs. Still have to pick up some more materials but liked what I have so far.

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The one attached to the rifle was a leftover piece and done with a basic weave style the one on the QD loops is a Cobra knot with 6 core strands around 75 feet of paracord that when removed is a single long piece.
 

NightShade

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Would be pretty easy to do but the aging would reduce it's lifespan a bit. Easiest way would be to make it up and use a light vinegar and water solution to spray it down then let it sit in the sun is my best guess. The acid and sun should work together to give it an aged look.

One of the other weaves I am working on is a Fossa River bar. It's a little stretchier than the Cobra knot so would be good for something that you want a little give in. But I am pretty sure I can add a single stretched strand on each side to stiffen it up just a bit if that was desired. Guess it's time to pick up another couple hundred feet and start working on some stuff.

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NightShade

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Well picked up another 200 feet of cord and some sling ends. It's a little more complicated and slow going with anything and everything wanting something but have about a foot of sling made.

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Looking at all the paracord options on Amazon I am going to have to figure out what to get if I start making some. Black, tan, a couple shades of camo, black and orange as well as black and red I figure will be needed. Not sure about red white and blue since I do not know if the white will end up brown after a while or not. I am sure some zombie hunter will want bright green and purple at some point but that will have to wait, already need to pick up a few hundred in supplies.
 

NightShade

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Made a couple up using the black and light camo cord. One uses the black as a main color and the other is the opposite.

So as of right now I am getting pretty well proficient with a couple of the weaves. The Cobra one is fairly fast and can be upgraded to a "king cobra" by working a second run of the cobra knot over top of the first one.

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The bad thing is I am running out of free cash to pick up more cord to tinker with... Sooooo if a couple people would like one and can pick up the required materials I would be willing to put a couple of them together for free.

Couple bits of information:

The Fosa River bar requires A LOT of cord and a lot more time, it also has a tendency to slightly curve if not under tension. For a 42 inch long sling not including ends I need one piece about 60 feet long and another 40 feet long. The longer piece will be the more prominent one in the middle. A 50 inch sling requires about 70 feet and 45 feet. It is also slightly springy, when I make it the weave is very tight and to get a length I actually have to pull on it to get it to stretch, this is part of the reason why it will curve slightly here and there.

The Cobra knot takes about 50 feet of cord for a 42 inch sling and is about 3/4 of an inch wide. If two colors are used the center is the length times 7, I generally run six strands in the middle and will need extra to tie off so total length of cord needed is greater than if a single color is used.. This one is very stiff and does not have much if any give lengthwise. The outer layer is probably around 42 feet of cord when multiple colors are used.

The King Cobra knot requires about 95 feet of cord for a 42 inch sling and will run around 1 3/8 of an inch wide. This can be done with three colors the cord being length times 7 as above. The first outer layer will be the same as above at around 42 feet and the second outer layer will probably need around 56 feet to be safe.

The flat weave takes the least amount of cord and can be done a couple different ways. I have goofed with it a bit but don't have exact lengths yet per inch. But I should be able to make most anything with a 100 foot length of cord. There is another version I have not done that uses two cords for the weave.


Different weights of cord will require different lengths and even from the same manufacturer the cords can vary. This is especially true on the cheap stuff. I can make the cord without QD's but one end will be a loop that will be able to slip over a QD mount and the other end YOU will have to attach and finish. On the 22lr Rifle that I have I wove directly into the handguard.

I will also give you the option of being a guinea pig. I have about ten other designs I want to try out, some of these can work up to three colors in alternating patterns. For a rifle sling this could be used with a black, tan and green or a solid color and two different camo colors or whatever, you want to get bright green, orange and purple I will figure something out. The more cord I have to work with the better on something like this though.

Here are a couple colorful examples I am looking at:
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I am only going to take on a limited number at a time and turnaround will probably be a couple days depending on what is happening in my day to day life. Eventually I will probably be making these available for sale but I am not expecting anything for my time right now so on some of these you will be getting four or five hours worth of my time for free possibly more. If you want to take a look at the ones I have made let me know and I will see about arranging something.
 

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