A Texan's view on all things tactical

Well during my time supporting the Army at NTC I spent lots of time carrying an M4 on a sling all over the National Training Center. Knowing this ahead of time I elected to take a Magpul MS2 sling that I had purchased to try out.

I had used this sling at the range with my personal AR a few times but never for more than an hour or so. While at NTC I have had the ability to really test how the sling works for all-day everyday use.

Here’s what I found:
-First of the sling is too narrow to be used over just clothes or a uniform. I had no problems with it once I tried it over armor but like I said it got very uncomfortable when I wasn’t wearing armor.
-This one is kind of obvious but I have to say it anyway. A single point sling is not the best choice when you will be carrying a rifle more than shooting it. It is very quick to re-shoulder your rifle and get back into the action but if you are just walking around it hangs in an awkward position and bangs against your knees as you walk. Being able to convert the sling into a two point setup was very useful and made carrying my M4 around all day much more bearable. Even in two point mode the sling could be a little wider to increase the users comfort level when the rifle will be carried for long periods of time.
-Another issue I ran into was my issued M4 did not have a sling attachment point at the rear of the receiver like Magpul’s ASAP plate. I actually had to attach the sling to the sling attachment point on the toe of the collapse-able stock. It worked but was far from perfect. It made the M4 hang too low when in single point mode. Luckily I was able to show this to some of the higher-ups here and I will be able to update my Detachment’s M4 with actual sling plates when we get back to home station.

Overall I think the MS2 sling is a great product that just could use a few updates and tweaks to make it even better. I’m really glad I brought it with me so I could really see well it works in this environment.

What suggestions do y’all have for slings to try out? I’ll be deploying sometime this summer and I’m thinking of testing out some dedicated two point slings like the VTAC and the Vickers since I will be carrying my weapon a lot more than I will be shooting it. Feel free to post some comments sharing your experience with either of those, the MS2, or even recommend another sling I haven’t mentioned.

Keep up the good fight
-Rob