Hunting rifle carrying

When I squirrel hunt I do it two ways. Sometimes it’s just find a spot and sit and sometimes chasing the little bastards through the woods.
When sitting, my walk to the spot is relatively short so carrying the rifle is tolerable. But when stalking, carrying the rifle can get heavy.
With my Wildcat I use a Magpul Rail Sling Attachment that’s basically a loop that clamps onto the pic rail and I use a single point sling over one shoulder. It works OK but after an hour or so you feel the weight of the gun on your shoulder. I will be hunting soon with my new Huntsman but since I never can hang on to a gun very long without selling it I don’t want to alter it with adding sling swivels as it can really effect the resell price because “it’s not original”. So just hand carrying the rifle is tolerable. But when stalking, carrying the rifle can get heavy.
With my Wildcat I use a Magpul Rail Sling Attachment that’s basically a loop that clamps onto the pic rail and I use a single point sling over one shoulder. It works OK but after an hour or so you feel the weight of the gun on your shoulder. I will be hunting soon with my new Huntsman but since I never can hang on to a gun very long without selling it I don’t want to alter it with adding sling swivels as it can really effect the resell price because “it’s not original”. So just hand carrying a scoped Huntsman with no sling gets heavy. I thought maybe make a pocket that could hook on to my single point sling. Then I looked and saw my shot shell holder bag with waist belt. I put it on and put the butt init and it felt pretty good. The nice thing is that the weight of the gun is on my waist instead of shoulder. If you want to call it a downside, you just have to remember you need to keep a hand somewhere on the gun, otherwise, to the ground it goes.
Does anyone do something similar without a traditional sling?
 
I just cradle my huntsman so the gun rests on my forearm. My taipan veteran and rti prophet have a single point sling. If it gets too heavy and digs into your shoulder, you probably need a thicker webbing or a piece of yoga mat threaded through the webbing to spread the load.
Hey Matt, when did you get a huntsman and taipan? I'm jealous!
 
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I have sling swivels on most of my long guns. With most of them I always have the sling attached when I'm in the field. With some of the guns I will leave the sling in my day pack and pull it out if I need it.
I've always preferred the military surpluses slings like the one pictured below.
These days I mostly use the sling for just carrying. I no longer use the sling as much as I used to when actually shooting.

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When I squirrel hunt I do it two ways. Sometimes it’s just find a spot and sit and sometimes chasing the little bastards through the woods.
When sitting, my walk to the spot is relatively short so carrying the rifle is tolerable. But when stalking, carrying the rifle can get heavy.
With my Wildcat I use a Magpul Rail Sling Attachment that’s basically a loop that clamps onto the pic rail and I use a single point sling over one shoulder. It works OK but after an hour or so you feel the weight of the gun on your shoulder. I will be hunting soon with my new Huntsman but since I never can hang on to a gun very long without selling it I don’t want to alter it with adding sling swivels as it can really effect the resell price because “it’s not original”. So just hand carrying the rifle is tolerable. But when stalking, carrying the rifle can get heavy.
With my Wildcat I use a Magpul Rail Sling Attachment that’s basically a loop that clamps onto the pic rail and I use a single point sling over one shoulder. It works OK but after an hour or so you feel the weight of the gun on your shoulder. I will be hunting soon with my new Huntsman but since I never can hang on to a gun very long without selling it I don’t want to alter it with adding sling swivels as it can really effect the resell price because “it’s not original”. So just hand carrying a scoped Huntsman with no sling gets heavy. I thought maybe make a pocket that could hook on to my single point sling. Then I looked and saw my shot shell holder bag with waist belt. I put it on and put the butt init and it felt pretty good. The nice thing is that the weight of the gun is on my waist instead of shoulder. If you want to call it a downside, you just have to remember you need to keep a hand somewhere on the gun, otherwise, to the ground it goes.
Does anyone do something similar without a traditional sling?
Could opt for a lighter gun like a stormrider or even a benjamin discovery if you don't mind a single shot. I love stalk hunting with my 2260 pcp. It's under 5lbs scoped and has no issue dropping squirrel and rabbit out to 50-70 yards
 
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"I don’t want to alter it with adding sling swivels as it can really effect the resell price."

I will never in two lifetimes understand why someone would feel this way about a gun they plan to use, and how bad they think a sling swivel is going to hurt value. The UK guys particularly are terrified of drilling a stock for some reason, and would rather spend 50 bucks on a terrible fitting buttplate spacer with a sling swivel built in. . I just can't wrap my head around it. Why suffer trying to carry a gun that you bought to use with a bunch of sling mount workarounds, when you could drill a 7/32" hole on an unseen part of the stock and mount a sling and be done?

I don't get it.
 
"I don’t want to alter it with adding sling swivels as it can really effect the resell price."

I will never in two lifetimes understand why someone would feel this way about a gun they plan to use, and how bad they think a sling swivel is going to hurt value. The UK guys particularly are terrified of drilling a stock for some reason, and would rather spend 50 bucks on a terrible fitting buttplate spacer with a sling swivel built in. . I just can't wrap my head around it. Why suffer trying to carry a gun that you bought to use with a bunch of sling mount workarounds, when you could drill a 7/32" hole on an unseen part of the stock and mount a sling and be done?

I don't get it.
I'm right there with you, function over form. First thing I did on my Cayden was drill a hole and relocate the swing swivel that was too close to the trigger.
 
For hunting, if I can't sling it, I will usually leave it home. If you haven't ever tried a Quake Industries Claw Rifle Sling, I would highly recommend them. I have a huge box full of slings I rarely use, some fairly expensive. If I am heading into the field my number one choice is a Claw. They make several different styles and colors.


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The gripping ability of the shoulder pad is better than anything I have ever seen. It isn't spongy and soft like some slings, which I don't like, but is wide enough and flexible enough to be comfortable when just wearing a lightweight shirt. I found that heavily padded slings as well as plain webbing never stay put on my shoulder.

The only other type of sling that I do like to use sometimes has an extra loop in it so you can carry a bullpup / AR-15 style guns across the front of your body and quickly bring it up to the shooting position, then literally let go of the gun and it will settle back down in front of you. Nice for when you need to take fast shots, or have both hands free instantly, but still not as secure on the shoulder as the Claw.

I am still not 100% decided on which I like better, the old stud style sling mounts or the QD variety. I guess a single point QD sling is secure enough, but it still makes me nervous when there is a $5K gun hanging on it. I suppose my thoughts are that with a two point sling I might be able to react soon enough to grab the gun if a stud fails, but with a single point, it is probably going to the ground.
 
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