December, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
699 
At ready in a camouflaged trench 
Firing through the port hole 
Kneeling — breech closed 
of room to work the action slide handle; so I sought out Frank 
Lancaster and suggested we make up a special sling for this 
gun. Our first attempts were disappointing, but finally we hit it, 
a sling that would steady the piece and take up the recoil, yet 
not interfere with operating the magazine. Using a sling on a 
pump gun sounds queer, but it works, works perfectly, and even 
the old hunters and trap shots pronounced it an unqualified suc¬ 
cess. Just look over illustrations showing the piece in action in 
different positions and you can readily see why and how that 
certain thing is done. 
Here are the specificatioris of the successful sling: Heavy 
cotton webbing, iJ4 inches wide; lower part or extension, 15 
inches; upper part constituting the loop for the left arm, 59 
inches long; rigged with the same snaps, links, and keeper used 
on the standard service sling. This gives a loop for the left 
arm with a maximum measurement of 28 inches; we found a 
24 to 25-inch loop to be about right. Fix the sling to the left 
arm exactly as is done when using the service rifle, loop ad¬ 
justed high and keeper pressed firmly down against the biceps, 
left hand on the action slide handle and strap < 5 n the right side 
of the left wrist. As the forward swivel is well ahead of the 
grip for the left hand, the sling in no way hampers the opera¬ 
tion of the magazine, yet it gives sufficient tension to enable the 
shooter to “hold like a rock” and bring the butt firmly into the 
shoulder. Raise your right elbow level with the shoulder and 
freeze your face to the comb. Bang! A short backward move¬ 
ment, but no punishment. And now comes another remarkable 
fact. In trying out the gun I used a number of different men, 
soldiers and civilians, riflemen and trapshooters, and they one 
and all unanimously agreed that when firing from the prone 
position they felt less recoil than when standing. Also that in 
all positions the use of the sling cut down the recoil more than 
fifty per cent. When I first proposed the use of the sling I was 
assured that it was “humanly impossible,” and as to firing a 
shotgun prone, that was the height of folly and would inflict a 
degree of punishment second only to the Spanish Inquisition, 
yet a series of practical experiments conclusively proved that 
“somebody’d done made a mistake (continued on page 716) 
Kneeling — breech open 
Standing — breech closed and open 
At ready, standing and kneeling 
