Author Topic: Jaeger Slings  (Read 2090 times)

Offline alacran

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2258
Jaeger Slings
« on: March 28, 2022, 01:50:10 PM »
In most books and commentaries in magazines about Jaeger rifles, a large percentage of them are shown with provisions for attaching a sling.
Seldom do you see one actually wearing one.
In Wolfe's book the only rifle shown with a sling is one that was built by Ron Scott.
I know the Leatherman makes a Jaeger sling. But it seems sort of generic to me. Are there any references to original Jaeger slings out there?
Is there someone making something that would have been used in the first half of the 18th century?
Any help would be appreciated.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline Mike Brooks

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13415
    • Mike Brooks Gunmaker
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2022, 02:55:47 PM »
I have a germanic fowling gun that still has it's original sling. Thin leather about 1 inch wide. Just simple  , no adjustments or buckles
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline Ron Scott

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1046
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2022, 04:23:14 PM »
I have an original Jaeger ca 1740 with an original sling. It like the one documented by Lynton McKenzie is Linen. Kerry Beyers has the construction details and has made some for my customers. Her contact is
hornandfiber@gmail.com

Offline alacran

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2258
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2022, 04:27:40 PM »
Thank you Ron.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline fahnenschmied

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 108
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2022, 07:33:26 PM »
Somewhere I have some photos of slings of 18th century German rifles saved from Hermann Historica.  I cant find them at the moment, but most seem to have a leather button made by rolling up a thin strip and piercing it, having two or three adjustment holes on the upper end.  Lower end often was folded and laced on, in an intricate manner - more than two or four holes, with what looks like about a goatskin lace used on leathercraft projects.  Seemed like they wanted to avoid damaging the stock with any metal hardware.

Offline Scott Bumpus

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 481
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2022, 01:19:26 AM »
I’d sure like to see a pic of that sling Ron.  Or of the repo.
YOU CAN ONLY BE LOST IF YOU GIVE A @!*% WHERE THE $#*! YOU ARE!!

Offline Monty59

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 144
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2022, 11:44:44 AM »
I've been looking for a long time for original 18th jaeger rifle sling and how they look. Very seldom to see  here I have two pics I made years ago in a german museum and sorry for the bad quality of the pics. Leather was thin with a design on it and fastened it looked like rawhide straps to me. Then I saw an original from a kind of brocade fabric unfortunately I can't find the photo right now.

Monty




« Last Edit: April 03, 2022, 03:12:12 PM by Monty59 »

Offline alacran

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2258
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2022, 04:25:57 PM »
Fahnenschmied, I looked at your old posts and believe it was post 47 or 48 in which you showed a couple of leather slings. Also, a link on how to make one. At any rate there are paintings depicting slings on Jaegers. They are not intended to be used as a shooting support. They are intended for carrying the rifle. I have been in contact with Kerry Beyers, she sent a photo of one she had made.
I am still researching this and will prototype one out of hemp strap that I have, so I can determine the exact length and configuration that I want.
Needless to say, the military muskets the Germanics employed are more in the line of what the other European powers employed.
It seems that civilian slings had no metal buckles or such, in order to not harm the wood on their rifles. Plus, they were not intended for the rigors of war.
A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.  Frederick Douglass

Offline James Rogers

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3163
  • James Rogers
    • Fowling Piece
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2022, 04:41:52 PM »
The pattern I use for my jaeger slings is off a circa 1760 German rifle. It has no metal hardware and is adjustable from both ends in the same manner. This rifle had swivels on both ends and I also alter the pattern to accommodate a stud on the butt end. The sling pictured in the link is the altered version but the last two pictures depict the construction of the original adjustment method on both ends of the original sling.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4209468402424760&id=571777226193914

Offline DavidC

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 355
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2022, 05:20:06 PM »
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what I'm seeing but is that last image posted by Monty showing a sling swivel through the bottom of the ramrod channel thereby making the ramrod entirely unusable?

Offline EC121

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1609
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2022, 05:23:09 PM »
Look again.  It is a wender.  The rod is on the other side.
Brice Stultz

Offline DavidC

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 355
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2022, 06:10:02 PM »
Ah, I see now. I mistook that bottom barrel as some odd reflection from a mirror case or something. Still seems like a rather small amount of wood to trust for the sling but then I'd guess that rifle wasn't really being carried by someone likely to need to use it in too rough a situation.

Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

  • Member 3
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 12671
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2022, 07:17:16 PM »
I suspect that the screw for the swivel goes right through the rifle to a nut or inlay on the other side.
D. Taylor Sapergia
www.sapergia.blogspot.com

Art is not an object.  It is the excitement inspired by the object.

Offline gunmaker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 691
  • the old dog gunmaker
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2022, 06:12:25 AM »
Thrift store second hand belts ? Cheap, thin with natural patina.

Offline Ron Scott

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1046
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2022, 04:39:33 PM »
Here is a photo of the original Linen Sling


Offline Pukka Bundook

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3463
Re: Jaeger Slings
« Reply #15 on: April 04, 2022, 04:43:31 PM »
Ones I have seen more often are woven linen and quite wide.  Quite tightly woven, and thin. 
I believe these sometimes have leather tabs at the ends where they attach.

You just beat me to it, Ron!

Where a sling swivel is fitted to the fore-end, there is often a lug attached to the barrel that the screw goes through, making the arrangement much stronger than if the screw merely went through the stock.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2022, 04:47:38 PM by Pukka Bundook »