A new gun shop opened up near by and as their inventory grew I continued to visit and check out their wares. As I was looking around I saw a sign that said "Savvy Sniper". My gut instinct told me to ignore and move on. Next visit, I saw a chunk of nylon slings decorated in fast-ex buckles and bungees and I ignored it... After all, I am a hardcore fan of the Vickers Sling and what the hell do I need an off brand sling for?
So somewhere along the way I linked the Savvy Sniper name with the slings I ignored and decided to look up the web site. I quickly found out that the Savvy Sniper was owned an operated by Brian Alford, a Sgt with a Sheriff's Dept about an hour away from where I work. I finally link up with Brian and get my hands on one of his slings for a T&E.
For the past few days I have been working with the newest Savvy Sniper Sling. The sling is not on the web site yet but I want to say it is "Quad Sling", either way this is the sling Brian suggest I look at. My intentions of testing and evaluating the sling are to replace my agencies current single point slings. Our current slings are Northeast Tactical Single Point Sling. I am not a huge fan of the single point sling primarily because it is a pain when you get hands on with someone the barrel beats the piss out of your legs and if you go to the ground the barrel goes into the ground. So my focus is on a two point configuration but I need to keep in mind my left handed officers and those of us who can and are willing to transition to our support side. To date the VTAC and Vickers Sling have been my primary focus but after 12 hours of training with the Savvy Sniper Sling I think I need to allow the troops to give their input on it as a contender for our patrol sling.
I played around with the sling on a RRA mid length AR15 with collapsible stock. It worked well and I tossed it on my SCAR 16S and liked it there as well. For some reason my pictures are primarily of the sling on the SCAR.
The sling is made of 1 inch tubular webbing, the stitching looks and feels stout.
![100_1733.jpg](http://[url="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/drew76000/100_1733.jpg?t=1266420973"]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/drew76000/100_1733.jpg?t=1266420973[/url])
The sling I have has HK style hooks but it is my understanding the sling can be made with any hardware. The sling I have is used and one thing that concerned me was the gate on the HK style hooks had a bit of side to side travel. It did not hurt the operation of the sling but it did concern me as to the life expectancy of the hardware.
This is a picture of the front HK hook and a piece of machined aluminium hardware with a loop near the center of the sling. This piece of hardware allows the shooter to unhook from the front attachment of the rifle and hook onto the loop making the sling go from a two point to single point. All this can be done with the sling on the shooter and takes only seconds. The aluminum hardware is not soft, I tried to bend it on the tailgate of my truck and was unable to. I almost want to believe this is an alloy and not 100% aluminum.
My preferred method was to insert the hook into the loop and press the gate onto the loop. This allowed for a faster attachment and less need for good dexterity with gloves on or in cold weather.
Donned in a two point configuration.
Just like the Vickers and the VTAC the Savvy Sniper has a quick adjustment to tighten or loosen the sling while on the shooter. This operates just as fast as Vickers or VTAC.
[img:left]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/drew76000/100_1743.jpg[/img]
A few pictures of the hardware that allows the sling to adjust. The hardware is made of aluminum and is surprisingly stout. The nylon loop attached to the hardware is plenty big enough to grab with a few fingers and push or pull but I found it very natural to slip my thumb into the loop and push or pull to adjust. I had no problems finding the loop and never found myself searching for it.
Backside of the hardware.
Going from two point to single point. Once in the single point mode the sling has a fastex buckle which allows the shooter to detach from the weapon and keep the sling on their body. I like this feature for a multitude of reasons.
My biggest complaint is when in the single point mode and the shooter lets go of the weapon it hangs way too low. I am 5'9" and the muzzle is at mid shin. Though this is a complaint I have with all single points.
I need more time to formulate a strong opinion of the Savvy Sniper Sling but my initial response is that it is should not be ignored. The name turned me off but the more I use the sling the more I like it. It allowed me solid presentations and I was able to obtain a multitude of shooting positions. The cons so far are limited to how the weapon rides on the shooter in single point mode and there are two smaller plastic pieces of hardware that seem very strong but I tend to be leery of plastic hardware. With a retail of $40-$50 and an advertised LE discount I think it will compete with the rest of the slings on the market. The sling has a lot of potential and I am going to pick one up for my SCAR and continue to play with it. A few more weeks of the troops playing with it will decide if we go with the VTAC, Vickers or Savvy Sniper.
So somewhere along the way I linked the Savvy Sniper name with the slings I ignored and decided to look up the web site. I quickly found out that the Savvy Sniper was owned an operated by Brian Alford, a Sgt with a Sheriff's Dept about an hour away from where I work. I finally link up with Brian and get my hands on one of his slings for a T&E.
For the past few days I have been working with the newest Savvy Sniper Sling. The sling is not on the web site yet but I want to say it is "Quad Sling", either way this is the sling Brian suggest I look at. My intentions of testing and evaluating the sling are to replace my agencies current single point slings. Our current slings are Northeast Tactical Single Point Sling. I am not a huge fan of the single point sling primarily because it is a pain when you get hands on with someone the barrel beats the piss out of your legs and if you go to the ground the barrel goes into the ground. So my focus is on a two point configuration but I need to keep in mind my left handed officers and those of us who can and are willing to transition to our support side. To date the VTAC and Vickers Sling have been my primary focus but after 12 hours of training with the Savvy Sniper Sling I think I need to allow the troops to give their input on it as a contender for our patrol sling.
I played around with the sling on a RRA mid length AR15 with collapsible stock. It worked well and I tossed it on my SCAR 16S and liked it there as well. For some reason my pictures are primarily of the sling on the SCAR.
The sling is made of 1 inch tubular webbing, the stitching looks and feels stout.
The sling I have has HK style hooks but it is my understanding the sling can be made with any hardware. The sling I have is used and one thing that concerned me was the gate on the HK style hooks had a bit of side to side travel. It did not hurt the operation of the sling but it did concern me as to the life expectancy of the hardware.
This is a picture of the front HK hook and a piece of machined aluminium hardware with a loop near the center of the sling. This piece of hardware allows the shooter to unhook from the front attachment of the rifle and hook onto the loop making the sling go from a two point to single point. All this can be done with the sling on the shooter and takes only seconds. The aluminum hardware is not soft, I tried to bend it on the tailgate of my truck and was unable to. I almost want to believe this is an alloy and not 100% aluminum.
My preferred method was to insert the hook into the loop and press the gate onto the loop. This allowed for a faster attachment and less need for good dexterity with gloves on or in cold weather.
Donned in a two point configuration.
Just like the Vickers and the VTAC the Savvy Sniper has a quick adjustment to tighten or loosen the sling while on the shooter. This operates just as fast as Vickers or VTAC.
[img:left]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/drew76000/100_1743.jpg[/img]
A few pictures of the hardware that allows the sling to adjust. The hardware is made of aluminum and is surprisingly stout. The nylon loop attached to the hardware is plenty big enough to grab with a few fingers and push or pull but I found it very natural to slip my thumb into the loop and push or pull to adjust. I had no problems finding the loop and never found myself searching for it.
Backside of the hardware.
Going from two point to single point. Once in the single point mode the sling has a fastex buckle which allows the shooter to detach from the weapon and keep the sling on their body. I like this feature for a multitude of reasons.
My biggest complaint is when in the single point mode and the shooter lets go of the weapon it hangs way too low. I am 5'9" and the muzzle is at mid shin. Though this is a complaint I have with all single points.
I need more time to formulate a strong opinion of the Savvy Sniper Sling but my initial response is that it is should not be ignored. The name turned me off but the more I use the sling the more I like it. It allowed me solid presentations and I was able to obtain a multitude of shooting positions. The cons so far are limited to how the weapon rides on the shooter in single point mode and there are two smaller plastic pieces of hardware that seem very strong but I tend to be leery of plastic hardware. With a retail of $40-$50 and an advertised LE discount I think it will compete with the rest of the slings on the market. The sling has a lot of potential and I am going to pick one up for my SCAR and continue to play with it. A few more weeks of the troops playing with it will decide if we go with the VTAC, Vickers or Savvy Sniper.
