Russian and Com Bloc slings -non Mosin Nagant

SKS, Submachine guns, SVT and DP-27

Romanian AK and SKS

Romanian AK sling. These slings in nicely tanned reddish brown leather use blued metal fittings riveted to the leather. The front snap clip is blued and attached to a blued "D" ring. These slings were used on Romanian AK style rifles (m/63,m/76 and PSL)

Romanian SKS sling again in the same reddish brown dyed leather with blued steel fittings. The front attachment point is attached to a "D" ring and is a small strap that engages the integral swivel on the front section of the rifle. The rear portion is a continuation of the sling and is a strap/buckle attachment point that attaches to the rear swivel located under the stock.

East German (DDR) supplied to Egypt SKS

This grey loose weave web sling uses brown leather attachment straps with a buckle and strap attachment point attached to the rear of the sling by a large single rivet. The front section is a large zinc plated "D" ring that acts as an attachment point for the leather strap with sling keeper button that attaches the spring snap hook for attachment to the front sling swivel bar on the forward section of the gas housing strut.

A Chinese SKS with spike bayonet fit to a Russian laminated stock with the blade bayonet groove widened for the spike. These style rifles were purchased by Egypt in the 1960's to supplement the Rashid and AK rifles in inventory along with other Soviet SKS rifles and AK's in use. For sure they made use of the communist blocs willingness to supply arms from the DDR to the Soviet Union to China. The stock number translates to "83".

Chinese SKS

Chinese SKS slings. A rare late 1960's version top with strap and buckle attachment points retained by "D" rings front and back. Simple zinc buckles are used. The strap attachments are retained by a single rivet. The bottom is the typical T-56 style sling used by China. A rear swivel was utilized and the sling fed back through the green painted zinc buckle to attach on the forward sling point with a small leather strap doubled back over itself.  The forward "D" ring that retains the front leather strap is green painted as well. This is the most common style sling seen on the SKS rifles in the US and is a typical sling set up for the T-56.

Markings on the late 1960's Chicom SKS sling identifying it for the SKS rifle.

Two Chinese SKS rifles. The top uses the unusual corkscrew attachment points for the sling. These appear to be plated steel "springs" that roll onto the swivel. I have heard these listed as "quick detach" but they are far from easy to remove quickly or replace quickly. I think it was an attempt to simply replace the leather straps with a more durable system that was easily manufactured. The top sling is attached to a rifle with the red fiberglass "jungle" stock that was made supposedly to prevent rot in the wet jungle environments. The lower sling is the late 1960's variant with front and rear strap/buckle attachment points. This sling is considered quite rare in the Chicom SKS collector's viewpoint.

Close up of the "spring style" attachment point of the Chicom SKS sling. The metal of the spring is plated over a simple "D" ring that is zinc plated. The sling is a cotton tight weave web.

Russia/Soviet Union SKS

Typical Soviet style sling for the AKS rifle with bare zinc plated metal fittings and buckle. The leather sling loop retainer is brown and a simple rivet closes it.

Soviet SKS with its sling attached.

Front attachement point for the Soviet SKS sling. This sling uses plated steel fittings to prevent corrosion that gives it a "golden" hue.

Some common ink markings on the Soviet SKS slings. The sling on the left shows no date but a makers logo of a stag. The right shows the usual makers marking (top), a ordnance acceptance mark (bottom OTK) and the date of manufacture of the sling-in this case 1954 in the middle bisected by a hammer and sickle.

Russia/Soviet Union K/98 substitute standard

This odd sling is a Russian replacement for the German K/98 rifle captured by the thousands during the war on the eastern front. This odd sling appears to be a conversion of the already manufactured "Naval Infantry" sling which utilized the normal front sling strap and a rear sling loop of the Mosin Nagant rifle to affix the sling to the rear sling slot on the Tokarev rifle with that style stock. This sling replaces the rear Mosin Nagant style sling loop with this conversion to engage the rear sling cut out of the K/98 rifles stock. It is a highly unusual sling and quite rare. The sling uses a simple brass buckle for length adjustment and bare steel buckles on the attachment straps.

Russian captured German K/98. This rifle shows the attachment of the rare Russian substitute sling. The Russians found themselves in possession of hundreds of thousands of German rifles towards the close of the war and obviously they used what they had in order to fabricate a simple effective sling to put them back into use. This is a very rare sling to find today and I have only seen a few that came in with the Russian captured K/98 rifles into the US over the past 5 years.

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