Service rifle sling

It may be a little counterintuitive for you to learn how to shoot high power, then go off to the Guard and have Uncle Sam re-teach you how to shoot. The military will probably teach you how to shoot differently than a high power shooter will.

That said, for an AR, you want a 54" or so sling. The 50s and 52s were/are common for M1s and M14s, but the sling swivel is farther away on an AR than they are on the .30 cal guns.

Shooting is shooting.

I'd learn everything I could from Highpower rifle and shoot every match I could beg ammo for. The course of fire and traditions are all military traditions. Believe me, the army isn't going to teach you much. The normal infantryman is below the skill level of a Highpower Sharpshooter classification. It isn't difficult, they just don't teach it.

You need every front post and peep sight round you can shoot between now and then. You aren't going to see anything but a 25 yard zero target and a pop-up range once you are in. If you know the fundamentals of marksmanship, you will be way ahead!

I'd buy the long Turner, if you have to have leather. A COTTON USGI web sling works as well and you won't stand out as much. Plus they are about 15 bucks, tops.

Long discussion on sling use in Rifle Forum. Look for "Garand and Turner Saddlery" on about the bottom of page two.

Get the 54".

The heavest the 1-9 will shoot is 75 gr. You will need it at the 600 yard line.

Glad to help

Glad to help. You might check Youtube.com under Blackfork6 and watch some of the Highpower Rifle and "Improving your Shooting" Videos.

Mink oil paste or a LITTLE saddle soap on a leather sling. Neets Foot oil makes them too soft. Don't overdo it with anything!

Putting up a leather sling video soon. USGI web sling video up now.

Turner Saddlery Leather Sling Vid

Up on Youtube. Do a search for Leather sling or Blackfork6. Shot it on an AR. Several Highpower Rifle videos up. USGI cotton sling video up as well, on a CMP Garand.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't a detachable carry handle move you out of service rifle?

I have no idea on the competitive part, but the Marines and going forward the Army are using M16A4's as their "service rifle" which has the detachable handle. Logic says it would be fine, whether logic has anything to do with this or not is another question.

New CMP Ruling

M16A3 (Flat top 20 inch barrel with detachable handle) now legal for service rifle competiton.

Mr. Likely,

When I started shooting Highpower I as a NRA Marksman shot Navy Expert. When I made NRA sharpshooter, I could clean the Navy qual course without working at it real hard. I did it with a man's rifle, the M-14. Of course I would think I could still clean the qual course with my AR.

I agree with Black fork and think shooting Highpower is the way to go for our young men/women prior going into the service. Need to start em as juniors.

The Turner Saddlery slings a good deals through the CMP, I just got mine for my M1 about 2 weeks ago. From what I"ve heard, 50" slings are for shorter individuals; at the very least, the 54" works for me, and I'm right at 6'. I see no reason why the 54" wouldn't be good for your purposes.

The A3 may be legal, but I think I'd prefer NM sights on a fixed handle, one less thing to go wrong. Murphy has a screwdriver you know?

A3 vs fixed handle.

The post under the rear sight on an A3 is shorter than the one built into a fixed handle. The A3s may NOT have enough elevation under the rear sight to shoot at 600 yards without dropping the front post a revolution. One revolution of the front post is worth five minutes of elevation. It's certainly possible and perhaps probable that moving the front post will result in a windage change as well. Front sights are not precision instruments.

If I was carrying an M16 or variant in military environment, I'd want the flat top just to be able to access the ACOG or other optical sights which are becoming very common. For competition, I'd prefer the M16A2 configuration with fixed handle.

Just a note: A lot of issued rifles that I looked at had mushroomed, bent, shiny front posts. If you rotate a front post where the bend is pointing forward or backward, it makes a better sight picture. Hard to find replacement front posts in the US army, so I carried a ziplock bag full. They are just 2.50 or so from Rock River. Its an easy fix. A bent front post is hard to straighten- probably will break, and you can see how much it throws off a windage zero if its leaning one way or another when you try and rotate it to handle elevation problems.

Smoke from a burning MRE spoon makes nice sight black, by the way.

Get the long sling. Here's the video link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaRCFpH27-w