Cleaning a surplus sling

Sling finally showed up in the mail today lol, but no brass on this one. Leather was pretty tight to try and slip over the rivets holy smokes lol
Yeah they’re tight at first but the leather will soften once you use it a bit, you can give it a wipe with Neetsfoot oil as well to soften it up. It will darken the leather but that will happen over time with use anyway.

I have a bunch of those chicom sks/ak slings, they’re great value for the price.
 
Yeah they’re tight at first but the leather will soften once you use it a bit, you can give it a wipe with Neetsfoot oil as well to soften it up. It will darken the leather but that will happen over time with use anyway.

I have a bunch of those chicom sks/ak slings, they’re great value for the price.
Twenty years from now they will be worth 20X what you paid for them.

I bought a box of Pattern 32, Canadian made slings, all dated 1944, with broad arrow stencils on them for $5 at a Vernon auction. There must have been close to a thousand slings in that box, all in bundles of ten, tied together with heavily waxy cord.

That was in 1988. I put that box on a shelf and forgot about it. When I came across it again, searching for other Pattern 32 gear, I decided to keep five bundles and take the rest to gun shows.

They were all in as new condition, no stains, unissued or used. I put $10/sling on them at the first show and one collector bought all I had with me.

Then I took them to a Kamloops show and put $15/sling on the ten bundles I brought with me. They didn't last past day one.

I finally sold off all of them over a period of three years. The last bundle sold for $20/sling.

Looking around, the prices I was charging were quite reasonable. All of the other tables and shops were selling them $5 more expensive than I was.

One thing I always look for at gun shows are 1914 leather slings, with date/manufacturer stamps. These are desirable for collectors trying to complete original rifles, especially No4 MKI T types. In excellent condition, some of these will bring $250+, while a well worn specimen will bring around $100.

At least once a year, I find one of these on a table priced around $20 or less. They were sold surplus NOS in the seventies for $1-$5 ea.
 
Twenty years from now they will be worth 20X what you paid for them.
Last bunch I bought were $10-12 at Lever Arms around 2015-2016, should’ve bought more lol. I love a simple web sling, have these on a handful of rifles that I’ll bring out to the bush. They just work well, great value as far as I’m concerned.
 
Ya I got my sling for like 20bucks I didn’t think it was a bad deal at all, I don’t have any money invested in this Sks anyway lol. No I didn’t pay for it, was a trade for an unused item lol. So I’ve got like 20bucks plus some time to clean it into the Sks so I think I’m doing good lol
 
I bought a few boxes of enfield slings from Century when they moved from
Montreal to America
Got a big container and filled it with ammonia/soap and left it to soak for a week
Then, when the oil was pretty well out, put them in the washing machine
Turned out real nice the fabric kind of soften up, marking became clear
 
they do turn out nice
That’s why the ammonia and soap to cover the smell
Soaking them in soap ammonia does it, you could do
a lot and go to a laundromat
 
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