Enfield slings...

"...made of green dyed canvas..." Nope. Standard issue was tan. White for parades. Blue for the Air Force, I think. Green, I believe, is commercial. No leather.
 
Original web sling adopted c1900 was khaki (tan) web. Brit P1944 and Cdn P1951 slings were green web. Leather slings were made in WWII so may have been issued with No4.
 
The American M1907 leather sling was standard issue for the Lee Enfield #4 Mk 1(T) only, see top rifle
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By null at 2009-10-13
 
the slings were tan, and blancoed one of 4 shades, tan, tan/green, canadian green, or dark green, until the 51 pattern kit, then they were green
 
Any original WWI slings I have seen were the tan colour. I was told that the standard webbing kit at that time was the Pattern 1908, superceded by the Pattern 1937, superceded by the Pattern 1951.

Any unaltered web gear I have ever seen was tan, or else was tan originally and then blancoed until it was something else, apart from belts, web, Pattern 1937 and gaiters, armoured troops, for use of.... which were black and you needed that blasted Salvator for them. I HAVE had blue Air Force web gear: rifle sling, revolver holster, but it is scarce.

I have no idea precisely when the web sling was introduced for the LE rifle, but have always assumed it to be part of the P. '08 kit. Will somebody kindly give me a pat on the back if I'm right.... or jump all over me if I am 'way out to lunch (again). Thanks.
 
The original Lee Enfield slings were leather, and often a spare .303 round or two was kept in it to keep it taut. Just google away for some images.

They were found to rot away to nothing in the trenches of WWI, at which time the khaki coloured cotton web became general issue. This continued until late WWII, when the movement towards jungle warfare was starting to hit logistics decisions. Khaki sliongs were often blancoed green, and green web started to appear late in WWII, ready for warfare in the pacific theatre.

There are also green nylon slings with black hardware, that were issued with the L1A1 SLR, but often get sold surplus as "Enfield" slings, as they look otherwise similar.

Cheers,

Neal
 
The "Sling General PurposeMkI " was adopted on 31 Jan 1901 ,LOC 10442. This was the first Brit web sling. It was modified by lengthening the metal end pieces on 1 Jan1903, LOC 12060 and was little changed thereafter. This sling was used with the Long Lee. SMLE, P14, No4 & 5, SLR and the Ross.
There is a Pt1914 leather sling produced in WW1 & 2 due to a lack of web production equipment.
 
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