I must confess, years of rock climbing have left me a bit impervious to being impressed by what ultimately amounts to little more than nylon webbing and some buckles. Yes, in most cases, weapon slings are needed, and even important, but I’ve always found myself slightly put off by the idea that good slings are a bit pricey. By the same token, years of setting climbing anchors and wearing harnesses have taught me that all webbing is not created equal and that all products made with the same basic materials are not basically the same. With products like climbing harnesses and weapons slings, the “magic” is in the details. Attention to detail can make or break the resulting product. The differences created by this attention to detail aren’t necessarily apparent on the store shelf, but they are magnified in the field.
With these things in mind, I set out to truly test one of VTAC’s newer offerings, the VTAC bungee sling. I applied special pressure to testing because I noticed that this sling had lighter weight hardware than their original sling. In addition, when I asked Kyle Lamb (VTAC’s owner) who his competitors were, he replied: “I don’t feel we have any real competitors. There are other adjustable two-point slings, but they require removing the weight of the weapon from the sling to adjust and limit adjustment. Our sling can be cinched tighter and tighter and done with one hand, no matter the weight of the weapon.” This is just the type of straight shooting answer that I like, but it’s also quite a claim, and I wanted to test it.
I can’t officially say that it’s true as I haven’t tested every sling out there, but I can say that the product certainly does what VTAC claims it does, and it does it in poor conditions as well. I like Viking Tactic’s original sling and the upgraded sling’s (check out TAG’s full review here) hardware, but I especially appreciate the bungee feature of this particular sling. The bungee adds flexibility and aids in keeping the rifle close to your torso when transitioning to a secondary weapon. The hardware on the VTAC-BGS is more than adequate. Though I do appreciate the lighter weight of this hardware, I’d still love to see a version with the upgraded hardware on this exact sling. A perk to this sling is that it carries a slightly more budget-oriented price point than some. I think that at the end of this test period, rather than asking Mr. Lamb for a return label, I’ll be asking him for an invoice. There’s just a noticeable difference in the details and for an end user like me, those details make all the difference.
