Club Obi Wan

Ok I know that we have talked about bag straps before, but I was wondering if anyone knew WHAT KIND of rifle Indy's sling is from. I have been looking all over for WWII era slings, but every one I find that might be close is only around 40", which is obviously too short to be it. I have an H&K sling that looks pretty spot on, but is only about 50". Anyone have any ideas?

Nibs

Not sure what Indy is supposed to have used, but I've used the leather slings from the US M3A1 "grease gun" on my bags.

Hey knibs7,

I bought Wade's bag strap (strap only), AB's buckle, and turned an "rifle sling button" on the lathe. As soon as I find my leather punch , I'll make up a trial strap to prove the idea, then sew the buckle to Wade's strap, punch the holes and make the little slits and use the rifle button! Should be pretty accurate, if I can only ... find ...my ...

Dan S

knibs7 wrote:Ok I know that we have talked about bag straps before, but I was wondering if anyone knew WHAT KIND of rifle Indy's sling is from. I have been looking all over for WWII era slings, but every one I find that might be close is only around 40", which is obviously too short to be it. I have an H&K sling that looks pretty spot on, but is only about 50". Anyone have any ideas?

Nibs

Would it necessarily be a military sling 'he' used?

Not for me. However, some people are only happy when they can get what the general feeling is sa (screne accurate). If it works and looks good... then I'm a happy camper.

Given the location they put together the costume and bought all the other stuff (Great Britain) I'd set my money on an Enfield rifle sling ... but this is not more than an educated guess, I guess. ;-)

If anyone has seen "king solomans mines" or something like that in the first 15 mins i think where they are looking at the creatures befoore the tribal dance you see their guide he has 2 enfeild rifles with a similar sling.

It's anot a military Enfield sling. Possibly a sporterised version from Parker Hale or similar if it is.

I agree with RCSignals about the Parker Hale version sport sling. As with most of Indy's gear, I also believe his strap derived from British sporting and military gear. The strap, a 1930's sport Enfield rifle sling used primarily in Africa and India. Many of the British soldiers stationed in Asia and Africa adapted their issue gear to the much hotter climate by using the sport hunting gear popular with big game hunters of the time. The original strap was laden with metal parts and was a much thicker and heavier strap, so the one piece slider sling was much lighter and easier to use in the bush.

You can also spot the buckle on several other European pieces of field gear of the WWII era and after. Like German Army suspenders, ammo pouches, and the like. Weird thing is how impossible they are to find even though they were on so many pieces.

Case in point:



This is an Eastern European large mag pouch which was worn on the belt with a shoulder strap to secure. Mid 1950's issue. Issued German, Russian, Czech, and Austrian troops. Maybe for the MP40 mags?

I took the buckle off and attached it to my strap (what the prop department could have easily done as well):





W.E.

Hello fellow gearheads, some of you may know me as The_Raiders from The raven message boards. I figured I'd start off postig here by offering my idea of the close to perfect KOTCS/TOD bag strap. I've been looking for something like that stra for a cery long time, and during my search I found a serpantine belt at a friends house, I was able to aquire it and I imedietly started to work on it. It was alot of hard, irritating work cutting one whole side of the strap sincei t was very thick and not having the right tools nessesary for the job, but after that it was simple. I put the buckle on, measured it out to the desired leangth and put it on my bag, its very very stiff but looks perfect, its the best KOTCS/TOD substitute I've came across, but it requires some work to be done. If anyones interested in trying this I beleive you can get some anywhere.

Please post pics!!!

Nibs

These are the only pictures I've taken since I replaced my Todds strap. It was with a camera phone so the quality kinda *****. But I like the serpentine belt because, like Indys, in certain lighting it can look like black, or brown, really under close inspection its a dark brownish color, but here's the best pics I could find of the belt as a strap.