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The saddle ring- interesting discovery


Old Scatterbrain

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If anything said below is inaccurate, please feel free to set me straight :)

 

While roaming the web on a completely unrelated issue, I stumbled across an interesting discussion about the saddle ring. Not being a horseman myself, I had never much pondered the true purpose. According to the source, a saddle ring isn't attached TO the saddle; it is merely used while IN the saddle. A leather strap is worn over the left shouder somewhat like a bandoleer. The saddle ring is attached to the bottom of the strap near the right hip.

 

If the above information is correct, it sounds very similar to the modern single-point sling which became somewhat popular a few years ago, on tacticool carbines. It mostly has been replaced by either a two-point sling or a convertible two/single point sling.

 

Strange how, in so many different fields of endeavor, humans are constantly relearning old lessons.

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If anything said below is inaccurate, please feel free to set me straight :)

 

While roaming the web on a completely unrelated issue, I stumbled across an interesting discussion about the saddle ring. Not being a horseman myself, I had never much pondered the true purpose. According to the source, a saddle ring isn't attached TO the saddle; it is merely used while IN the saddle. A leather strap is worn over the left shouder somewhat like a bandoleer. The saddle ring is attached to the bottom of the strap near the right hip.

 

If the above information is correct, it sounds very similar to the modern single-point sling which became somewhat popular a few years ago, on tacticool carbines. It mostly has been replaced by either a two-point sling or a convertible two/single point sling.

 

Strange how, in so many different fields of endeavor, humans are constantly relearning old lessons.

 

The carbine sling was widely used during the ACW and for a long period afterwards. IIRC it doesn't officially go away until the adoption of the Krag carbine.

 

This website has an excellent display of mounted items:

 

http://1stvacav.com/equipment.html

 

SQQ

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The carbine strap allowed mounted troops to drop the carbine and employ either saber or pistol. The barrel slipped into the boot which was attached to the saddle.

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The carbine strap allowed mounted troops to drop the carbine and employ either saber or pistol.

Which is exactly what the single-point sling does; it allows the user to let go of the carbine without actually dropping it, leaving the hands free for other things. Although in practice, it often allows the gun to flop around too much.

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Scatterbrain, you are aware that there are two different types of "saddlerings"?

 

The little one, that we cowboy shooters see, like is on a Winchester.

http://www.antiquearmsinc.com/images/winchester-model-1866-saddle-ring-carbine/winchester-model-1866-saddle-ring-carbine-6.jpg

 

And the one they are talking about, that is much bigger and attached to a big staple, on a military carbine.

http://www.ambroseantiques.com/images/guns/plongarms/1860spencer2.jpg

 

The big one is used with that sling. The one on a "Winchester Saddle Ring Carbine" is too small for the hook, and was never used that way, as the military never issued the Winchester.

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Scatterbrain, you are aware that there are two different types of "saddlerings"?

 

The little one, that we cowboy shooters see, like is on a Winchester.

http://www.antiquearmsinc.com/images/winchester-model-1866-saddle-ring-carbine/winchester-model-1866-saddle-ring-carbine-6.jpg

 

And the one they are talking about, that is much bigger and attached to a big staple, on a military carbine.

http://www.ambroseantiques.com/images/guns/plongarms/1860spencer2.jpg

 

The big one is used with that sling. The one on a "Winchester Saddle Ring Carbine" is too small for the hook, and was never used that way, as the military never issued the Winchester.

I did not know there were two different sizes; it appears to me the rings themselves are pretty similar in size?

 

I did know the .mil never issued the Winchester- although I have heard that there were a few 92's sprinkled here and there, and I have read in at least two different places that the NG used 94's along the Mexican border in WWI and WWII. Anyone?

 

So, then, what was the ring on the Winchesters used for?

 

My main point was that the single-point sling, which seemed like such a great new idea a few years ago, wasn't so much.

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So, then, what was the ring on the Winchesters used for?

 

 

 

The Lakota liked to hand a feather from it. ;)

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So, then, what was the ring on the Winchesters used for?

The Lakota liked to hand a feather from it. ;)

:lol: :lol: Just yesterday I was looking for something to hang from my saddle ring, give the rifle a little flair, and feathers was one of the things I considered! I almost started a thread on "do you decorate your rifles?" :lol: :lol:

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I've heard two different reasons for the saddle ring on a Winchester.

 

If you did not have a saddle scabbard, you tied a thong in the ring, and then you could hang it from your saddlehorn.

 

You put the gun in your saddle scabbard, but then tied it to the saddle, through the ring. This would be especially helpful if you have one of those "butt to the tail" scabbards, as you do not see your rifle - it is under your leg sticking out to the rear. Would really suck to get where you are going and reach back to find out your gun fell out somewhere along the way.

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I've heard two different reasons for the saddle ring on a Winchester.

 

If you did not have a saddle scabbard, you tied a thong in the ring, and then you could hang it from your saddlehorn.

 

You put the gun in your saddle scabbard, but then tied it to the saddle, through the ring. This would be especially helpful if you have one of those "butt to the tail" scabbards, as you do not see your rifle - it is under your leg sticking out to the rear. Would really suck to get where you are going and reach back to find out your gun fell out somewhere along the way. Very very slim chance your rifle would fall out of your scabared

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You put the gun in your saddle scabbard, but then tied it to the saddle, through the ring. This would be especially helpful if you have one of those "butt to the tail" scabbards, as you do not see your rifle - it is under your leg sticking out to the rear. Would really suck to get where you are going and reach back to find out your gun fell out somewhere along the way.

 

Which shows another concept we use in the military isn't all that new. I know a lot of combat arms types, myself included, who "dummy cord" things with 550 cord so we don't lose them. I don't do it with everything, but mostly small things that are easily lost.

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:lol: :lol: Just yesterday I was looking for something to hang from my saddle ring, give the rifle a little flair, and feathers was one of the things I considered! I almost started a thread on "do you decorate your rifles?" :lol: :lol:

 

Decorative tie of a piece of rawhide?

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I've heard two different reasons for the saddle ring on a Winchester.

 

If you did not have a saddle scabbard, you tied a thong in the ring, and then you could hang it from your saddlehorn.

 

 

Hanging the carbine off of the saddlehorn is not practical as it leaves it free to flop around. Getting hit repeated by a piece of steel won't feel good on either you or your horse.

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Not wanting to get too argumentative here, and having, for all practical purposes, no experience with riding horses:

 

They hang canteens and lariats from the saddlehorn, and that doesn't seem to be so awful. I thought about the flopping around thing, and decided that, if it was me, I would have either a cup for the muzzle to sit in (same as with the cavalry strap), down there by the stirrup, or if I couldn't afford that, just another piece of thong, to tie the barrel down.

 

As for the "can't fall out" thing, it was on this very board, sometime in the past (which just goes to show that we all keep asking the same questions over and over :lol: ) that someone said he HAD his rifle in one of them "butt to the rear" setups, and rode down into a valley and up out of it, and when he got to the top he saw something he wanted to shoot (deer, bear, antelope, coke can, I don't recall), and reached back to find an empty scabbard. The rifle was back down in the valley. A combination of the horse jolting up the hill and gravity had made it depart its little leather home.

 

As I say, I don't ride, so ain't never had a need to use the ring, but these are explanations I've heard for its existence.

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