"Shooting consistently good standing is a matter of rounds down range, with a thoughtfully executed goal."

The third stage of a CMP Garand match is the offhand stage, where the shooter is required to fire ten rounds from a standing position without the aid of the sling or any other supports. But if you hang around one or two of our matches, you'll likely hear a shooter call the third stage of fire by the nickname "awful hand." Sooner or later, you'll also hear someone point out "Matches are lost in the prone position, and won in the offhand." All of this points to the Catch-22 of offhand shooting: it is a serious challenge for new and experienced shooters, and yet no shooter can be competitive without a great standing score.

Which brings us to the content of this article, written by Carl Bernosky.

Properly configuring the sling is one of the most important steps to accurate position shooting, but it's also one of the things that new shooters find the most daunting. Here's a great article with detailed instructions on how to use both the leather and web slings. Hopefully, it take some of the mystery out of the process!

Proper configuration of the Service Rifle Sling article

Another great reference if you want even more info is Glen Zediker's book Slings & Things. Although his highly informal writing style can be a bit unusual, he offers several ways to configure the leather sling and examines the pros and cons of each.