These things are pretty common and have been around since the Vietnam war but the funny thing is I have never seen on with my own eyes. Speak up on the comments if you used one in the Army or have one.
These things are pretty common and have been around since the Vietnam war but the funny thing is I have never seen on with my own eyes. Speak up on the comments if you used one in the Army or have one.
Scattered Shots
Never saw them issued during my time ’71 – ’74 nor even heard of them. From the handguards in the pic, they came later.
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they came out during Nam
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Could be, but I never saw them there or after I got back. Doesn’t mean they weren’t, of course.
I’d have liked to have had access to one.
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My first time to Iraq, 04-05, there were some in a box with other random stuff in a conex in the unit we rip’d left behind. A Couple guys used the back part with a carabiner to clip them onto thier IBA’s. I don’t think anyone used the front part.
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I have seen them in pictures all my life but never once ran across one in person. I have no explanation for that.
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When I was active duty Army (1992 – 2000), it was to common to see M16A2/M203 rifles rigged with these adapters. I used a padded M60 sling when I had an assigned M203.
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Army ’89-’12. Every unit hade them and most 203 gunners used them. We didn’t use them in LRS because of the noise. Used 550 cord instead. Made an assault sling using those and 550 cord long before 2 point slings were ever thought about.
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I had one issued in 89 in 2 AD when they replaced our M16A1s with A2s.
The M16A1s that mounted M203s had the standard Colt Side Sling Adapter (the same that came on a factory Colt M4 in the 2000s before they started shipping with a RAS installed) mounted under the front sight base and the front sling swivel removed since the launcher barrel blocked access to the sling swivel. The M16A2s didn’t come with the side sling adapter so the armorer mounted those instead for the M203 guys. The top sling adapters also popped up periodically in the 90s when I was bumming around the Guard and Reserves. It was just that spring clip and a second nylon strap with a small metal D-ring that you knotted on the buttstock using the rear sling swivel as an anchor point. You still needed a normal sling to thread onto it.
Since the NSN has a “00” instead of a “01” in the second block, then the actual item is most likely Vietnam era or older. I think the US switched from 00 to 01 in the 1970s as some sort of NATO stock number standardization thing.
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