MP40 Strap

This might help: http://www.panzergrenadier.net/forum/vi ... =82&t=7233

I sling mine on the left (as you point the gun) as I find it easier to carry on your right shoulder tucked under the right arm and can be fired from the hip or swung up to the chest or indeed raised to the eye. This is easiest without stock extended and I am right handed BTW.

The sling loop at the front can be rotated if you loosen the big barrel nut.

...whereas I sling mine to the right so the mag doesn't keep getting in the way

I can't get CW's link to work, but I remember the biggest problem being getting the strap through the too-thin rear aperture. Pliers and brute force worked OK.

Feed the strap through the front sling aperture from front to back.
Thread it back through the buckle affair.
Realise it's the wrong way round and repeat first two steps
Attach to the rear sling aperture and with the slot / pin shenanigans (more plier brute force).
Realise the leather loops are all wrong and undo everything.
Swear a lot then make a cup of tea.
Repeat all of the above and hey-presto you've slung your MP40.

Try these links then:

Consensus seems to be that sling on the right is 'correct' but seen in period pics either way. As Beds says, the rear slot on the AGM is way too narrow - I had to resort to filing to get a sling through but I suppose it depends on the thickness of sling leather.

http://splodetv.com/video/granny-has-mp40

You've also put your sling on the other way around. I don't know which one is supposed to be correct.

Nah, I've re-linked to someone else's pics that you couldn't see!
Consensus is sling 'should' be on right but very often seen on the left. The designer has made the fittings ambidextrous so perhaps reasonable to assume both ways are actually OK!

I DO dress to the left though, as per original post.

I mean that on these pictures the slot/pin attachment is at the front of the gun instead of the rear.

It seems that there isn't a right or wrong way to do this either as the two chaps in the photo have done it both ways.

They are however both right-slung. Left slinging-ness was probably the same as left handed-ness in that it suggested a type of deviancy that was not tolerated by the Reich

EDIT: The guy on the left looks like Roy Castle.-- attachment is not available --

If Roy Castle had been at Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht would've taken it. Fact.

Nah, randomly playing the trumpet wouldn't cut it on the Ostfront. Norris was the real talent.

I think Roy looks delighted he bagged the camo helmet cover and that he didn't pick up the AGM MP40 with the tight rear slot. His friend on the right however has discovered that if you do have a tight slot (and lets face it, it can be an advantage ) then passing the slot/button end through can be much easier this way since you don't have to pass the whole sling through said slot.

Nah, randomly playing the trumpet wouldn't cut it on the Ostfront. Norris was the real talent.

Surely dedication was all that was needed?
Thanks chaps, end of strap currently clamped between two pieces of wood to make it thinner so that it will squeeze into the tight slot (oo-er!).

Make the hole bigger with a Dremel / craft tool , problem sloved

I Left slinging-ness was probably the same as left handed-ness in that it suggested a type of deviancy that was not tolerated by the Reich

I dont believe that is really true. Left-handedness or at least left-handed shooting was perfectly acceptable in the Reich.

To ilustate, Let me quote from a book I have recently read; Adventure in my Youth ( A German solider on the Eastern Front 1941-45) by Armin Scheiderbauer.

"I proved to be a good shot. I soon found out that my vision in my right eye was not as sharp as that in my left. The eye test we had when we mustered had been a cursory one. It was only much later that I became aware that I had an astigmatism, with a clear decrease in visual sharpness of my right eye as against my left. Meanwhile, after I successfully tried shooting left-handed, I stuck with it and achieved excellent results."

A similar misnomer is that pistol holsters MUST be worn of the left side. There are tonnes of period photos with soldiers wearing their pistols on the right side!

I Left slinging-ness was probably the same as left handed-ness in that it suggested a type of deviancy that was not tolerated by the Reich

I dont believe that is really true. Left-handedness or at least left-handed shooting was perfectly acceptable in the Reich.

To ilustate, Let me quote from a book I have recently read; Adventure in my Youth ( A German solider on the Eastern Front 1941-45) by Armin Scheiderbauer.

"I proved to be a good shot. I soon found out that my vision in my right eye was not as sharp as that in my left. The eye test we had when we mustered had been a cursory one. It was only much later that I became aware that I had an astigmatism, with a clear decrease in visual sharpness of my right eye as against my left. Meanwhile, after I successfully tried shooting left-handed, I stuck with it and achieved excellent results."

A similar misnomer is that pistol holsters MUST be worn of the left side. There are tonnes of period photos with soldiers wearing their pistols on the right side!

Sure. I'm just joshing . I do know that my aunt, who grew up in 1930s Germany and is left-handed was forbidden to write with her left hand at school. These were the same old nazis who said to the kids that if they overheard their parents saying bad things about the Fuehrer that they should tell a teacher immediately

That wasn't just Nazi Germany who had a thing about writing left-handed. King George VI was forced to write with his right hand, despite being left-handed - and some think that's why he had a stutter.

Er.... are we off-track enough now..?

Right. It was a turn of the century thing, which was when these old farts learned their trade.

NOW we're far enough off-topic.

http://www.dererstezug.com/HandletheRifle.htm

This article says that all soldiers were taught to use their rifles right handed, although I'm sure there were circumstances where left handed shooting could be 'overlooked'.

To me mounting the MP40 sling on the left like the K98 makes most sense. That way it sits on the shoulder better when carrying the gun at the ready from the hip. It also means it faces the right way around (for right handed use) when hung around the neck to leave both hands free.
I can see why mounting it on the right might be more correct though as it means the magazine lies across your back (as with the MP44) when slung rather than sticking out. However since we don't tend to ride in vehicles very often I can't see that it matters much.

I've alway heard that between the wars German children were taught/forced to do everything right handed , as left handed was considered 'strange' . As a southpaw myself do try to keep my weapon on the right shoulder to conform . Funily enough the current British long the SA80 can only be fire right handed cos of the ejection port/ bolt assy .

That sounds about right. Another of my aunts was schooled in the '20s. The was right handed but short sighted and couldn't read from the blackboard very well. The wisdom of the day was that children didn't need glasses as they were too young to have sight defects and were therefore just being lazy.

Slightly off topic but concerning the mp44 sling, I wondered why it was slung on the "wrong" side, until it was pointed out about the muzzle up carry position. Ok fair enough, but the new sling was still a pain until I discovered you can wrap it around your left forearm and pull it tight into the shoulder like a target rifle shooter would do with a one piece sling. I dont know if this is "correct" military procedure but it works for me with the 44.