Best Shotgun Slings: Tactical & Hunting

I love shotguns. I love the challenge they offer; I love their versatility and capability. What I don’t always love is accessorizing shotguns.

The AR-15 rules the market, and accessorizing the AR is easy because of its general overall layout. Shotguns are often quite a bit different from each other, which makes accessorizing tough to do at times.

This includes some of the more basic options, like slings. But we’re here to help! Today, we’re diving into shotgun slings. We’ll cover why you want one and which models work best for scatterguns.

So, keep reading!

THE QUICK LIST

1. Editor’s Pick

   Blue Force Gear Vickers Sling

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2. Most Adjustable

   Arbor Arms Dual Adjust Weapon Sling

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3. Best for O/U Shotguns

   Quake Claw Slip-On Shotgun Sling

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4. Best Budget Sling

   Caldwell Max Grip Sling

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5. Best Bang for Your Buck

   Magpul MS1

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6. Best Modern Tactical Sling

   GrovTec Sentinel Sling

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How We Chose the Best Shotgun Slings

I’ve spent a lifetime shooting, starting with a family that hunted every season they legally could. From there, I joined the United States Marine Corps and spent five years as an infantryman.

In the middle of my Marine Corps career, I began writing and have never stopped. I soon earned my NRA instructor certification and used my knowledge to help guide students.

I love shooting, and I love guns — weird guns, old guns, new guns, tactical guns, and especially shotguns. I’m a continual student of firearms, and I strive to educate myself to provide the best information possible to the readers of Pew Pew Tactical.

All of the products recommended are ones that the PPT crew have used at the range and in competition and are determined to be the best for most people.

Best Shotgun Slings

1. Editor’s Pick – Blue Force Gear Vickers Sling

The Blue Force Gear Vickers Sling is likely the most popular modern tactical two-point sling.

The Marine Corps used them for over a decade, and I still have my issued BFG sling, now well over a decade since I left the Marine Corps. These incredibly rugged slings will work with a tactical, hunting, or home defense shotgun.

Shotguns are nowhere near as standard as rifles, but the Vickers sling can fit nearly all of them. The magic comes from the number of attachments BFG makes for the sling. You can add all sorts of attachments to make it fit whatever shotgun you have.

The Vickers sling features a pull tab that allows for quick adjustment. You can easily tighten it up for a hands-free design or run it loose to maintain mobility.

You can adjust the sling up front and at the rear to fit you and your gun, armor, web gear, or beyond properly. The Blue Force Gear slings make it easy to manipulate your shotgun, including running a pump action and keeping the gun loaded.

The Blue Force Gear Vickers Sling comes in various configurations, including padded, minimalist options, and more. Plus, there are tons of colors if you need to match them to your boots.

The rugged design of the sling makes it well-suited for nearly any environment.

What are your thoughts on the Vickers? Let us know by rating it below!

2. Most Adjustable – Arbor Arms Dual Adjust Weapon Sling

This is my favorite adjustable, modern tactical sling for long guns. The Arbor Arms Dual Adjust Weapon Sling comes from the mind of a Recon Marine who loved adjustability, or so it seems.

The front portion has a loop, allowing quick and easy adjustments up front. You can go from tight to maximum mobility in a flash with a properly fitted sling. With a well-adjusted sling, the tightness of the design can aid you in creating tension, which reduces recoil in a shotgun.

Oh, and it’s tail free! No floppy tail bouncing around, getting in the way, or generally being irritating.

The Dual Adjust portion comes from the quick-to-make rear adjustments that allow you to adjust and fine-tune your sling fit or make radical adjustments to deal with shorter or longer lengths of pulls. I own lots of shotguns, so swapping the sling from gun to gun is common for me, and the rear adjustment makes it easy to keep the sling at the right level of adjustment.

Up front, the Dual Adjust Weapon Sling offers an over-tighten option to go really hands-free. This allows you to climb ladders or grab a buddy without worrying about your shotgun flopping around. It won’t move a hair when you call in the overtighten feature.

You can add a pad if you see fit, and the sling comes in all sorts of colors and styles. I doubt you’ll need the precision option for a shotgun, but hey, slug guns exist, right?

3. Best for O/U Shotguns – Quake Claw Slip-On Shotgun Sling

Hunting shotguns are a diverse bunch, and for some reason, people who make bird guns hate slings. Not all bird guns, but the over/under designs often lack sling swivels, and to be fair, a sling can get in the way of your swing as you track moving targets. With that in mind, the Quake Claw Slip-On Shotgun Sling is for you.

This is perfect for those over/under swivel-challenged double barrel blasters. The Quak Claw Slip-On Shotgun sling doesn’t require sling swivels. This sling has two sling loops that tighten down on the gun. One goes right past the stock, where the pistol grip meets the stock, and the second goes on the barrel and in front of the handguard.

The loops adjust like a slip knot. This makes the loops easy to adjust for smaller guns. Shotguns in the 20- and 28-gauge, as well as the .410, have smaller barrels and stocks, so the loops need to be smaller all around.

When fit properly, the sling is a simple over-the-shoulder option for carrying your shotgun through the fields. It quickly dismounts from your shoulder and can safely be thrown into action. The sling is short and sweet but keeps the shotgun barrels pointing well above your head for safety’s sake.

The big, famous Quake Claw pad is present and stretches and moves to groove with you and your gun. This provides a ton of comfort and support. Rounding out its features, it’s affordable!

4. Best Budget Sling – Caldwell Max Grip Sling

Caldwell makes a super nice sling option if you have a more traditional pump action or semi-auto shotgun for hunting purposes.

The Caldwell Max Grip Sling is another budget sling aimed at the hunting market. The Max Grip Sling does require sling swivels and provides a more adjustable option.

The sling can adjust from 20 to 41 inches overall. It can fit various shotguns, from full-sized deer slayers to 20-gauge bantams. At the top of the sling sits a 2.75-inch-wide pad made from a polymer-like material. It’s soft, malleable, and over-molded.

The pad prevents slippage with a textured design that allows it to cling to your shoulder. Its wider pad also takes some of that shotgun’s weight and spreads it across your shoulder for total comfort. It keeps things comfy and doesn’t bounce or rub you raw.

At the bottom, the tail has a thumb loop to keep the shotgun stable as you hike, hump, and drag yourself to your tree stand before the sun rises. Caldwell claims it’s scentless, which is nice, but that doesn’t mean it won’t absorb scents, so be aware.

The Max Grip sling provides a comfy, stable, and affordable hunting option for shotgunners. Its low price doesn’t necessarily mean low quality. The Max Grip keeps things simple…but don’t expect it to be a great choice for a tactical shotgun.

5. Best Bang for Your Buck – Magpul MS1

Magpul is slowly setting itself up to be a one-stop shop for firearm accessories. The Magpul MS1 is their first sling and a fantastic shotgun option. Not only is it relatively affordable for a tactical sling, but it’s also very well made.

The Magpul MS1 is a tactical two-point with a quick-adjust design. Magpul produces the sling in its normal format, and you can find it for around $30. There is a QD option, a padded option, and even a Light option that all cost a little more than average.

For a shotgun, I think the standard model works exceptionally well. It’s a tough-to-beat bargain from a company with a great reputation for high-quality goods. The Magpul MS1 features an adjustable slider that’s slat and simple in its design.

It slides easily and gives you instant adjustments. There are no loops or tabs, just a flat-fitting slider that can easily be grabbed and adjusted. The MS1 doesn’t come with attachments, and you’ll need sling points on the gun, or you’ll need to add your own attachments.

It’s a tail-free sling with tri-glides to make it easy to eliminate tails and gives you a second point of adjustment. The Magpul MS1 is super simple and very streamlined in its design. It stays out of the way but provides enough support to carry your shotgun comfortably.

The slider does allow for excellent control over the length of the sling and its variance of tight and loose. You can micro-adjust the sling, making it easy to get tension just right to help increase your control over the gun.

6. Best Modern Tactical Sling – GrovTec Sentinel Sling

The GrovTec Sentinel Sling is another tactical two-point design made by the modern shotgun user.

The Sentinel variant comes with a pad, but that pad is removable. I like a pap, especially on a shotgun, due to its weight; it makes things a bit comfier, especially if it’s a long day.

With the GrovTec, the pad is quite helpful. GrovTec uses a thin 1-inch webbing for most of the sling. The extra 2-inch-wide pad provides a little more comfort to your sling option.

It sports a quick-adjust pull loop that makes it easy to control the length of the sling. It allows you to apply tension when necessary. On top of tension, we get hands-free support when running the sling tight and great mobility when running it loosely.

The GrovTec Sentinel sling has a tail-free design, so don’t worry about looking like a bag of crap. One of the more unique features of the GrovTec is the emergency release buckle. If you need to ditch the sling in a hurry or can’t raise the weapon above your head, just hit the buckle and undue the sling.

This sling does come with QD attachments, so your shotgun needs to be a modern option with QD ports. If not, there are plenty of attachments to convert the GrovTec, although that takes away from the great price point of this sling.

A modern tactical two-point sling with QD points for around $50 is tough to beat. If you don’t have QD ports, several other options are available.

7. Proctor Sling

If you want your shotgun sling to be simple, and I mean really simple, as well as versatile, easy to use, and affordable…then the Proctor Sling is for you.

The Proctor Sling is ready with all the necessary hardware to attach to your shotgun. It weighs a mere 2.3 ounces, which is remarkably light. The mounting hardware includes a pair of supplied nylon loops that make it easy to attach to sling points or other hardware.

Its loops are very versatile, making attachment easy. You can adjust the sling very easily. At the rear, we have a fit adjustment tri-glide, twitch, and a tail-free design. Up front, we have a very minimalist slider to adjust the sling between tight and loose.

The Proctor Sling’s minimalist design makes it easy to attach nearly any shotgun. It could be used for hunting or tactical applications. A low-profile design gets crap out of your way and ensures you can operate the gun, reload the gun, and clear malfunctions with ease.

Plus, for $45, it’s a great bargain. It comes out of the box ready and perfectly suits a wide variety of shotguns. It’s a bit thin, which might not provide the comfort many seek with a heavy shotgun. It’s still a very well-made and durable shotgun sling.

Shotgun Sling Factors

What makes a good shotgun sling? Like any sling, it should be supportive and provide a comfortable way to carry your weapon. Depending on its design, this might be over the shoulder or around the front of the body.

With shotguns, the best way to mitigate recoil is the famed push/pull method. With a good shotgun sling, you can get some of the pull from the sling. A properly tensioned shotgun sling can help you mitigate recoil and even steady your bead for accurate slug shots.

In general, a shotgun sling needs to be adjustable. We are looking at the entirety of shotguns. Finding a proper sling to fit such a wide variety of guns can be tough, so our selections need to be adjustable.

The Two-Point Solution

For shotguns, I don’t see a purpose in anything other than a two-point sling.

One-point slings offer poor support and leave a big, heavy gun dangling in the wind. A one-point is basically just a lanyard on a shotgun.

Three points are overly complicated and annoying. Plus, with shotguns, they tend to get in the way. That extra strap becomes a major problem when reloading from a side saddle. Plus, it’s not 1998 anymore.

Final Thoughts

A good sling goes a long way; shotguns need them like any other firearm. A supportive sling is a comfort, like a good blanket, so choose wisely.

These are what I think are the best shotgun slings. What are your picks? Let us know below! For more on shotguns, check out our Best Home Defense Shotgun recommendations.