I recently picked up a Huntsman Revere from the classified section. I wanted a walk around gun to take my grandson on the occasional squirrel hunt in the woods behind my house. All my other air rifles are pretty heavy so the Revere needed to stay light and easy to carry. I had heard some people mention that it was hard to add sling studs to the Huntsman because of the thin wood below the air cylinder. Well they are not entirely wrong, but it can be done! With some caveats, I am lucky enough to have a pretty well equipped shop and I have several hobbies. Wood working, Machining and leather working just to name a few. I used all of the aforementioned in this project. I used the Milling machine to mill the recess for the model 70 super grade recessed swivel studs. The screw holes needed to be drilled 90* to the studs, so back to the mill. Once I had the holes drilled I could get a good idea how much wood I was working with...in my case it was right at .375 below the studs left. I wanted to use inserts so I could use the machine screws that came with the tally studs. BUT they were .250 deep, well thats not going to work..Hmmmm ,Ill chuck them in the lathe and cut them down to .100, Problem solved. Next I needed to make a flat bottom pocket for the inserts to seat into. End mill and milling machine to the rescue.
Once the studs were installed I went looking for an old sling. As I was digging through my old hunting stuff, I had a thought. Self, you had a leather side business for quite a while, why not make a sling. Leather working to the rescue! I drew up a design in adobe illustrator and began cutting things out on the laser. (as I hold my pinky finger to the corner of my mouth) If you get it you know if you don't.....well sorry! The sling only took a couple of hours to finish. I suede lined the back side and stitched all the boarders to add strength. Stitching helps everything hold it's shape. -Free pro tip_
Below are some photos of my adventure, Im currently trying to decide if im going to parkerize the screws. They need to be removed and cleaned up either way so give me your thoughts. Polished in the white or Black to match the studs.
Once the studs were installed I went looking for an old sling. As I was digging through my old hunting stuff, I had a thought. Self, you had a leather side business for quite a while, why not make a sling. Leather working to the rescue! I drew up a design in adobe illustrator and began cutting things out on the laser. (as I hold my pinky finger to the corner of my mouth) If you get it you know if you don't.....well sorry! The sling only took a couple of hours to finish. I suede lined the back side and stitched all the boarders to add strength. Stitching helps everything hold it's shape. -Free pro tip_
Below are some photos of my adventure, Im currently trying to decide if im going to parkerize the screws. They need to be removed and cleaned up either way so give me your thoughts. Polished in the white or Black to match the studs.
