When I first purchased my Tokyo Marui P90, I was in desperate search of a sling to carry it. I really wanted the sling that Col. Jack Oniel uses on the television show "Stargate SG1", but the one he had seemed to be a custom, many places tried to imitate it, but none did it right. BlackHawk Industries makes a P90 specific sling, but at the time, it was on backorder at all reputable retailers. Then I read a review of the BHI Chalker Sling at some website I don't remember. It looked good, the reviewer had said that the P90 may need some custom strap to work properly with the Chalker, but it worked fine without it. The idea that the chalker sling, unlike the many P90 specific slings out there, would work with a multitude of other guns, made me decide to buy it.

For those who are unfamiliar with the various "ready position" sling systems out there, this kind of sling "hangs" your weapon from your chest, leaving just enough slack to be able to quickly bring your weapon from your chest to firing position with little effort.

The Chalker sling originally was made for use with the M16/M4 line of guns, but of course it can work with many others. The small strap attachment that you use to attach your weapon to the sling, is made up of a 3/8" web strap about 6-8 inches long with metal loops for a buckle and a loop that hooks up to the sternum strap on the sling. You wrap this piece around the BASE of the stock on a weapon such as an M16 or an M4. With some other weapons you have to get creative with the strap attachment though. As I said before, I got it for use with my TM P90TR. I have also used it on a Maruzen MP5K PDW, and just recently on a TM Steyr AUG. Below are the results of each.

P90 TR - There is no "base of the stock" on a P90, so you have 2 choices, make a custom strap and loop system for the P90, or loop the strap through the rear sling mount on the P90. I chose the latter, which worked out OK, it makes the P90 hang a little lower than it should on your chest though. I had no problems in the field with this setup though, and the sling performed flawlessly, easily bearing the weight of the P90 and my optics. At the time that I had my P90 I had no vest to test out the sling's interference with a tactical vest system.

MP5K PDW - This gun I never used in the field with the Chalker sling, but I can say that it works perfectly with the Chalker sling system. It hangs at the perfect hieght and in the perfect ready position.

Steyr AUG Civillian - Now this gun was the ultimate test of the Chalker sling's comfort and ergonomics. My AUG has quite a bit of added wieght, including an all metal phantom suppresser kit and medium sized optics. The most difficult part of using the AUG with the Chalker sling is that the attachment strap is BARELY long enough to wrap around the base of the AUG stock (Just behind the sight rail) I was forced to use black tape to reinforce the buckle on the strap to prevent it from coming off. After doing this though, it fit with the AUG perfectly. I was able to hang my AUG off my chest for the majority of a day in the field, with only minor back strain (from the sheer weight of my gun). It lined up from a hanging position to a firing position quickly and easily.

Attachment of the weapon to the sling is achieved by a quick release hook attached tot he sternum strap of the sling. You simply hook the ring on the weapon attachment strap to the sternum strap an its ready. Removal of your weapon from the sling is as easy as holding on to your weapon and pulling the release tab on the sternum strap.

Gear Compatibility: I recently purchased a BlackHawk Omega tactical vest and was anxious to see how well the Chalker sling worked over the vest. The Blackhawk literature says that it will work over any vest, which it does, but of course with some caveat. The sling's shoulder straps obviously go over the shoulders of the vest. They also just happen to go over the radio pouch and part of the map pockets and loose round pockets of the vest. The map pocket is still assessable, but with difficulty. The radio pocket however, is unusable in conjunction with the sling. The main weight distribution of the sling is directly over the radio pocket, meaning that the weight of the gun will be directly on top of the radio, and also will make it fit awkwardly. I can live with that though, and will just have to find another location for my radio in my gear.

You can purchase sling attachment straps in 3 packs from BHI, so you can have all of your weapons sling ready.

The Chalker sling is made with the same ballistic type material (Nytaneon) as the rest of BHI's tactical product line, which is combat proven across the world.