Part 461

Gun-SLING, or Belt. Although this useful article owes its invention to the ingenuity of an individual for the convenience of sportsmen, it may nevertheless be adapted with so much facility to military purposes, that a description of it cannot be thought superfluous.

The gun sling or belt is made in the following manner:--

The sling consists of three straps of leather, viz. one four feet six inches long, with the breadth agreeable to order. It is pointed and punched at one end, and has a buckle and loop at the other, which serve to shorten or lengthen it as the size of the person may require; another about twelve inches long, and three quarters of an inch wide, with a hook fixed at one end, the first being sewed ten inches from the pointed end of the belt. This strap being hooked up to either of the hooks in the main sling, forms a loop or bearing strap for the barrel of the musquet; and a third three quarters of an inch wide, and about six inches long, with an inch ring at one end, through which the belt is passed. This ring runs conveniently up and down the belt, and fully answers every purpose for which it was designed. A hook is sewed at the other end of this strap; the strap being lapped round the small part of the stock of the musquet, and the hook, fastened to the ring, they together form a loop or bearing strap for the butt. By these means, in addition to the strap round the barrel as already mentioned, the musquet or rifle can be conveniently carried, on foot or horseback, without the assistance of either hand. The musquet being released from these restraints, and the hook fixed to the strap, with the ring, being hooked to a small eye that is fixed just before the guard, the whole is carried with very little assistance from either hand, and is instantly brought to a firing position. The next position is by hooking the same hook to an eye that is fixed to the stock, about seven inches behind the guard; the barrel being at the same time supported by the strap, which is hooked to the main belt. The musquet is thus carried without the assistance of either hand; and if there be occasion to fire at a moment’s notice, you have only to draw out the top hook.

SLING. A missive weapon made by a strap and two strings; the stone is lodged in the strap, and thrown by loosing one of the strings.

SLING likewise means a kind of hanging bandage, in which a wounded limb is sustained.

To SLING, to hang loosely by means of the strap belonging to a firelock.

SLING your firelocks. A word of command formerly used in the exercise of British grenadiers.

1st. Bring the sling with the left hand opposite to the right shoulder, and the firelock with the right hand opposite the left shoulder, by crossing both hands at the same time, bringing the left hand within the right, keeping the muzzle upright, the barrel to the left, and the right hand just under the left elbow.

2d. Bend the firelock back, and bring the sling over your head, placing it just above your right shoulder.

3d. Draw the sling with your left hand, and let go the firelock with the right at the same time, that it may hang by the sling on the right shoulder, the muzzle upwards, dropping both hands down by your sides at the same time.

Handle your SLINGS. 1st. Seize the sling with both hands at the same time, taking hold of it with the right hand about the middle, and as low as you can reach, without bending your body.

2d. With the left hand bring the butt forwards, slipping your left elbow under the firelock, by bringing it between the firelock and the sling; taking hold of the firelock at the same time with the left hand, letting the stock lie between the thumb and fore finger, the butt end pointing a little to the left with the barrel upwards.

3d. Bring the firelock to lie on the left shoulder, and the sling on the right, the barrel upwards, and the butt end pointing directly to the front, keeping the firelock to a true level.

SLOPE Arms, a word of command by which the musquet rests upon the shoulder with the butt advanced. In long marches soldiers are sometimes permitted to slope arms. In all other instances it is strictly forbidden.

SLOPING Swords, a position of the sword among cavalry, when the back of the blade rests on the hollow of the right shoulder, the hilt advanced.

SLOPS. See NECESSARIES.

SLOW time. See the time of slow marching.

SLUGS. Cylindric, or cubical pieces of metal, used as shot for guns.

SLUICE-gate, a water-gate, by which a place may be inundated, or the water excluded at pleasure.

SLUICES, in military architecture, are made for various purposes; such as to make rivers navigable; to join one river to another, which is higher or lower, by means of a canal; to form inundations upon particular occasions, or to drain spots of ground that are overflowed by high tides; they are also made in fortresses, to keep up the water in one part of the ditches, whilst the other is dry; and to raise an inundation about the place when there is any apprehension of being attacked.

SLUICES are made different ways, according to the uses for which they are intended: when they serve for navigation, they are shut with two gates presenting an angle towards the stream; when they are made near the sea, two pair of gates are made, the one pair to keep the water out, and the other in, as occasion may require: in this case, the gates towards the sea present an angle that way, and the others the contrary way. The space inclosed by these gates is called chamber.

When sluices are made in the ditches of a fortress to keep up the water in some parts, instead of gates, shutters are made, so as to slide up and down in grooves; and when they are made to raise an inundation, they are then shut by means of square timbers let down into cullises, so as to lie close and firm. Particular care must be taken in the building of a sluice, to lay the foundation in the securest manner; that is, to lay the timber, grates, and floors, in such a form, that the weather cannot penetrate through any part, otherwise it will undermine the work, and blow it up, as it has sometimes happened: lastly, to make the gates of a proper strength in order to support the pressure of the water, and yet to use no more timber than what is necessary. Those who wish to be thoroughly acquainted with this kind of work, may meet with satisfaction in L’Architecture Hydraulique, par M. Belidor; or in Mr. Millar’s Practical Fortification.

SMALL arms, musquets, fusils, carabines, pistols, &c.

SNAFFLE, a bridle without a curb bit.

SNICK and SNEE, a combat with knives, such as the Dutch carry.

SOBRIETY. General temperance. In a military consideration, abstinence from an inordinate use of strong liquors. However frequent the deviations from this great and uncommon virtue may be found among soldiers, nothing can excuse or exculpate an officer who should so far forget himself, especially upon service, as to give the least countenance to such excesses, even by an occasional, much less by an habitual dereliction of this estimable quality. Sobriety keeps the head cool, strengthens the nerves, and renders moderate abilities equal to great exertions. Drunkenness, on the contrary, unfits the man for the common functions of life, and makes an officer not only contemptible to his soldiers, and dangerous to the cause he has engaged to fight for, but an indirect spur to the enterprise of an enemy, who will soon know how to take advantage of his vice and weakness.

SOC, Fr. A machine made of leather, which is fixed near the stirrup, to receive the end of the standard staff in cavalry regiments. It is likewise called braïer, and is used by the persons who carry the colors either in infantry or cavalry regiments. In the former instance it is fixed to a leathern belt that comes over the shoulder or that is fixed to the waist.

SOCKET, generally means any hollow pipe that receives something inserted.