The best ideas and the best execution lead to the simplest, most useful gear.
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is a new product from Impact Weapon Components (IWC) that blurs the line between 1 and 2 point slings. It is a simple and inexpensive addition to the sling that you already own that will allow you to quickly and easily transition from a 2 point to a 1 point sling. It is essentially a tri-glide that is designed to accept the most common sling attachment devices like QD swivels, HK Snap Hooks, and Mash Hooks. This is one clever and versatile little widget.
On Slings
In order to understand how this product works and why it exists, you must first understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of slings on the market. There are 3 main types of “tactical” slings (slings that keep the rifle in front of the user): single point (1 point), 2 point, and 3 point. We will mostly be discussing 1 point and 2 point slings.
A 1 point sling is so called because it only attaches to the rifle at a single point. They work best if this point is right at the rear of the lower receiver using an end plate like the SLAP or Daniel Defense Burnsed Loop. The sling has a loop that wraps over the strong side shoulder of the shooter, around the back and then under the weak side arm. The 1 point sling has advantage of allowing the rifle to transition quickly and easily to either the strong or weak side shoulder with no adjustments. They also tend to allow the shooter to move to any shooting position without adjustment (like standing to prone). The main weakness of the 1 point sling is that it allows the muzzle to swing like a pendulum if the user has to take their hands off of it.
2 points slings attach to the rifle at 2 points; one at the front of the rifle and one at the rear. I prefer to place both of these points as close to the receiver as possible. The further that these points are apart the more stable, but less maneuverable the rifle will be. Mounting the sling close to the receiver at the front and back allows for a great range of motion with the rifle which is useful during reloads and malfunction clearance. The strengths of a 2 point sling configured this way is good range of motion and better muzzle control. As dynamic as a properly configured 2 point sling can be, it still can’t match a 1 point for range of motion.
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide allows the user to reconfigure their sling as a 1 point or 2 point on the fly to deal with the specific set of problems that they are facing. That simply means that the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide allows the user to make their sling behave like a 1 point when extra maneuverability is required or a 2 point when they need some extra stability. The user is able to leverage the best of both sling types.
There have been slings that offer this functionality before like the Military Moron designed Emdom Gunslinger and then the Magpul MS-2 sling but the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide brings this functionality to the sling that you already own and no other sling or device will allow you to use QD swivels.
The IWC 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide works best if the rear sling point is at the rear of the receiver.
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide turns an excellent 2 point sling like the VTAC into an equally excellent 1 point sling.
Details
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum and is Mil-Spec Hard Anodized black. It is essentially an aluminum tri-glide with the addition of a small loop. This loop is where the magic happens. The loop is machined to accept a push button QD swivel which is perfect because many people are already using these are their front sling attachment point. However, the loop is also purposely machined a little shallower than the full depth of the QD swivel to allow for the use of HK style Snap Hooks and ITW Mash Hooks.
The QD swivel attaches easily.
ITW Mash Hooks work equally well.
Fit and Finish
There isn’t much to discuss in the way of fit and finish. It finely machined with no sharp corners that are going to shred your sling. The hard anodized finish is very durable and should stay intact for a long time. The logo is cleanly etched and very low profile. It is basically every bit as good as I have come to expect from IWC.
The logo is etched in a fairly low profile location.
Set Up
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide will work best with 2 point slings that are mounted at the rear of the receiver like I discussed above. The point of the device is to turn a 2 point sling into a 1 point sling so it is best of the rear sling mounting point is in the same position that a 1 point sling would use. This is my preferred location for mounting my slings already so I did not need to change my set up.
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is threaded onto the sling at the rear attachment point. I used a VTAC sling for this evaluation. The VTAC sling comes with 2 plastic tri-glides at the rear of the sling so I placed the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide in between the two provided plastic tri-glides. Placing it between the tri-glides is not necessary, in fact, you could replace one of the plastic ones with the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide.
This shows a standard 1" plastic tri-glide for comparison.
Install the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide at the rear of the sling like you would any other tri-glide. Installation is simple.
In Use
The beauty of the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is just how easy it is to transition from 2 point to 1 point, and back again. While controlling the rifle with the strong hand, the user simply grasps the front sling attachment point (a push button QD swivel in my case) with the weak hand, disconnects it from the front attachment point, and then inserts it into the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide. It is extremely simple and can be done with just one hand.
I was impressed at how quiet the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is due to its use of push button QD swivels. Similar slings use metal hardware like d-rings as for the attachment point. These can rattle when moving. The push button QD swivels are basically silent.
I found that the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide worked very well with the VTAC sling. The VTAC sling makes fine tuning the fit of the sling easy after transitioning to a 1 point configuration. It also makes it easy to use as a shooting aid in 2 point mode by tightening up the sling against your arm for more stability.
I found it to work well with the Gear Sector 2 Point sling which uses tubular webbing. The tubular webbing makes this sling very comfortable but I was concerned that the extra thickness would prevent its use with the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide but that wasn’t the case. It was a bit tight since the Gear Sector sling has a side release buckle at the rear but I was able to fit everything and function was perfect.
I also used it with the Emdom Gunslinger. The Gunslinger has a steel d-ring that already allows it to transition from 2 point to 1 point with the use of a Mash Hook or Snap Hook. However, I rarely use Mash Hooks or Snap Hooks, so I actually preferred the Gunslinger with the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide in place so I could use my preferred QD swivels.
Basically, it works perfectly with all three slings that I had on hand to test. All three used different types of 1″ webbing. All three laid very flat and comfortably on the chest when in 1 point configuration. Based on what I’ve seen, this should work with any sling that has 1″ webbing. The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is currently made to work with slings that use 1″ webbing at the attachment points. If demand is high enough for this model, IWC will make them in larger sizes to work slings like the Blue Force Gear VCAS. The VCAS is my favorite sling so I hope that IWC is able to make that happen.
The only down side that I could find is that, if your sling is mounted at the rear of the receiver, it can occasionally slip in between your cheek and the stock. I found that by mounting the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide with the loop part facing away from the rifle that it was less noticeable. I have been running my slings this way for years so I am used to the feeling of an occasional tri-glide or side release buckle getting under my cheek. This will be a non-issue for most users but you may need to take it into consideration when deciding if the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is right for you.
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide is relatively low profile when mounted.
The beauty of this system is being able to use common push button QD swivels.
The Verdict
Push button QD swivels are ubiquitous at this point. Many hand guards even have integral mounting points for these handy devices. Now IWC has given us a way to use these QD swivels to quickly and easily transform a sling from 2 point to 1 point and back again. Even if you don’t use QD swivels you can still use the 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide with other common attachment points like Snap Hooks and Mash Hooks. That is some serious versatility.
The 2 To 1 Point Tri-Glide will be available soon from Impact Weapon Components.
This product was provided to be by Impact Weapon Components.
Remember to use the coupon code “triggerjerk” at checkout to receive 5% discount at IWC.
