The Huskey Mark II EWS Sling from Ares Armor is the evolutionary offspring of the original Huskey Amentum Slider Sling. It has learned a useful new trick thanks to some custom hardware from Impact Weapons Components.
Overview
In many ways, the Huskey Mark II EWS Sling is similar to most 2 point slings but it is meant to be used in a specific way as a shooting aid. In order to accomplish this, Ares Armor recommends that the sling be mount as far forward as possible at the front and as far to the rear as possible at the rear.
Like the original Huskey Amentum Sling, the Huskey Mark II EWS Sling features a large, easy to use loop for its quick adjustment point. This loop is attached to the custom slider hardware that allows the sling to be cinched tightly against the body to let out enough to allow a transition to the opposite shoulder.
The range of adjustment with this new slider is incredible and it is surprisingly easy to use. To loosen the sling for a transition, you simply grab the loop and pull. To cinch it tight against your body, you pull the sling tail on the underside of the slider. There is a lever that you can press on the underside of the slider that releases the sling when it is cinched tight.
Other features include a color contrast adjustment loop that is easy to identify visually, padding for comfort, all metal hardware, and 1.25” webbing.
Observations from Use
I initially installed the Huskey Mark II EWS Sling the way Ares Armor typically shows it installed with the sling mounted just in front of your hand at the forward attachment point and as far to the rear as possible for the rear attachment point. While this worked well for stabilization, I found that it limited the range of motion making it difficult to move the carbine the way I like when reloading. After some experimentation, I found that placing the sling as far forward as possible but mounting the rear attachment point near the receiver offered nearly as much stability with increased range of motion.
If you find that you don’t care for the way Ares Armor prescribes the sling be used, it actually works really well as a normal quick-adjust type 2-point sling. The slider and the large loop are the keys to this. They offer quick and easy adjustment for shoulder transitions and making cinching easy should you need to secure the carbine against your body. Ares Armor and IWC really got the hardware right on this one.
I did find myself frustrated at times with the length adjustment of the Huskey Mark II EWS Sling. Much of the length adjustment is done at the rear attachment point which isn’t a big deal for an unpadded sling. However, this is a padded sling and adding length at the rear attachment point means that you are changing the position of the padded section of the sling. It is possible to end up with the padded portion of the sling on your back where it does you no good rather than sitting on your shoulder as it should be.
Wrap Up
The Huskey Mark II EWS Sling is designed to be used with a certain technique for stabilizing your carbine and it works as advertised when used this way. However, it is flexible enough to also be a very good quick adjust 2-point type sling. If you have to adjust the sling to be long enough to accommodate larger users or extra gear, you may find that the padded section is ineffective but on the whole, the sling is solid.
Check out the Huskey Mark II EWS Sling on AresArmor.com. Thank you to Impact Weapons Components for providing the sample to review.
Note: Unfortunately, I lost my pictures for this review after I already returned the sample. The images used are from Ares Armor.
