Since 2001 Gorton Engineering has provided large consulting firm capabilities, but with the quality, flexibility, personalized service, and low overhead that can only be found in a small firm.
PACKSLING
U.S. Patent 10,473,425
Some years ago, in an effort to extend the best season of all—hunting season—I took up the use of snowshoes. In doing this I quickly learned the relief that trekking poles can provide negotiating a difficult grade, or while flailing around in a waist deep drift. Despite the fact that for years I had openly mocked their use, trekking poles quickly proved their utility during the rest of the hunt, particularly while wandering the pine beetle kill labyrinths that I frequent.
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In addition to this new demand for the use of my hands, binoculars also require regular attention. As most that use them can attest, their efficient use is hindered at best by the constant shrug that is required to prevent sling slipping from shoulder. With trekking poles this compromise is made worse since while moving you must decide whether to sacrifice a hand or neck to stabilize a slung rifle. This dilemma found me wishing for a different way to carry my rifle and my backpack seemed like the obvious choice.
Where I hunt it is always a good idea to have extra layers, food, water, and emergency supplies. For the same reason that it is easier to carry these items in a backpack, as opposed to holding them in your arms, it is more efficient to have your rifle securely out of the way when not needed, with the burden of its weight positioned on your hips. While there are many backpacks with various straps and sacks designed to allow a hunter to secure rifle to pack, the vast majority require the hunter to remove the pack to access the rifle or require the use of a buddy to do it for them. This type of setup, while effective for logging miles, isn’t a viable option for a hunter that is actively hunting.
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Some packs have been designed with an integrated scabbard that allows a hunter to remove their rifle without removing their pack. However, the overhead maneuver required to accomplish this is unworkable for suppressed firearms, for the short-armed hunter, or for those like me that have a limited overhead range of motion. Furthermore, this style of pack still requires the hunter to remove
the pack to replace the rifle in the scabbard, an action that is not of much use to the still hunter that needs ready access to their firearm, or would simply like to sit with rifle in lap, without generating the physical activity and resultant noise of removing and shouldering a pack.
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What I wanted then was a device that would make the process of attaching and removing rifle from pack as easy and quiet as sling from shoulder, yet retain the rifle in such a way as to make it a fixed and rigid part of the pack, and therefore a part of me. While the beginning of Packsling was admittedly crude, after myriad improvements, tempered by over 140 miles of rigorous use, I believe that I have built that device.
With Packsling I can remove and replace rifle from pack on a whim. While it takes a bit longer to access my rifle than it did when I used a conventional sling, the physical motion required is minimal, and near silence is the result. I honestly don’t believe that I have ever lost game that I would have harvested if I had my firearm in any position, shoulder slung or otherwise, other than at the ready with thump on safety.
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Like most hunters, I own several long guns that serve different purposes. Since it isn’t practical to have a different device for each firearm, I have designed Packsling to be adaptable. With a minimum of tools and time it can be adjusted to accommodate virtually any long gun. In the future I hope to add crossbows to the roster as well.
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Constructed mainly of metal components, aluminum for lightness with steel where needed for strength, Packsling is robust. When slipping through cover morphs into trying to escape from cover, low hanging branches invariably have something to say about the unimpeded passage of a rifle barrel. In every such occurrence, either branch capitulates and breaks, or branch wins, forcing my retreat. Despite frequent abuse of this nature I have yet to experience a single failure, and have every confidence this trend will continue.
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Of course, nothing in this universe is free, and the price of Packsling is paid in weight. In its current configuration it comes in at 1.8 pounds (this figure includes the brackets that marry Packsling to the backpack). Prior to Packsling though, the traditional sling that I preferred to use weighed 6.5 ounces. Having replaced this with what I refer to as a Sleash—a leash that doubles as a fully adjustable paracord based sling using standard QD sling
swivels—that weighs 1 ounce, and the price retreats to 1.4 pounds. With further refinement, more particularly engineering Packsling to work with a specifically designed pack system utilizing more efficient brackets, I am confident that the price can be reduced to under a pound. Certainly not free, but a bargain considering the rewards realized.
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For more information, please email (stuartgorton@msn.com) or call (720-652-0349).