Best Fox Call sent Scott Mackenzie a Z-Aim Sling to see how it performed whilst out Foxing and Stalking on the Isle of Skye… Here’s what he had to say…
I had been looking at the “Z-Aim pro stalker rifle sling” for some time, and Rob Crampton of BestFoxCall kindly sent myself the product to try.
On opening the package as it arrived at my door, I was very impressed by the build quality of this sling. Tough nylon straps, strong luggage style buckles and a generous 11mm thick neoprene pad adorned the make up of the sling. A nice embroidered Z-aim logo finished the quality off nicely.
The sling had arrived part way through my annual Red hind cull so I was eager to attach it to my .270. Attaching to the rifle was straight forward through the use of the standard 1 inch sling swivels. Fitting to your body takes a little more time. At first, it can seem slightly strange when arranged on your shoulder for the first time, this is mainly due to your rifle (moderator size, Bi-pod size). The sling is designed to stay on your shoulder by means of a “chest strap” which frees up both hands, this is why it is important to take a little time to adjust the sling to your rifle set up on your body. I found by moving my torso side to side, bending forwards and backwards, I soon found where my rifle set up wanted to sit comfortably. I tried this set with a small backpack and again, with a little adjustment the rifle sat perfectly.
Now it was time for the real test, out on the hill.
As most of my stalking is open hill, I tend to use a traditional hill stalking rifle slip, this sits well on my shoulder/back for a long day on the hill, it’s also convenient for spying the hill freeing up my hands to use binoculars or a telescope without fear of the rifle slipping from my shoulder.
The Z-aim pro stalker rifle sling achieves all this and more. As well as being able to spy the hill comfortably, I can also stalk and crawl without fear of the rifle slipping, and with the “pop” of a clip the rifle us ready to be removed from the shoulder and into a shooting position. Another plus for me was the ability to drag a beast from the hill, again freeing up my hands which makes this sort of operation much safer.
I have now took to using the Z-aim sling on my fox rifle when out at night. This really makes a difference as my style of lamping is to walk the ground, in the Highlands this is very challenging in the dark. The Z-aim sling frees up my hands to allow me to use the lamp and mouth calls at the same time. I can safely traverse my ground through the darkness.
The Z-aim pro stalker rifle sling is a very useful product that would fit well with stalkers and foxers alike. It would be nice to see the sling in more natural materials such as leather and suede, but for now, it’s a very useful product.