Magpul MS1 Padded vs Blue Force Gear Vickers

Magpul MS1 padded sling or Blue Force Gear Vickers padded sling is a two-point sling choice. Both are straps and hardware. Neither one is a rifle, a pistol, or a box of ammunition. Buy the MS1 padded if you want Magpul's slider, the sewn-in pad, and polymer hardware, and you will add the QD or Paraclip adapter your stock actually uses. Buy the black Vickers with nylon hardware, model BLFVCAS-200-OA-BK, if you want the Vickers quick-adjust pull tab and Cordura webbing with the pad that stays put. The rifle stays at a licensed dealer. The ammunition stays there too.

Short version. Fit the sling before the season, on the gun you already own, at the bench. Glasses and muffs are the other things you put on before a shot. A carbine and a rifle are different lengths, and a sling that was perfect on a 16-inch gun can be the wrong length on a longer hunting rifle. Check live prices on the sling. Buy the firearm from a dealer.

This comparison is two padded two-point slings. It is not a one-point sling, not a traditional leather hunting strap with no adjuster, and not a QD swivel by itself. The MS1 padded listing here is the black MAG545 style two-point. The Vickers listing here is the black padded sling with nylon hardware, not the metal-hardware version and not a camouflage variant. Hardware color and camo pattern change the listing. The job of the sling does not.

These are slings. Swivels, QD cups, and adapters are separate if your stock needs them. The rifle and the ammunition stay at a licensed dealer.

Who should buy the MS1, and who should buy the Vickers?

Buy the Magpul MS1 padded sling if you want one slider that lengthens and shortens the strap without a dangling tail. Magpul's description of this sling is a dedicated two-point built around that slider: pull to make it longer for a transition or a climb, snug it to lock a carry, and leave no loop to catch a blind or a stand. The pad is closed-cell foam sewn to the inside of the webbing, so it does not slide down to your elbow by lunch. The hardware on this black sling is polymer. Colored versions exist. This card is the black padded two-point.

Buy the Blue Force Gear Vickers padded sling in black with nylon hardware if you want the adjuster people already know from a pull tab, Cordura webbing, and a pad that is built into the line of the strap. This listing is model BLFVCAS-200-OA-BK: nylon hardware, glass-reinforced, not the metal-buckle Vickers. Nylon is quieter against a blind and kinder to a finished stock than a steel triglide that can scratch. The length adjusts for different guns and for a coat or a layer of gear. Confirm you are not looking at a one-point or at a sling that includes swivels you do not need.

Buy the mounts separately, on purpose. A sling without a way to attach it is a strap in a drawer. A hunting rifle may have fixed studs. A carbine may have QD cups, or it may have nothing until you add them. The fit article is the afternoon you spend doing that at home. Do not discover a missing stud in the dark on opening morning.

What the MS1 padded sling is actually for

The MS1 padded is a two-point sling. One end goes to the rear of the stock. The other goes forward, at a stud or a socket that keeps the muzzle where you want it when the gun is slung. In that role Magpul says you can switch shoulders and you can snug the gun in as a support. The slider is the whole trick. There is no long tail to step on and no loop that hooks a fence. If you have used a traditional hunting sling, the MS1 will feel fast and a little industrial. That is the design. It is not trying to look like leather.

Magpul sells adapters, separate from this sling, so the same MS1 can take a Paraclip or a QD swivel. Read that twice. The sling in the photo is the webbing, the pad, and the slider. It is not a promise that QD cups are in the bag. If your stock has ordinary sling studs, you need the attachment that fits studs. If your stock has QD sockets, you need QD swivels. Mixing those up is how a new sling sits in the box until deer season is half over.

Do: adjust it while you are wearing the coat you hunt in. A sling set in a t-shirt is short once the jacket is on, or it is loose and the muzzle dips into the mud. Don't: route the strap so the slider sits on your neck. The pad belongs on the shoulder. The slider belongs where your hand can find it without looking. Do: function-check the adjuster at the bench, muzzle in a safe direction, gun unloaded. The rifle you are fitting still came from a dealer, and it goes back in the safe when you are done.

What this Vickers padded sling is actually for

The Vickers Combat Applications Sling, in this black nylon-hardware version, is the two-point with a pull tab. You lengthen it to climb, to get into a blind, or to move the gun off your chest, and you shorten it when you want the gun stable. Blue Force Gear builds this one with Cordura webbing and a pad. The listing calls out nylon hardware and an overall length that adjusts for different guns, including when you are wearing extra layers. It does not include a rifle. It does not include ammunition. Those are dealer purchases, every time.

Nylon hardware is the quieter, lighter choice on this card. A metal-hardware Vickers exists and is a different listing. Metal is tougher than anyone needs for a sling and louder in a box blind. If you want metal, buy that listing with your eyes open. If you want this black nylon sling, confirm the model BLFVCAS-200-OA-BK so a camouflage nylon sling or a metal sling does not show up because the photo looked similar.

Do: learn the pull tab before you need it. In the dark, the tab is how the sling gets long. A sling you have never loosened will stay short while you fight it. Don't: attach it backward and then decide the brand is wrong. Rear to the stock, front to the forward mount, pad on the shoulder you actually carry on. Do: check the stitching once a season. A sling that holds a rifle over rocks is a piece of safety gear, not a fashion strap. Retire it when the webbing is cut or the adjuster no longer holds.

How a two-point sling should sit

Unloaded, at the bench, muzzle in a safe direction. Attach the rear first. Attach the front. Put the gun on the shoulder you carry on when you walk. Your support hand should be able to find the forend without the sling pulling the stock off your shoulder. Tighten until the gun does not swing into your knee, and loosen until you can mount it without fighting the strap. Then put the coat on and do it again. That is the whole fit. It takes longer to write than to do, and people still skip it.

A longer hunting rifle needs more sling than a short carbine. If you own both, do not assume one setting serves both guns. Length is a different subject from the sling, but the sling has to match the length you actually carry. A sling set on a carbine and then moved to a longer rifle without a refit will either choke you or let the muzzle drag.

Carry side matters. Most people sling on the support side so the gun comes up on the strong shoulder. Left-handed shooters get this backward if they copy a photo. Set it for your body. The slider or the pull tab has to land in the hand you will use, not in the hand a catalog model used.

What else you put on before you shoot

A sling does not replace eye protection or ear protection. Shooting glasses and electronic muffs are the range pair. A sling that helps you carry the gun to the bench does not hold the gun on target by itself. It can steady a position if you know how to use tension. It can also pull you off the rifle if it is caught on a pack strap. Clear the strap before you break a shot. That is a habit, not a product feature.

Cleaning the gun is a different afternoon. A cleaning kit belongs at the bench with the sling off, so you are not dragging webbing through solvent. Take the sling off when it is in the way. Put it back on before the gun goes into the case for the ride home, so you are not threading swivels in a parking lot.

What actually fails on a sling

The adjuster fails when it is full of mud or when the webbing is twisted through it. Run the strap flat. A twisted slider will not hold, and you will blame the brand for a routing mistake. The pad fails when it is crushed in a hot truck under a tool box for a summer. Closed-cell foam takes a set. Hang the sling. Do not use it as a tie-down.

Attachment hardware fails when the swivel is the wrong one for the stud, or when a QD was slammed in and never clicked. A click you did not hear is a gun that can leave the sling. Function-check every mount, unloaded. The stitching fails last, usually at the pad ends, after years of brush. Look there. A few broken threads are a warning. A cut webbing is a replacement, not a field stitch with whatever is in the pack.

The other failure is buying a sling for a gun you have not decided to own. Pick the firearm with a dealer, in a legal configuration for where you hunt. Then buy the sling that fits that stock. Doing it backward fills a drawer with straps and does not put a safe, legal rifle in the rack.

What this fight is not

It is not a rifle review and it is not an ammunition review. Those products are not linked here. A dealer sells the gun. A dealer sells the ammunition. The decision in front of you is only the sling, and the sling is a strap. It is not a one-point bungee, not a competition cuff, and not a camera strap you hoped was close enough. A camera strap on a rifle is how hardware bends.

It is not a substitute for a safe or a case. When the gun is home, it is locked up. The sling can stay on the gun in the safe if the safe allows it, or it can come off so the door shuts. That is a fit question for your safe, not a reason to leave a firearm out.

So which padded sling should you buy?

Buy the Magpul MS1 padded, black, if you want the slider and the sewn-in pad, and you will buy the adapter that matches your studs or your QD cups. Buy the Blue Force Gear Vickers padded sling in black nylon hardware, BLFVCAS-200-OA-BK, if you want the pull-tab adjuster and Cordura with a pad that stays in line. Fit either one unloaded, in the coat you wear, before the season. The rifle stays at a licensed dealer. The ammunition stays there too. The sling is the only thing this comparison is selling.