MODEL 1878 CANTEEN AND HAVERSACK SLINGS – NICE
SPECIMENS OF BOTH THE EARLY NARROW CANTEEN SLINGS AND
THE WIDER HAVERSACK SLINGS: Introduced in 1878
as part of the ongoing efforts by the Ordnance
Department to find a means of suspending the soldiers’
canteens and haversacks that was both durable enough to
survive use in the field and comfortable for the soldier
to carry.
As initially produced, the slings were made in two
widths – a narrow sling for the canteen and a wider
sling for the haversack. By the time the
specifications for Model 1885 equipment were published,
the narrow canteen sling had been deleted from the
equipment lists and the wider sling was issued for both
the canteen and the haversack. This evolution made
perfect sense as the wider sling distributed the weight
of the canteen and haversack more effectively and
certainly would have been more comfortable for the
soldier.
As a result of the 1885 change to the single width of
sling, the narrow Canteen Slings were only made for a
very limited time, many of those that were made were
made were consumed in use, and today they are quite
scarce compared to the wider dual purpose slings.
I currently have the slings listed below for completing
your canteens and haversacks.
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