Gentlemen......thanks for the welcome and your thoughts on this subject. I can't post a picture but hopefully viewing the discussion and pictures at the follwing website will help show what I'm talking about. Scroll about halfway down this page and there are two pictures and a discussion of the "thong strip" sling.

http://www.traderkeith.com/tradersecrets.html

Michael....what I have is an eyelet dovetailed into the barrel as your picture shows, although mine seems to be oriented differently, with the hole in the eyelet perpendicular to the line of the barrel. I also have a couple of the long shank hooks like the one in the picture, and some shorter shank hooks which I think I originally found listed for pre-1964 Winchester model 70's and 54's. I would agree that the idea of tying a sling directly to a rifle has some obvious pluses and minuses. Should be quiet and mar free, but will need to be checked frequently to make sure the leather doesn't fail and drop everything in the dirt. I would think some of the tougher saddle leathers, when softened with Lexol and carefully knotted would be pretty durable in this useage, but I'm definitely no expert on leather crafting either.

Bill