If your pump gun has no sling attachment at all, there are five realistic ways to add one: a mount that sandwiches under the magazine cap, a clamp that grips the magazine tube or the barrel, a plate or stud fitted to the buttstock, an end plate style adapter where the stock meets the receiver, and a webbing loop that wraps the forend or the tube.
Some bolt on in minutes and leave no permanent mark. Others mean drilling, tapping or a visit to a gunsmith. Which ones apply depends entirely on the gun in front of you, so inspect and measure yours before you order anything. Attachment hardware varies between models and between production years.
Make the gun safe first
Every step below means handling the gun, turning caps, and in some cases pulling the forend off the tube. None of it happens with ammunition near the action.
Point the muzzle in a safe direction and keep it there. Work the action fully open. Look into the chamber and put a finger in it, then check the magazine tube separately, because a pump gun holds shells in two places and an empty chamber tells you nothing about the tube. Cycle the action several times and watch for anything that ejects. Clear all loose ammunition off the bench and out of your pockets. Do not skip the tube check because the gun was empty when you put it away.
If you break for the day mid-job, re-check the chamber and the tube when you come back rather than trusting your memory of yesterday.
What your gun actually gives you
Take an honest inventory of the surfaces on your gun with it in your hands, not from a product page and not from a video of a gun that looks like yours.
The front half
Look at the muzzle end of the magazine tube. Many pump guns end in a threaded cap that also captures the forend and, on some designs, the barrel. If yours is built that way, a cap mount becomes possible. Other designs end differently, or retain the barrel with a band, or have no cap at all.
Then look along the tube and barrel for straight, unobstructed sections. A clamp needs a parallel run to grip, clear of the pump’s travel and clear of anything that expands under heat. Work the forend through its full stroke and mark where it stops. Anything you clamp inside that travel will get hit.
The back half
Look at the underside of the buttstock, roughly a third of the way back from the grip. Some stocks are moulded with a boss or a blind hole ready for a stud, others are plain. Then look at how the stock attaches: a bolt running up through the stock into the tang is a different world from a stock that threads onto a tube behind the receiver.
Measure, do not guess
Take calipers to the outside diameter of the tube at the exact point a clamp would sit, and to the barrel where a band would sit. Tubes and barrels taper and step, so measuring in the wrong place gives you a mount that will not close or will never hold.
The five options side by side
| Mount type | What it grips | Gunsmithing needed | Can it shift under recoil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magazine cap mount | Sits between the existing cap and the tube end, clamped by the cap itself | None on guns built for a threaded cap | It can rotate around the tube if the cap loosens |
| Barrel or tube clamp | A parallel section of magazine tube, barrel, or both together | None, but fit is unforgiving and the wrong diameter is unusable | Yes if undertightened, and it can mar finish if overtightened |
| Stock plate or stud | The buttstock, through a screw, a stud or a plate under the butt pad | Often yes: drilling or tapping, placed correctly | Rarely, once seated properly in sound material |
| End plate adapter | The joint where a tube stock threads onto the back of the receiver | Only applies to guns built that way, and needs correct reassembly | Not usually, because recoil loads it in shear |
| Webbing loop | Nothing rigid: webbing wraps a structure and closes on itself | None at all, reversible in seconds | Yes, it creeps along a smooth surface without a stop |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Magazine cap mounts
On guns built around a threaded end cap, this is the cleanest answer available. The mount is a plate or machined ring that sits between the cap and the end of the tube, or a replacement cap with an attachment point built in. Tightening the cap is what holds it.
Nothing is drilled, nothing is clamped, and the load runs into a part designed to be torqued down. The catch is rotation. A cap mount is located by friction between two flat faces, so if the cap works loose the attachment point swings around the tube and your sling ends up on top of the barrel. Some designs address that with a tab or keyed face that engages a feature on the gun. Others rely on the cap staying tight. Check it whenever you clean, and again after any session with heavy loads.
- Clear the gun and confirm it again
Chamber and magazine tube both checked, muzzle in a safe direction. You are about to take the front of the gun apart.
- Back the cap off and note how the parts stack
Watch what the cap retains. On some guns it captures the forend and barrel together, and things move when it comes off. Support the barrel rather than letting it drop.
- Test fit dry
Seat the mount on the tube end and start the cap by hand. If it will not start cleanly by hand, stop. Cross-threading a magazine cap is an expensive way to learn the part was the wrong pattern.
- Orient it before final tightening
Decide which side of the gun the sling runs on and set the mount there. Left-side and right-side carry are genuinely different, and this is the moment to choose.
- Tighten to the same feel it had originally
Follow your manual. Then function-check the empty gun, open and close the action several times, and confirm nothing binds or contacts the forend at either end of its travel.
- Hang weight on it before you trust it
With the gun empty, put your body weight through the sling for a minute, then re-check the cap. If it moved here, it will move in the field.
Barrel and magazine tube clamps
A clamp is a split collar that closes around the tube, the barrel or both, with an attachment point built in. It is the most flexible option because it does not care what the end of your tube looks like, and it puts the front point wherever you want it.
It also has the most ways to go wrong. The diameter has to be right, not close. A clamp sized for a larger tube will spin no matter how hard you crank it, and cranking harder is how you crush a thin-walled tube or squeeze a barrel enough to affect how it shoots. A clamp inside the forend’s travel gets struck every time you work the action, and one sitting on a section that heats up will loosen as things expand and contract. Sized correctly, on a straight unobstructed section outside the pump’s stroke, with whatever liner the maker specifies, it is solid and it stays put.
Stock plates, studs and butt adapters
The rear point is the easier half of the problem, but it is where the permanent modifications live.
If your stock has a moulded boss or a pre-drilled location underneath, a stud threads straight in. Plenty of stocks do not. Adding one to a plain stock means drilling a pilot hole in the right place, at the right depth and angle. On a hollow synthetic stock the wall may be too thin to hold a stud alone and you need a backing plate or a through fitting. On wood you need to avoid the through-bolt channel, which is not always where you assume.
This is the job most worth handing to a gunsmith. A stud too far back fouls your hand, one too far forward drags the sling across the grip, and a pilot hole into the stock bolt channel weakens the part of the gun taking the most abuse. None of that is expensive to have done right, and all of it is expensive to fix.
The no-drill alternative is a plate that sandwiches under the butt pad, or an adapter trapping webbing between pad and stock. Reversible, effective, and it puts the rear point at the very back of the gun, which changes how the gun hangs. Try it temporarily before committing.
End plate style adapters
Some pump guns use a threaded tube behind the receiver rather than a stock bolted to a tang. Where that is the case, a plate trapped between the receiver and the tube gives a very strong rear point, because recoil tries to shear it rather than spin it and it is captured on both sides.
Two cautions. This only exists on guns actually built that way, so look at yours before you go shopping. And that joint is structural, normally staked or torqued to a spec, so reassembling it loose is a real problem rather than a cosmetic one. If your manual does not cover disassembly there, take that as a signal.
Forend loops and webbing wraps
The zero-hardware option: run the sling’s own webbing around the forend, the magazine tube, or between tube and barrel, and close it on itself with a triglide. Nothing is changed and it takes a minute.
Two real limitations. Webbing around a smooth round surface creeps along it, so unless the wrap is captured by a step, a band or the forend’s shoulder, it wanders. And a wrap on the forend rides a part that moves, so it either drags on your pump stroke or has to be positioned clear of it. For a range day or for working out where a permanent point should live, it is hard to beat. As a permanent solution on a working gun it is the weakest of the five. Our guide on how to put a sling on a shotgun walks through the routing.
What each choice does to handling
Where the front point goes changes the gun more than people expect. Forward at the muzzle end of the tube, the gun hangs muzzle-down and stays tight to the body: comfortable for long walks, slower to bring up. Further back toward the receiver, it hangs flatter and comes up faster, but swings more and catches on gear in cover.
No permanent modification
- Cap mounts, clamps and webbing wraps all reverse completely
- You can move the point and test positions before deciding
- Every one of them needs periodic checking for movement
Permanent modification
- Studs and drilled plates sit where you want them and stay there
- Nothing to rotate or creep along a tube
- Placement mistakes are difficult and costly to undo
- Thin stock walls may need reinforcement to hold at all
Whatever you attach, the sling has to cooperate with the points you created. A sling that only adjusts at one end forces the hardware where the sling wants it rather than where the gun wants it. The McLean Dynamic Retention Sling uses a patented two-point to one-point conversion with maritime grade webbing and all metal hardware, so the same mounts serve a slung carry and a quick transition without re-rigging in the field.
Our shotgun sling swivel guide covers swivel types and how they mate to each of these mounts, and the sling mounts category lists the adapters we stock. For hunting carry see shotgun sling for hunting, or, for boat and blind work, duck hunting shotgun sling. Anything you add near the tube and cap needs attention after a wet day, which our post on cleaning a 12-gauge after a wet hunt covers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add a sling to a shotgun without drilling it?
Usually yes. Magazine cap mounts, tube and barrel clamps and webbing wraps all attach without permanent modification, and a plate under the butt pad handles the rear without a drilled stud. Drilling only becomes necessary when you want a stud in a stock with no provision for one and no pad you can work behind.
Will a magazine cap mount come loose?
It can rotate around the tube if the cap backs off, because friction between cap and mount is usually all that stops it. Check cap tightness whenever you clean, hang your weight on the sling before relying on it, and prefer designs keyed or tabbed to the gun rather than relying on friction alone.
Should the front point go on the barrel or the magazine tube?
Whichever gives you a straight, unobstructed, correctly sized section outside the forend’s travel. Clamping the tube alone is common. Clamping barrel and tube together is stiffer but the mount has to come off before the barrel does. Avoid any position where clamping pressure bears on a thin-walled section.
Do I need one attachment point or two?
One at the rear plus one forward gives a two-point carry, which is what most people want on a shotgun for hunting and general use. A single point alone lets the muzzle swing freely and is a specialist choice. Start with two, then decide whether you want the option to convert.
