SB
The Giles sling and the Ching Sling are completely different concepts.
Giles Stock designed his sling as a tactical carrying sling. It can be configured so that it allows traditional carry over the shoulder. It can be utilized for American carry (dominant side, muzzle up) or African carry (support side, muzzle down). It can also be configured to allow a 'tactical' type carry in front of the body. This allows hands free but quick access for police, military and people who live in interesting neighborhoods. It allows quick transition from a long gun to a handgun when needed, but still maintains possession of the long gun. Most of the shots taken in this environment are pretty close.
The Ching sling is primarily a shooting sling. Proper use of a shooting sling will give you about a 30% improvement in hitting from a good shooting position. To get this benefit, it must be a position where the support elbow is braced, like prone, kneeling, sitting or squatting. Traditionally either a military style sling or a Whelen sling have been used in the field, but both require several seconds to loop up and get into position. The Ching sling takes about 1-2 seconds to loop up, and allows one to be looped up in the time it takes to aquire the shooting position. The Ching sling allows easy carrying of the rifle in either American or African carry. The Ching sling is typically associated with Scout rifles, and is starting to show up on hunting rifles as the word is spread.
Most people today don't use a shooting sling at all, only a carry strap. This is because they have no idea how much using a proper sling can improve your accuracy. Shooting slings are typically found on the target range, for the extra precision. Speed isn't a problem on the target range. You have lots of time to loop up.
One of the earlier posts talked about the sling from Tactical Intervention Specialists. This is a shooting sling where you wear a cuff on your support arm. Then when you want to loop up and take a shot, you buckle your sling to the cuff. This is a derivation of an idea from the Biathalon and other target shooting disciplines. It is a workable solution for a police marksman. It is less suited to general use, as most hunters probably won't go through the day with a cuff on their arm.
In summary, the Giles is a carrying sling only, with emphasis in tactical environs. The Ching sling is a general purpose shooting sling, allowing one to quickly get into a proper shooting position with a looped up rifle, to allow a more precise shot.
Sorry for the long post, too much time on my hands tonight.
Doug
[This message has been edited by Doug in PHX (edited October 11, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Doug in PHX (edited October 11, 1999).]