too easily lost

Semi-automatic rifles are fascinating and impressive technological achievements. Even without taking any interest in military matters, I found the inner-workings of these machines quite captivating. For some reason, however, most of these rifles are lacking in the ability to be attached comfortably and functionally to a shoulder strap. In order to do this, we needed a go-between - a piece of cord that got knotted to a passage near the front sights of the rifles, and to which the shoulder strap could be attached. These were very useful, but also very easily lost, especially when returning our rifles at the end of the month. I think that this is why at one point the army distributed these free, and then stopped doing so. I succeeded in holding on to mine.