[Malamute]

They weren't called "saddle rings" back in the day, they were called "sling rings". They were part of the military use of carbines, hung from the wide sling strap over the shoulder of the trooper, clipped to the gun with the large swivel snap. I believe Winchester installed them as a habit, in hopes of interesting the military in their guns, and they just seemed to hang on for ages, with little practical use other than as a sling point for the extremely few that understood what they were for, and actually chose to use them as such.

Many have the idea that they were to hang a carbine off a saddle horn, but I've never seen a frontier period account of one being used that way, nor have any frontier period artwork shown them being used in that fashion. I knew a guy that tried carrying a Winchester carbine hung from the saddle horn, he lost it on the trail, but was lucky enough to find it a couple miles back when he went to look. He said he never tried it again. Until shown otherwise, I believe it's a fairy tale or legend, not a fact of how they were used back in the day.