This is a fun one, and thanks to Doug for sending me this. I guess the one thing that is cool about slings, is that you could potentially use a sling as a less than lethal option for crowd control. Thats all depending on the type of projectile you use. (please note the Israeli using the sling below). Or if you are bored at some outpost and want something to do on your downtime, build a sling out of paracord and see if you can hit a tin can with it. It’s cheap fun, but it is also cool to get a feel for how this weapon could have been used back when it was a weapon of war. With the right projectile and some skill, a sling can certainly be deadly. –Matt
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An Israeli soldier uses a sling shot to stone demonstrators and workers dismantling the area in front of the Fatima Gate on the Israeli-Lebanese border, at Kfarkila, southern Lebanon, Tuesday Oct. 10, 2000. The area was liberated after the Israeli’s troops withdrew from southern Lebanon in May.
Welcome to Slinging.org!
When I first became interested in this fascinating weapon, I could find little information on the web or in published material. I hope this website can be the definitive source for slinging related information and news. Of course, it needs a community of slingers to experiment and pass on their knowledge. With your help, I hope we can rekindle the interest in this truly simple, effective, and historically significant weapon.
Sling Ranges
The range of the sling has always been a point of contention among enthusiasts and scholars. Present literature generally underestimates the sling’s range. Consider this snippet of text from Thom Richardson’s “The Ballistics of The Sling”, which provides an overview of some of these statistics:
“The more conservative estimates are around the 200 m mark (Ferrill 1985: 25), Connolly suggests 350 m (1981: 49), Korfmann estimates 400 m (1973: 37) while Demmin and Hogg go to 500 m (1893: 876; 1968: 30). The few accurately recorded observations are rather different. Reid records 55 m with a 227 g stone, and 91 m with 85 and 113 g balls (1976: 21). Burgess threw stones with his reconstructed Lahun sling between 50 and 100 yds, but admits to being unskilled at the art (1958: 230). Korfmann observed Turkish shepherds sling ordinary pebbles, ‘in 5 out of 11 trials the pebbles reached 200 m, and the three best casts were between 230 and 240 m (1973), while Dohrenwend has himself thrown beach pebbles over 200 yds (1994: 86).”
Since many of these statistics are formulated from authors’ experiences, the ranges that are creeping into literature, and becoming the standard, might not be representative of the true potential of the sling. The sling is a demanding weapon; range varies considerably from amateur to expert. Below is a table documenting the varied ranges of some members on slinging.org’s forum. It’s also important to consider the projectiles used in the test. A stone or softball will not perform as well as a biconical lead projectile, like those often used in antiquity.
For comparison, the current World Flight record for a “historically accurate” English longbow and horn/sinew composite bow is 306m and 566m respectively. It should be noted, however, that these ranges were achieved using light-weight flight arrows designed for range, and not for combat.
Website here.
5-Strand Woven Paracord Sling Tutorial
