Funditor - Arms

The Sling

 From 200 yards, how do you impart as much energy as a .45 caliber Automatic Colt Pistol round with nothing but a piece of string and a rock? By turning that piece of string into a sling, and that rock into ammo traveling at over two hundred miles per hour. The sling is one of man's oldest and most effective weapons. One can be fashioned of nearly any material in a minimal amount of time and be used to launch any substanially heavy and hard object at lethal velocities. Though there are numerous ways to make your own, I'll outline the form here so you can experiment.

Food for thought:

Soldiers, notwithstanding their defensive armor, are often more annoyed by the round stones from the sling than by all the arrows of the enemy. Stones kill without mangling the body, and the contusion is mortal without loss of blood. ~Flavius Vegetius Renatus (Roman Army)
If, then, we are to exclude them from all possibility of injuring us as we march, we must get slingers as soon as possible and cavalry. ~Xenophon Anabasis (Greek Military)
Slingers with round stones from the fustibalus and sling killed both the men who guided the elephants and the soldiers who fought in the towers on their backs. ~Flavius Vegetius Renatus (Roman Army)
(mv^2)/2= KE   75g=typical sling projectile weight   111m/s=accepted sling projectile velocity   1/2(.075kg)(111m/s)^2=460J   .22 caliber long rifle=190J, .45 caliber Automatic Colt Pistol=450J Thus, a sling can deliver more stopping power than a .45 caliber bullet

This picture shows the basic components of a sling: two cords attatched to a pouch. One of the cords has a loop which secures the sling to your finger, hand, or wrist, while the other cord, which is released, may or may not have some sort of knot to aid grip. The pouch may (as is shown in this photo) be made of leather or a similar material, but could also be woven or knit from a cord, or simply be two lengths of cord.

The length of a sling can vary considerably depending on its desired use, user, and the materials at hand. Anywhere from 22"-55" (measured from the center of the pouch to the end of the cord) can be considered normal. As a general rule, the longer a sling is, the more power can be generated, the shorter it is, the more accurate it will be. At extreme ends of the spectrum, though, this rule ceases to apply (a sling which is far too long or short will be neither powerful nor accurate).

Showing the diverse range of materials which can be used to make a sling:
Top to bottom: fire hose, lawnmower start cord, duct tape.

Top to bottom: Lawnmower cord, Braided plastic grocery store bags, paracord 550

The pouch need be only slightly larger than the rocks which you are going to shoot (which should be around 4 oz. (golfball to tennisball size)). That's it! Just use your creativity to manufacture a sling out of whatever materials you happen to have on hand. Once addicted to slinging, you will experiment with many different materials, finding some to your liking, and some not. The stiffness of the leather (or other pouch material), thickness of the cords, and resistance to stretching will be just some of the factors which influence the feel, power, and accuracy of your sling.

Actually using your sling is another matter entirely. An image is often conjured of a slinger whirling the sling several times above his head before releasing it. There are in fact many different ways to use a sling; overhand, underhand, sidearm, and over-the-shoulder shots are all common, most involving two or less wind up swings. For a comprehensive list of slinging styles, and how to use your sling, visit the slinging.org wiki and some videos by David Taylor. I'll have my own videos up soon as well.   Power can be learned with a sling fairly quickly, but accuracy is a challenging art to master.

Never underestimate the sling, and take care to not accidently take out neighbors, windows, or yourself. For more information, visit slinging.org and be sure to head over to the forums there!

Proceed to Keychain Sling>>