Slings

L

Lost In Shuffle

Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
109
have any of you guys ever used slings to procure food/game? Im currently making one out of leather an dsince im a perfectionist i keep having to start over. once i finish it ill prolly show some pics!
post your thoughts etc.
 
I hit myself a few times.. and gave up.. I'll stick with an Atlatl.... spears can be made out of almost anything.
 
The sling is an awesome weapon. I highly recommend that you make one and learn how to use it. Be warned that your first practice throws will be erratic in the extreme. Be far away from houses cars or roads with cars on them when you practice.

Your chances of procuring game with one are a few years down the road however. In order to have that kind of pinpoint accuracy you will need to "stow alot of thrones". It really wears out your shoulder.

They are amazing though. You can easily throw a rock more than a hundred meters and with a little elevation much farther. We used to stand at the top of a cow pasture and "shell" the forest far below. My brothers and I got to the point that we could have hit man sized targets at 50 meters or so but hitting small game was still beyond our capability. Primitive people who hunt with slings do so from boyhood. Mac
 
My friends and I made slings for several years. There is a special swing that can help achieve accuracy. You face square onto the target. Have one cord of the sling secured around your right wrist or middle finger, pinch a knot in the other cord between your right thumb and index finger. Hold the pouch in your extended left hand with the strings in front of you. Drop the bag and swing it down and past your right side heading out to the right as it gets behind you. Continue the swing in a figure-8 motion, up diagonally down past your left shoulder, behind you on the left and finish with sort of an overhand pitching motion. As you finish the swing the you step forward like pitching. We used to pitch golf balls over a hundred yards this way.

The bad news is that you can seldom hit anything small enough to kill reliably with a sling. All the motion of getting the sling into action warns nearby animals that you are planning to do something. It would be really dangerous to a crowd of people or a person 30 feet away, but most animals won't sit still while you get set up and sling at them. For birds you can make a sling with a fairly large pouch and fill it with a handful of pebbles. If you found a sitting flock you might get one. If my survival depended on a weapon I wouldn't pick a sling. They are the least accurate weapon that I have ever seen. They are a lot of fun though. You just have to hear the buzz/growl of a fast moving sling stone.
 
I second Jeff's statements.

Unless you start out with the sling at a young age, and work and work and work at it, you won't be happy with the results except as a past-time of plinking cans.

If you're in a survival situation, and you haven't had years of experience with a sling, you won't want to start now. I would advise looking toward other field expedient tools to take down game, but that's based more on my dismal luck than on anything else. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt....
 
so would it be better to get/make "kill clubs" that have a heavy front end and all you do is peg it at the intended target?
 
Hi,

I've been shooting slings pretty much daily for about a year now.

A few thoughts :

1) The power is impressive. An egg sized (and shaped) rounded stone can deeply puck an empty 45 gallons drum. An inch wide steel ball goes through one side of the same drum, and pucks the other side. Small stones can cut tree branches just like a rifle would (the smaller the stones, the faster they travel). When you hit a stone square on a boulder, it explodes (the stone, not the boulder :rolleyes: :))... Be careful with those "toys"...

2) The accuracy requires a lot of consistent work. After a few months, you end up being able to hit a man sized target at 50 yards pretty much consistantly. After a year or more, you can hit a soda can at 30 yards pretty much regularly (of course there are misses, but you can hope to get it). You need to practice daily, but not a long time each day (it's often hard to stop, actually ;)). Start with painfully easy targets. Hit them, and think "this is too easy". When you hit your target 5 times in a row, step back a yard. Hit the target again, etc. This will build up confidence and help you align your aim gradually.

To prevent some injuries : start your practice session with a warm up (think baseball pitchers -- start with some warm up exercices, than slow and easy pitching, with light stones. Increase power very progressively, only when you feel warm).

3) I wouldn't hunt big game with a sling (but I know someone who did it successfully), but for anything fox-sized or smaller, it's really deadly. I've killed many crows with mine, and a few rabbits. I reckon a head shot on pretty much anything (deer, human, large dog, etc.) creates at LEAST a K.O., if not serious cranial damage/death. Be very cautious with slings, especially once you've started building up some power. Misfires and weird rebounds are dangerous for anyone around (that's 360°).

4) The power doesn't come from the rotation of the sling, but from the pitching motion itself. One complete revolution is all you need to propel a projectile.

Cheers,

David
 
For small game just throwing rocks about the size of a handball or tennis ball works. Throwing sticks can be handy for birds since they cover a wider area. Remember that when you throw a long spinning weapon it can be deflected by brush. A throwing stick is handy for throwing over a group of birds who will rise into it. A bird on the pond is easier than a bird in the bush if you are throwing a stick. For a bird in the bush a rock works better.
 
After watching Ron Hood's video on primitive weapons, Woodsmaster Vol 6, I made a couple slings and staff slings. I could throw rocks really far but hitting something with them as another story. :D I've had better results with the atlatl and Apache Star. I haven't tried the Viet Cong Crossbow yet but for most people, once it is made, it will probably be the best primitive hunting weapon.
 
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