Using a sling?

I cut about a 2" piece of old belt and punched holes in each corner. I took a 3 foot length of paracord and threaded it through one hole and then the other at one end, then tied it about 3" up it's own length. Then I did the same on the other side.

One cord got a loop tied in the end and the other got a series of knots for a grip. Worked pretty well, considering I never tried slinging before.
 
It seems like a great skill to have. But, it also seems that the work of mastering it wouldn't equal out to the usefulness of it in a survival situation. It seems an easy thing to construct in the wilderness. (Although, the single string knotted basket didn't work well for me) But, it still seems like a blast, and another activities to add to some fun camping activities like knife throwing and the like.
 
ziptrickhead said:
Yea I will probably end up making a pouch from a piece of leather. But I love making stuff from paracord so I figured I would make something from gutted cord. I do have a 1000' spool coming in.

Obviously using a sling isn't easy. Heck, I think its the prospect of how hard it is that is the reason why I haven't done it yet. But still, people that know me know that I like to be able to do a wide variety of things. Curiosity I guess you could call it. Thats why I'm waiting till I get back on campus to practice because then I can just go into the woods and not have to worry about sending a rock BACKWARDS into a window.....

I saw the slinging.org site before I started this thread and it seems pretty good. Does anyone else know of any good websites on slinging?
Click to expand...

I`ve been sling ing for several years. There`s really not a better site than www.slinging.org IMO. There`s tons of info on making different types, ammo, videos of different throwing styles,etc. It usually takes lots of practice to get accurate, but it can be done. They have videos on the site of guys hitting pop cans, and a competition in Spain where the target looksto be about 12"indiameter.
 
I can make a couple pretty decent ones out of leather and paracord; I'm working on some fancier designs, with eyelets to prevent wear on the leather. Using them, however...not so much. I can get a golf ball to go forward, but not with any appreciable degree of accuracy or power.
 
TemplarKnight21c said:
I can make a couple pretty decent ones out of leather and paracord; I'm working on some fancier designs, with eyelets to prevent wear on the leather. Using them, however...not so much. I can get a golf ball to go forward, but not with any appreciable degree of accuracy or power.
Click to expand...

Other, more experienced people than I can jump in, but in my limited experience I don't find golf balls to work worth a hoot. Rocks are much better.

Doc
 
I was alright when I was a teenager. I had about a 90% hit rate on a 55-gallon drum at 30 yards-- good enough to have a lot of fun slinging, but not nearly good enough to fill a pot consistently.
 
Golf balls work very well. Nothing better for distance.
 
In the Rick Brant Science Projects book published back around 1960 it described how to make a sling from parachute cord, canvas, and needle and thread. That is what I mostly used. Below I include a crude sketch of how to make the pouch (which is the most interesting part). As shown the two primary cord overlap and connect to each other. You start out by lashing the cords to each other in two areas. Next you spread the cords apart an sew a piece of cloth across them. You can either wrap the cloth around the cords on the outside or just sew the cords flat to the cloth. I used canvas for the cloth.

I used to sew mine flat using carpet thread. My friend's mother would make his using a high powered sewing machine. She would use a somewhat lighter cloth and wrap it around and double it up as she worked. I would sew the cords together as well as lash them together using carpet thread (I show crude lashing/wrapping in my sketch).

I have made slings in as little as two minutes. To do that I took the two cords and simply knotted them where I show thread lashing in my diagram. I spread the cords apart and make the pouch by wrapping/layering the area between the cords with duct tape. Then I tie a finger loop on one of the loose cord ends and a gripping knot on the other loose end.

Something to know is that the loose end of the cord (the end that you release to launch your rock) will wear out pretty fast. Paracord has a thin sheath over loose nylon sub cords. This sheath wears through rapidly from being thrashed on the ground if you pitch overhand. I prefer a braided cord instead. It also helps to cover this cord with some tape.
 

Attachments

  • slingpouch.jpg
    slingpouch.jpg
    7 KB · Views: 14
i like braiding split pouch slings out of jute 'garden twine'.

after about four years of part time practice i can keep it on a 3' x 3' piece of plywood at 60 yards.

not getting dinner that way......
 
OK, they look good, now let's get a few pics of you firing one up and dropping a rock two blocks away into a neighbor's greenhouse!

oops ... :p
 
TemplarKnight21c said:
You'd be shocked at how hard it is to find the right rock here. It just aint right, I tells ya.
Click to expand...

I think every slinger tries golfballs sometime or another. If you can get plenty of `em cheaply, go at it. But guys who can`t find decent stone often make lots of ccheap ammo quickly. Here`s a few thoughts.

1: Get a quart or two of generic Elmer`s glue at the dollar store. Mix it 50-50 with water and then add it to some play sand. You can usually get 20 pounds cheap at your local hardware store. shape it into balls by hand or with an old icecream scoop. They`ll hold together while you sling, but will bust up against a hard target so you don`t dent too many cars or break too many windows.

2: Do the same thing without the glue. Use concrete mix. You just made reusable ammo so spray it with flurescent paint so you can find them again.

3:If you live where ther`s lots of clay, roll your ownand bake `em off in the oven to harden `em up. That`s what the Greeks and Assyrians did.Of course you could just sun dry `em for a softer pellet.

When you are learning to throw, having ammo that`s generally consistant in size and weight helps your accuracy alot because you don`t have to keep adjusting with each rock. The Greeks and Romans eventually molded lead pellets between 1.5 and 2.5 ounces shaped like a football andfound these worked better than round ones. Since lead is so dense they could get more weight with less wind resistance and it can practically double your range....but that`s probably something you`ll want to wait on. Get accurate with some other home-made stuff first.
 
Just remembered, if you have a syringe a couple tennisballs with some water in them can be fun to toss around. If you`ve got a dog to chase them so much the better.....and the folks at the park won`t think it`s quite so wierd.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top