A superb slinging video

[David Morningstar]

This is Dan, he has been putting in some serious sling practice for several years now. The stones he is using are in the same weight range as the vast caches of stones found in British iron age hill forts. Every one of these shots would drop a man in his tracks.

[video=youtube;IJ65qYFKcwQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ65qYFKcwQ[/video]

 

[dwardo]

Crikey the hit with some thump. Must try this one day.

 

[Niels]

I tried this once. The though part is that with a bow or a slingshot at least you can be sure of the 180 degree area your projectile will go.
With a sling if you're as bad as me it can go in all possible directions (including straight up and down on my head!) so you really need be on your own in a big area.

The guy in the vid seems to have got the hang of it though.

 

[Miyagi]

I'm sure there's a slingshot website on the interweb with a "How To" PDF, think it might be 'Merican...


Liam

 

[David Morningstar]

Americans use 'slingshot' for the elastic + forked stick variety. The one shown above is the sling. There is the website slinging.org for tons of resources.

Slinging is hard to master when you are trying to learn by yourself, but the three slinging classes (two basic and one advanced) I taught at the Bushmoot this year produced nine good slingers who could keep their shots going forwards every time. It is a very teachable skill.

 

[Grooveski]

That's brilliant.

Right from the off I've been convinced that accuracy would come...
...if the practice time is put in.
My arm's hurting just thinking about how far I've still to go but it's inspiring seeing someone who's there. Cheers for posting.

Maybe you can help David:
I have to go for a slightly heavier stone than yer man there(a third again the size or thereabouts). I'd rather use ones just the same size as his but any time I try they go high and left. Using the heavier rock pulls them down and if I go even heavier they end up low and right.
....which is all well and good.
...but it's cutting down my practice sessions. I'm getting less shots before my arm goes.

So, the question at last. String length - does it affect timing and if so what way should I go to use a lighter stone?

 

[Shewie]

I've only tried this once and it frightened the bejesus out of me. No technique, no consistency, no idea and a lot of closing of the eyes and bracing for impact.

Most of mine went straight up at about 80*

I'll pack a helmet next time Josh and you can give me some lessons, probably best if I bring two helmets

 

[Stingray]

I've often wondered about the slingshot,being an avid admirer of the fictional George Abercrombie Fox.He quite often used a slingshot in the books.A pleasure to see one expertly used.

 

[Grooveski]

I'll pack a helmet next time Josh and you can give me some lessons, probably best if I bring two helmets

You know I'd have given you a lesson thon last time, it just seemed pointless to traipse along the beach when there was only minutes of light left.
...had nothing whatsoever to do with the entertainment value of sitting by the fire at a safe distance with a beer watching you dodge your own projectiles.

 

[David Morningstar]

It could be that your windup spins are too vertical, which leads to a strong underarm scooping effect as the pouch dips below the level of the throw. The ideal is to have the throw at the same level as the lowest point of the spin.

If you look at Dans video, mark the lowest point of the first spin with your finger and you can see that the second spin is higher. The throw is higher still, so he is raising the spinning sling to meet the level of the throw.

Another way to get the same effect is to hold the spins high and drop the hand into the throw. This is Hubert in Germany:

[video=youtube;Nd19eMFbTQQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd19eMFbTQQ[/video]

Practice like that is why he beat me in Mallorca

 

[Folcwigga]

Do you think slinging would come in handy as a bushcraft skill, or is it more for the fun and enjoyment factor?

 

[David Morningstar]

For fun, definitely. It doesnt take much time to be able to zing rocks out to amazing distances, but the practice needed to reliably hit targets is beyond our scope. People who sling for a living, like shepherds, get phenomenally good. The sling is used around the world to herd animals by sending rocks into places you dont want them to go. I have a yak sling from Tibet and an alpaca sling from Bolivia in my collection. This is a shepherd girl moving goats off a cliff face in Morocco:

[video=youtube;pofjXqod774]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pofjXqod774[/video]