Traditional Fighting Methods

Found one guy hitting a large target at 100m. Seems to me it could be done but I bet it's more of a volley weapon than direct fire.

It still blows my mind how people can be so accurate they can hunt with a sling, massed volleys of slingers hurling thousands of stones on your head is impressive enough but pin point accuracy is really impressive.

May be a fun new hobby to pick up once the next gun/ammo shortage hits.

I have been doing some research on slings. They were big in ancient times. Seemed like their best uses were defending fortifications, skirmishing, and sometimes screening infantry from cavalry. Lead acorns or glandes plubeae were the sling projectile of choice for the Romans and others. Stones and a type of dense baked clay was also used. Some sources say the clay bullets were supposed to be heated red hot before slinging. I dunno if that is true. Facts about range, accuracy, and lethality are hard to come by. Some sources seem to ascribe superpowers to ancient warriors.

You know I am down.

Problem is we don't have any dudes that have been training with a sling since they could walk. Or any bronze armor.

I don't believe even those dudes could reliably make 200 meter headshots. Maybe 100 meter headshots I could believe. Many sources state 400 meters as a max range. I dunno about that. Maybe they could sling a couple ounce chunk of lead that far, I would like to see someone do it though. According to those sources the main advantages of the sling was that it could outrange the bows of the day and use a variety of ammunition. I have no trouble believing that. Lethality claims are all over the place. I think it could be pretty nasty against someone unarmored or hit in an unarmored spot. Against a flexible armor it could probably break ribs or collarbones. Against rigid armor I don't think it would be particularly effective. Might be able to give someone a concussion if you hit them in the helmet, depending on the helmet. I don't think it would do anything against a shield.

I knew wrist rocket type slingshots were standard armament for pretty much every type of rioter you ever saw. Anarchist, Muslim, Ukrainian rebel, occupy Wall Street, fascist, you name it.

Didn't know about those catapult ancient slings though. So I looked it up.

Appears that they're still used in the Middle East and Asia quite a bit and that Palestinians and Israeli settlers use it in some low tech harassing warfare against each other.

Doesn't look like it's particularly accurate even in the hands of adults, just more like 'Oh shit that was close<as a high speed object goes flying by>better move' type of weapon with someone occasionally getting nailed with it and injured where it justifies it's use as a weapon.







Afghan shepherd boys that use it as a weapon to protect their flock. A rifle would make them mistaken as a combatant.



On a personal note my grandmother actually made me one when I was 6 or 7 as part of the David and Goliath Bible stories she was reading to me (she was cool like that). I remember being able to hit the back fence with it using marbles or stream rocks, but I couldn't say where on the fence I'd hit it and be able to call my shots.

I lost interest in it and rediscovered in it a few years later at 9 or 10, broke something with it and got it confiscated. Found it in a box full of stuff when my grandmother died and it's in a box in the garage somewhere. She wove it together out of some brightly colored Paracord type cord that she got from Cornet.

I should probably find that thing and stick it in the house. I still have a wrist rocket that I had as a kid too that was always getting confiscated that I still have and periodically get interested in and shoot in the backyard.

Best pumpkin kill: Ghillie suit knife attack. Epic.