Inspired by recent discussion of sling bullets, I went and looked at some files. Here's a pic of two sling bullets in a museum. The enormous blue object to the right is a biro (ballpoint), to give you an idea of size. Jlasud, on this forum, recently posted a series of notes establishing, to my mind conclusively that these are not meant for multiple slinging like birdshot. Note how small these things are !

---

Any translation of the words??

Yes, it's a name, "Thearos" (or if you prefer, "Of Thearos")

what would the weight on these be? in grams.

Actual dimensions would be nice, too.

Can't remember weight or dimensions, but these were on the small side (which is why I photographed them). Look at the pen-- you might see that these things are about as long as your thumbnail. They are plumpish. They probably lie at the bottom of the weight range, so perhaps around 30 g (say btw 27-33g, from other examples I did weigh).

I once fitted a slighly larger one in a sling (with permission of the museum curator, under promise not to actually throw it). It felt surprisingly heavy because so dense-- like a bolt of energy waiting to be released.

very interesting.

Thanks, English Marauder-- and happy Thanksgiving !

Yes. a happy thanksgiving to you as well. :)

A quick question. I'm sure this has been covered somewhere on here but, is there a general consensus as to average weights of ancient sling projectiles recovered? stones/lead glands/ clay glands 

Stone, no. Lead, there's a histogram published by Manfred Korfmann (alas, article no longer online), but the weights already noticed by C19th collectors: a few outliers in the 20g range, most 30-45g, then a batch around 100g (big things, maybe for engines, maybe special ammo). There also some weird things (bronze bullets, lead bullets with "wings", bullets with spikes, etc).

What I'd like to see is a good set of published weights for clay ammo found archaeolgoically.

Before having first hand experience with such small bullets, I thought, it's something wrong with all these small sling bullets.
Than i slung some heavy lead, than made small,historical lead bullets 30-40g.
And a skinny split pouch sling out of hemp. Cord thickness was about 1/6 of an inch;4mm.

I was able to sling those..200-250m at least.
And even the 30g ones felt very slingable,although noticeable being the bottom limit of weights.
With 40 grams probably close to 300m
In an army of slingers, i can totally see, how they were frugal on lead shot,and used small bullets,for more bang for the buck.
Also tried shotgunning with 3 bullets at once. I could sling them about 150-180m.
They are hard to load, may fall out. Slower reload, less range.
So my exp. was that to get out the most out of them, they most probably slung it one by one .
It was an eye opener and it was really a case of trying/seeing,believing. 

My first lead shot mould was yielding 100 gram biconicals.
Than i made one with 70 grams.
Than for max distance,and economy on lead has got me to make a 57gram mold.
Now that is my standard lead ammo. So even in the age of relatively cheap lead, i've quickly come to see that if you start sling around 100g glans, you go through a wheelbarrow of lead in a couple hours.Although i never slung that much.
About small bullets,hitting power...they fly nearly as fast as they start,and i would bet, they would leave a nasty scar,hitting a human. Not likely to kill IMO ,but very painful and inflicting serious injuries at long ranges. Penetrating clothing and skin is something i could see happening,as ancient sources tell us.

Mini-sling I use very little ammunition. A large sling I have try the 23g/18mm bearing balls, and they are flying furiously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXyx9nTmZQ

---