This is something I've been pondering, can you make a sling more silent and still functioning and high performance ??

A cracker (tapered whip end) in my experience helps with performance but also makes a lot of noise, the "whoosh" sound of cords in rotations also are quite loud in a very quiet place . And as sarosh discovered odd shaped stones make a loud "vroom" .
So does anyone hold the key to a silent sling.
Even paracord has its own distinct sound.
Is it possible that a sling could become almost silent ???
Is smooth ammo enough to reduce the glande noise???

pcord makes a lot of noise. Five strand+ slings make very little and can be braided so they wont crack.

I am also interested in silent slings. people don't like to hear 100-300 whip cracks when eating lunch.


Mersa wrote on Mar 12^th, 2019 at 7:09am:

A cracker (tapered whip end) in my experience helps with performance

i really would like to test it somehow. from what i understand it is used more for clean release (accuracy) than efficiency(energy/ speed) .


Mersa wrote on Mar 12^th, 2019 at 7:09am:

odd shaped stones make a loud "vroom"

heavier round/ellipsoid stones if they have rough surface they may produce a sound like a soft wind through leaves. so no angles and lower velocity ammo will produce the least noise.

Haven't used lead that much but it was pretty silent .

                The most difficult sound for me to eliminate is the whip crack . With no tapering, a little more mass at the release knot and no loose fibers the sound can be lowered to a "knocking at the door" level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__NpItACbBo
look at the end of the video the last pictures to understand better.

if you take the same design and scale it up in thickness but don't scale up the ammo mass then you'll get problems such as late releasing. the heavier the cords the higher your lowest projectile mass limit gets for clean releasing....

                The "whoosh" sound is always lower than the whip crack and more gentle (so i don't fiddle with it). the only observations i've made are that round braid ropes and very thin cords produce the most sound.

long slings and long range slings have that problem.

whoosh from the pouch? I have no idea . I use thin split pouch so no prob ;)

   Try putting a wooden bead before the release knot.  This will pretty much kill the crack but hardly affect your sling's performance.

I've found that thin 6 strain twine braided, around 70cm long (bended) makes basically not sound at all with proper amo. But takes practice to get acuracy. Other problem is that it worns out quite fast.

I'll post a picture when posible.

Rat Man ich habe Holzperlen versucht. Sie brechen.
Meine Lösung ist diese. Sehr leise 🤫

https://fundamittere.jimdo.com/schleudergalerie/schleudern-von-jaegoor/

Silence is important for me also. It makes it more pleasant for me to sling. I've used thick woven tabs on the end of my slings (woven from the same cord) and they do reduce the noise. But it has recoil ( it literally recoils after a cast). which isn't pleasant
It's because the tabs I used are relatively heavy.
A better alternative would be a tab that's light so it doesn't recoil but still acts like a brake and sonic-crack killer for the release cord after the projectile cast.
A lighter tab relative to the release cord is the the solution. With 4 mm poly cord / paracord. I am now experimenting simply taking 2 more ~10 cm pieces of cord and securing it it on the end of my release cord in a flat manner, so that I have 3 cord strands to hold on to (using a full fist grip). This has no large recoil or whip crack, reduces noise while providing good grip and clean release

keep in mind I use the word 'paracord' but in reality I use similar 4mm no brand poly cords and rarely use actual brand-paracord. The real stuff has more stretch when I compare these cords by making them into bow strings and putting them unto bows, so little reason for me to opt for the real stuff.

Do the opposite of a whip sling. Make a slightly reverse tapered release cord with a tab on the end. Or use a wool cord with a tab. Very quiet.

This is my most silent sling.
It is a balearic style sling made out of 15 strands and the release knot is much thicker than the release cord.
It makes no sound, but works as well as a louder sling

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My aproach to silent slings would be to just make a thick braided sling just as I am used to, but instead of tapering the release cord as balearic slings do make it the same thickness and use a release knot and then cut off the tassel so it is so short it can't crack and the knot helps to soow it down. Actually my first braided sling was like that and it was most silent sling I've ever made. Once then I was slinging in the woods a buck came as close as 30m to me and didn't get spooked by my slinging, I could release a stone at my target(not the buck!) and it wouldn't react. Of course they are not used to being hunter here.

But I don't use silent slings, they are not as fun as the loud ones, helps keeping people and animals away from my target area!

There are times when noise is desired and times when it's not.

I think I found a remarkably simple solution for silencing 4 mm poly cord slings. At least it does kill the sonic crack and
reduction of the swishing noise. At the end of the release cord, simply create a ~10 cm overhand loop. The same one we often use as a retention loop but now larger. Now just grip the overhand knot as your release knot and hold the rest of the loop in your hand.  Now there are no loose fibres that can crack and the ~10 cm long loop creates drag after release reducing the swish.

A wooden bead is not recommended.  I tried.  It can break and hurt yourself.  I have a pretty scar from it on my leg.  Something that makes a sling quieter is a large tassel on the letter and on the hold barrel.  But they will also lose performance.  Tibetans do this.

You basically want a cord end/release tab that actively slows the cord down.

I don't get cracks with paracord knots, but they make a fairly loud noise that seems to carry

When I was slinging at hodd hill, I 'occasionally' did a few ammo less throws, just to see Pete - 100 metres away - duck and flinch every time :whistle:

Mind you when I slung the golf balls directly at him, because I was getting a full 90 degree curve out of them, he practically crapped himself :whistle:

So a release tab that also has a lot of extra air resistance would probably do the job.
As far as quiet ammo goes, spherical ammo doesn't make much noise.

Moulded spheres and a slowed down release cord would probably get it as quiet as possible.

So a compact release tab that unfolds into something with a much larger surface area should work. Or shaped for maximum air resistance. I'm not keen on tabs as you can't easily adjust for different grips.
But you know me and widget challenges ;-)

Not sure how it would effect the sling performance though.
Hmm, got a few ideas, I'll have a play tonight while the torus and flying saucer disc moulds are being made :-)

https://i.imgur.com/KIwInOK.jpg

Ill also sometimes put an "air brake" on the end of the release cord. Both to help catch the air and to quiet the shot. Never much cared for loud cracks on my shots. Although they can be fun at times I find it attracts more eyes , both animal and human, than I want.

wowsers

When I make one out of yarn and leave the tassel soft and poofy, it's quieter than a dainty fart. ;)

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That looks real pretty. Does it have much stretch?

More stretch than I would like because it's cheap acrylic.  Some day when I'm feeling rich and famous, I'll get some wool, which should have less stretch.  It works fairly well, is soft and fluffy, and very quiet.

If wool slings excel at anything its their quiet throw. Definitely the most quiet slings Ive used. If youre fond of shorter slings the stretch might not be too offensive to your slinging sensibilities but you can still notice it if youve been using a paracord sling for awhile. Longer wool slings? Forget it. No thanks.

This is a great thread - I'm using it to try and 'louden' my sling... I wanna hear that crack noise everytime! But I use a big fluffed up end that makes my quiet on all but the heaviest ammo... Time to trim it down and let the neighbours know I'm playing again...

Crackers are great for drawing attention, definitely make the sling seem more scary

The loudest sling ive seen was Matthias' (sp?) Lead cored sling. So loud its amazing.

https://youtube.com/shorts/vKe6j8VZ4lg?feature=share

Then theres this. Which isnt a sling but could definitely kill you lol.

Morphy wrote on Aug 15^th, 2021 at 11:32pm:

The loudest sling ive seen was Matthias' (sp?) Lead cored sling. So loud its amazing. https://youtube.com/shorts/vKe6j8VZ4lg?feature=share Then theres this. Which isnt a sling but could definitely kill you lol.

Holy crap, that thing is a beast.

JudoP wrote on Aug 16^th, 2021 at 10:11am:

Morphy wrote on Aug 15th, 2021 at 11:32pm: The loudest sling ive seen was Matthias' (sp?) Lead cored sling. So loud its amazing. https://youtube.com/shorts/vKe6j8VZ4lg?feature=share Then theres this. Which isnt a sling but could definitely kill you lol. Holy crap, that thing is a beast.

Right? That first crack made me cringe. I would hate to see what that could do to a human body.

I want one...

Im guessing having a sling crack would increase the ability to time release?

Like a cue that tells your brain how your timing is going?

Morphy wrote on Aug 16^th, 2021 at 1:43pm:

JudoP wrote on Aug 16th, 2021 at 10:11am: Morphy wrote on Aug 15th, 2021 at 11:32pm: The loudest sling ive seen was Matthias' (sp?) Lead cored sling. So loud its amazing. https://youtube.com/shorts/vKe6j8VZ4lg?feature=share Then theres this. Which isnt a sling but could definitely kill you lol. Holy crap, that thing is a beast. Right? That first crack made me cringe. I would hate to see what that could do to a human body.

Well I only just saw i missed this post... holy dooley... that thing is scary!

A well tapered sling with cracker seams to increase release efficiency in my experience in comparison to some other designs but not the only thing that contributes so it’s worthless data.

Cracker could be an audible cue but as it happens after release not sure how it works.

Morphy wrote on Aug 15^th, 2021 at 11:32pm:

The loudest sling ive seen was Matthias' (sp?) Lead cored sling. So loud its amazing. https://youtube.com/shorts/vKe6j8VZ4lg?feature=share Then theres this. Which isnt a sling but could definitely kill you lol.

I have lead core line and I've made quick single length slings and even those have cracked like thunder. I really should use some as a core. It would be a super thick sling though so I might as well just make a whip and be done with it.