tito, an atlatl is a tool devised about 35,000 years ago to deliver more force and power behind a javelin like projectile than is possible by arm force alone. It's basically a 2' long piece of wood or bone with a handle on one end and a spur or groove which engages the projectile on the other. It functions as a lever to increase the length of the arm and deliver the dart with exponentially more force. You throw overhand with it, like a baseball, and reportedly, they could take down mammoths with these thousands of years ago.

Yeah, the darts that I throw with look like 6 foot long arrows and tend to scare the hell out of people not familiar with the weapon, which is most people. I can usually get between 50 and 70 yards with a single throw, although the world record is over 880 ft with a carbon fibre atlatl and aluminum dart.

used in many wars? its still being used in war today! you know its got to be good if its still being used alongside machenguns.

haha yes i would love to hear what they have to say about hmmmm's argument.  

yeh, i would agree with you there Tyler. they certantly would have killed with a sling already.
an altatl is a spear thrower. 8) thanks. cos i was wondering what everyone was talkign about when they were saying altatl, all they needed to do was say spear thrower and i would have understood.
 
Tito

Hmmmmmm's initial post was worded badly enough to get everyone's back up, but his basis point is fair - i would guess many of us are not good enough with the sling to 'hunt' with it, in the sense that were we to be stranded in the countryside with nothing else, we would probably starve. Speakling personally I would use my Sling to make Rabbit Snares  
 
But I suspect you could say the same thing about most weapons web sites; I bet 90% of the members of "Rednecks who like shootin off their guns.com" are lard-ass city boys like me.
 
The sling certainly can kill, and i have spent the last few weeks desperately searching for the references for a discussion some US observers had about watching Ethiopian Regular Army Soldiers using the sling as a grenade launcer !
 
Last thing, I am a fanatical Atheist, but that wouldn't stop me using the bible as a purely Historical source, esp numbers, judges, kings and the other Israelite / Judean history issues are stored. Most modern historians accept the basic outline of the history of Israel and Judea as covered in the Bible.
 
(In my view David Killing Goliath with a sling was a bit of a Gyp. Goliath gets all armoured up and issues a challenge to his opposite numbers among the Hebrews... and some kid pops him with a missile weapon ? Thats not in the rules, and were I a Philistine I would have demanded a rematch and a fair fight, and David's head on a plate as a Peace Offering!)
 
Pat

Nothing from the bible will be revealed unto you purely because you are blind (not talking about where you look to sling a stone). Discarding your false sense of believe at a drop of a comment shows how deep and falid your believe is.
 
Like that verse says not to throw your pearls to the swine is the same as not waisting the word of God on somebody that has already heard the truth but denies it.
 
Anyway I realy enjoy this site in regards to slinging but as it seems to me from the southern tip of  Africa, people can't leave politics and religion out of anything. Little bit sad ain't it.

I think I made the mistake of stating that I referred to the bible as an allusion for a certain target group to grasp the concept of what a sling is.  Holy Zarquon's singing fish...why must some people feel compelled to force their viewpoints on everyone else?