slingbadger
Interfector Viris Spurii
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Don't Badger a Badger
Posts: 3220
Akron NY
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That thing is called an amentum. Iv'e brought it up before. It goes back to Ancient Rome, at least as far as the Pelopennesian wars. It faded in the 1st cent. AD. What you do is wrap the lanyard around the spear, and have your index finger in the last bit of loop, on the outside of the spear. It is cast from the side, much like an overhand sling cast. You flick the index finger as you launch. This makes the lanyard unwind, which starts the spear spinning. What happens is you have a self rifling javelin, no fletching needed, like on an arrow or atlatl. The Africans had an equivalent called an assegai, which they can make fly 200 feet with pinpoint accuracy. It also appears seperatly in some areas of Asia. The proper place to put the lanyard is not halfway, like Leonardo has it. (I have the same picture. He as not always right about what he drew) Instead you measure one sixth the way up from the rear, and place it there. I have an amentum made from a shaft and an old throwing knife for the point. So far I have casts of 50-60 feet with consistant accuracy.
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