I am thinking of useing 6-8oz. lead egg sinkers as ammo. Another option is the same weight of lead cannonball (round) sinker. The moulds will cast  6, and 8oz. sinkers. All my lead is free (cable lining)  and the moulds are only around $30.00 plus I have a casting pot and ladle from when I  casted .577 minie bullets. I used to be able to turn out a heck of a pile of bullets in a hour so I figured it would be better to just cast my sling ammo.

     The egg sinker is more tradional in shape but the round sinker should be more accurate. Does anyone have experiance useing lead? If so what shape would you pick?  BTW- 2nd post.  Thanks

I generally throw smoothed river pebbles (bag from garden center) but when I'm
throwing lead I use 3oz egg or grand-banks style sinkers ... 6 to 8 oz seems heavy to me ... must be because my main back yard ammo is the tennis ball which masses a whopping 2 oz. I rarely get to a place where I throw stone or lead. I tend to throw glandes shaped lead vs round...
Steven says: ''

Markmyster wrote on Mar 24^th, 2007 at 9:49am:


    That is a good point for those that are not used to lead casting. Safety First! Eye Protection and plenty of Ventilation. Do not allow water into the pot as it will erupt, causing the lead to splatter. I would not recomed anyone start casting till they read up on the subject. I have a bottom pour electric production pot that holds around 20 lbs of lead that I set up outside under my deck when I cast alot of sinkers or bullets. I still cast my own surf fishing and catfish sinkers about once a year but I only cast  a small number of each weight so I just use the smaller iron pot and ladle on a Coleman stove. Its slower, but gets it done.
    
    Those were good points about the egg style sinker. I have some 4oz. lead eggs I've thrown and I do not think that a 6oz. would be too heavy though the 8oz. just might be after a while even to just carry afield. I think I might go with the 4-6oz. egg style. Rocks are just fine for messing around but I want a consistant sized and weighted type of ammo as I entend to start hunting rabbits, squirrels and such with a sling again. When I was a kid we used granite railroad bed rocks and they would kill a Groundhog. I even nailed a Fox one winter and got paid for the hide. They were all about the same size and threw well.

    I am lucky enough to own some acres on the  Shenandoah River here in Virginia, USA so I have a lot of room and have even built a range of sorts for slinging. I will be able to recover most of my lead ammo if I paint it a neon color for pratice. Heck I find and reuse most of the rocks I throw now. My Grandaughter comes in handy for that!

    Thanks for the input guys. This site is great!

I went ahead and bought the mold (I can use it for surf fishing too) and cast some  3oz. egg sinkers with no hole. They work great with a  heavy corded sling.  The distance increase was shocking. They flew like a football as best I could tell and at least 25% farther than what I am used to with a like sized rock. I only made 5 distance slings due to throwing them in the river.  They also look to be more accurate and have more hitting power than rocks do. At 20 meters I am hitting a large coffee can about 1/3 of the time.  I need to work on that! I painted the pratice sinkers white and have not lost many so far.

Quote:


Sounds like you had one of those Parker - Hale "Enfield" muskets. Which barrel length?   (LOVERLEY)

According to the experts, for slinging the eggshaped ones are better than round. In ancient times military slingers used lead "glandes" with deadlier results than when using even the best stones. They evidently fly end first if thrown correctly with the same advantage as minies over round ball rifles.

[quote author=curious_aardvark link=1174726906/0#9 date=1175683781]I also believe you're the first member who has successfully hunted with a sling - congratulations :-) [/quote]

It was already done.

[list][*][url=http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1122472856/2#2]Re: Here goosey goosey..[/url]
[*][url=http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1120452057/1#1]Re: Hunting, long or short sling?[/url]
[*]...
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[quote author=curious_aardvark link=1174726906/0#9 date=1175683781][quote] I am lucky enough to own some acres on the  Shenandoah River here in Virginia, USA so I have a lot of room and have even built a range of sorts for slinging[/quote]

So can I be presumptuous and suggest you host the first allcomers - world slinging meet ?

I do believe you're the first member to fit all the criteria neccessary to make this thing happen.

I suspect if such a thing were organised there are a fair number of us who could afford both the time and travelling costs necessary to get there :-)

It was lobohunter who added streamers to his glandes.

I also believe you're the first member who has successfully hunted with a sling - congratulations :-)

So what type/length do you favour then ?[/quote]

     You know that is definatly food for thought, I don't use my river property as much as I should anyway.  I just spent 3hrs mowing it tuesday and thought it would be nice to enjoy it more. Hell, who knows I just might come up with something. If nothing else it could be a place where folks here could camp out, sling, fish, BBQ, play in the river, etc. Its mostly open and grassey and hardly no river bank so there is easy river access. Shoot, it looks better than my lawn for the most part and has a pavillion, BBQ-Pit and a Outhouse!  I am aprox. 60+ miles west of Dulles International Airport.

    Target of oppertunity is more accurate than hunting as far my sling kills go.

    I prefer a sling of 20-24 inches folded. I keep a 18 inch in my hunting kit to sling rocks to scare squirrels around a tree so I can get a rifle shot at them. Its more of a useful tool than a weapon when I hunt. I've moved deer from thick bedding areas with the sling too.

[quote]If nothing else it could be a place where folks here could camp out, sling, fish, BBQ, play in the river, etc.[/quote]

When can I move in ?
What sort of fish you got in the river ?
Fresh fish on the bar-by - got any crayfish ?
What sort of weather do you get say late summer ?

Seriously though - this probably deserves a seperate thread to see what sort of serious interest there would be.
Hell I haven't had a holiday for 2 years - if it's on I'm in :-)
Fly into dulles - hire an rv (not much into camping these days lol) and go do some fishing (and slinging - obviously)