Fair enough. My apologies for the misconceptions. According to aussie's
Figures the sling still falls well under the amount of energy that the 45
Has.

leadrocks wrote on May 15^th, 2010 at 6:42pm:


Well, not necessarily. It is [u] possible [u/] to achieve the kinetic energy of a 45. but is difficult.


mv^2)/2= KE   75g=typical sling projectile weight   111m/s=accepted sling projectile velocity   1/2(.075kg)(111m/s)^2=460J   .22 caliber long rifle=190J, .45 caliber Automatic Colt Pistol=450J

A 45 blackpowder has considerably lower energy than a 45
Acp. I have one. It shoots a 143 grain lead ball at around 775-850 fps
And a 45 acp is 230 grain bullet at 950-1000fps.

Mr. Boss wrote on May 15^th, 2010 at 10:16pm:


To be fair the assertion is not that a sling is as effective a defensive weapon as a .45 cal pistol, only that a sling stone could have the same kinetic energy as a bullet fired from such a pistol. I doubt anyone would seriously suggest that a slinger with no cover could successfully defend himself against a gunman armed with a .45 or realistically any pistol.

As you say it is possible, in that it is not beyond the bounds of human capability, like running a sub 10 sec 100m or even a 2hr 10min marathon. BUT there would be very few people who could actually do it.

You are obviously familiar with the kinetic energy formula. Here's the formula for centripetal force:-    F = mv^2/r

Figures you quote are, mass of 75g (a bit less than 3 oz.) and a slinging speed of 111 m/s (almost 250 mph). You use an exceptionally long sling of 2m and with your arm outstretched will give you an efective radius of somwhere around 3m.

Plug those into the formula and you'll find the centripetal force, ie. the pull of the cords is 308 N (almost 70 lbs) and that is a minimum assuming 100% efficiency with no allowance for the tremendous wind drag that a sling going so fast will generate. The real force will likely be closer to 100 lbs. All of which your little pinkies have to hold with only a loop and a release knot and then  release with superbly precise timing. Are you sure you can really do that? I'll bet there are some that could but they would be rare.

So the assertion may be theoretically correct but in reality is very rarely attainable.

  I wonder if there is any record of the use of slings be used in the american civil war?  If not to hurl glandes or stones but to throw some sort of incendiary or explosive?
  Oh, and in this comparison are we talking about slinging a .45 caliber lead glande from the sling as well?

LukeWebb wrote on May 16^th, 2010 at 11:18am:


45. caliber gland would be way too light to even get the sling going.

dork wrote on May 16^th, 2010 at 3:49pm:


Exactly what I think.

Nobody here needs to be convinced that a sling can be a very powerful and dangerous weapon in the right (or wrong) hands. That's all I need to know.