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Broad side of a barn (Read 1717 times)
Morphy
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Broad side of a barn
Aug 8th, 2010 at 5:53pm
 
So I'm at my father-in-law's house yesterday and I brought along my favorite sling. There's a guy there named Chad and I will usually hang out with him a bit as we seem to have similar tastes. This time I asked him if he had ever seen a sling before.
I went through the usual conversation of "Slingshot?...No, Sling. Oh you mean the kind you twirl around your head? Yea...sort of... " And once he figured out what I was talking about his eyes lit up and he wanted to go see what this thing could do.

Well, so we are walking around on his farm land and I'm thinking to myself...I have never seen an area in my life so devoid of anything even remotely sling stone worthy. But to Chad's credit he finds some good ones. The first one I was just trying to throw it into the next county. I really got it out there. He was pretty impressed. I don't have the best arm in the world but I think just as impressive as the distance was the fact that the wind-up and pitch is as smooth as butter. Very unlike anything Hollywood portrays. Well as we are walking we end up broadside of their old barn.

This thing is really worn down. It's like owls live in the rafters and weeds are growing up through the floor, and it's just really old. So I'm thinking... hey I bet he'd be pretty impressed with the noise a rock makes when hitting the side of that barn. So of course I wind up and of course, I miss.... I missed the broadside of a barn... How does that happen? I have no idea. I have plenty of excuses but they all sound pretty hollow at this point. This is after all...a pretty large target. I'm thinking to myself, "Isn't the whole idea of the broadside of a barn scenario is that it's too big to miss? Or does it mean you would have to suck to miss it?  That sounds about right." Embarrassed I usually practice at home from 15-20 yards on a fairly small target and I've nailed it many a time, but this barn apparently wasn't having any of it.

Anyways, the rock instead opted to just skim the top of the metal roof and left a pretty cool trail of sparks. Something I've never seen before. I made up for my utter failure by hitting it several times afterward like I had some sort of personal vendetta against it. But I don't think the barn cared too much.  Roll Eyes

Even worse then missing the barn, I failed to convince Chad to try out the sling. I think he thought it just looked too hard. Oh well... I will keep trying. Smiley
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Dan
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #1 - Aug 8th, 2010 at 9:37pm
 
fun story, thanks for sharing, maybe it will make some beginner feel better  Smiley
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I was pretty good at slinging like 10 years ago.
 
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Camo-sling
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #2 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 5:15am
 
Haha! Its the spectator principle! Always will miss or stuff up when your showing someone or trying to impress them!  Wink
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mrdeadpt
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #3 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 9:02am
 
"Spectator principle" says a lot about the kind of mental state that is required for accurate slinging.  (This is not bench-rest rifle shooting.)  It's more "zen"--for want of a better word.  Just makes the bibical David's feat all the more impressive.  Talk about composure under pressure!
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picklepie159
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #4 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 11:20am
 
probably just a case of warmup-shotitis
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I am not the potter, not the potter's wheel, but the potter's clay; is not the value of the shape attained as dependent upon the intrinsic worth of the clay as upon the wheel and the Master's skill?&&- Stephen King, The Stand
 
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timann
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #5 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 2:57pm
 
Sometimes you cannot hit the broad side of a barn, but sometimes you can hit a target when it really counts, too. 
Happened to me, once, a cherished memory Cheesy.
timann
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kuggur slingdog
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #6 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 3:49pm
 
Next time try hitting the barn from the inside.
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walter
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #7 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 6:39pm
 
Quote:
Next time try hitting the barn from the inside.

LOL Grin

Morphy, I'll bet most of us have done some pretty bad slingin' when we were showing off Wink I know I have. Nothing compared to you though Roll Eyes hehe

walter
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Perseverence furthers
 
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Morphy
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #8 - Aug 9th, 2010 at 7:55pm
 
So the moral of this story is that whatever higher power you may or may not believe in, He probably has a sense of humor and enjoys taking us down a notch from time to time.  Grin I love irony, so I did have have to chuckle a bit when that happened.  Grin

I will try to remember to go inside the barn next time Kuggur.  Cheesy  Grin
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timann
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Re: Broad side of a barn
Reply #9 - Aug 10th, 2010 at 3:35pm
 
While we are at it, the reason sling demos should be performed with tennis balls is the fact that when spectators gather to admire our art, that is when the ammo will insist on leaving the pouch at unfortunate moments.
timann
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