Hello all,
 
well i actually got to sling my first few rocks today, and let me tell you it was a blast! they were flying in every which way but generally in front of me. it took some getting used too but i told myself i was going to learn the figure 8 throw or nothing at all, considering it looked like the most complex. after some very awkward tries it started to make sense. there were a few rocks that really went zing, and a proportionately larger amount that thudded the grown 10 paces from my feet.
 
The first sling i made was the green one with the woven pouch. i ran out of "Real" 550 cord when i was in Afghanistan last year and the only placed we stopped at was camp bastion, so i had to buy the British knock off stuff, which was inferior ( no offense ).  
 
The bottom sling i made today, i know the pouch is rough but my daughters scissors were not up to par and i cant find my knife after my most recent move. went to the salvation army today and got a leather jacket for 4 75 and have been cutting squares out of that for my next few pockets.
 
my up and coming sling will be a Balearic design with a sewn in leather backing like one person on the forums already posted.  
 
Hope these pictures make you giggle a little.
Very Respectfully,
NavyDT

Aussie,
i cant find any of Brian Grubbs's instructional videos.... it was youtube right?

Welcome to the forum.   Your slings look a lot like mine when I first started. Figure-8 is a great style.

 Try youtubeing "slow mo slinging" david morningstar has some great videos of slinging styles in slo motion, they are what I learned the forms from.  My favorite is sidearm by the way, just one rotation directly over your head, and use only your wrist and a tiny bit of elbow, not your whole arm.  I like fig8 and balearic styles for heavier rocks, like pool ballish size and underarm is pretty good for those too, sidearm is best done with something a little smaller than a poolball, optimum golf ball sized maybe minimum a little larger than a marble.
  I would suggest you try and find a roll of jute twine and make yourself a balearic sling, there are guides for it on here, you just cut 3 lengths of string 3 arm lengths long, (for a 24in. sling,) and braid the very center far enough that the braid will wrap around your finger to make a finger loop, ( I wrap it around two fingers and run the cord over top of my pointer finger,) then you combine the two sets of 3 cords to make 1 set of 6 cords divided into 3 bunches of two and 3 strand braid the retention cord with the finger loop you just made on the end.  When you get to the pouch, 24in. of braiding down, you just split into two sets of 3 again making two parallel braids beside each other about 4 1/2 in. long. for each braid and then combine again and braid 24in. to make the release cord and tie a knot in the end, trim the excess and knot the ends of the excess to prevent fraying and your done.  It won't hold any size ammo but is simple for a beginner.
  Seat belt slings are very easy to make though.

I felt so embarrased by my other slings that i had to make another one right away to clear my name. this isint perfect but its alot better then what i had!
 

 I could NOT hit a tennis ball at 15 yards, I have enough trouble hitting an oil drum 1/3 times!  Course I did almost hit a squirrel once that was living in my apple tree and nesting in my house... it perished yesterday to a .22 500fps hollow point pellet, too bad I had to it was a real fit looking one.  I was throwing at it with the sling for a few weeks trying to give it a fair chance as I didn't think there was much chance of me hitting it as I would always miss by more than a foot or two and I thought it might scare him off having stones and apples whizzing past him, but squirrels are pretty stubborn.

I cant boast to know much about slinging now, but from what I have learned from my time on this site is that what ever feels most comfortable to you is best really.
I started on an underam style because thats what a friend showed me, and through tennis etc. that felt most natural to me. This then developed into a sort of Balaeric style as I tried to keep the shot low to hit close targets, but naturally reverts to a more underam style for distance.
I too looked into the figure 8 quite early on and am fairly happy with my throw with that now. Some of the videos on youtube really do help bucketloads with this I think, and just practising without ammo in your sling works well aswell. The bit I found trickiest was not clubbing myself on the hip or back when bringing it behind my head, practise really helped to stop that. As for distance, that will just come with practise with slinging. I have found any style tends to lead to this progress as it really is the small things like the flick of the wrist and the kick of the whole motion which is similar in so many styles.
Helicopter is a new one ive taken to for accuracy. I find it helps keep my height down alot better and feels natural enough, like a baseball throw. Something I have taken from the figure 8 aswell is I do one large circle and then pull that back to a small one before throwing my body into it. This really seems to add alot more power, and helps keep the arm in position.
 
Keep up the good work though mate, 50 yards is still a fair throw for someone just starting so your doing something right anyway lol
 
PS: Your new woven sling looks excellent, far far nicer uniform to the weave!
 
Nemo

Quote from NavyDT on Sep 22^nd, 2010, 2:17pm:

Try squirrel cooked in hot-wing sauce.
 
Over hand is how I started.  It's like a regular throw.
 
Byzantine is my favorite now.