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Question: sling or bow?



« Created by: paracordslinger on: Jun 30th, 2011 at 6:54pm »

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Sling vs. Bow (Read 47531 times)
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #60 - Aug 28th, 2019 at 2:49am
 
It's always funny that they show archers in media as being the skinny small guy or they give a bow to a slight young woman. Bows meant to kill people are really hard to pull back. Like, really hard. You need YEARS worth of training to pull back a true war bow and if you go through that training you'll look closer to Arnold than Legolas.
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"Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923
 
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #61 - Aug 28th, 2019 at 4:47am
 
JudoP wrote on Aug 27th, 2019 at 8:10pm:
I have a 40lber at home and it hits with a good bit of force. Back when I was a kid, there was a guy at our archery club who used an 80lber, it was damn powerful. Used to put arrows straight through the foot thick packed foam target bosses. If you accidentally shot it into wooden frame you wouldn't even be able to get the arrow out! I can't imagine what these 120lb+ top end longbows would do.


Interesting video


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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #62 - Aug 30th, 2019 at 11:12am
 
For me if I wanted to look fancy and kill an enemy soldier by bleeding them and incapacitating their limbs quick and easy, bow (but I don’t think my bow grouping would be good enough in a real fight for that finesse description). However if I wanted to break their to bones into many jagged pieces internally ripping their flesh apart as they struggled to poise themselves for the second hit via raw damage, sling (I know how to group with it and can adjust aim at will with it almost viably).

It’s kinda more about what you want to use and have grown accustomed to, being able to rely on it as you’ve learned the feel of a weapon. As the not-so-old saying goes;

“Great gear does not a good player make.”

I would for most situations prefer the sling though, great quality weapon with more reliance on a user’s dexterity rather than strength as a warbow would have (again don’t get me wrong archery is fun and practical in its own way). But for plate armor, I’d ditch both and reach straight for a flintlock (they existed by then, don’t give me any crap Wink ).
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #63 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 11:59am
 
Morphy wrote on Aug 25th, 2019 at 4:30pm:
The other big issue that people forget when deciding on the best weapon for a survival situation is the fact that you will likely be deliriously hungry, sick, cold/hot, thirsty and demoralized in a true survival situation. This means that while under the best circumstances you might have a chance with one weapon or another, under real world conditions it would be very different.

I think this may be why Native Americans often used bows in the 35-45 pound range. Such a weapon is extremely easy to use even when ravenously hungry or extremely tired. Probably more so than any other weapon. 


This thinking resonates with me. Currently I am convinced that overall the bow is a superior hunting weapon to the sling for me, and I would keep the sling in my belt merely for the shots I don't want to waste an arrow at.
I am fairly certain that where I live I could get meat on the table every day or every 2 days with a bow. With a sling maybe once a month. This is partly why I am focusing more and more on archery along side the sling.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #64 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 1:15pm
 
If you watch Alone, it’s common for contestants to struggle to draw a bow because they are too weak.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #65 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 3:24pm
 
AncientCraftwork wrote on Mar 6th, 2021 at 11:59am:
Morphy wrote on Aug 25th, 2019 at 4:30pm:
The other big issue that people forget when deciding on the best weapon for a survival situation is the fact that you will likely be deliriously hungry, sick, cold/hot, thirsty and demoralized in a true survival situation. This means that while under the best circumstances you might have a chance with one weapon or another, under real world conditions it would be very different.

I think this may be why Native Americans often used bows in the 35-45 pound range. Such a weapon is extremely easy to use even when ravenously hungry or extremely tired. Probably more so than any other weapon. 


This thinking resonates with me. Currently I am convinced that overall the bow is a superior hunting weapon to the sling for me, and I would keep the sling in my belt merely for the shots I don't want to waste an arrow at.
I am fairly certain that where I live I could get meat on the table every day or every 2 days with a bow. With a sling maybe once a month. This is partly why I am focusing more and more on archery along side the sling.



I had a discussion with some members here about this very thing. People have absolutely no idea how difficult true survival is.  Even for the best indigenous peoples who are arguably the best  survivalists to ever walk the Earth had a constant struggle against starvation. It was their enemy every single day.  We are nothing compared to them which is why the best Western survivalists dont thrive they simple starve slowly enough to make it to the end of the show.   Grin 

Honestly the vast majority of so called survival experts are in a fairy land. They would starve or die from thirst, disease etc faster than anyone would imagine.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #66 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 4:01pm
 
On the subject of bows.  A strong bow is not drawn, it is pushed.  War bows are high in pounds because they shoot heavy arrows.  We've had that topic before.  Survial is no fun.  I learned a lot in the military.  And I have skills that can help me.  But survival would not be certain.  One small injury 🤕 and you can die.  The psyche is also a factor that should not be underestimated.  I once spent four weeks in a castle.  As a reenactor.  I love that.  But this time there was a severe cold snap.  I was alone in the castle.  I had enough to eat, a fire, and even several houses.  Still, it was torture. I lost 15 kg in that time.  And I did not suffer any hardship.  It was just very cold.  What if they don't have enough food?  You have to do everything by yourself.  I never really want to get into a situation like this.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #67 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 4:18pm
 
Injury is definitely something that isn't considered. I remember watching one of those survival shows (I think it was  Naked and Afraid, something like that) and one of the participants stepped on a thorn because they were didn't have shoes. It got infected and they had to leave the show to get medical treatment. A thorn. Guess what you don't have in the wild. A fully staffed medical team and a helicopter to get you to them.
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You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy
"Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923
 
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #68 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 4:18pm
 
Yes.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #69 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 6:03pm
 
I honestly don’t think it’s as easy as some people think.
Hunting is never a garrentee , I know from experience it not as easy as some may think. Sure right now it might seem like you could easily put meat on the table every few days but , wait until you’re hunting the same areas for a long time , things change, animals get more attuned to your smell, your sound, and as time goes on the task becomes harder.

Survival is not easy. Skills and experience help but your never going to be certain
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #70 - Mar 6th, 2021 at 7:01pm
 
That’s why I have a couple snares Mersa. That’s all it takes.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #71 - Mar 7th, 2021 at 3:28am
 
of course, and a sling makes those few oppertunities you get a hundredfold harder.
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #72 - Mar 11th, 2021 at 11:18pm
 
I'm new here and came from a trad archery, so this whole discussion is kinda germane to some of my initial impressions with the whole slinging thing: at that is, its way harder to hit stuff with a sling than bow.
Of course, I just pick up a sling.  So of course its going to be harder than a bow and arrow.  But is there anyone who can achieve the same consistency as a good archer with a sling?
From what I've seen, the supposedly best competitors (though I know a lot of you guys have never been there, and god knows there just a little less of a financial incentive for making it there than there is for say, winning the super bowl or world cup) at the Balearic island competition are hitting a square meter? board most every shot or maybe a 20inch plate once or twice.
Compare that with the Barebow Archery open where they're placing most shots in the 7-10 rings at 55 yards or the various traditional competitions like macua where they're doing about the same on a smaller target (lotta 9 and 10 ring shots, too) at about 20m, or million of US traditional 3D Shoots where the good guys are hitting kill zone on deer, pig, skunks virtual every shot from 15-35 yards. To mention nothing of Clay Hayes hitting a 3d 3/4 times at 80-100 yards, or Byron Ferguson shooting ticktacs out or the air every morning...

Hurling rocks cool? Yeah. And I'm sure it's satisfying hearing that ping! (And not spending freaging 20$ on an arrow, 1000$ on a bow) But....

I am wrong in concluding that sling and stone is that much harder? (Btw, if anyone can link to any vids of slingers making crazy ass shots, I am all eyes)
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #73 - Mar 11th, 2021 at 11:35pm
 
It’s harder than archery.
I shoot trad archery and sling
Here’s a little clip .
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Re: Sling vs. Bow
Reply #74 - Mar 12th, 2021 at 2:24am
 
The sling clearly has its limits.  An arc is more precise.  Still, it's hard to compare the two.  You also need a lot of practice with the bow.  Shoot bows for the war, it will be even more difficult.  So let's compare the two.  You will notice that hundreds or thousands of archers are not always available.  At some point in England it became compulsory for men of a certain age.  They had to practice the bow once a week.  They quickly became known on the battlefield.  But read Wolfram von Eschenbach.  You also read about slingers.  They were Welsh.  They were feared on all battlefields and then brought death.  So you can read it.  Only very few know such stories.  Something similar for Hungary.  They were known and feared with the bow.  But one reads with great amazement about the canonization of Bishop Ullrich.  This defended the city of Augsburg.  He was canonized because he rode ahead with no armor or weapons but knights.  He was not hit by a stone or arrow from the Magyars.  Well so what.  Not from any stone.  My father is a hungarian.  He was very proficient with the sling and the bow.  And he was an excellent rider.  At the national museum in Budapest, I learned that many riders wore a sling on their saddle.  Or look to Prague.  There is an amazing statue there.  It is reminiscent of the Hussite Wars.  It shows a young woman with a sling in her hand.  In historical pictures you often see sling and bow in combination.  The sling destroyed shields and the bow fired immediately afterwards.  Who was more precise now?  When we speak for today, it is clearly the arc.  I'm not sure if it was true for the time.  Both were probably about equally strong.
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