| How
do you use a sling?
Two common and easy ways will be briefly discussed here,
although there are many other styles.
1) Slip the loop onto your middle finder and place the
release cord between your thumb and index finger. The
sling should be hanging down, but your palm should be
facing up.
2) Now you've got the sling ready to go, place a rock
in the pouch. The rock should be of a dense material
and be no bigger than golf ball generally.
Underhand
Method:
3) This method is basically a softball-like pitch. Swing
the sling back and forth until you feel there is enough
momentum to complete an entire loop. In the underhand
method the rotation should come from your knees, up
in front of you, then over your head, then behind you.
When the sling has rotated back to your knees, lift
up your thumb and the rock will fly out.
Overhand
Method:
3) This method is basically a baseball-like pitch. It
is a rotation of the shoulder and elbow. Swing the sling
back and forth until you feel there is enough momentum
to complete an entire loop. In the overhand method the
rotation should come from your knees, up behind you,
then over your head. When the pouch circles over your
head, lift up your thumb and the rock will fly out.
4)
The projectile will fly out tangentially from where
it was released.
It takes practice to learn the correct release time,
but once you have consistency, it is easy to master
the sling. Underhand is good for distance, but you lose
accuracy. People can throw rocks 400+ feet underhand
with little effort. Overhand is generally better for
close range, sub 150 feet. As for rock sizes, people
use different things. Golf ball-sized rocks feel good
as the additional weight allow you to feel the force
on your hand and therefore have a better understanding
of where it is going to “fly”. Often slingers
make up for the lack of weight by doing grapeshot. Slinging
grapeshot basically means piling in as many pebbles
as the pouch can hold and launching that. This way,
your target area is littered with a spray of rocks,
making it highly effective for "light" targets.
-
Chris Harrison
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