Welcome, Guest. Please Login
SLINGING.ORG
 
Home Help Search Login


Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in it) (Read 8912 times)
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in it)
May 12th, 2006 at 11:23pm
 
Ok I am a middle level member of my local branch of the SCA. Last weekend we were holding our fun and games event. The week before one of the siege engine guys was mentioning he was going to bring his 8' trebuchet to this event and him and his crew were going to fully load the counterweight and see what kind of range they would get.
He knew I was working with the staff sling and wanted me to bring it and show them what it could do.

Well it rained extremely hard the night before and it drizzled off and on the next day so they left the trebuchet at home. I showed up the next day with my fusstibalus and handsling and a approximately 30-40 pound bag of limestone marble I use for ammunition.

We moved down to the archery range and I start setting up while he went to round up his crew. I start a test fire on the fustibalus when a very oblivious lady walks right in front of me about 8 feet away just before the sling slips off of the staff. Lets just say it hurt redirecting the sling. I exchanged some words with the lady who obviously wasn't aware she was walking into a  missle fire area. Angry

Anyway, he showed up saying the crew wasn't intrested. I described to him the fustibalus and showed him how it worked. I loaded up a stone into the pouch and with him and me both looking at the range we determined that both the boundries were clear and away went the rock. It sailed about 50 meters with a "WHOOOSH" as i was rewinding from the toss all my buddy was saying was "WHOA" Grin

I tossed a few more with the staff sling and turned it over to him. It took him a bit before he got (somewhat) the hang of it. He did manage to send a few rocks in the right direction. Now we were firing for distance not really accuracy.

At this time I broke out the handsling and let it fly. Now currently I use an underhand sling style with almost no windup. I basicly hold the sling fully extended in front of me. I then let the sling drop and once it goes 180 degrees behind me I bring it forward. at the same time i take a step forward and snap my wrist at moment of release.
The first thing that he asked was why i didn't use the "classic" helicopter windup and then he expressed amazement at the distance I got off the toss again about 75-100 meters with a high arc.
I showed him a few more tosses then I turned it over to him.
He wound it up like me and let fly and tossed the rock about 10 meters. then he looked at me puzzled and said where the sling go ? Shocked
Yes he had let go of the retention loop when he made the cast. Grumble

He spent about 30 minutes looking for a brown leather sling in the dark wet grass. He found it next to a pile of horse droppings.

he did a few more tosses then told me he was going to find somebody. I tossed quite few of my ammunition trying to get a little more practice in when he shows up with the unofficial branch photographer Smiley
We did a few tosses with the hand sling, one of which went almost 150 meters. My friend then decided that he wanted to have a shot taken if him using the fustibalus. Three bad shots ( 45+ degrees ) later I repossessed my fustibalus, took my last big rock and the staff sling and hurled the rock about 75-100 meters. The wet dirt flew when the rock hit. Smiley

I think I can safely say a good time was had by me, the buddy and the photographer.

Now when I get these digital photos I will post them to the group

Marc Adkins
Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
Slinger_Man_Dan
Senior Member
****
Offline


My sling is my friend.

Posts: 321
Gardner,MA
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #1 - May 13th, 2006 at 1:13am
 
  winkleried!                                                                            
                                                                                                     
      Cheesy Hot damn, that was a good yarn! One of the things I really like about Slinging.org is that I often get a chance to do a little "vicarious slinging" courtesy of other guys and gals on the forum. Thanks for the great post and I very much look forward to seeing the pictures.         
        Too bad about the horse droppings, though. Tongue                         
                                                                                  .......Dan
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Unsapien
Senior Member
****
Offline


"Sling your words like
cannon balls."Vari, M.Twain

Posts: 304
Davis, Ca
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #2 - May 13th, 2006 at 4:23am
 
Sounds great.
I know what he means I felt like I was right there with ya.
I finally found someone with a digital camra, and some nice web savy.
Looking forward to getting some postings online

-Unsapien
Back to top
 
AaronMGutierrez  
IP Logged
 
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #3 - May 13th, 2006 at 12:53pm
 
well the good news was the sling was near the horse droppings not in it
Marc Adkins

Quote:
 winkleried!                                                                            
                                                                                                     
      Cheesy Hot damn, that was a good yarn! One of the things I really like about Slinging.org is that I often get a chance to do a little "vicarious slinging" courtesy of other guys and gals on the forum. Thanks for the great post and I very much look forward to seeing the pictures.          
        Too bad about the horse droppings, though. Tongue                          
                                                                                  .......Dan  

Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
Slinger_Man_Dan
Senior Member
****
Offline


My sling is my friend.

Posts: 321
Gardner,MA
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #4 - May 14th, 2006 at 2:51am
 
                                                                                                     
     Uh.......if the sling is brown how can you be sure?
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Slinger_Man_Dan
Senior Member
****
Offline


My sling is my friend.

Posts: 321
Gardner,MA
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #5 - May 14th, 2006 at 2:52am
 
                                                                                                  
                             Messy, messy.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
bigkahuna
past-moderator
****
Offline



Posts: 3894
Delaware, USA
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #6 - May 14th, 2006 at 2:55am
 
What's a little wet horse poop.Put some in your sling and toss it at someone! Grin
Back to top
 

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
John Walker  
IP Logged
 
slingbadger
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Don't Badger a Badger

Posts: 3220
Akron NY
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #7 - May 14th, 2006 at 10:23am
 
Glad to see a fellow SCAdian doing slings! Here I thought I was the only one! Now I can say I am one of the few.. the proud..
  Seriously, I am trying to gain sling acceptence here in AEthelmearc. I am trying to get it accepted as a targeted thrown weapon. I know it will not work in a fighting aspect. At least not right now.
  I'm also working on a Compleat Anachronist for slings.
Back to top
 

The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th cent. science has been the discovery of human ignorance  The main difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits.-Einstein   I'm getting psychic as I get older. Or is that psychotic?
 
IP Logged
 
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #8 - May 14th, 2006 at 1:24pm
 
Cool Ansteroria here,
One of our grant level fighters used the sling as a combat missle weapon during a Gulf Wars. Check out the Florigium for details. or i could find the post and post it if ya want. I belive Meridies has regs for it's use on the field.. might be a place to start. also th TI had an article on the use of the sling back in the mid '90s I belive. it's what got me back into slinging after reading a hard copy of Lynn Ballard's article in the Mother Earth News. Let me know when you get the Anachronist article done. With te pictures that were taking the powers that be around here are wanting a sling/slinging artile put out for our local newsletter.
But hey that's a whole diffrent thread

Marc Adkins
Another of the few..the proud...and the twisted Smiley

Quote:
Glad to see a fellow SCAdian doing slings! Here I thought I was the only one! Now I can say I am one of the few.. the proud..
 Seriously, I am trying to gain sling acceptence here in AEthelmearc. I am trying to get it accepted as a targeted thrown weapon. I know it will not work in a fighting aspect. At least not right now.
 I'm also working on a Compleat Anachronist for slings.

Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #9 - May 14th, 2006 at 1:33pm
 
Here'sthe post I was refering to.

Subject: RE: ANST - Combat slings at Gulf Wars?
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 99 15:44:37 MST
From: "Christopher D. Baran" <rrhms@texoma.net>
To: "'ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG'" <ansteorra@Ansteorra.ORG>

Last year I was allowed to sling during Gulf Wars. I have been
using a sling in the SCA for about 6 years now and have found that using a
regular split tennis ball I can get as great a range as an archer, though
not as great as accuracy. I am able to hit a man sized target at about 35
yards (when I am in practice). Meridies has a set of rules for the creation
of slings. They may only be of a certain length due to the amount of power
the weapon generates. As for them being accepted in this Kingdom, I believe
they are able to be used on a case by case basis. (Keef, please tell me if
I am wrong on this) Besides myself I do not know of any other slingers in
the Kingdom. I would be happy to show you my sling at Gulf Wars since I
will be going and slinging there.

Centurion Romanius




Quote:
,
One of our grant level fighters used the sling as a combat missle weapon during a Gulf Wars. Check out the Florigium for details. or i could find the post and post it if ya want. Marc Adkins
Another of the few..the proud...and the twisted Smiley


Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #10 - Nov 24th, 2006 at 8:00pm
 
I finally recieved the pics from the photographer, I'll be sending them to chris so he can psot them to this thread.

Marc Adkins
Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
Curious Aardvark
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


Taller than the average
Dwarf

Posts: 13965
Midlands England
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #11 - Nov 25th, 2006 at 9:03am
 
sca ?
sling in Gulf wars ? I'm assuming this wasn't actually in 'eye-rak' or iraq for the non republicans amongst you :-)

Sounds like fun though. So why'd the guy with the treb wimp out then ? it's not as if it's reliant on dry wether for the sinew.
Can't see how a bit of rain would effect it.
Back to top
 

Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
IP Logged
 
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #12 - Nov 25th, 2006 at 12:11pm
 
Yep SCA, see sling badgers post for more info about this group.

Don't ask me why they left the treb at home, could have been due to the rain swelling the wood posts but then again I'm not a siege engine person... Nor am I on this particular crew so I don't really know. The closest I come is my work with the fustibulas. I was just showing it to them so they would have a more complete understanding of thier science/art.

The treb is  counterweight driven there is not any sinew in the construction of this particular engine,


Quote:
sca ?
sling in Gulf wars ? I'm assuming this wasn't actually in 'eye-rak' or iraq for the non republicans amongst you Smiley

Sounds like fun though. So why'd the guy with the treb wimp out then ? it's not as if it's reliant on dry wether for the sinew.
Can't see how a bit of rain would effect it.

Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
winkleried
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 1535
Norman Oklahoma
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #13 - Nov 26th, 2006 at 7:56pm
 
Here are the long awaited pictures for this event, Oh well better late than never Smiley

http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08913


This is my friend John. He is the local siege engine guru. He is holding my (then) experimental Staff-Sling. Based on the observations of this day some changes were made to the staff-sling. This particular sling is a 48 inch Poplar Dowel Rod. I have since shaved both sides of the handle to advoid wobble in the cast. I have also made the notch on the staff a bit deeper and have split the pouch. I have also trimmed the extra white nylon string hanging off the pouch. Now also keep in mind this particular staff-sling has a very steep angle of attack.


http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08914

Ok here is john doing a very ugly cast. The blur directly over the staff is the pouch and the blur about 45 degrees from that is the rock going sideways Sad
A lot of this has been corrected with the changes in the experimental model. The next one I build is going to be based off of a 36 inch Oak Dowel with a leather thong and a cupped and split pouch. Also some of the problems John had with this weapon is due to plain inexperience with it.


http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08916


A far more gracefull cast with the handsling. I use what I call a Inverse Apache Casting style. I start off holding the pouch in front of me. I then let it drop till the pouch is about 180 degrees behind me I then snap it forward realeasing the stone when it is somewhere around 90 to 85 degrees from the original position.


http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08917


John, Trying another cast with the staff sling


http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08918


At this point there were some very ugly casts from John. At this point I have taken my last large stone and am in the process of casting it. The staff sling has just released the rock. This particular cast took off like a cruise missle and landed just as dramaticly about 150 meters away in the very soft mud.


http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08919


Here I am in in the recovery phase of the previous cast. The small one in the pic is my youngest son Carl. Both Carl and his older sister have slings that I am working on teaching them how to use.


http://www.slinging.org/images/adkins/DSC08920


Here are the closeups of the implements of stone age ballistics. I am holding the staff-sling and John is holding my handsling. Carl is behind John wanting to go back to the tent now that all the fun and games with the slings is now over.


Back to top
 

The Few...The Proud.....The Slingers&&Sling to live, Live to sling&&I Ain't right
WWW winkleried  
IP Logged
 
Tint
Interfector Viris Spurii
Past Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2323
Hong Kong
Gender: male
Re: Cold and Stormy day( Relax its got slinging in
Reply #14 - Nov 26th, 2006 at 8:13pm
 
Looks like a lot of fun!  Awesome pics!

Your outfits made it all the better.  If i were living in that time I'd be carring a staff sling and a sling everywhere I go.
Back to top
 
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
(Moderators: Morphy, Kick, joe_meadmaker, Curious Aardvark, vetryan15, Rat Man, Chris)