So I finally have sufficent ammo for spiralling (large, round, oblong type) and I have heard spiralling can greatly increase range and effectiveness so does anyone have any tips on putting spiral on ammo, also what style is best for spiraling?

I'll put it in, plus this little addendum.

All sling projectiles spin in flight, it's an inevitable feature of slinging. So to get good accuracy it's necessary to ensure the spin is consistent from shot to shot. Rifle spin is good for two reasons:

1. It ensures evenly distributed airflow around the projectile during flight which helps keep it on course, exactly the same as a rifle bullet. Note that even muzzleloaders shooting round ball need rifling to be accurate. A randomly spinning projectile will veer off course as the wind catches it.

2. The other reason why rifle spin is especially important in elongated projectiles is that it keeps the projectile flying point forward. This means it has the smallest possible frontal area and so minimises wind drag. That's why elongated projectiles go so much further than spherical ones. It's like increasing the density, in fact the ratio of fontal area to mass in known as the 'sectional density'.

The only exception to the advantage of rifle spin is backspin, but only if your projectile is spherical or approximately so, ie. it has no real long axis. Strong backspin deflects the passing airstream downwards which causes the projectile to generate lift like an aeroplane wing, which means it stays aloft longer giving better range. For a full explanation look up 'golf ball' on Wiki etc. But if your projectile is elongated and spinning backwards all that wonderful sectional density advantage is lost so despite the added lift your projectile may not go as far as it would with rifle spin.

For spiral spin I get the best out of a fig.8. It can put enough spin on it that when I sling a stone 100 yds out in to the lake it will jump to the right upon impact with the water. Its really neat to see the stone fly in a straight line then jump back out of the water sideways. This still surprises everytime because the stone is falling down from a high arch. I would think the downward plunge would over power the spin everytime, but as long as I use an elongated stone it is almost garunteed to jump.

I don't see how that video could be any better.  It shows everything perfectly.

Having the cords side by side on the release is more important the the width of the grip.

David Morningstar wrote on Dec 4^th, 2010 at 11:31am:


Awsome, Veticle greek happens to be my favorite style, and I also keep my retention cord on my middle finger. 

Thank you for all the tips.

me2 wrote on Dec 6^th, 2010 at 10:57am:

Ditto!

balearic/sidearm gives the best spin.

It also helps toi have a relatively long solid, pouch.

The missile recieves the sling as it rolls out the pouch, so a long solid pouch should give best spin (and in my experience does !)