Curious Aardvark wrote on Mar 14
th, 2011 at 1:21pm:
if a dart is point heavy then it will self correct.
But either way you're better off launching it in the right orientation.
This is the case with darts, however it is not so with all elongated projectles. A good dart like Hondero's kestros which he launches with a similar sideways motion, does correct and fly point forward. Nevertheless, it has been my experience that elongated solid projectiles do not self correct, or only to a very, very limited degree. I've experimented with elongated stones, old machinery rollers, batteries, rubbers door stop type tyres, and even a lovely golf-cross ball sent to me by C-A. Of these only the golf-cross ball showed any tendency to self correct. All the other projectiles were perfectly happy to fly sideways, at some odd angle, or even with the long axis vertical. Golf cross balls are very aerodynamic, feature dimples like ordinary golf balls and importantly have a density only marginally higher than water. Lead sinkers have so high a density that at slinging velocities the differences in air pressure over various parts of the sinker's surface are insufficient to cause it to turn.
I am convinced that slung leaden projectiles like the pear shaped sinkers featured above, will never self correct. They must leave the pouch already correctly oriented and spinning about the long axis for gyroscopic stability like bullets from a firearm.