If anyone feels like filming himself slinging a great big honking stone, be my guest.

Approximately the sized of a closed fist.

Based on my research this weight class seems to be the norm for spanish slings

Marc Adkins
Thearos wrote on Feb 15^th, 2011 at 10:43pm:

When I first started slinging, I had no idea of the size of stones most people tended to throw. I generally looked for medium sized rocks (later weighed one and it came out at 200g exactly) but Im sure Ive thrown heavier aswell as I looked to see what weight I could throw a reasonable distance.
My primary throw was underarm at that time, and with that throw I think it is definatly possible to throw heavy rocks, but just would require more strength, so 500g would require alot of strength to keep going well. I doubt I ever threw that heavy myself (had only been slinging for a few months) but I reckon I easily threw a good few 350-400g stones, for about 35-40m (my max throw at that time with any stone was about 60m, so I would assume the heavy weight distance would have improved by now).
I know though by the sheer force applied to your shoulder when throwing one of them (and the sound of impact) that if that hit a person, armour or shield, it isnt surviving. It could easily crush a skull, smash a hole in a shield, heavily dent armour enough to cause serious damage to the wearer. The damage it did to the other rocks it hit was huge aswell.
As said, I dont think this would have been anything standard for any slingers, even though the Balearic slingers where known for throwing heavy ammo, this does sound like an upper limit for the biggest men among them. I could see it though that if you had time to establish a posistion before the battle, you could find a hill and make a pile of heavy rocks as such. I couldnt see people carrying them around however, but they really would be like mini trebuchets or handheld ballistas throwing things like that.

I had also heard about the lead that it can cause wave patterns in it if it hits a hard surface. This can give a molten effect which is likely what convinced the people of the time.

Nemo

fattybones wrote on Apr 16^th, 2011 at 1:38am:


lol I like your attitude !

I've heaved some pretty big rocks from the sling. Never actually thought to make a specially big pouch for the purpose though. Hmm, maybe that's why I bought that heavy duty 8mm paracord I found in the slingbits box the other day. I feel a mega sling coming on !
Guess I could do a 2 finger sliding loop too. Got me thinking now...

wow. I sling stones slightly bigger than my thumb, the egg sized stone is my upper limit.

near my slinging site, i keep a 2-3 pound steel bearing, and to warm up, i spin it around for a bit. it isabout the size of a baseball

I've looked at wrist loops - the goliath of modern day slinging (he's really a moderately hairless sasquatch) lobohunter uses one.

I have very strong fingers - I've slung 2-3 lb rocks with a single finger attachment with no probelm.
But I think for big rocks (5lb plus) I'll move up to 2 fingers, which shouldn't effect how I hold and use a sling, but hell I can lift 100kg with a 2 finger grip. So that should do the job  

Bilbo and I had  a fun walk yesterday - I like that byzantine throw, very smooth and certainly suitable for a heavy rock hurl (think that's what you lot call it, starts behind, one overhead rotation and throw - all as a single fluid forward motion. It's one of the new fangled names anyway lol)

I don't like split pouches, so mine will be my usual design the six hole trebuchet pouch. My standard pouches fit 3 on a sheet of a4 with room to spare. I'm thinking 1 pouch template lengthwise down the a4 with elongated attachment tabs. Using the thick red leather.
Basically a smallish treb pouch. And I think I'll keep the length around 30 inches initially and see how that goes.

Actually the problem is going to be finding some big enough rocks to throw.
Might have to take a walk along the railway line.  

Thearos in hurling big rocks most of the joint stress is placed on your elbows - it's why most of the olympic throwers use straight arm elbow friendly techniques (shot aside).
I use a tricep press in the gym to condition my elbows. Use it on 50 kg (lightest weight I use) with sets of 20 reps done as fast as I can while still being controlled.
Definitely makes a difference.  Particularly since I've moved into that age range where joint and muscular injuries take for ever to heal, the trick is to avoid getting injured in the first place  
Have to sort of a set of fishing scales out as well so I can weigh the rocks first
Fortunately I'm exactly the right build for a human trebuchet, short wide and thick strong bones.

Bugger it I'm going to make it now

I would say it's plausible to say they threw stones that weighed 1lb + in weight, merely because I've thrown heavier ammo before. I'm not going to say my throw went very far at all, because it didn't. But i did manage to get it whirling around my head and out of the sling.

Pictured is the ammo i am referring to, a 2lb steel slug i found in my garage.