Quote:I gave them to various people and asked them to estimate the weight.
Nobody has yet guessed a weight LESS THAN DOUBLE the actual weight.
Some going up to 3 or 4 times.
They weigh 54 grams, just under 2 ounces. And if you were hit with one - you'd be going down.
The reason ancients used this weight lead ammo is very simple. It's the right weight for both distance slinging and vicious impact at the terminal end.
And I would put good money on the fact that all of you who are quoting high sling ammo weights are way way out and massively overestimating the actual weight of your missiles.
I think this is true to a certain extent.
I tend not to weigh my ammo because I'm fortunate enough to live near pebble beaches so I use anything that looks like it'll "fit in a range". I'm still learning to get accurate, but have decided to try and get reasonably competent with a normally-distributed range of ammo weights before I start to narrow it down. My reasoning for this is that, when you learn to throw things (without a sling) you learn the balance between weight, density, drag, angle, power and distance intuitively, over time. The great thing about slinging is that all of that information -- already in your brain -- is
still relevant, you just have to learn how it maps to having a longer, faster, more powerful, arm.
The downside of it is that you'll probably never get beyond a certain level of accuracy, because that really comes with specialization and regular, consistent ammo. But I don't really feel as if I'm at that stage yet.
I own several swiss army pocket knives. A Camper model weighs 2.7 ounces (75g) and a Huntsman weighs 3.5 ounces (95g). While not in any way 'heavy', they're both heavier than you'd 'imagine' their respective weights to feel. 2-3 ounces in a relatively small form factor (higher density) seems to weigh an awful lot more to the senses than the same weight in a larger package (lower density).