Slinging.org Forum - First slinging experience

Radegunde

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First slinging experience
Jun 21^st, 2013 at 5:48am

Hello everybody,
I did it! I finished my apache sling and started to sling! Cheesy

Somewhere on the forum I read that ideal ammunition should be a bit more than 100 grams. The old tennis ball I chose weighs about 60 grams.
Target is an old plastic box. Funny thing is, I never hit the target, but I always almost hit it: the ball touching the ground just right or just left of it - or even just in front with a gracious jump over it! Grin

That's not bad for a beginner, is it?
I tried to sling with both arms: For most of things I'm right handed but some things I can do better with my left hand. As for accuracy (or lack thereof) in slinging there doesn't seem to be a big difference after all - and its nice to rest one arm while slinging with the other!

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Tomas Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Posts: 2178	Re: First slinging experience Reply #1 - Jun 21^st, 2013 at 6:35am Both hands! I can barely do it with one hahaha What slinging technique do you use?
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Bill Skinner

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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #2 - Jun 21^st, 2013 at 10:49am

I'm with Tomas, I can barely sling one handed. I have tried left handed with really poor results. As far as not hitting, slinging has a very steep initial learning curve, I actually could throw further by hand than with a sling when I first started. Jaegoor helped me a great deal with advice and encouragement. The other members were also very helpful.

So, as far as advice goes, how are you throwing? If you try to throw at about 1/2 to 3/4 of your normal strength, you should see an improvement in your accuracy. Normally if I start to hit left and right, it's because I am speeding up my sling at the last moment, trying to get a little extra pop or snap in my movement.

As far as weight of the projectile, there is no set weight, what ever feels comfortable. I try to keep mine over about 25g and under about 100, if you want to be accurate, use all the same weight, within about 15g or so. Tennis balls are great for several reasons, they are a good weight, they are easy to find, they don't go to far, they are fairly cheap, and they won't kill somebody if you hit them by accident, nor will they break your windshield if you hit it by accident. Ask me how I know that last one. Grin

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Radegunde

Tiro

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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #3 - Jun 21^st, 2013 at 11:40am

I use the apache-technique: I suppose it's kind of overhand but without full circle.
All the wheeling-around-techniques (helicopter or sideways, over or underhand) are definitely not my cup of tea - them seem like expending too much energy - even more so, if the ammunition gets lost during the process.
I should perhaps add, that the target is not very far, perhaps 15 meters or so - for the moment it's more about getting the feel of the sling, coordinating the movements etc.
All the rest: distance, velocity, accuracy etc. will probably come with time. That means: I hope it will!!

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timann Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 2504 Norway Gender:	Re: First slinging experience Reply #4 - Jun 21^st, 2013 at 12:26pm Sounds like you are well on your way. I believe apache style is a very good style, that was how I started. Most of my accuracy practice is at 10 - 15 and 20 meters, and I`ll admit that still, several year into slinging my ammo still have a tendency to hit close to the target
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Lugh-Lamhfada Senior Member Offline A slinger is only as good as his last stone Posts: 272 An Mhi, Ireland Gender:	Re: First slinging experience Reply #5 - Jun 21^st, 2013 at 2:10pm I have been slinging regularly for a year and cannot use apache style with anything but the shortest slings. Have you tried Byzantine style?
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Brett

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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #6 - Jun 21^st, 2013 at 2:25pm

Same experience here: My shots go like this:
Hits: 30%
Clear misses: 10%
Misses within 3 inches of target: 60%.

For some reason, no matter how big the target is, the most common place for my stone to go is in an imaginary ring about the thickness of my hand around the target. Always has been true. I guess that's why people always tell you to aim at the smallest point possible.

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monoid

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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #7 - Jun 22^nd, 2013 at 8:17am

Radegunde wrote on Jun 21^st, 2013 at 5:48am:

I tried to sling with both arms: For most of things I'm right handed but some things I can do better with my left hand. As for accuracy (or lack thereof) in slinging there doesn't seem to be a big difference after all - and its nice to rest one arm while slinging with the other!

While right-handed, I recently found that I throw darts better with left hand. I tried slinging with left hand too, but figure 8 need some learning for left hand (as it was needed for right). Apache style is good as it need no learning to start, but I didn't train it much.

Some knife throwing tutorials recommend to train both left and right hand as it increase accuracy better.

My theory is that left hand is more "directly" attached to cerebellum, while right hand is under control of higher parts of brain that often interfere when you throw... And when you feel relaxed or throw with left hand, it interfere much less.

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May the Centrifugal Force be with you.

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Radegunde Tiro Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 22 France Gender:	Re: First slinging experience Reply #8 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 11:40am Lugh-Lamhfada wrote on Jun 21^st, 2013 at 2:10pm: Have you tried Byzantine style? Probably not! And I haven't got the slightest idea what that might be. Is there an article in the guides and articles sections I've missed?
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Rat Man

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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #9 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 12:28pm

Hi, Radegunde;
Welcome. Almost always hitting the target at your stage of the game is excellent. You're well on the way.
I used Apache for about the first four months of my slinging. It's a good style but eventually you'll want to learn them all so you can find what really works best for you. Byzantine is a good step up from Apache because they're somewhat similar. Instead of no wind up rotations as with Apache, there's just one. Unfortunately, due to our software change, the FAQ with the information you request is temporarily missing. Byzantine is a lot like Helicopter, except instead of multiple rotations, you use just one. The first time you try any style with rotations involved you should use non lethal ammo. A tennis ball is perfect. I didn't have any tennis balls around while I was learning so I used pine cones. I learned many of the styles by watching David Morningstar's videos on youtube. There are many good slinging videos there. David's are as good as any IMO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHDAXa_-gC0

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squirrelslinger

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peace through superior
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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #10 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 3:23pm

Or you can use a bigger target Wink

I have tried to sling left handed, and after learning right handed... I got some sense knocked into me by rocks...
It might work with apache or something other than my usual greek or overhand.
I think it would be cool to learn some horizontal technique with one's right hand, and a vertical technique with left.

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“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
"You don't think the electricity is off. You check it 3 times to make SURE its off"
"Remember, this is not a scalpel. It is a steel wedge that you will be slamming into knotty wood. Hone accordingly."

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squirrelslinger

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peace through superior
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Re: First slinging experience
Reply #11 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 3:36pm

monoid wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2013 at 8:17am:

My theory is that left hand is more "directly" attached to cerebellum, while right hand is under control of higher parts of brain that often interfere when you throw... And when you feel relaxed or throw with left hand, it interfere much less.

+1(but I know squat of psychology.. can't even spell it without google)
your non-dominant hand usually has more flexibility(to learn a new task, not literally flexible) than your dominant, which can make an action feel more natural if its repeated. Read it in some magazine(think it was discover or scientific something).

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“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
"You don't think the electricity is off. You check it 3 times to make SURE its off"
"Remember, this is not a scalpel. It is a steel wedge that you will be slamming into knotty wood. Hone accordingly."

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Teg Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Posts: 1116 Central Europe Gender:	Re: First slinging experience Reply #12 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 4:28pm I just thought I could provide the link to the FAQ thread Rat Man mentioned. Here it is: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1260271797
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Rat Man Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 14015 New Jersey, USA Gender:	Re: First slinging experience Reply #13 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 4:43pm Thanks, Teg. It's good to know it's not completely lost.
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Masiakasaurus past-moderator Offline mah-SEE-a-kah-SOR-us Posts: 6069 Alabama, USA Gender:	Re: First slinging experience Reply #14 - Jun 23^rd, 2013 at 5:16pm Yeah, the link is in the "Missing Stickies" thread. Unfortunately I'm having trouble restickying it. Nothing is really lost and I'll get it all back ASAP.
Back to top	Pikåru wrote on Nov 19^th, 2013 at 6:59pm: Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. ~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~ IP Logged