I’m posting this “rant” because I’ve seen people conjecture about this on the internet and kinda found it bizarre that I suddenly remember it for some reason.

I can’t imagine this works at all, heck I tried it back in my early days and couldn’t say I was impressed.
But maybe somebody could design a projectile that breaks up in flight rather than stuffing a pouch-full of  pebbles or bbs that might as well be nerf darts. Then again I doubt any form of this works to any lethal level, but it might be cool if it could be done.

I don’t know, how would you use a sling that could shoot like a shotty? I mean again you might as well grab a fistful of pebbles as if we were to compare a sling to any gun it would be like a handgun in practical use and in the hands of an elite user; a sniper. Point is range, why midi gate a sling’s advantage over something that is quite frankly funny looking?

I believe that the whistling rounded glandes found at Burnswark were very likely shotgunned out.

A question arises if you were throwing them singularly, Why the round shape? Particularly when Biconical shapes are both very common and likely the dominant style of shot?

There are Greek glandes which are in Biconical shape which have very similar hole placements, and are about 30-40 grams.

I believe they used a round shape, because they were using multiple projectiles, perhaps two or three. Because the Burnswark whistling shot are about ~20 grams each, two or three of them together within a pouch will generally mass about the same as most conventional Roman sling glandes. The round shape won't get in the way like using a biconical would if you were throwing multiples.

Why shotgun these out? Fast-flying lead bits are still something to watch out for, and given that these projectiles will likely whistle, I'd imagine they'd have a psychological effect (Perhaps more so than the buzzing wasp-like sound that a lot of glandes make). I think Shotgunning with lead projectiles is very viable. Much less so with rock or clay. The difference I'd say is with the density.

Could also be used as a distraction.  Or a deterrent if you wanted to chase something away, but not actually kill or hurt it.

This gives me an idea.  I'm going to try something in the next few days and will report back on it.

i think timpa made a scary shotgun sling

Few ways of doing it.
1:) use a captive release 'cup' if you look through the forum there are a number of examples of this.
2) wrap the collection of missiles in tissue paper and the force of the spin will tear the paper and give you a shotgun effect.
3) just have a cupped pouch and load it up.

That's awesome timpa!  I almost have a sling and ammunition ready to do my take on this.  No idea if it's going to work, but hopefully I'll be able to give it a go tomorrow morning before work.

Here's an attempt I made with a scatter-sling.  I'm still using ice as usual.  The spread I got was much wider and more random than I expected.  I think I need to get more of a cup shape with the pouch (as was mentioned in other posts) to narrow the spread a bit.

There are a few hits throughout the video, but they're mainly just luck.  The video includes every throw I made (minus the very first one, wasn't setting up the camera if it didn't work at all).

https://youtu.be/iWDxyNu6o0U

I think it was Timpa that had the design where it opens out from the bottom. That would also concentrate the shot I would think though the timing of the release would be different from a regular sling. Did you use some other ice mold for the balls? I don't know if I've seen the small version.

EDIT: Oh woops Timpa already posted But yeah I think opening from the bottom might work better.