Slinging.org Forum - Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria

Thearos

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Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria
May 18^th, 2020 at 9:26am

Published in 2016

https://be-ja.org/index.php/journal/article/view/be-ja-6-2-2016-191-201

Heavy sling bullet, Hellenistic period (early C2nd BCE), Macedonian. Lots of flashing and part of the casting branch, so weighs 136g; even so, it's pretty big (8.3cm) compared to others (say 3cm and around 40g), and the original perhaps weighed around 100g. Some thing these "heavies" were used in engines but they could just be big ammo

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Kick past-moderator Offline Posts: 4465 Finland	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #1 - May 18^th, 2020 at 9:38am Staff sling ammo? I know it's very obscure exactly when and where staff slings turned up, but could that be a possibility?
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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #2 - May 18^th, 2020 at 9:47am Interesting b/c the staff sling is only really well attested in the Roman period but it's main advantage is that is allows you to throw heavier ammo (not further) so who knows ! In any case I onder if anyone here has experience with slinging "big" lead bullets (100+g)
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Kick past-moderator Offline Posts: 4465 Finland	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #3 - May 18^th, 2020 at 9:58am I've only used stones, but I was just out today with my newest staff sling and I have to say, someone using a staff sling with lead ammo would be terrifying. I hit 3 times out of the first 5 throws on my first time testing it out with good ammo. Someone with practice throwing 100g lead glandes... Ouch.
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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #4 - May 18^th, 2020 at 10:30am Yes quite unlike the tennis balls which a lot of people seem to use to start off with staff slings. But I also wonder what it's like to hand sling an aerodynamic 100g lead bullet. I mean a "hand-filling" stone must weigh about 120g, so this is like a heavy punch in a compact package
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Curious Aardvark

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Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria
Reply #5 - May 18^th, 2020 at 3:39pm

actually a 120gm stone is pretty small.
And a decent weight for both distance and target slinging.

So I would imagine the heavier lead glandes would have been used with longer slings and against armoured soldiers.

I reckon you could probably get 250-300 metres fairly easily with a 120gm lead bullet without tearing anything.

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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #6 - May 18^th, 2020 at 9:29pm I fear I usually sling around 80-90 g (stones) and yes, I do have problems with drag overcoming energy when slinging long. Would a 100-120g bullet shoot further than a 45g one ?
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Bill Skinner Forum Moderation Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 3292	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #7 - May 18^th, 2020 at 10:23pm 250-300m will out range most bows, even most composite bows.
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Mersa Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Druid Posts: 2616 Australia Gender:	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #8 - May 18^th, 2020 at 11:40pm I think it’s a reasonable weight for a standard sling.
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AncientCraftwork Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Posts: 2403	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #9 - May 25^th, 2020 at 4:57am Size of a 200g lead fishing sinker
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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #10 - Jun 5^th, 2020 at 9:35am Gosh, that's only 1.5x longer than an "average" bullet (say 30-40 g)
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AncientCraftwork

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Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria
Reply #11 - Jun 5^th, 2020 at 3:13pm

Thearos wrote on Jun 5^th, 2020 at 9:35am:

Gosh, that's only 1.5x longer than an "average" bullet (say 30-40 g)

Yes, they still really compact for their weight. And I got pretty compact hands.
I would say these qualify as -knight killers-.

Would love to see how much joule a strong slinger like Luis could get out of one of these.
I'd think at the least warbow territory.

Considering Balearics like heavy projectiles.

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Bill Skinner Forum Moderation Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 3292	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #12 - Jun 5^th, 2020 at 3:35pm Theros, didn't you publish an article on here about some slingers smashing up some armored formations? I don't think it killed anyone but it forced the armored formation to retreat. Seems like these would be the preferred projectile for doing just that.
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Archaic Arms

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Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria
Reply #13 - Jun 6^th, 2020 at 1:25am

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 5^th, 2020 at 3:13pm:

Would love to see how much joule a strong slinger like Luis could get out of one of these.
I'd think at the least warbow territory.

Luis said that he throws 250g stones at 200km/h with a short/medium length sling (that's 386J)
A 160lb English Warbow in the hands of Joe Gibbs comes in at 123J...
That is over three times more powerful. Now imagine the energy associated with a long sling!
In the right hands, slings are generally a lot more powerful than even the heaviest bows.
And don't get me started on momentum...

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Lewis

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AncientCraftwork Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Posts: 2403	Re: Heavy sling bullet from Bulgaria Reply #14 - Jun 6^th, 2020 at 2:31am That is quite extraordinary. It makes sense why there slings are so stiff and thick if they are slinging 200+ g rocks at those speeds. My jute slings probably wouldn't hold up a 20 shots with rocks that heavy slung that hard.
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