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Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era (Read 10635 times)
JudoP
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Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Jan 21st, 2021 at 7:44am
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/Slinging/comments/l1lvwn/medieval_sling_part_2_sling_on...

Lots of good comparisons between slings and other missile weapons and their effectiveness versus the armour developments in the period.
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NooneOfConsequence
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #1 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 8:57am
 
Great post!

I will say he was unfairly critical of horse slingers though. From a historical perspective, Mongols may make the mounted bowman seem more effective...legendary even, but we should not forget about Jaegoor on a bicycle Grin
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“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
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JudoP
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #2 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 9:06am
 
NooneOfConsequence wrote on Jan 21st, 2021 at 8:57am:
Great post!

I will say he was unfairly critical of horse slingers though. From a historical perspective, Mongols may make the mounted bowman seem more effective...legendary even, but we should not forget about Jaegoor on a bicycle Grin


"Wheeled terror" indeed. Forget one, imagine an army of Jaegoors on bikes, you could build an empire to rival any in world history!

Yes I feel you could argue that on some of the 'failures' of the sling, other missile weapons failed too, but not quite as severely. I think it's fair enough saying the sling is probably not going to do tremendous damage to a man in plate armour with full padding underneath unless it's a heavy rock direct to the head, but it's also true that even very powerful english longbows couldn't penetrate it either, at least without finding a weak point. I feel at that stage it almost comes down to pure volume of fire and the odd lucky shot.
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joe_meadmaker
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #3 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 9:26am
 
Good find!  I didn't get a chance to read through it yet (will be logging into work in about 5 minutes), but I will tonight.

I noticed it said 'part 2'.  I found part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/Slinging/comments/l0iwac/medieval_slinging_part_1_the_h....
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Kick
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #4 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 10:16am
 
I think you'll find I am the Wheeled Terror! Jaegoor cheated and used a quad bike. That's a whole 2 more wheels!

https://youtu.be/gR2KSd24pZA

https://youtu.be/_Qvca56B7lM
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #5 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 11:55am
 
NooneOfConsequence wrote on Jan 21st, 2021 at 8:57am:
Great post!

I will say he was unfairly critical of horse slingers though. From a historical perspective, Mongols may make the mounted bowman seem more effective...legendary even, but we should not forget about Jaegoor on a bicycle Grin



The quote:

Quote:
The moving horse is a different proposition entirely. Some bows can handle it as can some crossbows, but a sling is useless here. While you may be able to be accurate at a walk, a trot moves you up and down quite a bit, to a point where I wouldn’t be sure you can even spin the sling properly. A run is better in this regard, but the loss of accuracy will still be tremendous.



No, I'd say his reasoning is sound.  A bow and arrow is stabilized by the body of the archer until fired.  A sling would be much more difficult, though not impossible, to stabilize.

Though if anyone has access to a stable and would like to try this (with tennis balls) I'd be much obliged.  Or if anyone can get a hold of Jason Kingsley at Modern History on YouTube.  He might give it a go.

And his last quote:

Quote:
And as a final blow to horse slingers, you can’t turn with a sling the way you can with a bow or a crossbow.


That's completely false.  I've had many tennis balls go completely behind me.  It would just be a matter of training to make that the desired outcome.   Grin
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Sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine:  'Yea' isn't the word you want.  It's 'yeah'.  'Yea' is an anachronistic word you see in the King James bible. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Spellcheck, I shall fear no misspellings for thou art with me.  Thy dictionary and thy thesaurus, they comfort me.
 
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David Morningstar
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #6 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 1:15pm
 

The biggest objection against horse slinging is that horses are expensive and slingers are poor.

The sling is the herding tool and weapon of the poor hill country population. Anyone who can afford to buy and feed a horse can afford to buy a bow and arrows and get hits far more easily.
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Jaegoor
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #7 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 2:17pm
 
Since I'm a nerd.  Here is my mustard.  In fact, slingers can be found on horseback near the Scythians.  There's a nice vase there.  Naked Scythians ride on ibexes, mut slings on the silk.  They chase enemies.  In Russian pictures I also found slingers on horseback.  And I'm sure the Magyars were excellent slingers on horseback.  I came across it during my research.  Bishop Ullrich was canonized after the battle of the Lechfeld against the Magyars.  He rode ahead of his knights in the battle.  Unarmed and unarmed.  He was not hit by a stone or arrow of the Magyars.  That drew my attention.  Magyars were excellent horsemen and archers on horseback.  So why stones?  I did research in hungary.  One of the main weapons of the riders was the paryttia.  The sling.  The bows 🏹 were very expensive.  They were laminates of horn, wood, and sinew.  I shoot such a bow myself.  My father was a Hungarian.  He often hunted on horseback.  With the sling, the bow 🏹 and little rabbit knifes.  These looked like a knife, but were made of wood.  They are thrown from the horse.  Unfortunately, I don't have a horse myself.  But I like to drive quad on a file army area.  Every sign there is drawn from my sling.  😁
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Sarosh
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #8 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 2:49pm
 
comparing sling at it's decline to bow and crossbow at their heyday. a dynamic weapon vs two very similar static weapons, of course it's going to lose.

I think sling was a sidearm of many kinds of soldiers skirmishers and melees.similarly to pistols even though they won't take down a whole army or a general they are still used.

Quote:
It’s even worse when compared with crossbows, since they can bypass their low rate of fire in this situation – have one shooter at the front and two people in the back who can’t shoot can reload for him, a tactic that was often used.

but then it's 3 mouths to feed vs 1, it's similar to comparing maxim to a rifle/sidearm.

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Jaegoor
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #9 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 4:19pm
 
Have fun searching
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Jaegoor
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #10 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 4:22pm
 
Note the different weapons.  Bow, sling and musket
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-j6zwagjEsQ.jpg (189 KB | 45 )
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Jaegoor
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #11 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 4:25pm
 
Wink
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #12 - Jan 21st, 2021 at 5:10pm
 
Jaegoor wrote on Jan 21st, 2021 at 4:19pm:
Have fun searching


Wow Jaegoor I didn't know mounted slingers were actually used!
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No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. -Socrates
 
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #13 - Jan 25th, 2021 at 6:49am
 
Sarosh wrote on Jan 21st, 2021 at 2:49pm:
similarly to pistols

Sling wins all pistols, even 0.44 caliber in stopping action.
For example, 100 grams of stone at a speed of 30 meters per second is 6 kg per meter cubed, which is equal to 0.44 caliber.
An experienced slinger can outperform even a 9mm pistol in joule energy.
Therefore, I believe firearms will never surpass a sling in ease of manufacture, but difficulty in learning mastering.
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Re: Interesting reddit thread on slinging in the medieval era
Reply #14 - Jan 25th, 2021 at 7:05am
 
Scorpion Vin wrote on Jan 25th, 2021 at 6:49am:
An experienced slinger can outperform even a 9mm pistol in joule energy.

9mm PB is between ~400-600J
Luis can apparently throw ~350J and he is the most powerful slinger I know of. Pistol calibers are easy to beat in terms of momentum, but kinetic energy is a different animal.
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