https://youtu.be/bEq3EPrd57U

I have been really trying to get a confirmed throw at 400m, but have yet to do so. In the past few months, I thought I had a few out to 350m a couple of times, but never had confirmation. Today I found 1 gland at 350m but didn't have the throw on camera. As such, I thought I'd try to get one that was 300+m on camera.

In this video, I throw 6 concrete glands and find 4 of them, using a laser range finder to get the distance they traveled.
I got  one out to ~340m (one of the throws in the video).  Granted, I didn't find the impact point (ground is too hard), but it can't have rolled too far given the roughness of the ground and the odd shape.  I apologize for the length of the video, but to get it all in one take, it had to be long.  And somehow I stopped recording on the last talking point that I was going to make, so the video cuts out a bit short.

WARNING: If you get motion sick watching a lot of movement, this video will make you feel ill! My apologies about that.

I was very surprised at how low of velocity was required to get to this distance (66 m/s). Recent testing suggested that most of my throws have an effective drag coefficient of 0.3, but for this throw it was around 0.2 .(https://www.desmos.com/calculator/on4xzwtdwz, I can elaborate more on how I calculated this using this calculator if anyone is interested).

On a previous day, I was able to hit between 72-75 m/s with clay glands (that were ~50g) but I never threw them with a clean release, so they went about 200m and no further (except for a couple lucky ones). This was with the same length sling.

It is just amazing to me how much the projectile spin and axis orientation affects the distance. I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising since I can't get a really angular rock much past 100m.  But, aerodynamics trump speed every time is the lesson that I've learned.

Great slinging!
you look very relaxed for that range you got.

what is the length and diameter of the projectile?

Amazing dude!  I was surprised that you found as many of the glandes as you did.

Nice !
I've always Said the hardest bit about distance slinging was finding the missile afterwards

As far as the distance being surprising, don't forget every serious slinging culture had had glande shaped missiles.
They weren't idiots,  so there's no reason to by surprised at how effective glandes are.

It also gives you a clue as to how the chamorro held off the Spanish for over 2 years.
Their slings clearly out distanced the Spanish firearms.

Great video!
And man that terrain is just Perfect for distance slinging !

So do you find the laser is more accurate than GPS ?

I think the gps on my phone claims a 10metre accuracy range.

Your technique is excellent, so now you just need to start working up the sling length until you find the optimal length for you.

I think I've used a 44inch sling, and you're taller than me, so should be able to get a bit more length working effectively.


I reckon you ought to be able to get 400m plus.

the laser should be more accurate.

But you might want to think about making a simple target for it.

A piece of mylar on a stick for example.

You could make a simple fold out square frame with the shiny side of a cheap space/survival 'blanket' facing the laser.

I mean they've bounced lasers off the moon and got a result, so it's reliable technology.

You are really fortunate to have an area like that to sling in. We simply just don't have any kind of terrain like that in the uk.

Well, I tried an aluminized sun reflector for a car window as a marker, and it does seem to give a bit more reliable results. The challenge is holding the dang thing still (i.e. the laser range finder).

I also checked my range-finder against GPS and the latter came out to 342m vs the range finder's 339m.  So, very comparable. The challenge with the range finder is knowing where it is actually measuring. Multiple measurements can help, but you can never know for sure since you can't see the laser wavelength (just outside the visible in the near IR).