Yeah also a lighter sling should theoretically give a higher velocity .
Problem with long slings is the practicality and accuracy. Definitely a long range sling.

   Initially extra long slings are a way to get more velocity and distance.  As your form improves you'll find that they're no longer necessary.  You'll get just as much velocity and distance but better accuracy with a sling about half your height in length.

Theorically, a long sling provides more speed at the end of the strap.
In practice, the control of a long sling is less intuitive. Throwing with a short sling or a long sling are two different "gesture". The gesture with a short sling is faster than the other with a long sling. The larger the size difference between the slings, the more différent the gesture. Anyway, that's what I think.
The pitcher's skill for each sling is probably the most important quality.

Rat Man wrote on Nov 25^th, 2022 at 10:30pm:


There does seem to be a length cap, depending on a lot of factors, but mostly drag and how much force the slinger can apply. If the drag is too large relative to the force of the slinger, going longer won't help.  But that can be pretty long for most slingers, especially if you keep the cords light and thin.  So, I think that you are both right, after a fashion.

So far, I would say my ideal length seems to be around 1m (39-41"), I can get so much snap out of that sling, and it feels really good. Aiming is easy with it and I feel like I have a lot of control.  But so far, my furthest throw was with a 50" sling. The long  50" sling feels worse than the 39", but I believe I am getting higher speeds with it, and especially higher speed with heavier projectiles. The major issue I am running into with long slings,  is that long slings make it hard to sling high into the air. With a 1m long sling, getting the launch angle to 40° or so is pretty easy, but with a 50" sling, it is much more difficult to sling that high. The sling has a tendency to brush the ground when I'm doing pre-rotations, or when in my powerstroke. The latter is because I drop my center of mass a lot to drive with my back leg and this doesn't leave me with much clearance from the ground. I think if I could do some sort of run up to build the momentum maybe I could avoid this issue, but I have yet to experiment with it.

https://youtu.be/rExCd_PV1tY

It was at around 1:50 of this video👆

The sling wasn't very well made. It was in the early days. I think I used nylon cords that was way too thick and heavy. Will make a better one and test it out.

Foresight17 wrote on Nov 19^th, 2022 at 3:17pm:


236 fps, Almost 72 m/s! That is very respectable! My best is 77 m/s so far. I've tried a 50" sling, but I do about the same with a 40". I think Archaic Arms did 82 m/s with a 46" sling.

One thing to be aware of that I only recently found, is that with long slings, sometimes the radar can pick up the end of the sling. I had changed a sensitivity setting to very high (small projectiles) on mine recently, and saw that it was picking up the end of an empty sling when I swung and cracked it just above the radar. However, turning the sensitivity down made this issue go away. I'm not sure if yours has that ability, but it is something to be aware of.  You can avoid this by setting it up in front of you and slinging over the top of it, far enough that the cord doesnt' go over the top. This is potentially risky, but we live for danger, don't we?

I know Archaic Arms and Sarosh do it this way. I don't like to because the first time I tried it, I hit the chronograph with a tennis ball and sent it flying...luckily it seems to have survived. And I'm glad I wasn't using stones at the time.