Primitive Technology: Sling

A sling is a weapon used to fire rocks farther and harder than could be thrown by hand alone. I made this sling from bark fiber that I made into cord. The cord was then tied in such a way to produce an area in the middle with three cords. A strip of the same bark fiber was woven between these to form a pouch. A loop was tied at one end of the sling and a knot tied in the other.
To use it, the loop is slipped over the finger and the knot is held down with the thumb. A stone is placed in the pouch and the sling swung over head. At the appropriate time the sling is swung forward in a throwing action and the knot held in the hand is let go. This causes the pouch to open and the stone to fly (hopefully) towards the target.
I hadn't used a sling for eight years but the first target I set up and filmed, a potsherd on a stick at 10 m, was hit first go! Next I set up a log at 20 m and required more practice. Targets of potsherds and tiles at 10 m were set up in a clearing. Tiles on sticks at 15 m were set up in a stretch of creek. The last shots are back in the clearing at 10 m.
Learning to use the sling is difficult and practice is necessary. When aiming line up the swinging plane of the sling with the target to determine Y-axis aspect and use release timing to determine x-axis aspect. With timing (right handed) too early and the stone will got to the right, too late and it will go left. Practice to make it go at the right time. Use larger stones as they swing slower and are easier to time. Use smooth stones so they fly straight and don't cling to the pouch when released.

I have no face book page. Beware of fake pages.

[ericwilliams]

I love how you showed the misfires. It reiterates how much effort that goes into something before becoming proficient at it. Your videos are awesome

[xeXux]

the amount of patience this man possesses is incredible

[BattlefrontZero]

6:28 That nod of "fuck yeah" may have been the only emotion I've ever seen from this guy,

[dougcarey]

Love how he shows his progress due to practice. Also, this shows how a handful of slingers hurling into a tight enemy formation would be utterly devastating in ancient times, regardless of their individual skill. The slowest stone he slung was probably moving at 90+ mph. Imagine if he was using moulded lead or clay ammunition.

[hallwaerd]

6:25 He’s so pleased with himself I love it

[Harmfuluvrays]

That slight head nod at 6:28 is the most emotion I have ever seen him display.

[Beardbrand]

I have no outdoors skills, but I feel simply from watching these videos I could survive a night.

[quintessenceincense]

the most amazing thing about this video is that he built the camera he used to film it out of tree bark, spider webs and pine pitch.

[DavidGarcia-nwxu]

Its cool that you dont talk at all. It makes it feel real for us viewers.

[meanwhile_]

Man, the sling sounds super lethal when launching rocks.

[SurvivalLilly]

respect! what a deadly and underestimated weapon.

[shawnkerner]

I love how he shows how accurate, or how unaccurate the sling is. I remember as a child, watching an old movie, "Clan of the Cave Bear" and thinking the sling was this badass weapon so I tried it. Many windows suffered from my ignorance....

[aza]

this dude probably goes home and sits in his living room wishing he could be back in the woods making weapons out of trees and rocks.

[jackspar]

this is why this guy is a winner, he never gives up. see that kids, for every success there was alot of practice and failures

[Agora]

I'd like to see a 'cooking with' episode. Collecting edible plants and herbs, cooking them in a self made pot, which is poured into a self made bowl and eaten with self made utensils.

[granitlika]

After watching so many history videos on how valuable Slingers were in ancient armies, this puts it in perspective on the difficulty to master it and how it only suited certain people who used it for their day to day hunting and guarding their animals

[darkscienceyt]

The major take away from this...it's really hard to aim with a sling

[blocksterz]

The amount of patience this man has is untold

[Maxds]

Everyone’s talking about aiming with a sling, but nobody’s talkin about how he walked on all those rocks barefoot

[Tusuratopia]

I'm glad you've shown just how difficult this style of hunting would have been in the old days. The amount of hours that someone would have to practice to get good enough to hunt with this effectively is astronomical.