Old School Slingshot - Medieval and Roman style

About using Roman and Medieval slingshot; how to load, swing and shoot them through plywood and a quick calculation of their power.

If you are interested in medieval replica weapons take look at my websites:

[lightbringer]

Some backstory for the stone on the right in the thumbnail: it reads the greek word "Δέξαι", which means "catch". And that's one of my favourite sarcastic moments of history.

[DextraVisual]

I made one when I was about 10 or 11 years old. I used to take it into the woods and set up targets.
I found It way more powerful than my catapult and it only took about half an hour before I got the knack. After two weeks I could hit a can from 40 feet. Probably the most underrated weapon.

[zakleclaire]

*Sees kid stealing apple*
*realizes kid is probably just hungry and bored*
"Hey kid, Ill teach you how to use a sling to keep the birds away and you can keep eating apples. Deal?"
Ive met a few people like that in my life and theyve been some of the best influences of me.

[xavierh.]

amazing how powerful something so simple is. that's why I love slings, one of the first ranged weapons, has had basically no modifications over the millennia, and it's still a freaking monster.

[Amhiel]

Great video! As a balearic islander I would like to add a couple bits of information: There's another technique for slinging, you can spin the sling vertically on your side and realse it at a 45 degree upward angle to make a parabolic shot and make stones rain on the enemies. Also, ancient balearic mercenaries used to wear 3 slings of different sizes on them for different distances and projectiles and the legend says they were capable of sinking boats from the top of cliffs. Not the most accurate weapon but certainly a cheap and fun to use one.

[daeholm]

I feel like I should buy a dagger so Tod can afford a new sweatshirt.

[miked.]

Great fun! my friends and I started using the sling when we were about 9 and kept it up during the non snowy months until we were around 13 we got very good, wee only used stones sometimes larger ones like the 3-4 once ones you were using but we also tried 2-3- or 4 smaller ones for a shotgun effect taking birds would be no problem. If we wanted to we could hit some one from about 50 ft every time we used people sized targets but once actually had a battle with some older kids who were picking on us they were very surprised when we pulled out our slings and sent them home crying for their mothers!😄. A strike to the body could bruise and break small bones a head strike could have been deadly in the temple area. Rabbits were dead with a strike but it was a lucky shot to hit one. One of us actually accomplished that feat and we all felt to bad we never slung a stone at any animals after that. I am now 71 and you got me going I'm going to build one and get back in the groove using rifle targets Thanks for bringing this fond memory back from my childhood.

[karenwilder]

Tod is not the kind of feller that gives up on a garment just because it has a little wear.

[SETSfirearms]

I was waiting for an explanation for the sweater but he stated in the comments, its because he likes it... zero F's given, you got yourself a new subscriber man

[dannykrinkle]

Wearing a hoodie from the 14th century. Nice touch.

[exquisitecorpse]

Real life: Splits your head open through a bronze helmet
DnD: "That'll damage."

[TrilobiteTerror]

Some of the Roman sling bullets even had taunting messages molded in to them. One of my favorites is "Here's a sugar plum for you!"

[ShagShaggio]

Its 2 am and now I have a sudden urge to go slinging.

[roym]

"I don't know the truth of it... sounds good though". This man sums up history very well :)

"It's cheap... well it's free..." this man is a great find!


I wonder how many windows and bones have been broken because of this tutorial.

[Pete…NoNotThatOne]

I have little interest in ancient/medieval weaponry, but I can’t stop watching your videos. Your knowledge and delivery is captivating, and you tell the viewer when you are guessing or don’t know something. W, ell done Sir.

[fredscholpp]

loved this video, my friends and I used to play with these when we were teenagers. We used the underhand vertical spin for distance, sometimes your method, but our favorite was with the simple overhand, like a American baseball pitcher. We got wicked powerful and accurate.
But the best bit of mischief we got into was when we bombarded a construction site (which offended us by destroying a favorite place of ours for slinging and archery, and homemade cannon-fire) When the police asked us who was doing the throwing, we looked at them and said we wished we could throw rocks that far over the fence and we didn't know. All the while, wearing these cool leather headbands :) which was how we carried our slings.
We also tried the staff sling, we used much bigger rocks and half bricks in them. Short range but really hard-hitting!

[tasnacornelis]

Guide from a Celtic open air museum here. To my knowledge Roman glandes (lead shot) could pierce shields and helmets.
They also used whistling glandes. Those were modified glandes with a little drilled hole in them.

Also when the Romans tried to conquer the Balearic Islands they had to put up extra shielding on the ships because of the amount of stones slung in their direction.
The Balears were famous for their slinging skills. They were hired as mercenaries through the Classical Antique world. So too where the slingers of Rhodos.

[thejackinati]

Luis Pons Livermore has thrown rocks of around 150-200 grams at velocities approaching 50 m/s (Which would be somewhere over 180J). On episode 5 of 'History of weapons' on the History Channel, Luis Pons Livermore was filmed throwing a 200gram rock to 52 m/s.

For a person who has just got back into slinging, 25 m/s is not bad. Most novices might reach to around 30-40 m/s, with differences depending on skill and length of the sling etcetera. I would probably be within this category as well, given that when I throw clay sphericals of about 80 grams, my range from standing is about ~80-140 metres, whilst with a short 'run-up' I can exceed 200 metres.

With lead glandes thrown by good slingers, I wouldn't be surprised if you would see lead projectiles thrown to velocities approaching 60-70 m/s. If we assume that a glandes weighs about 50 grams, at 60 m/s this would give us roughly 90J, at 70 m/s this would roughly give us 122.5J.

Glandes finds from Perusia generally mass around 70 grams, whilst other finds can be around ~20-100 grams. A lead bullet from the British Musuem with the inscription 'Dexai' or 'catch' weighs 105.16 grams, so there is a lot of projectile weights that one can choose from.

[jakejohnnn]

This what YouTube was made for. Truly a classic video

[TheDjpato]

Hi Todd, i have thank you for this video, i am native from the balearic Islands, and i grew up with stories about the slingshoters, and also seeing the ruins where they used to live in, so just wanted to say thanks for the mention of my ancestors, also keep up with the good vids 👍