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+--- Thread: sling power/catapult power (/showthread.php?tid=6032)
Lead sling bullets - D B Campbell - 09-05-2007
I recently read somewhere that lead glandes flatten on impact with flesh.
Do any of our slingers have practical experience of this?
(I notice that the archaeological record seems to show only undamaged lead glandes, which makes me a little sceptical.)
P.S. Did anyone ever find the article "Zur Traumatologie der antiken Schleuderbleie"?
Re: sling power/catapult power - Hibernicus - 09-05-2007
I've thrown any into flesh.. just haybales, shields and the ground... and none flattened... some dents and nicks...
Lead sling bullets - D B Campbell - 09-06-2007
Quote:Example of sling shots from the Britsh MeuseumCould you update the links to these please, Stefanos?
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoplite14 ... pg&.src=ph
Enjoy some more.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoplite14 ... pg&.src=ph
it reads EISPRATOY = receive this (meant as something owed and returned!)
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hoplite14 ... pg&.src=ph
it reads "present for you!"
Re: sling power/catapult power - Gaius Julius Caesar - 09-06-2007
Well, for what it's worth, I was hit several times at a range of about 20 yards by lead pellets from a sling shot. Didn't get the chance to examine them tho' for obvious reasons..... :evil:
Re: lead sling bullets - D B Campbell - 09-06-2007
Quote:I've been slinging for several years and know the power of the sling. I've split 1 inch thick boards in half and destroyed plywood planks. A friend of mine sinks rocks into fence posts. Sometimes when I sling at my creek, inch thick tree branches get sheared in half.Does anyone have anecdotal evidence of similar wanton destruction :wink: with lead bullets?
I'm interested in the effect on the bullets.
Re: sling power/catapult power - Gaius Julius Caesar - 09-06-2007
They hurt, that should be obvious! :wink:
Re: Lead sling bullets - Eleatic Guest - 09-07-2007
Quote:P.S. Did anyone ever find the article "Zur Traumatologie der antiken Schleuderbleie"?
You mean "Zur Traumatologie der antiken Schleuderbleie, in: Medizinhistorisches Journal 37, 2002, S. 123-137"?
Unfortunately, no.
Re: sling power/catapult power - D B Campbell - 09-07-2007
Quote:I'm interested in the effect on the bullets.
Quote:They hurt, that should be obvious! :wink::roll:
Re: sling power/catapult power - Eleatic Guest - 02-14-2008
Two good online sources on ancient slingers:
Slinging.org
Dohrenwend, Robert, "The Sling. Forgotten Firepower of Antiquity", Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2002), pp. 28-49
Re: sling power/catapult power - D B Campbell - 02-15-2008
Quote:Dohrenwend, Robert, "The Sling. Forgotten Firepower of Antiquity", Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2002), pp. 28-49Thanks for providing some interesting week-end reading, Stefan.
(On a first flick-through, I was amused to see "Caesar, J. (1976) The Civil War" ... and I thought he died in 44 BC. :wink: )
Re: sling power/catapult power - Nerva - 02-15-2008
Bullets, here you go...
firstly lead shot from the Colt carbine of 1862. Caliber of 14mm approx. With a single charge of black powder, about 20 grammes, has an effective range of about 250m. When fired at short range, say 20m at a timber block (Beech) it May penetrate but will deform. Will penetrate flesh.
Same for Lee-Enfield of 1860's except larger charge and higher muzzle velocity, effective range about the same.
Martini-Enfield or Henry. 12mm round with cordite shell charge. Effective range 500m. Will split same wooden block.
In all cased these projectiles are about the same size and weight as a sling shot. They will knock small branch's from trees but are no where near as devastating as some of the descriptions above. I also use modern rifles (assault and carbine) and say the same - perhaps there's a little exaggeration in some of the tales above :wink:
But here's an interesting statistic often quoted regarding accuracy and rifleman-ship during the American Civil war (War of Norther Aggression etc etc). A man would have to have shot at him his own weight in lead before taking a hit
hock:
Re: sling power/catapult power - D B Campbell - 02-16-2008
Quote:Dohrenwend, Robert, "The Sling. Forgotten Firepower of Antiquity", Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2002), pp. 28-49On p. 31, the author refers to slings used by medieval European armies, "at which time they were often used to throw glowing coals and grenades".
Interesting , in the light of Caesar, BGall. 5.43. (The coals, I mean, not the grenades.
)