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Ancient slingshot as deadly as a .44 Magnum


Claire.

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Ancient Slingshot Was as Deadly as a .44 Magnum

On a fortified hill in Scotland some 1,900 years ago, a Roman army attacked local warriors by hurling lead bullets from slings that had nearly the stopping power of a modern .44 magnum handgun, according to recent experiments.

Read more: National Geographic

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8 minutes ago, Claire. said:

Ancient Slingshot Was as Deadly as a .44 Magnum

On a fortified hill in Scotland some 1,900 years ago, a Roman army attacked local warriors by hurling lead bullets from slings that had nearly the stopping power of a modern .44 magnum handgun, according to recent experiments.

Read more: National Geographic

National Geographic just goes dark when I click on it so I can't answer my next question, do they publish the details of the experiment that they used to arrive at that conclusion? And what is 'stopping power' anyway? Sounds like a bit of a subjective measurement to me. 

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3 minutes ago, oldrover said:

National Geographic just goes dark when I click on it so I can't answer my next question, do they publish the details of the experiment that they used to arrive at that conclusion? And what is 'stopping power' anyway? Sounds like a bit of a subjective measurement to me. 

Sorry you're having problems accessing the article. I checked again at this end, and I have no problem (but I have to turn off NoScript to access it).

As for details of the experiment, they are scant. This is the only reference to it:

The Roman slingers would have exacted a heavy toll. Recent experiments conducted in Germany showed that a 50-gram Roman bullet hurled by a trained slinger has only slightly less stopping power than a .44 magnum cartridge fired from a handgun. Other tests revealed that a trained slinger could hit a target smaller than a human being from 130 yards away.[/quote}
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22 minutes ago, oldrover said:

National Geographic just goes dark when I click on it so I can't answer my next question, do they publish the details of the experiment that they used to arrive at that conclusion? And what is 'stopping power' anyway? Sounds like a bit of a subjective measurement to me. 

They used actual slingers and modeled the "bullets" after the ones they found on the hillside using specially tuned metal detectors (same procedure as used at Little Bighorn)  Also, many of the "bullets" had a hole drilled through them so that they'd make a "banshee like sound".

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It always does it these days Claire. 

I've not got an interest in guns (but I have in Romans), but I did once look up 'power' as in ft/lbs to win an argument with a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, so I'm going to say that it's not possible to approach the output of a high powered firarm with a sling. But is that what they're talking about? Stopping power could be seen as the point where something becomes lethal, which a sling is, therefore it has the same capacity to stop as another lethal projectile. Dead is dead after all, but ft/lbs no chance. 

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Presumably, by 'stopping power' they mean 'kinetic energy'; so a heavy enough sling pellet, launched at maybe 200 fps, could match the kinetic energy of a half-oz. bullet out of a .44 Mag at 1400 fps. Or, of course, they may simply have pulled the comparison out of their ar$e,

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Ancient slingshots are supposedly very powerful in the hands of a skilled user, skip to 1:30 for the demonstration.

 

Edited by WoIverine
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"I know what you're thinking, Goliath: did he hurl six rocks or only five? To tell you the truth in all this excitement I lost track myself. But being as this is an ancient sling and could knock your head clean off, you have to ask yourself a question: do I feel lucky?"

Harry_Callahan-300x187.jpg

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2 hours ago, WoIverine said:

Ancient slingshots are supposedly very powerful in the hands of a skilled user, skip to 1:30 for the demonstration.

 

Very cool video. The sonic boom illustrates how powerful one of these things can be, and were. What I didn't know was that in this day and age there is a ancient slingshot champion. Who knew?

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Something else I just thought of. Suppose someone got hit with one of these projectiles and it became lodged in them. Since they're made of lead, couldn't that person die a horrible death much later from lead poisoning, assuming it couldn't be removed?

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2 hours ago, Goodf3llow said:

IDK..I take the .44 all day long.

Right there with ya!  :tu:

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13 hours ago, Future ghost said:

Something else I just thought of. Suppose someone got hit with one of these projectiles and it became lodged in them. Since they're made of lead, couldn't that person die a horrible death much later from lead poisoning, assuming it couldn't be removed?

That's a good question. Eventually, it could probably do some damage. I remember reading somewhere, or maybe it was a professor who once told me it's entirely possible that some of our ancient rulers may have suffered from lead poisoning. IIRC, I think it was about Commodus and how lead poisoning could eventually make someone a complete nutjob lol.

Edited by WoIverine
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16 minutes ago, WoIverine said:

That's a good question. Eventually, it could probably do some damage. I remember reading somewhere, or maybe it was a professor who once told me it's entirely possible that some of our ancient rulers may have suffered from lead poisoning. IIRC, I think it was about Commodus and how lead poisoning could eventually make someone a complete nutjob lol.

I'm not sure what the symptoms of lead poisoning are, but I do think brain impairment is one of them. I can't imagine that they would choose to make projectiles out of lead for that reason, because why not just coat it in actual poisons of some sort? Much faster that way. Infection would kill off any survivors faster than lead poisoning anyway, but long term effects were probably not too good.

 I never knew what an effective weapon a slingshot of that style could be. If the 'shooter ' ran out of bullets for some reason they could use it to strangle the enemy in a pinch if it came down it. Not likely, but definitely possible. Fascinating weapon, for sure.

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Become estranged from reason (to paraphrase Geoffrey Palmer) is a symptom of lead poisoning. I used to ingest a fair ammiunt if it at one time because I used lead or 'flake' white so much. Feel much more at ease with the world since I stopped. I think it may have a lot to do with the idea if the artistic temperament. 

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38 minutes ago, oldrover said:

Become estranged from reason (to paraphrase Geoffrey Palmer) is a symptom of lead poisoning. I used to ingest a fair ammiunt if it at one time because I used lead or 'flake' white so much. Feel much more at ease with the world since I stopped. I think it may have a lot to do with the idea if the artistic temperament. 

Hi oldrover,

Have you checked into heavy metal detox? I heard the combination of cilantro and chlorella are supposed to work well for that. Might be worth a look if it helps you feel better. Goodluck!

Edited by WoIverine
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41 minutes ago, WoIverine said:

Hi oldrover,

Have you checked into heavy metal detox? I heard the combination of cilantro and chlorella are supposed to work well for that. Might be worth a look if it helps you feel better. Goodluck!

Thanks Wolverine, nice of you to post that. It was years ago now though, I haven't touched a paint brush since 2003. not't felt strange or stressed for years now. 

Saying that I have a new painting planned, I'm going to be more careful now though. 

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