ANST - Re: Slings

[j'lynn yeates]

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> ... There are anecdotal historical reports of sling bullets 
> shattering metal armor,

not surprising since some bronzes and early plate-iron, especially if
impure, can be brittle and shatter easily when impacted by a high
mass/high velocity point impact (large caliber stone / lead sling
projectile).  widespread adoption of mail (metal mesh net over
padding) and later appearance of higher class steel for plate armour
would have negated their effectiveness over time. 
 
> Archaeologically speaking, sling bullets can be found in 
> massive quantities at a huge number of battle sites across the
> Ancient World.    

if you will look closely at the great celtic earthworks (aka:
hill-forts), you will see positions enginered into their design that
would allow slingers to control the "gates" into the heart of the
fortress.  backed up by achaeologically by large caches of sling
ammunition found in these positions at several sites. 
 
> So how dangerous are they really?  From some basic experimentation
> and simple physics, there are four variables to how much force the
> bullet will strike at: the Sling's length, how fast fast you are
> spinning the sling, the mass of the  bullet, and the diameter of
> the bullet.  These determine the velocity, and mass (i.e. the Force
> of impact) and the impact area.  There are other, lesser variables,
> such as drag, but these are the critical ones.

one more variable ... is it a simple sling, or a staff-sling.  if the
later, you have to factor in the massive energy gain imparted by a
lever arm 4-6' in length.   
 
'wolf
.. lover of things "alternative", bola's anyone??? (quite "period by
the by, ask any mongol ... grin)

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