David killed Goliath with a sling and a rock right? Historians describe that sling as two cords with a leather pouch between them. I think they left out a small detail, probably deliberately.
When I was a kid I made one just like that. I tried many times to find a way to launch a rock from that sling with any amount of power. I swung it around my head and yeah you can throw a rock with it but not much harder than you could throw it by hand. Then one day I guess I was 12 or 13 yrs old I was watching a movie on TV. It was set in ancient times when they laid seige to a city and bombarded it with rocks fired from a trebuchet. That was when it dawned on me. No wonder my sling weapon was no good, it was missing a critical part! It should have had a stick like the arm of the trebuchet!! I said holy shit im gonna try that so I ran outside to the tool shed and tied the two cords of my old sling to the end of an old broom handle. I put a rock in the sling and I was holding the broom handle, knew right then, as I could feel the weight hanging off the other end, this was gonna do something. So I let it hang behind me and I swung it over my head and after a few attempts, holy shit. That rock shot out of the sling and across the field behind our house like a fuckin missile!! I was like hot damn!! So I experimented with different lengths of cord on the sling and different kinds of wood for the long handle. I found a slightly flexible wood worked really well if it made it whip a little it added extra power. I was launching rocks about the size of a baseball and they went a hell of a distance. A truly lethal weapon that if you think about it, would have actually been the precurser to the trebuchet not the other way around. Once someone invented the handheld version like I describe here, they just made them bigger and bigger until they ended up with the seige weapon size trebuchet.
Trebuchet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KCfs2KQKwI
Yes that is exactly what I made from a broomhandle! I never knew there was an actual name for it. I never saw it mentioned in history books about medievil weapons and yes they sure are brutal if you use a rock weighing about a half pound its gonna hit hard. The only difference is he has carved a slot in the end for the sling cord to release, I put a nail in mine.
Here’s what I can’t figure out...
the trebuchet was invented 1000 or 2000 years ago but a compound bow wasn’t invented until 1970...
Like... ya’ll had pulleys. Ya’ll pulling my strings?
Probably cause by the time engineering technology was good enough to make the compound bow parts the weapons market had aleady switched to gunpowder weapons.
The string type slings you whirl around were absolutely real... But they were more for herders and such who wanted an ultra portable ranged weapon.
You are talking about a 'staff sling', and they do indeed add a ton of power. However, the learning curve to be accurate/deadly with a sling is much higher than a bow/arrow. I've heard 10-15 years use to be a sling expert, but more like 5-7 for a bow. Downside of bow is much higher equipment costs
Same thing with muskets. Reduced time to train people to be experts, but even higher equipment costs.
What????
A black widow, they use to sell for 10 bucks, search it, will kill. It will easily shatter many windshields, smash right through them. They move up to more powerful slingshots at about 50 bucks. Up to being used to fire grappling hooks up mountains. Or sling grenades.
Progressing to wrist mounted launchers. But those are largely crowsbows.
If you're talking about the Palestinians using the traditional slingshot. They can kill. But aren't very effective without lots of practice. Not as effective as the above. Although various methods and means have been around for thousands and thousands of years. It is far more powerful than a stone throw. How does Olympic shotput throw, spin spin spin pivot volley. Except it is in a sling further faster deadlier. Similar sling techniques are used to throw ancient Javelins. Look at what I think it's native Aborigines, or American Indians use for spear throwing. A simple sling technique but accurate further deadly.
Question is almost as dumb as which dog walker throws their ball further. The ball thrower, or the person throwing their ball.
I dont think you understand what I what I was talking about in my post. Someone else identified it, it is called a staff sling. It can launch a projectile weighing half a pound or more, over 100yrds.
No apology if I don't. They are very powerful, they are accurate.
You wanted a mortar. Using a slingshot technique. How does a chainsaw get up a tree. They use a slingshot, firing their line and dropping it over the upper branches. Did they pelt the black power, or the greek fire. Perhaps. You can probably get customized exploding pellets. By why bother. Other weapons are far better.
No I don't understand what you meant by a trebuchet and confusing the lethality of a traditional weapon. Where they employed entire battalions of slingshots on the battlefield if we are talking ancient history. It was also a Shepherd's traditional weapon prior to the gun in many places around the globe. Bolas have also been around for a long time. In fact in colonisation native African tribes used the slingshot in warfare. It is still used today in Palestine as a weapon.
But you wanted a mortar. Or a catapult. Comparison to a chainsaw getting up a tree. Except you wanted it to fire the Greek fire.
Lever sling weapons I had compared to the javelin throwers. But they're more like a ball thrower.
Or explain?
This is what I was describing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tusiNAY7Utc
It's a ball thrower. Like a dog walker has. Seriously.
Okay no. It sets it in the ground simply to fling it. How does a chainsaw get up a tree, firing the drop line. Not quite like that. But similar. Sets it in the ground and fires.
That's redundant on the battlefield, unless it's a block formation slowly advancing. Bow and arrows have equally been around since the dawn of mankind and they fire further inflicting better penetration, but the slingshot is quicker. Except it has no real use against armour.
You have killed the mobility, and the speed of its use. Favoring longer range and bigger projectiles.
Your parable about David and Goliath. Is another common story. They all had them. Greek, Summerians, and etc, like good giant slayers. Did it happen probably not. Undoubtedly the slingshot killed.
There is not one shred of evidence, king David existed or even Solomon. Belief gives power. Israel existed after the fall of Babylon. Prior the rest is often common conjecture, rewritten, reshaped, and relayered into a founding narrative.
But you wanted agreement because you didn't understand me. You had no idea about slingshots either. Instead downvotes on me. Not once returned.
Need picture
You want to make one? Ok look at this picture of trebuchet https://i.pinimg.com/originals/52/16/4a/52164a7fbba0294f7e8f06769744a045.jpg
You see the arm with the sling attached? Thats the only part you need to make for handheld version. My original one was broom handle arm. Notice one of the sling cords is fixed to the arm. The other sling cord has to slip off as you launch it to release the projectile. I put a smooth headless nail into the end of the broom handle for that purpose. Make a loop in the end of the sling cord, put it over the nail. You can bend the nail until the sling cord slips off at the right moment to get the best trajectory.