For me, living in the New England portion of the United States, as this month rolls to an end I can only start to think about warmer weather and slinging more regularly. I can sneak a day in here and there, but the biting cold really does a number on my hands and throwing isn’t as comfortable as it usually is.
As these warmer months get closer, I want to share with you some insight on a question I get asked often.
What should I throw?
It comes in other forms too. What should I throw: as a beginner? to get better accuracy? to get better distance? that is safe to use with the kids?
Lucky for you there are a ton of options. I’ll go over them from safest and fun to most deadly and accurate. Let’s begin.
First off is the safe fun backyard practice. Or maybe you took the kids or a youth group out for some camping and want to show them how cool slings are. The safest and most fun thing to throw are jumbo marshmallows. If they fall out mid swing no one is going to get hurt and you can eat some while people are learning. It is a win, win. But if you don’t like wasting food there are other options.
Other safe options are: Tennis Balls, Bean Bags, Hacky Sacks, Water balloons filled with flour. All these offer different benefits. Tennis balls can be thrown against a wall and come back. You can even draw different sized targets on the wall to practice accuracy. Bean bags and hacky sacks will conform nicely to the pouch and throw easily. Though if you get really good and miss the target you might lose your ammo. Lastly Balloons filled with flour. They give a great effect when you hit the target and they break!
Next is more traditional ammo, ROCKS. These are more dangerous if misused.
They’re also dirt cheap (sorry) and easy to find out on a walk or the trails.
Starting with the least consistent option we have -, driveway gravel. They work and they tend to be on the small and flat side which makes them noisy and sometimes curve in the air. But if you aren’t throwing for accuracy that is a really cool and exciting effect.
If you are out hiking you can find a bunch of stones on the trail. With a keen eye you can spot the good sling stone at a normal walking pace. Grabbing the good one as you get to your spot. But you can also grab whatever stones are available too – that also works. These tend to be better than gravel stones because of the options you will have. They tend to be bigger and denser and that is what you are looking for.
My favorite (so far) is beach and river stones. They are smooth and round, meaning they don’t rough up your sling and they are more consistent in the air. If you don’t have a river or beach nearby it is worth driving to one and grabbing a bucket or backpack of rocks to practice with. Especially if accuracy is your goal. The smoothness helps keep the rocks on track. If you want to hunt you also want a smooth stone so that it doesn’t make noise during the flight.
Something in between river stones and the next option is buying a bag of irrigation stones from a hardware store. They tend to be similar in size and they are cheap: $7 for 40 lbs. You can get a bunch of practice in with that bag. I also just learned about this, this year. I will be testing it out once it gets warmer.
Lastly, clay or concrete ammo you make yourself. This is something I will be working on learning this spring and summer. I think it will become my favorite ammo. But I can’t say so for sure until I try. This is the traditional ammo for the ancient Greek and Roman military. They even advanced to making lead, like gigantic bullets. However, that requires a lot more set up so I’m not going to suggest that for everyone. The clay or concrete ammo can be easily made and shaped to a football. This should give more distance and accuracy. It is also cheap to make and something that can be done in the winter months in the shed to be used once the warmer months come around.
I learned how to sling with driveway gravel. Over the years I have tried out a bunch of different stones and here are some qualities you want to look for when selecting a stone:
Round. If the stone is round it will go straight. If the stone is flat it has a tendency to curve.
Egg Sized. This works best for me and the slings I make. Much bigger and the weight can become an issue. It becomes hard to hold the sling and get it up to speed. Much smaller and the rocks don’t go anywhere.
Dense. Having all the mass tight together give a smoother and farther throw. If two rocks are the same size the denser one will go further. It just transfers the energy better.
I love when I find egg sized quartz stones! They are naturally round and very dense. I have thrown these the furthest out of all the stones I have gotten to throw yet. So, keep an eye out for them.
Let me know what you think and what you have tried.
Till next time,
Sling on
The Hilltop Hurler 