I have heard of the Pacific Islander's exploits but in my opinion this was done with traditional slings and their incredibly worked slingstones. They made steatite double-ended stones about three inches in length, boconical in shape, that would obviously tumble in flight. These were used in both hunting and war and people were killed on a regular basis with them. The islanders regarded their slingstones so highly that one is the centerpiece of the flag of Guam (the biconical shape in the center of the flag, I believe bordered in red is the slingstone.) Do an images search for New Caledonian sling stone and you will see what I am talking about. The tumbling aspect of the stones was important enough for these primitive peoples to put forth incredible efforts into their projectiles. Do you think they would have gone through all this trouble if it wasn't needed?
The tumbling slingstone of antiquity is so well-known as to almost need no discussion. They may not have had computers and space rockets but they were as smart (if not smarter) than us and knew how to solve problems, notably in this case the creation of a hole in an opponent to "let the soul out" as I say. For people of wildly different backgrounds to arrive at exactly the same final conclusion speaks volumes to me, i.e. that the people of antiquity knew how to wring the final little bit out of man-powered projectiles for maximum damage and injury. The velocity of the sling and slingshot are quite close. I don't see why we can't carry over something that's been common knowledge for about 3,000 years in this day of instant communication.
I have long experience shooting conical pistol bullets with slingshots. The bullet I selected for my heavy-hitting special applications is the .44 caliber 1858 New Army Remington repro (used in the War of Northern Aggresion) as it is wide but also short. It tumbles in flight and the impacts are absolutely incredible.
As a strictly anecdotal footnote, I have first-hand knowledge of an alligator of about 3 1/2 feet killed instantly with a tumbling slingshot bullet in 2003.
In my shot bag I carry .31, 38, .44. and .50 lead round balls, along with a small amount of 3/8 and 1/2" egg sinkers. The egg sinkers are the new version of the biconicals of old and as I cast them myself I don't care about cost. They hit like a hammer. I also have a small quantity of the .44 conicals and a short .50 Lee muzzleloader bullet or two. The impact of the .50 conical short Lee has to be seen to be believed.
On a final note, the conical pistol bullet interests me for the following reason. A round ball fired from a slingshot travels perfectly straight with little or no rotation. When it strikes its target it has to force its way inside by straight frontal penetration. It wastes a lot of its energy like this, though it does do a good job of transfering energy to the unfortunate object/animal struck before penetrating. The pistol bullet, egg sinker, and biconical sling bullets of old tumble in flight, end-over-end. When they strike the target, their rotation is going to stretch the outer covering/skin in the direction of rotation, pulling it very tight, at which point either the sharp edge of the base of the pistol bullet or the pointed end of the biconical's smaller surface area tear the skin, allowing ingress of the bullet and horrendous scunnion ensues internally. That's why the ancients made their sling bullets as biconicals, and why the Roman Army's medical manual contains instructions the removal of INTERNAL, PENETRATED lead sling bullets, not to mention the peltists of the South Seas spending hour after hour grinding pefect slingstones versus just firing something rounded by beach erosion.
my two cents!
The tumbling slingstone of antiquity is so well-known as to almost need no discussion. They may not have had computers and space rockets but they were as smart (if not smarter) than us and knew how to solve problems, notably in this case the creation of a hole in an opponent to "let the soul out" as I say. For people of wildly different backgrounds to arrive at exactly the same final conclusion speaks volumes to me, i.e. that the people of antiquity knew how to wring the final little bit out of man-powered projectiles for maximum damage and injury. The velocity of the sling and slingshot are quite close. I don't see why we can't carry over something that's been common knowledge for about 3,000 years in this day of instant communication.
I have long experience shooting conical pistol bullets with slingshots. The bullet I selected for my heavy-hitting special applications is the .44 caliber 1858 New Army Remington repro (used in the War of Northern Aggresion) as it is wide but also short. It tumbles in flight and the impacts are absolutely incredible.
As a strictly anecdotal footnote, I have first-hand knowledge of an alligator of about 3 1/2 feet killed instantly with a tumbling slingshot bullet in 2003.
In my shot bag I carry .31, 38, .44. and .50 lead round balls, along with a small amount of 3/8 and 1/2" egg sinkers. The egg sinkers are the new version of the biconicals of old and as I cast them myself I don't care about cost. They hit like a hammer. I also have a small quantity of the .44 conicals and a short .50 Lee muzzleloader bullet or two. The impact of the .50 conical short Lee has to be seen to be believed.
On a final note, the conical pistol bullet interests me for the following reason. A round ball fired from a slingshot travels perfectly straight with little or no rotation. When it strikes its target it has to force its way inside by straight frontal penetration. It wastes a lot of its energy like this, though it does do a good job of transfering energy to the unfortunate object/animal struck before penetrating. The pistol bullet, egg sinker, and biconical sling bullets of old tumble in flight, end-over-end. When they strike the target, their rotation is going to stretch the outer covering/skin in the direction of rotation, pulling it very tight, at which point either the sharp edge of the base of the pistol bullet or the pointed end of the biconical's smaller surface area tear the skin, allowing ingress of the bullet and horrendous scunnion ensues internally. That's why the ancients made their sling bullets as biconicals, and why the Roman Army's medical manual contains instructions the removal of INTERNAL, PENETRATED lead sling bullets, not to mention the peltists of the South Seas spending hour after hour grinding pefect slingstones versus just firing something rounded by beach erosion.
my two cents!
