http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0
Seems to be working for me. It might have been a server problem.

Slingshots can be pretty useful. I use a wrist brace style slingshot with a fishing reel attached to run lines up into trees. Sounds strange? Well, it's how we string wire antenna's at a good height for amateur radio. You fire a lead fishing weight, with the fishing line attached to the reel. I wish I came up with the idea, but, it's someone else's concept. Works great though, the mono line can be fired, pretty accurately, a long way, and then used to pull heavier line up and over a limb on a tree. Same concept as throwing a monkey's fist with a light line attached from one ship to another, and then pulling a heavier line across.

Use to do the same thing at my parents house with the maple tree in the back yard.
It always got me how the line would manage to wrap around itself near the branch instead of the weight pulling the line to the ground. If I could tie a knot that good that fast I would be happy. It got to the point there where a number of weights in the tree that would fall out of it without warning, usually while I was cutting the grass under it. And we will not talk about the half of a brick on a masons line that my father got hung up while trying to rig a 40 meter inverted vee.

Well, yeah, I never said it was perfect... I too have a collection of weights and segments of fishing line hanging from my trees... it looks like I decorate them as xmas trees with fishing tackle or something I do know my wife was a little upset when she saw something hanging alongside a birds nest, and realized it was a lead fishing weight... I started mumbling something about daddy robin teaching baby robin how to use worms for bait, instead of eating them, and just got one of those looks from my better half.

When I was younger, I had a slingshot for years and managed to snag Grouse and Ptarmigan with it. The secret was to load up the pocket with small pieces of gravel, get as close to the bird as possible, pull as hard as possible, aim for the head and let it loose. The effect was much like a shotgun shell and worked pretty well all things considered.

I've got this "modern marvel" a while ago: http://www.catsdomain.com/ Extremely precise (even with laser sight off), very powerful, and really easy to master - thanks to its auto-adjusting construction (see videos on the site). The Magnum rubber band is still good after almost 2 years (however I see some signs of wear already).

Cool... a laser sighted wrist rocket... where was that when I was a kid? I know the neighborhood rodent population would be undergoing a serious downward trend.

Hi YoDuh,

Proficient with a David/Goliath style version?

Well, I'm not too terrible with them. I spent 1 hour a day for almost 5 months straight to be "not terrible."

When I started I had to be in a field with nothing around for 100 yards in every direction. I had about a 40% chance of sending a stone in the forward 180 degrees. I almost brained myself a few times with rocks launched straight up. I had to resist the urge to look up and just cross my fingers.

After two weeks I had a 75% chance of firing a rock forwards.
After 3 months I could place 4/10 rocks on a bucket 30 feet away. By the end I could do almost 9/10 shots into a pop can at 30 feet.

I was told that you had to learn at full power (unlike most other sports). I could put a stone through light sheet metal or through half inch board. I figure I'll need about 7 more months at 1hr per day until I'm ready to hunt for food (unless it is an emergency).

You can also lob massive rocks with it (pop cans/molotov cocktails) Very fun and horribly dangerous to learn (for bystanders mostly).

With a large rock you could easily kill a human. The great thing is you can make the sling itself for free and carry it anywhere. I fly with mine all the time (as a belt). Works as a garrote too. The technology is so old that it is slipping from knowledge.

A very fun toy to play with! My only regret is that there was a tree near where I was learning that lost many branches to powerful yet very errant shots.

I learned a few different ways to launch it. All of the shots required none of the circling around and around. I didn't want to learn a method that would startle game and you can only gain to much power by doing so. I found that only with the overhead shot did you need to spin the stone around your head to make a level trajectory to keep accuracy.

One of the things I found most interesting was that I had my best accuracy when I realized that the sling wasn't actually a launching device that had to be aimed...but rather an extension of the throwing arm.

One of the sneakiest shots was to fire a stone like you'd strike out with a nun chuck. The stone is held in the pouch with your left hand with the strings going behind your back to your right hand. A quick flick forward with the arm and the stone launches forward....ummmm forget it. I suck at describing it....

I'll have to do a Youtube video sometime.

-NIM

Awesome! Is there any online source which you can recommend for one willing to master a sling too?

I think you would find Slinging.org a good place to start. They seem interested in other historical and primitive weapons too.
http://www.slinging.org/
Since they have an active forum they will be able to give advice and leads.

There actually is an international association that has slinging matches too but I don't remember their site any more.
There are some interesting videos posted on youtube by them.