Call me weird, but I've never felt safer than at the Dallas area gun shows. All those deadly weapons in one place, thousands of them, and yet there's a zero percent chance of anything bad happening.
I have an 1858 new model Remington army clone cap and ball 44. I have a steel block Lee twin cavity mold the cast 135 grain 454 round lead ball. Another ballistic hobby I have is the David or Shepherd sling, with which I have been practicing on and off for over a decade. A three to four oz egg Rock roughly the size of a chicken's egg leaves the pouch at 100 miles an hour approximately . Calculating the ballistic math for kinetic energy it has far more energy than a 22 bullet I would say on par with a medium pistol round. If I release the stone on a 45° angle I easily get a hundred yards distance. Which sounds fairly impressive but it's actually not all that difficult if you're somewhat practiced. Consider the world record distance for a sling projectile of 6 oz in weight a lead football shape, is 450 some odd yards. My preferred projectile weight is between 3 to 4 hours. As far as Stones go it is hard to beat a good egg Rock, but steel and lead bullets are great. A 3-oz lead egg sinker is my absolute favorite sling bullet, though at a dollar each they do get expensive to throw. I threw some the other day on a large body of water with my girlfriend observing. I let go on the 45° angle for the maximum possible range of any projectile. We both agreed they were easily in the air a full 4 seconds if not longer. Now I did not measure but I would realistically say they were getting a good 130 yards. I use a flat sidearm release when practicing for accuracy. It travels a good 100 ft with no or very little drop. I have hit beer can targets at 100 ft many times but still trying for 2 in a row. A man size Target at 100 ft is in trouble about 30 percent of the time. A well placed sling projectile can easily be lethal, at the least, bone will shatter. And best of all? Good luck outlawing string. Spark plugs, wheel weights, stones, egg sinkers....the world is my ammo dump. And I won't even get into improvised pyrotechnic ammo.
I'll bet you have thought about the following issue: In the movie, "The Last Samurai," the Samurai soldiers let loose with these waves of arrows that they shoot at about 75° up from the horizontal. When they fall back to Earth, the arrows severely injure or kill the enemy (westernized Japanese soldiers with rifles). Those arrows must be falling at a lot lower velocity than they had when they initially left the bow and rose upward. Is the lethality of a falling arrow fact-based, or just Hollywood? Same question regarding medieval archers and their long bows. Those guys practiced all day and could really shoot ... but upward like that?
Also, I'm guessing you've been on slingshot forums. There are guys who hunt rabbit and pheasant -- flying pheasants -- with their HOMEMADE slingshots. And they are consistently accurate.
I have but not in some years. I have killed two rabbits with a rubber powered slingshot. But some folks confuse the David or Shepherd slang with the rubber-powered slingshot.... They're totally different animals one is a Red Rider BB gun compared to a small bore rifle in terms of power. Your average slingshot bullet will rarely exceed half an ounce while the sling bullet is typically 2 to 5 oz. Much much heavier bullet or more properly projectile.
That is a good question and I would have to scratch my head over it. I would imagine terminal velocity comes into play? I'm sure the weight of the arrow would also be a very determining Factor. The Romans used to cast lead sling bullets that were almond shaped for two reasons for its aerodynamic properties and they were also said to penetrate the hardened leather body armor of the day. In terms of ancient warfare I think a contingent of experienced slingers would be more beneficial than an Archer. For one thing you do not need arrows and a sling is much easier to make and carry than a bow and ammunition can typically be sourced on or near the battlefield. At least with stones. Now there was also a device called a staff sling which was a sling on the end of a stick probably three or four foot about the size of a broomstick they had a sling attached to it on one end of the sling and on the other end it had a release not that set in a notch. Now I can only be slung straight overhand and not sidearm, however it could throw rocks as large as a grapefruit easily. Now you're talking about one maybe two pounds and that's going to leave a hell of a mark
