# what were slingshots first made for?



## gamekeeper john (Apr 11, 2011)

hello! i was wondering what the first ever slingshots were made for? i expect it to be hunting and has a weapon of survival for our early ancestors, i think theres a lot of people these days who think its wrong to hunt with a slingshot but thats what it was made for!
Also does anyone know when target shooting became popular? i couldnt imagine our early ancestors having plinking contests in the woods


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## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

Id go with hunting to around the 1800's or whenever rubber was first processed but then bows have been round thousands of years ..personaly I'd rather go with a bow if given the choice .. but then ammo is easier to find for slingshots so I don't know lol think slingshots were some kind of accidental weapon just the combination of using rubber and trees...


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## NoSugarRob (Jun 3, 2010)

im guessing here but i would be inclined to think they were a poachers weapon


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## As8MaN (Mar 6, 2011)

I dont know when they were first made but if u know the story of David and Goliath , David was a little kid who killed Goliath who was a giant, with a slingshot.. And that happened like 3000 years ago.. Maybe more.


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## AlmostHuman (Jul 10, 2011)

As8MaN said:


> I dont know when they were first made but if u know the story of David and Goliath , David was a little kid who killed Goliath who was a giant, with a slingshot.. And that happened like 3000 years ago.. Maybe more.


Wouldn't have been a slingshot , would've been a sling with either a glande ( special sling ammo ) or a carefully selected stone . Don't know when the ancient South American races first started rubber tapping , but it wasn't until rubber started to be vulcanised that bands were produced as we would recognize them today . Natural unvulcanized rubber isn't up to much apparently ......

Pat


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## justplainduke (May 31, 2011)

I did research and write-up on it on my website in the armory section darkartsunderground.com
Rubber as we know it was invented in the 1850's by mr. BF Goodrich by the 1860's it made it's way into the hands of kids who used it on a handle frame primarily as a method of vandalism, it then spread around the world for various uses. 
P.S. Yes David slew Goliath with a "sling" not a slingshot. I have a masters in theology to back that one up...true.


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## justplainduke (May 31, 2011)

P.s.s. The story of David and Goliath was an analogy for a point to be made, not a true event...sorry.


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## shooter452 (Nov 6, 2010)

justplainduke said:


> P.s.s. The story of David and Goliath was an analogy for a point to be made, not a true event...sorry.


Got to disagree with you on this point.....but the discussion is most likely suited for a different forum.

I do like your website. Neat stuff on there.


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## AJW (Apr 24, 2011)

" hello! i was wondering what the first ever slingshots were made for? "

If memory serves, about $3.25 plus shipping.

Al


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## SuwaneeRick (Apr 4, 2011)

shooter452 said:


> P.s.s. The story of David and Goliath was an analogy for a point to be made, not a true event...sorry.


Got to disagree with you on this point.....but the discussion is most likely suited for a different forum.

I do like your website. Neat stuff on there.
[/quote]

I have no doubt it was a historical event either. I really hope we don't get into theological debates on a slingshot forum.


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## justplainduke (May 31, 2011)

Sorry, I only meant to add validity to my input; 
A interesting quote: "personal politics and religion are best discussed in the privacy of ones home" ~ Sherlock Holmes by Sir ACD
And certainly NOT amongst hundreds from differing backgrounds on a slingshot forum


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## justplainduke (May 31, 2011)

AJW said:


> " hello! i was wondering what the first ever slingshots were made for? "
> 
> If memory serves, about $3.25 plus shipping.
> 
> Al


LOL!!!!! Awesome.


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## Classic Slingshot (Apr 27, 2011)

In my opinion was for hunting


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## justplainduke (May 31, 2011)

You all could "G" check it. From several sources.
That's how I came by my information, before I wrote my synopsys.


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## dgui (Jan 12, 2010)

Well I'm pretty sure I can answer this one for Charles, he thinks they were made to punish a Bulls Pouch. But, I on the other hand think the slingshot was made for EVERYTHING!


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## justplainduke (May 31, 2011)

dgui said:


> Well I'm pretty sure I can answer this one for Charles, he thinks they were made to punish a Bulls Pouch. But, I on the other hand think the slingshot was made for EVERYTHING!


LOL!!!!
I remember recently reading that post from him about herding cattle


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

O.K., O.K. .... since my name has been dragged into this, I might as well add my 2 cents.

There is a huge attraction, at least for males, to being able to deposit energy at a distance on a target of one's choice. Just think of your mythology ... Zeus (and others) being able to throw lightning bolts, etc. Sooo, I speculate that the slingshot was first used for depositing energy at a distance on a chosen target. Things haven't really changed that much!

Cheers ...... Charles


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## Chugosh (Feb 9, 2010)

The other site to look at for more details about Slings is here Slinging.Org

I simply cannot believe that slingshots were origionaly designed for more than plinking for kids without the dough for a gun.
As for Dave and the giant, real historical or story for a lesson, it's still a cool story, and proven possible on History channel (IIRC).


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## Tex-Shooter (Dec 17, 2009)

There are some indicators that rubber powered slingshots were around well before 1850. Some accounts of slaves from Africa having them early on. The problem with proving that is it is uncertain that the items motioned was in fact a slingshots. But I for one believe that they were. I have heard that even to this day Africans in the bush still make a cured rubber product and it is a very old tradition. -- Tex -- PS, here is a little interesting reading on the subject.
http://holdenslatex.com/pdf/history.pdf


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## whipcrackdeadbunny (May 22, 2010)

If I remember right, there was a story about a man turning up on a farm, he asked to hunt and was quickly refused, then he produced his slingshot and said "with this" whereupon they laughed and said "sure". At the end of his hunting session he had quite a bit of game ... I can't remember his name, but I'm sure they were around as toys before that, then he made it a real weapon. Aside from that, David hit Goliath with a Sling, not a slingshot; and the rubber had to be processed one way or another.


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## slingshot_sniper (Feb 20, 2011)

If memory serves I think it was made for breaking windows


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Obviously my experience does not go back to the mid 1800's. But I had an uncle (sadly now dead) who was born and raised in the mountains of east Tennessee ... born in the 1910's. He was a crack shot with a slingshot. Used to watch him spin clothespins on the line across a BIG country yard. As a young man, he often hunted rabbits, squirrels, dove, and bobwhite quail with a slingshot, simply because he could not afford to buy a gun nor ammunition for the guns at home. He told me many of the lads at the time hunted with slingshots. So in some parts of the world, hunting was a primary use of the slingshot by the 1920s. He made me my first slingshot when I was 5 years old ... but that is another story.

Cheers ...... Charles


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## mckee (Oct 28, 2010)

As8MaN said:


> I dont know when they were first made but if u know the story of David and Goliath , David was a little kid who killed Goliath who was a giant, with a slingshot.. And that happened like 3000 years ago.. Maybe more.


he killed him with a sling not a slingshot


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