Improvised weapons: BOLA and THROWING STICK.

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Plainsman

Joined
Apr 5, 1999
Messages
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Anybody have new ideas on old weapons like the bola or throwing stick?

I have one for the BOLA that I have yet to put together. I bought some 1 oz. lead fishing weights and I have some HEAVY braided fishline. I thought three weights and this line might make for a good small game bola. What do you think?

I've experimented only a little with throwing sticks. More dense woods seem to work (fly) better. I tried a small one out of a piece of scrap Osage Orange. It's a stout wood that holds together when it hits something hard (I know why some call it "iron wood").

Other ideas/comments!



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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com


 
A very simple concept is the slung-shot (not to be confused with the sling-shot or sling). A sling is sort of a loose pouch (sort of like a bra cup in shape, but egg-sized) attached to cords. You swing it down to your right, then over your head and down behind your left shoulder and end with sort of an overhead pitch towards your target. (You don't swing it in circles over your head).

A slung shot is easier to improvise. It is just a cord attached to a single rock or weight. You swing it like a sling, but you launch both the weight and the cord together down range to the target. You get a much higher velocity this way than throwing by hand. The cord adds significant drag to your projectile so you want to be within 20 yards or so of your target. A primary advantage of the slung shot is that it can be used against a larger animal than a simple thrown rock.

BTW, I would think a bola would work best against long-legged animals, like deer as a means to snare their legs. Small animals are so close to the ground that the cords would tend to get tangled in brush before they get to the target. Another way to use a bola would be against a flock or sitting birds. You aim over their heads and snare one when they all take flight.
 
JEFF: Yep, I use slings already! I made mine out of soft leather for the pouch and then 1/8" cord about a yard long each. I've found that it is easy getting on target IF you are willing to put the time into PRACTICE.

I was thinking of strictly a small game bola for sure. The Eskimos even used them for birds when they come to nest in the Arctic.

Thanks!


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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com


 
i remember as a kid, i found an old padlock, and i happened to have a piece of string on me(i probabally stole it from art class that day in school
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) so i tied the string to the padlock, and i started tossing it at things, i found it was pretty easy to aim, and later, i chucked it at my swingset, and i actually hit the part i was aiming at(one of the upright supports) from a decent distance.
to this day, im still amazed at the size of a dent that thing left(i was young, and small for my age too). i think i could have easily dropped a person with it, if i hit them in the head or something, and i imagine it wouldnt be much harder to injure an animal in the woods.

i also used to play with bolas a lot, i forget where i first seen one, but i started making them out of everything- i braided some old jute twine together to make thicker cords and used some old cow vertebrae as the weights, i also did another(tiny) one out of some rubic's-cube parts and cotton twine, amongst other things.
my parents got a little anoyed at me throwing them at all the fruit trees, and took them away as i made them
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AKTI member #A000911

 
Jeff,
A more refined version of your slung-shot can be made with a wee bit more effort, and much less string. I believe one of it's names is a Staff sling.
Make a typical sling, and get a stick/pole/staff twice as long or so. (adjust after use till you like the outcome...) Tie one end of the sling firmly a little bit in from one end of the staff. Smooth out the tip, possibly pointing it as well. If you can find a smooth ring that fits loosely over that end of the staff, us it, elsewise make a looped knot in the other end of the sling that fits loosely on the ned of the staff.

To use, add one appropriately sized rock to your sling (This can toss things larger than a hand sling) and fix the loop end over the end of the staff. Throw in a motion similar to catching a butterfly in a net, but with a big effort to kill the butterfly. Be careful the first few times. If the loop does not slip freely off the end of the staff, the rock very well can stay in the sling, and will end up headed for you. If your staff is too short for the sling, this could easily result in said rock being introduced to your head.

There are old seige engines built on this design, and are quite effective if you wish to put the effort into building one. (Trebuchets, if my memory serves me well)

This is the same physical principle as a projectile with a string on a stick, but you keep the string, and need only find suitable rocks after you build the sling.


Stryver
 
The old Rick Brandt Science Projects book that taught me to make a sling also included directions for a staff sling. My best friend made one, but I preferred how a staffless sling fits in your pocket. A staff sling is getting up to the artillery caliber.
 
Jeff,

I agree with that! We show the fustibal (staff sling) in the weapons video. I took mine outside for a little ranging practice. I managed to sling a rock clear across the meadow to my neighbors place about 400 yards. Did'ja ever notice that there is a magnetic attraction between windows and rocks? I guess I shouldn't have been trying to hit his hound.

They weren't home at the time so I had a chance to put a nice note on the door... warning them about my errant stone. He came up to my place later that day to learn how to make one. I think he has plans....

I carry a little shorty sling in my pocket mosta da time.

Ron

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Learn Life Extension at:

http://www.survival.com ]
 
Slung rocks and windows...why yes, I do recall the homing effect. One time (long past any statutes of limitations) a friend and I were standing in a ravine next to a school and practising lobbing rocks over the building when one fell short and went right through a second-story window.
 
Argentine cowboys out on the pampas (sorry, I forget the right name -- vaqueros?) used to use bolas like North American cowboys use lariats. In heavier weights they could be lethal. Anyone in South America care to add to this? They are also fond of their knives, I understand. I saw an article somewhere; the knives looked like Mediterranean daggers, with narrow triangular blades.

[This message has been edited by Alberta Ed (edited 23 December 1999).]
 
Alberta Ed

"Gauchos"...not sure about the spelling.




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BrianWE
ICQ #21525343
If you are not laughing, you may as well be crying.

 
When i was a kid i got to see a real Argentine bolo. I was so impressed I went home and tried to make one for myself. One of my best ones was made of braided twine with golf balls wrapped in a cloth bag.Flies very well, but did you know that sheep run with their hind legs together and not apart like cattle do? I had a h*ll of a time catching that ewe to get that bolo that she ran off with wrapped around her hind legs. I had even a harder time tring to explain to Dad how it got there.
 
Anyone know how they put the holes through the long staffs of wood and then sell them in other countries like africa, since tribes usually make these items, they would probably use some kind of primitave method...I would like to know what it is...Mr. Janich should have fun with this one.
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I carry an improvised weapon most everywhere I go. A few years back I had a leg injury which made me rely upon a cane for a time. I got used to carrying it and now I still continue to do so. I have an Irish Blackthorn stick which is very tough and has a nice sized root ball for the handle. Using some of the methods I have studied in kendo it is quite formidable should the need ever arise to use it. Of course this is mostly in urban environments.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
Joe:
I'm not visualizing the souvenir you are talking about. Is the hole crosswise or longwise in the stick?

Crosswise, it would be rather easy to use a pump-drill to put a hole in. Longwise, burning it out, or another stick with a drill bit of some sort would work, though I'd tend to think that even today most folks could get a hand drill...

Stryver
 
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