Is a sling a viable ranged weapon option for someone with poor eyesight?

Question

I have a character who is, for lack of a better term, a Monster Hunter. She's physically fit, has a pretty high pain tolerance/is generally pretty durable, and is skilled in various forms of hand-to-hand combat. The problem is that she's also Not Very Big- 4'11, maybe 135 lbs soaking wet- and while she's proportionally fairly strong due to her Ridiculous Personal Training Regimen, there's still only so much force she can exert with that much mass, and sometimes the Baddies are just Too Big/A Ridiculous Temperature/otherwise Unwise To Touch and likely to Kill Her Very Badly if she gets too close.

The obvious solution is, of course, a ranged weapon; something to Shoot Some Zelda-Boss Looking Beastie Right Between The Eyes before it can Raze The Village or whatever. Except that there's another problem: our heroine, in addition to being a frankly hilarious size given her line of work, is also severely myopic, to the point where she might be bordering on "Legally Blind/Not Allowed To Drive Without Corrective Lenses" territory nowadays. She is... Really probably not the best person for this job, but my question is more about workarounds than it is about her questionable career choices. XD

She does have access to Corrective Lenses for this problem, and wears them on the job; however, while they dramatically improve her general vision, they're roughly equivalent to the sorts of lens technology used for spectacles in the late 1800's-maybe early 1900's, and as a result are more General Magnifiers than Specific Prescription Lenses (they're big heavy suckers too, an inch thick and taking up Most of Her Face XD), so I'm not sure if that would affect things like accuracy and depth perception at all. As someone who uses Modern, Specialized Corrective Lenses myself and still can't hit the broad side of a barn with anything, trying to imagine what kind of ranged weapon this Unusual Monster Hunter might use, and how she might compensate, is difficult.

I do have one idea that fits a few of the themes of her story: a sling, like in the biblical example of David and Goliath. Hits hard, ammo is literally All Over The Ground (can be knapped into a better shape for throwing if you have time), concussive force kills plenty of things outright and probably at least stuns larger foes if you can get them in the head, you don't have to be very big to generate a lot of momentum/energy with it... The only problem is, I've never used one myself and have no idea how accurate you have to be in order to do any damage with it. As long as she can focus her vision enough to discern Roughly Where The Head/Other Vulnerable Spot is, is that going to be enough to allow her to hit the mark? And how much damage could she reasonably do this way, assuming the enemy in question isn't Plated All Over Like An Armored Truck?

Answer 1

One key note is that you should never underestimate what the seeing impaired can infer with proper training. My mom for example is legally blind from toxoplasmosis; so, I'd imagine her vision is as bad if not worse than you are describing. Yet, she can beat most normally seeing people in a game of ping-pong despite not seeing the ball. People who only see form tend to get very good at paying attention to body language and posturing which could not only help her guess where the bad guy is, but where his soft spot will be 3-seconds from now for a dead-on hit.

As for the sling, it is important not to confuse these for a slingshot. Slingshots are not good for killing anything bigger than a squirrel, but with practice a sling can deliver a similar force to a mid-high calibre handgun.

Recent experiments conducted in Germany showed that a 50-gram Roman bullet hurled by a trained slinger has only slightly less stopping power than a .44 magnum cartridge fired from a handgun. Other tests revealed that a trained slinger could hit a target smaller than a human being from 130 yards away. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/05/ancient-slingshot-lethal-44-magnum-scotland/

As for what size monster a sling could be used against, we know from ancient accounts that slings could kill lions and armored soldiers without problem, and if it's stopping power is in fact similar to a .44 magnum, then even killing an elephant sized foe in the right hands is not out of the question.

The only real downside of a sling compared to other ancient ranged weapons (for a well trained user), is that you do need to be in a more open position to use it so it does not snag on anything.

Answer 2

Since you say she is a type that makes a Ridiculous Personal Training Regimen. A sling is a viable weapon. They are popular in the Middle-East even today. You can make a sling that will throw a fist sized rock a quarter mile (400m) and with practice hit accurately. They are cheap and easy to make. Even if she is myopic she should be able to practice enough to hit man sized targets or larger.

One serious advantage that may be an idea depending on your setting, alternative ammo: a few smaller rocks for a shotgun effect, a bola round to tangle them up, or throw some kind of potion bottle that does tear gas, an expanding sticky compound, sleep gas, or something like that.

Answer 3

As you said, a sling deals damage by impact.

Having, as a kid, played quite often with throwing stones (either by hand or with some slingshot) to hunt lizards and other small animals, I have also received my fair amount of "friendly fire".

Though a kid doesn't have that much force, I cannot state that there was a part of my body I would choose as target to be hit since it causes less pain.

Now I imagine that a trained person will be able to put quite some kinetic energy in that projectile, that would either deeply concuss a body, should it hit a limb, or even case more severe damage, should it hit the body or the head.

Being able to see at least the location of the target should suffice to address some shots, without needing the perception of fine details. The only problem could be to discriminate between a still target and an inanimate object close by, like a bush or a tree.

To have an insight of the damaging power of the slingshot, this is what the Roman Vegetius wrote

Soldiers, notwithstanding their defensive armour, are often more annoyed by the round stones from the sling than by all the arrows of the enemy. Stones kill without mangling the body, and the contusion is mortal without loss of blood

Answer 4

Probably not a good choice

Slings (including staff slings) have several advantages when compared to bows, crossbows and firearms:

• Slings are very cheap and quick to manufacture with materials that are likely to be easily sourced.
• A sling is very light and easily concealable.
• A sling can be used to launch unusual ammunition types, even including grenades (for those willing to live very dangerously).

With all of these advantages, why do people use anything else for hunting and warfare? Well, the disadvantages are:

• the sling must be used from a standing position (unlike crossbows and firearms, which can be fired from a prone and/or covered position with minimal exposure)
• the slinger needs a considerable amount of clear space around and above themselves to swing the sling, depending on the length of the sling and technique (overhand or sideways) being used. Even clipping relatively light branches or shrubbery in the path of the swing will eliminate accuracy, while use is completely impossible in tunnels, doorways or cramped indoor quarters.
• rate of fire is very slow compared to both bows and most firearms - this is literally the killing weakness for the monster hunter, as if the one shot does not eliminate the monster there will not be time for a second.
• vast amounts of training and practice are required to employ the sling effectively and accurately. This is the main reason that crossbows and subsequently firearms were adopted by armies worldwide - a soldier can be trained to reliably hit a man-sized target at battlefield ranges within a few weeks using a crossbow or firearm. Achieving equivalent effectiveness with a bow or sling takes months or years of training and constant practice. This may not be a problem for a dedicated monster hunter, but the time taken training with the sling is time not spent on other activities.

Looking at the situations described where a ranged option is desirable:

• Ridiculous temperature / unwise to touch (poison skin?) - in these situations firearms are best but a long spear made of an appropriate material would still be preferable to a sling unless any target bigger than a squirrel.
• Too big - this is the reason elephant guns were invented. A sling can be effective against humans, but if the monster is much bigger and tougher than a human then sling ammunition will just be an annoyance as it closes. Use a firearm with lots of punch.

Answer 5

Crossbow

Crossbow is a better option as it could be fitted with a telescopic sight to compensate for the vision problems. Even fitted with a single lense would assist.

The first telescopic rifle sight was invented in 1835 and the first telescope was 1608.

A sling is hard to use and not the sort of thing a person with poor eyesight would want to rely on for a sure kill as any kill would be mostly pure luck.

A crossbow can be loaded ahead of time and fired from cover in an ambush. The bolt can be barbed and poisoned helping take the monster down and different bolts can be made for a monster's weakness such as silver bolts for werewolves and wooden bolts for vampires. Barbed harpoon bolts could tether the monster to a spot to stop it from fleeing.