Tom Enright wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:
-=> On 12-24-97  11:44 Roy J. Tellason said to Wayne Thompson <=-
 WT> I doubt if you can get a ball bearing moving that fast out
 WT> of a sling.  A Civil War rifled musket with a heavy charge
 WT> of "patent" black powder could get a .54 to .58 caliber
 WT> Minie bullet well into the 2,000+ fps range which is
 WT> somewhere around twice the speed of sound.
 RJT> Aw,  c'mon,  don't keep us in suspense!  How fast would you have to
 RJT> spin that sucker?     :-)
 TE> Would you believe 9,500 rpm?  A 4 ft. cord with the pouch in
 TE> the middle means a 2 ft. radius and a 12.6 ft circumference.
 TE>  (2 * pi * R) That means you have to spin the sucker at
 TE> 9,500 rpm to reach 2,000 fps at the end of the cord.
 TE> Actually the service load (70 gr. of FF) was closer to 1,200
 TE> fps. or less, even in the long barreled muskets of the day. 
 TE> That would require *only* 5,730 rpm to duplicate.
 TE> How's about it, is you arm up to the task?
I dunno,  I guess I better start practicing...     :-)
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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