I think I've seen a similar Heavy Crossbow... Of course that's not quite as useful if you're playing a Ranger... unless perhaps the multiplier actually makes up for the "natural"extra shots? I haven't done the math. (Always seemed strange to me that rangers wouldn't at least gain some bonus wielding crossbows.)

I have been wondering...why not make the ranger bonus apply to a race specific shooter type ?

Hobbit, Gnome: sling
Elves: bow
Half elves: both bow and xbow (ha! finally a reason to play those)
Everyone else: xbow

I for one always dislike using slings, even very nice slings that I should like better, since their ammo is simply worse than arrows/bolts.

By that logic you should always use a crossbow over a longbow! I for one will always use a bow over Xbow/sling if I can possibly justify it and I simply don't understand why...

I quite like this.

Ammo is a big problem for slings early on, when damage dice are a significant part of launcher damage; later on the problem with slings is their lousy x2 multiplier. Slings of Buckland fix that, so if you find one, then slings become viable late-game weapons.

The question for bows vs. crossbows is basically "Are you a Ranger?" Other classes don't really care. Crossbows and their ammo are a bit heavier than bows, and deal very slightly more damage (x4 on a Heavy Crossbow is quite nice, mind). Their ammo also breaks a bit less often. So once you get your STR up enough to stop worrying about weight limits, they're generally the superior choice...but then again, many players end up treating their launcher slot as a "stat stick" (i.e. equipping artifacts to that slot for their bonuses, not their effectiveness as weapons).

Yes, that's in fact exactly what I do, until, as Derakon points out, I need the stats or resists of a particular rarely-to-be-used shooter.

Hobbits use bows. I don't know where that hobbits and slings originate from, but it definitely is not from Tolkien.

I am aware that they use bows. Everyone* does in Middle Earth (and I will throw out a guess that the author living in a country that adores the longbow for historical reasons might have something to do with this).
The hobbit-sling relationship I think stems from the passage where Tolkien describes them as quick to pick up stones and throw them with accuracy. If they are good with rocks, well, the step to giving them slings isnt a big one.

Also they are small, and Tolkien never describes how exactly their bows are supposed to look like. I find it hard to imagine a bow of 80 cm length being very effective. Maybe if it was a recurve, but that doesnt fit well with the more rustic Shire and Tolkien would surely have mentioned the fact had he envisioned the hobbits using recurves. Poisoned arrows also can be ruled out.

Anyway, with slings of the Buckland in the game, hobbits are married to slings at least in Angband.

*Edit: I should say everyone except rangers.

He does mention them using hunting bows, maybe those were recurves? It's old enough invention to fit in Tolkien world, but Tolkien doesn't describe most of the weapons used in detail. They could have been composite for all that we know. Being "rustic" lifestyle doesn't mean that their equipment were less "modern" than rest of the middle-earth.