Ranged combat requires the following:
  * You cannot be in the front row.
  * You must have the targetting skill.
  * You must have a weapon skill in the ranged weapon 

The following are the valid types of ranged weapons available
for usage.  You *must* have the skill of the same name in order
to use the weapon effectively, as well as the attack skill which
is listed after each.
  * (weapon type / skill) & attack skill
  * sling & slinging
  * bow & archery
  * crossbow & crossbowmanship
  * thunderstick & blasting
  * small throwing & throwing
  * medium throwing & hurling
  * large throwing & launching

Note: ALL ranged weapons are held, their ammunition is
      not.  What this means is that in order to use
      "throwing daggers" you load them into an appropriate
      ranged weapon such as a bandolier and wield the
      weapon.  You cannot directly wield ammunition.  Also
      make sure that if you buy ammunition, that it is 
      appropriate to the weapon you are using.

In addition to having the three basic skills training, the
weapon skill, the attack skill related to that weapon, and
targetting, you must also:
  * Have the weapon wielded.
  * Have ammo. (e.g. bullets, arrows, bolts, slugs, daggers,
                axes, javelins, etc).

Ranged combat ability is influenced by training and stats.
The dexterity stat affects one's chance of hitting the
target, while the perception stat affects the chance of
a successful strike being a critical hit. Those stats together
influence the power of the critical. Base damage is
affected mostly by strength for bows, large throwing,
and medium throwing weapons, by agility for small
throwing and slings and by intelligence for crossbows
and thundersticks.

There are several commands which are basic to anyone
who uses ranged combat.

reload (weapon) with (ammo)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   If you look at your weapon, it will now be loaded
   with two numbers #/#, the first number is the number
   of ammo loaded into the weapon, the second is the
   maximum it can carry.

use targetting at (target)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This now targets whomever you wish to fire away at.
  You don't need to do this to fire your weapon, but
  you do need to do it to choose a new target.

kill (target)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  You will now engage in combat with the target.
  You will continue to engage in ranged combat with
  the target until you run out of ammo, the target
  dies, or you switch targets (by using the targetting
  skill at someone else).

Example
~~~~~~~
To put this into practice, let's use a sling user
for an example.  You would need to train:
  * attack (where the 'kill' command comes into play, and while this isn't
ranged-specific, it's suicidal not to train)
  * targetting
  * sling
  * slinging

This combination of skills will make you able to use
a sling effectively.  You may add the skills 
enhance targetting and sling mastery to increase
your chance to hit and damage dealt from each hit.

You would then need a sling weapon, and ammunition
to fill it, which for slings is bullets.