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Why can I throw a larger stone farther than a smaller stone?

Recently I was throwing stones(don't ask me why) when I noticed that there seems to be an optimum weight of stone so that it travels the farthest. If I generate the same amount of force each time(and assuming all other variables like air resistance, angle of projection etc to be constant) shouldn't a smaller stone be projected with a higher velocity and thus have a higher range. You can try this yourselves. A cricket ball sized object goes farther than a small pebble (consider its size to be similar to a coin)( and also farther than a basketball size object, but that is due to the increased mass). My first thought was that it could be air resistance but shouldn't a larger body experience more air resistance? **(I have doubts whether this is a physics question or more of a biology question.)