This post turned out rather long, if you wish to skip to the bottom there's a tl;dr section that covers the most of it.
Too right they can. I have a polymer one that's suspiciously identical to the Hathcock target sniper, only difference is that it's cut from HDPE of something similar rather than resin on a metal frame.
I went ahead and bought one of the Hathcock target snipers (should be here in a few weeks) and will probably rig one with double gold theraband and the other triple gold theraband. The double could be my target practice (probably the HDPE one if I like the target sniper, I paid £40 for it and the shipping anyway so it better be good) and the triple banded one as my hunting slingshot, ttf style as I never liked the idea of OTF. Maybe the "gangster grip" is just my thing. I'll probably get .45 or .50 steel balls for hunting the rabbits as they grow bigger (public side) and it's not like there's any park rangers to spot me, even with my current cattie I've had dogwalkers ask me what I'm doing and I just say "Hunting rabbits" they usually reply "Isn't that slingshot/catapult an offensive weapon and not allowed in public?" "Nope, oddly parliament thinks they're kids toys, I was playing around and shot a small ball (.22) straight through both sides of a double panel door. Parliament can be silly when they bring down bans and it's usually a kneejerk thing to one event" I'll go on to explain about airguns being banned without a FAC here which usually gets a "Really?!" Then go on to say about handguns not being banned here provided you have a FAC in contrast to the rest of the UK which again surprises them. After that they usually go to walk on and I'll leave a parting message just saying I won't be shooting the catapult anywhere near them, their dog or anywhere it could potentially cause harm after which it's usually "cheers" or a friendly wave. Provided you aren't dressed in full camo running about the bush with the slingshot half-drawn; which I've never done; though I've contemplated fixing (I made it when I was 15 so it needs to be made bigger for starters) secondly the only netting I could get then was thin plastic garden netting which would have a tendency to rip so I'll probably get an old BDU or just camo top and bottoms (whichever's cheapest) and make a suit by paracording the thin plastic netting to something like volleyball netting then stitching it down with dental floss or dacron from old crossbow strings. Let it sit in mud/muddy rainwater to remove 'man scent' from it for a day then beat it out so it's clean and get a light, cool undersuit and if it gets too warm in the suit lying down I'll just cut small slits in it for heat to vent out then I just can lie with binoculars, or possibly a thermal scope/camera if I can find a good one for less than £300 to spot close up (less than 10m) in bushes then when I spot a rabbit I'll either see if I can draw lying down (unlikely or slowly move to a single knee 'wedding proposal' position pull back my sling if the quarry is in range and the backstop is good and let fly.
If not I can set 4-5 snares all in visual range ghillie up and sit and play the PlayStation vita for four or so hours lying in wait visually minding my snares every half hour and use some sort of jerry rigged motion detector to let me know if there's something there (set the circuit to an old remote car transmitter then remove the motor/ servo from the body and hook up to a a set of LEDs that are in a circuit to make them flash, pop the lights on the top of the vita and I'm good to go, lazyman style. I still have the dyes for my ghillie suit (green and light brown grassland colours) so I'd buy some jute twine and Hessian and finish it where I've grown, add some paracord slipknot loops or thick rubber bands and I can garnish with reeds and other grass and blend right in. I'd definitely love to jerry rig motion detectors and even snare detectors; I like electronics I made a cascade tube into a night scope at 14 basically asking my physics teacher about lenses, focal lengths and stuff then when I got a DSLR mount on it and finshed it she asked me to bring it in, blacked out the whole class and let everyone have a play with it. I was banned from using electronics in the house for near six months when I was eight as I realised short circuiting a battery generates heat, making lovely holes in the carpet (and my hands).
As for a FAC it's not likely though I plan on getting a thirty pound recurve bow (even though I'm a lefty I draw right handed with a bow), you know one of those modular ones where the limbs bolt onto the riser and joining one of the local archery clubs and if I can get good at that I would have people in my club who potentially has access to a firearm (well it's Belfast, if you want a gun there's always a person who knows a person selling Glock 18s for around 200-300, sometimes as low as 150 if it's 'hot'; or there's the internet where you can get an AR15 delivered to your door for just shy of a grand, courtesy of the Royal Mail (or another courier service)) and if I could go to the range with them and let them see me practice I would have someone to potentially act as guarantor. But still it would be difficult. Rather silly how they preach "You can change your life and everything will be fine once you're on the straight and narrow" even when I got in trouble with the police I was blind drunk and I never tried to fight back or struggle and if I was in a situation where I had no option to fight back after being attacked I would usually move to cripple the attacker (probably either a leg sweep or knee dislocation) then I would run and contact the police immediately even if it meant turning myself in for a night in a cell until it was sorted out and I was seen as the defending party rather than the attacker. There was a situation on the 17th of march where some drunken idiot threw a boot into a rather expensive DSLR of mine. Rather than hand the camera and my bag to a friend of mine and 'sort things out on the spot' I went to the police, even when they basically said "Not my problem, go speak to someone else" (The constable who took my statement on Tuesday advised I put in a complaint about the two officers, though I told him I wouldn't just to keep the police happy) even after that when the perpetrator was still in the immediate area I decided not to hand over my breakable items and make a citizen's arrest and walked all the way to the central station to get things done completely by the book. Even so, it won't count toward a FAC being handed out for an air-gun or shotgun (and personally if I got a shotty it would have to be pump action, though that's illegal just like so many other things, I just prefer a single barrel and sight to two barrels; I'm not even sure if you can fit chokes to a double barrel such as a rifled choke for deer slugs, or whether I'd need something like a .38 rifle to shoot deer, though again honestly I'd prefer a high-power bow/crossbow which currently is right out) I know I've written a bit of an essay here so I'll leave you with a tl;dr.
TL;DR:
- Slingshots can be monsters, you just have to have amazing aim. I wish I could be as good as someone like Bill Hays. I remember seeing and reading about someone taking down a grizzly with just a slingshot and arrow, no fancy pouch, just a nock on the side.
- Chances of me getting a FAC for an airgun/shotgun/surface to air missile
are slim to nil, I might join an archery club and see if anyone there shoots more than bows and could take me out on a range sometime, that could range my chances from slim to nil to slim to less slim. However even though I co-rent with my mother she might not want a firearm in the house, even if I told her (she sometimes thinks I'm a lot younger than I am and treats me that way; maybe it's overprotectiveness) but even if I got the lockbox installed in her (lockable) room and kept the keys on hand she would probably be another spanner in the works. My house is rented also, so I'm not sure how that would affect things.