Catapult ammo?

[Clouston98]

Well since I made my antler catapult wit the double there's bands I've been shooting a lot more, I certainly need the practice! Plan to shoot a few wood pigeons or maybe rabbits that are either in our garden or where I have permission, to eat. But I enjoy target practice in general.

The ammo I use now are these:

Largest is lead
All the rest are stainless
won't bother with the smallest two anymore, too small.

Pound coin is for scale .

They are really expensive for what they are and I would like an alternative .

So my question is what do you use? Are they fairly cheap and any good?

Thanks in advance!

 

[HillBill]

Best to get a round ball bullet mold and cast your own from lead. Cheaper that way and the molds can be had for about £20 iirc.

 

[Clouston98]

Best to get a round ball bullet mold and cast your own from lead. Cheaper that way and the molds can be had for about £20 iirc.

Sounds good mate! I'll look into that .

 

[Goatboy]

Hi Cameron,

You could also hit your local fishing shop and hit the sea angling section and get some round lead splitshot. Cheap. Or raid the local church roof and make your own! - (No don't)

Good luck with the hunting, mate of mine was an excellent shot and we used sea washed round pebbles from the shore near Culbin, was a band of perfectly sized ones at a certain height on the shore. Kept his young raptor chicks and us fed in bunnies.

TTFN,
GB.

 

[Monikieman]

I had a look on the bay. They have several fishing ball moulds. I ended up with a double cavity Lee mould but the added bonus is that it has wooden handles and a sprue cutter.

http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=164_181_183_466

A bit wood chaps the sprue cutter and the balls drop out. Okay it only does 2 at a time instead of 8/9 or 10. However there's no cutting required, the mould gets hot (your hands stay cool) and after about an hour and a half I had 200 nice lead balls.

I've made fishing weights in the past with the 2 piece mould and clamps. I would definately go for the Lee mould for simplicity.
Was £23 inc postage.

Hope this helps.

 

[Clouston98]

Hi Cameron,

You could also hit your local fishing shop and hit the sea angling section and get some round lead splitshot. Cheap. Or raid the local church roof and make your own! - (No don't)

Good luck with the hunting, mate of mine was an excellent shot and we used sea washed round pebbles from the shore near Culbin, was a band of perfectly sized ones at a certain height on the shore. Kept his young raptor chicks and us fed in bunnies.

TTFN,
GB.

Cheers Colin! Never thought of fishing weights- good idea!

 

[Clouston98]

I had a look on the bay. They have several fishing ball moulds. I ended up with a double cavity Lee mould but the added bonus is that it has wooden handles and a sprue cutter.

http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=164_181_183_466

A bit wood chaps the sprue cutter and the balls drop out. Okay it only does 2 at a time instead of 8/9 or 10. However there's no cutting required, the mould gets hot (your hands stay cool) and after about an hour and a half I had 200 nice lead balls.

I've made fishing weights in the past with the 2 piece mould and clamps. I would definately go for the Lee mould for simplicity.
Was £23 inc postage.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that mate! Very useful! Where would you suggest I get the actual lead from?

 

[Monikieman]

I used 8x old 6oz fishing weights and got about 200 balls.

Plumber, scrap dealer but they allegedly can't sell to the public only buy, the friendly man at the skips (supply biscuits) building site (biscuits again).

Hang around the place where folks go to sell stuff. Get some before it gets weighed in.

 

[hiho]

just to be nosey what was the sizes of the balls in the first pic?

 

[Big Stu 12]

I use M8 nuts as theya re cheap fly quite well as well...

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Screws+Fixings/Nuts+Washers/Hexagon+Steel+Nut+M8/d90/sd920/p10063

I am quite lucky , I ve just been given the lead roof of a bay window.. just got to get down the Scrap dealers

 

[Clouston98]

just to be nosey what was the sizes of the balls in the first pic?

I'm not sure mate, I think the second largest is 12mm circumference .

 

[Clouston98]

I used 8x old 6oz fishing weights and got about 200 balls.

Plumber, scrap dealer but they allegedly can't sell to the public only buy, the friendly man at the skips (supply biscuits) building site (biscuits again).

Hang around the place where folks go to sell stuff. Get some before it gets weighed in.

Thanks for that mate!

 

[Clouston98]

I use M8 nuts as theya re cheap fly quite well as well...

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Screws+Fixings/Nuts+Washers/Hexagon+Steel+Nut+M8/d90/sd920/p10063

I am quite lucky , I ve just been given the lead roof of a bay window.. just got to get down the Scrap dealers

That's a good idea! They're dirt cheap too, so it's win win . Might get a pack f those to try soon .

 

[Big Stu 12]

That's a good idea! They're dirt cheap too, so it's win win . Might get a pack f those to try soon .

Definitly with a punt, I find them no trouble, and if you lose any so what they just rust away in the end , availbilty is good and the cost is low

 

[slowworm]

Very useful! Where would you suggest I get the actual lead from?

First a warning. When melting lead take great care when adding any scrap to a hot pot, even if it looks dry it can have moisture in it causing the molten lead to explode! Best to heat it from cold.

I assume when you practice you'll catch most of your practice ammo and either reuse or keep for melting if it's lead?

As for sourcing it, if you're local to a beach you often find old sinkers/weights at low tide. Good fun as well and I've collected 100s over the years.

Worth chatting to friends and family as many people seem to have the odd bit of lead about. When I renovated a house I stripped out a large amount of lead pipe for example.

 

[Clouston98]

Definitly with a punt, I find them no trouble, and if you lose any so what they just rust away in the end , availbilty is good and the cost is low

Certainly are mate .

 

[British Red]

If you want lead talk to your local tyre place - many of the wheel balancing weights are lead - and they have buckets of scrap Alternatively your local shooting range will have loads when they clean out the sand in the butts.

 

[Clouston98]

First a warning. When melting lead take great care when adding any scrap to a hot pot, even if it looks dry it can have moisture in it causing the molten lead to explode! Best to heat it from cold.

I assume when you practice you'll catch most of your practice ammo and either reuse or keep for melting if it's lead?

As for sourcing it, if you're local to a beach you often find old sinkers/weights at low tide. Good fun as well and I've collected 100s over the years.

Worth chatting to friends and family as many people seem to have the odd bit of lead about. When I renovated a house I stripped out a large amount of lead pipe for example.

Didn't know that about the lead so thank you! What would I heat it up in? Liking these ideas everyone .

 

[Clouston98]

If you want lead talk to your local tyre place - many of the wheel balancing weights are lead - and they have buckets of scrap Alternatively your local shooting range will have loads when they clean out the sand in the butts.

Another good point! Think I'll try some of the m8 nuts and making my own, and then happy shooting for me .

 

[Big Stu 12]

Just as a side point the Scrap Dealers will only give about 95p per kilo round my way, so if you get asked to buy some take that into mind , its not as expensive as scrap as people say..