some (more)questions about slingshots

[forrestdweller]

some years ago i got a slingshot as a souvenir from an unforgetable time with aborigines in northwestern australia. the rubber tubes were old and worn-out and as i had no replacements available(slingshots are forbidden in SOME australian states)it ended up in my pack and got forgotten. over the last couple of months while bushwalking in new zealand i had a lot of opportunuties to get close enough to small game which would have made a nice meal if i would had something to catch it... .
so i'm planning to get this slingshot ready again(i got a replacement rubber whilst in new zealand). problem is: lots of articles how to make one- but i cannot find anything about how you aim with them... .
also: what kind of rubber would be good apart from factory-made ones(as you cannot buy them eveywhere) and how can you extend their lifespan? and what would be the maximun effective range for slingshots?

thanks for infos!

 

[Adze]

Theratube

http://www.dme-direct.com/theratube-theraband-thera-band-tubing-exercise/

What are you aiming to use for ammunition? (pun intentional)

Lead is the best material in my opinion, anything from 0.44" to 0.5".

Steel is approx 2/3rds the density of lead so to get the same mass (and therefore the same energy transfer out of the bands) steel shot has to be significantly bigger (0.5" lead ball = 0.43oz but steel = 0.3oz ... put another way a 50Cal lead ball doing 210fps has around 18 footpounds of energy whereas a 50Cal steel ball with the same speed only makes 12.5)

Latex tubing doesn't like sunlight much - keep it in the dark and it'll last a lot longer. It's not keen on being held at full stretch for longer than a second or so either so learning to aim - pull - release in that order (instead of pull - aim - release) will make it last longer too.

 

[_scorpio_]

http://talk.slingshots.com/forums/index.php

 

[Shewie]

Give Fish a shout here .....

http://www.huntercatapults.co.uk/index.html

 

[hog]

Traditional African catty.
Leather tounge from shoe, rubber from car innertube, wood from any tree, in this case macadamia.

 

[Tye Possum]

Well what quite a few people do when hunting with a slingshot is shoot instinctive, meaning they don't aim, they just look at the target, draw across their chest and let loose. Now this is obviously not going to work right away but with some practise it can be very accurate and also very fast making it ideal for hunting as your prey is usually small and fast.

Aiming is another matter and I'm worse at it than instinctive. All I remember is that you use the top fork as a referance point or something and kind of judge where it will hit.

Sorry I can't be more help but I stopped shooting slingshots a couple years ago and I wasn't all that great then either lol.

Inspirational video: The Sling Shot Man

Oh and don't forget to practise a whole lot before you attempt to hunt, it's tougher than it looks.

 

[bhofmann]

Traditional African catty.
Leather tounge from shoe, rubber from car innertube, wood from any tree, in this case macadamia.

"Lekker like a crekker" <- meaning "Very nice"

This is an interesting modification to a shop-bought catapult/slingshot that allows arrows to be shot with the catapult and mentions how to aim using the additional device:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6LxKfpAPYA

 

[forrestdweller]

thanks for all the helpful replies to my questions(and sorry for replying not earlier- i rely on rather unregular public access...).
the slingshot on hogs foto looks like the ones we made in my long-ago childhood; for lack of game to hunt we used them for playing only
as ammo i'll probably use both lead(i can cast bullets myself) and pebbles(easy to get +no extra weight in my pack)

fish's shlingshots look really nice, but are currently above my budget, so for the moment i'll stick to the factory-made one i have and maybe later make one myself...

 

[Aristotle]

I found my old catapult today and I spent a happy 15 minutes or so shooting machine nuts through a cardboard box. I was fairly consistent at 7M or so.

My Dad made the frame from steel rod. The bands are square black elastic and seemed to be reasonable considering that they've probably been sat around for about 17 years.

What is the rule of thumb about band length? How much extension (% or length) should there be for optimum power?

How does the black square elastic compare to latex tube/bands?
The square elastic is very strong, although I suspect that shorter latex would allow more extension and give more speed and be easier to use.


I have a knackered red latex bike inner-tube which might be useful. Any idea what sort of band width I'd be looking to use?

I've got ideas about shooting the wood pigeons that come onto garden bird tables, so I've ordered some ball bearings to practice with until I can group them closely. There are some big fishing weights at the folks' house which may be better.

 

[FerlasDave]

I got one from the 99p store. Im just going to swap the bands on it for some better ones.

 

[lannyman8]

try thera bands you can get them on ebay i think the gold ones are the strogist.....

all the aiming is done with the frint hand....keep your eye on the targit and just shoot loads untill you get good enough for live animals.....

it may take a while but keep with it......

hope this helps....

chris..............................

 

[Aristotle]

try thera bands you can get them on ebay i think the gold ones are the strogist.....

What sort of width and thickness are gold Theraband?

I've some red theraband that I was given by a physio. I'm assuming that it is not as strong as the gold.

I might give the latex inner-tube a go too.

 

[Aristotle]

The inner tube had perished and the (fairly old, thin) Red Theraband kept snapping, so I re-fitted the black donkey elastic to a shorter length.

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day forrestdweller

....also: what kind of rubber would be good apart from factory-made ones(as you cannot buy them eveywhere) and how can you extend their lifespan? and what would be the maximun effective range for slingshots?

As has already been noted, the inner tube of a tyre (either bike or car) can be used.

Don't forget the tubing that is used on either hand spears or spear guns. In my experience they make a far more powerfull slingshot than the innertubes of tyres.

Effective range will be a combination of the power of "the rubber" and your accuracy. Realistically, I would limit it to 20 meters on small game.

Hope this helps.



Kind regards
Mick

 

[Biker]

Excuse me for jumping in here but I bought a catapult on ebay the other day. Actually got the frame from one seller and replacement black square bands and the leather pouch from another seller. So as you can tell it's "unassembled". Anyway now that I have them in my hot little hands I find myself wondering how to tie them the bands to the pouch. Do I cut the rubber band and somehow tie it to the pouch? If so, with what knot?

I plan on looking around a bit before committing myself to cutting the band. Fitting it through the metal frame isn't a problem, I'm pretty confident I can do that and not end up eating rubber band if it snaps off. So any pictures or advice about attaching the 6mm square band to the leather pouch would be most helpful.

As for aiming a catapult, I've always been led to believe it's more instictive than a conscious thing. Of course this "instinct" is achieved through lots of practice.

About the shot you use. While using bought shot sounds ideal I think I'll try and stick to what I can pick up off the ground, stones, small children and such. That's not to say that if I ever have a nice fat bunny in my sights I won't reach for the 20mm, hollow point, armoured piercing, sabot, shaped charged ammo that I'd have in my pocket. Purist I ain't.

Thanks for reading, sorry for hi-jacking this thread with this side issue question.

 

[Jericho]

Lot of good info here:

http://www.melchiormenzel.de/index.html

http://talk.slingshots.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3&order=desc&page=2

 

[Biker]

Lot of good info here:

http://www.melchiormenzel.de/index.html

http://talk.slingshots.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3&order=desc&page=2

Got what I needed, thanks. I found the first website the most informative for the advice I wanted answering, it eventually linked me to Youtube for the specific knots.

Ta muchly.

Now those pesky cattle stealing Pterodactyls are gonna be in for a surprise Muhahahahaah!

Moi

 

[Aristotle]

I made a target as described on the links below and had a bit of fun lamping-plinking by the light of my home-modded 20W head-torch.

Rather than using steel balls I made use of a pot of (surplus to requirements as they made me vomit) large vitamin pills(~1g per lozenge).

Although they still ricochet and may not be quite as accurate, they have a lot less punch than steel balls so a stray would cause less damage.

 

[Aristotle]

Having invested in some mint imperials, I can say that they are an excellent size and weight, with good accuracy and energy, but not too destructive -although they still punctured a hanging beer can.

Much better(and cheaper) for backyard plinking than steel.