First slingshot

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OTOH, I never shot anything living with it.
Yeah, me neither.... Well, unless you count; my brothers, neighbor kids, that horse and a couple deer that wouldn't stay out the garden, a goat for ever being on top of the cars.... Nevermind, that list might be too long. I can't begin to number the evenings we'd spend in sling-shot wars.

Todd.
 
It's funny this thread came up- I was just gifted a Barnettt Black Widow folder.

Back in the day, I killed a mess of cottontails, but it wasn't always a clean kill and I had to be prepared to run down and dispatch a wounded bunny. There weren't any squirrels to speak of in my corner of the desert. I hit a number of jackrabbits, but I never slowed one down, much less killed one; they're best handled with a bow or better.

For trash-raiding critters, a good hit on the steel garbage can is way more fun than actually hitting fur. One neighbor kid bullied my sister once... ONCE. The penance I paid for putting a purple-and-green welt on his butt was worth it.
 
Yeah, me neither.... Well, unless you count; my brothers, neighbor kids, that horse and a couple deer that wouldn't stay out the garden, a goat for ever being on top of the cars.... Nevermind, that list might be too long. I can't begin to number the evenings we'd spend in sling-shot wars.

Todd.

I'm guessing you didn't have a wrist rocket and steel ball bearings or was I hoping you didn't??. :rofl:

We lived in a very rural area, the bird dogs would raise a ruckus and a big boom was quite effective causing beat feet from the garden.

Goat on cars would have seriously raised the bar..
 
Funny how animals like cars, a old boss off mine had about 5 turkeys on his new vette one day. The scratches went past the paint. There was not one inch without a scrach. I shot 2 one day that were hanging around a 70 roadrunner we just finished.

I have used a pump air gun to get the bears out of the dumpster at my dads old place, a sling shot would have worked good.
 
I'm guessing you didn't have a wrist rocket and steel ball bearings or was I hoping you didn't??. :rofl:

We lived in a very rural area, the bird dogs would raise a ruckus and a big boom was quite effective causing beat feet from the garden.

Goat on cars would have seriously raised the bar..
Wrist rockets were originally allowed with the caveat - dirt clods ONLY.
Then, one unscrupulous pal got caught three times in a row with clods with *pebbles* in them.:cuss:

Todd.
 
Wrist rockets were originally allowed with the caveat - dirt clods ONLY.
Then, one unscrupulous pal got caught three times in a row with clods with *pebbles* in them.:cuss:

Todd.

With some practice, I was amazed how accurate a wrist rocket with ball bearings really is. :D I also learned not to shoot a weathered fence post with it.

Clods with pebbles or frozen (ice) snowballs usually earned one a sucker punch and one without warning.

Might I add, you would have fit in quite well where I grew up..
 
My first foray into slingshots was the quintessential forked stick with straps of inter-tube connecting a leather pouch. Gravel was the ammo. It wasn't much but it piqued my interest. It wasn't much later that I purchased a Daisy wrist rocket and graduated to ball bearings.

I ran through several slingshots and I can't imagine how many bands (though I would make all kinds of repairs to a broken band to keep it running as long as possible).

I like to think that I got pretty good at it. A 12oz can wasn't at all safe within 30 yards. I likely wouldn't make it on the first shot, but it also wouldn't take many attempts.

My favorite "shot" was a fluke but I never admitted it involved sheer luck to those who witnessed it. I was about 12 and spying a toad sitting by a tree from a friends deck quite some distance away (it was long ago, but 20 yards sounds about right). I dug into my pocket to fish out anything heavy and round, but there was only one item left, a heavy washer. Not the kind of "round" I was looking for.

At that point I just wanted to "make some noise" as flat items would often make a ricochet sound in flight. My friends, with pellet rifles, were telling me to dream on; the shot was impossible. I hadn't told them I really wasn't trying for the toad anymore but rather wanted to surprise them with the strange noises flat projectiles would make.

So aiming at the toad, I let loose with the washer, not at all expecting to come close.

The washer took on the expected erratic path through the air, first veering left, then abruptly right. Disappointingly, it generated a very weak whine. However a second later, the toad looked to have stood up and fell backwards. It was struck squarely between the eyes.

Those of my friends who could pick their jaws off the floor made comments of wonder braced by words a kid really shouldn't be saying. Yes, it was absolute chance and there was zero skill involved but to this day, should any one of them bring it up, I will echo what I said back then with the same straight face..."piece of cake".


I have recently purchased a Pocket Shot with wrist brace attachment (pocket hammer?) along with some of the red replacement "pockets" and 1/2" steel bearings. If ever I get the time, I may see how it compares to the old wrist rockets (which I still own a few of).
 
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Ball bearings? Clay ball shot? I had creek gravel and when we went to deliver papers I always managed to get a handful of nuts off the ground around the mechanics shop. 1/2” nuts are pretty stinkin accurate. I popped a few random birds with mine, but being a kid and living in town where cars went by I never got to hang onto a slingshot for long. I never did damage to the cars that I know of, but I did get good hiding in the carport and leading a car and hitting wheels. It was hell to pay if I ever got a bag of marbles.

Fast forward to my early 20s... my best friend and I graduated college together and moved back to our hometown. We had an apartment that backed up to an old farmhouse with some empty sheds and grain bins, old machinery sitting around. I bought a knockoff wrist rocket and suddenly our little patch of gravel off the back porch got empty. We drank from cans because we could throw them and shoot at them without having to pick up glass.
 
@Snowdog

Those impossible shots are fun to play off if you have enough of a poker face, aren't they.

When i was a kid, I had a tree house that was always infested with wasps. The only hope was to shoot down the small nest from the trap door on the floor while standing on the ladder rungs. I got pretty good knocking down the little 2"x2" paper wasp nest from about 15' away. My impossible shot was nailing a wasp out of the air with a piece if pea gravel. It was hovering around the nest and doing the typical wasp bob. I let loose with my shot and you could hear the mild thump as it hit the wasp perfectly. The pebble hit the inside wall. I never found the body, but it hit her hard enough to knock the wings off her.
 
Watching this post makes me wonder....

How much time did my brothers, my friends and I spend whacking apart bearing cages to get at roller and ball bearings?......

My family had a couple of trucking companies and so; always had a pile of bearings from tractors and trailers.

Sometimes, you'd have to sacrifice a ball/roller or two grinding the cages open but do NOT let the Ol' Man catch you wearing out his grinders on THAT activity!:evil: Also, woe onto him caught pilfering the bolt-bin.

But, being the 70's, METRIC? Please favor everyone by launching that crap into a swamp or forrest.:rofl:

Todd.
 
I don't like the idea of shooting glass or glass marbles. That broken glass rarely gets cleaned up and stays around for someone or some animal to walk over.

I've used steel ballbearings. Years ago a gentleman on a slingshot forum made a neat ball bearing trap out of old carpet hanging like a sheet. He used butcher paper as the paper target. Shoot at the target, ammo hits the carpet behind it and falls straight down to be collected afterwards.
 
Finally found my sling!

I was on a slow 12 hour backshift one night and had some paracord and thought "Hey, I can make a sling with this!"

Works great. I made another one a few weeks later, with a slightly larger pouch. It also worked out well.


Old school simplicity with high tech material. Well done sir.
 
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