Slingshots anyone ?

[joe52853]

Does anyone else shoot slingshots?Here are 3 of my homemade shooters with theraband gold exercise band material that I cut myself.They pack a lot more power than commercial slingshots.Using lead balls I have taken squirrels with them.

[Erich]

No, haven't made any slingshots - yet. I've got some dead/dying exercise bands around the house - never thought of this usage. Thanks!

You're familiar with "The Slingshot Channel" on YouTube, of course. I need to look there for some inspiration - thank you for the idea.

[Trooperdan]

Let me know if you get as good as this guy!

Carolina Camera: The Sling Shot Man - YouTube

[tork'd]

2 wrist rockets with surgical tubing down in the storage garage with lead balls.
keep trying to hit one of the crows out of tree thats seems to love our siding

[pownal55]

As a kid we made them using a cheese cutter frame with two 1/4 inch wide rubber bands on each side and leather pouch. Number 4 buckshot pellet accounted for many squirrel kills.

[arjay]

Years ago a group of us were sitting in a notch on a cliff up near red rocks.One fellow had a new wrist rocket.A bird flew by and he drilled it!
Some time later,the same guy,his brother and I were somewhere up there fly fishing.This time he has a new single six.The brother heads upstream while Mark tries to convince a nice 20 inch rainbow to bite.It's not interested.After 30 minutes of this,he pulls out the Ruger and shoots the fish! These are the guys that got me started hunting,fishing and shooting lol.

[Jst1mr]

Grew up with one type or another of slingshot with me at most times. Lived on a river, so there was always an abundance of targets floating by. Piled up quite a bit of game with my wrist rocket when I got that sophisticated, despite mostly shooting ill-flying, odd shaped rocks. Slingshot wars were common in the neighborhood when crabapples were available (ouch!) - and who can forget when that tubing would slip off the fork at full draw and slap you silly? It usually took a bit of spit to get it back on, but you had to make sure it dried before trying again!

[Rule3]

A lot as a kid. You inspired me again, I am gonna get another wrist rocket.! We never went anywhere without them,

Of course even though I am in the suburbs it's the City Limits so it's illegal, treated the same as a bow or a gun

[BlackAgnes]

Wrist Rockets are illegal in New York State.

Big surprise...

[Erich]

A bird flew by and he drilled it!

My brother did this when we were kids - blew its head off in flight. We were all pretty amazed, as none of us had realized how good Mike had gotten.

[relic]

I ws a kid during WWII times and all the good rubber went to defense needs. The auto/truck inner tubes were made of a compound that was no good for slingshots. Later in life the medical tube slingshot gave me a chance to relive old dreams of slaying critters with a pebble. That reprise opportunity happened when I could also teach my son some skills. Thanks for rekindling some good memories.

[oberon]

I had slingshots as a kid, and there is a wrist rocket down in my shop.
I tried to become good with a sling, but never quite understood the dynamics. I could launch a rock quite a ways with it though. I still do not know how David slew Goliath with the damned thing.

[Marshwheeling]

I picked up a cool looking slingshot a few years ago in a sporting goods store. It came with some steel pellets, had a wrist support made of thick wire, and used surgical tubing. I thought it would be a lot of fun with all the rabbits and squirrels in my yard. I parked it on a bookshelf where it gathered dust for about six years. Last time I looked, the rubber tubing has pretty much rotted away. What little there was left was dry and crumbling.

I guess the nostalgic lure of the slingshot was not as great as I thought.

[DeathGrip]

I still have my Wham-0 from the late sixties. I've replaced the tubing countless times. It sits next to my door along with an assortment of ball bearings and marbles. I'm pretty good with it.

[arjay]

We would make very small slingshots from large bobby pins and a rubber band. Ammo was a spit wad the size of number six shot that we let harden in our desks.Our 4th grade teacher didn't approve. ;-)

[buck460XVR]

As a kid, when I finally reached the age of prime BB gun usage, one of the local kids lost a eye in a BB gun fight. The adults in the small town I lived in reacted in the same way folks are reacting now. They blamed the guns and took them away from us kids. The days of shootin' pigeons in the barn and minnows in the creek were done....until we learned to make slingshots. It became a competition to see who could be the best shot and who could make the most powerful. Instead of being peppered with BBs. those tin roofs on the silos now fell prey to roadside gravel. The neighbors garage siding behind his bird feeder now had ragged and irregular shapes pounded into it instead of perfect little holes. We had learned not to shoot at each other......

[tops]

When I was a kid after the War it was still possible to find old inner tubes that were made out of real rubber. They were either red or brown. We would use a dogwood tree fork, an old shoe tongue, cut the tube in strips and tie it with the string from feed sacks. Round river rocks made good bullets but we couldn't get enough of them so we mostly just shot what we could find. I haven't hit much with one but I have caused many rocks to get airborne. Larry

[Kinman]

I have had a history with slingshots going back to my kid days. I remember coming back from the fields with my handmade wooden slingshot in my back pocket, there was a male robin standing on a fence post. I pulled the slingshot out, always had a nice round stone in my pocket, loaded the slingshot, went to full draw, aimed right at the breast of the robin and let fly. The robin was knocked clean of the fence post and lay as if dead. I walked up, kneeled down and can remember to this day the sorrow I felt for the innocent bird and why did I have to do this awful thing to such a pretty bird. To my utter amazement he blinked his eyes, looked around very startled and quickly hopped away, later to fly off into the trees. I learned a valuable lesson that day that stuck to me through my life, never shoot at anything that doesn't present a clear and present danger or isn't intended to be eaten.
I've changed my tune a little and have used a more modern and highly accurate aluminum framed "flipper crutch" to motivate stray animals off my property.

[arjay]

Shoveled snow and mowed lawns as a kid.Got my first regular job as a paperboy at 12.Saved my money and bought a BB gun and a used homemade mini bike.That's when I learned gainful employment just leads to trouble!

[MH8675309]

can remember to this day the sorrow I felt for the innocent bird

Had the same thing happen with a mourning dove once and it has stayed with me also. My slingshot was made of a crotch from a lilac bush. The bands were made from strips of old inner tube that were tied onto carved out grooves with kite string. Thery were cheap and worked pretty good.

[rwsmith]

Slingshots are as serious as you want them to be.

[pownal55]

Originally Posted by DeathGrip

I still have my Wham-0 from the late sixties. I've replaced the tubing countless times. It sits next to my door along with an assortment of ball bearings and marbles. I'm pretty good with it.

Remind people to knock before they come in.

[jrm53]

I, like poster MH8675309, still remember the beautiful blue bird I killed with a single shot bb gun when I was in about the third grade. We made bean flips like the one on the right of the first post, used inner tubes and the leather patch off your jeans or the tongue of a shoe for the pouch, I never hurt any thing these. Jeff

[Mule Packer]

I still remember the story my old Scoutmaster told me about a guy he knew in WWII who was very proficient with a slingshot. Very proficient.

Apparently, this ol' country boy always carried his slingshot while on sentry duty. When he'd hear a noise, he'd zip a ball bearing in that direction. If he heard cussing in English, he'd apologize. If he heard cussing in German, he opened up with his machine gun.

[DeathGrip]

Originally Posted by pownal55

Remind people to knock before they come in.

Woof woof. The sling shot is for critters and such. You gotta get past the puppy. I back this guy up with something a little hotter.

My Giant Schnauzer and his little sister the sheepdog. Old picture,

[ChuckS1]

I remember blasting the heck out of toy soldiers and GI Joes with my home made slingshots when I was a kid.

[doublesharp]

you talkin bout gumflippers?

[rwsmith]

Once I made a 'David and Goliath' type slingshot out of an old catchers mitt which made the pocket and had all of the rawhide strings. I was amazed with the force I could sling a rock with.