I was reading about survival slingshots online. I have never encountered one, and I was wondering if anyone here has. Are these slingshots useful? Is it worth buying one to try out?
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I was reading about survival slingshots online. I have never encountered one, and I was wondering if anyone here has. Are these slingshots useful? Is it worth buying one to try out?
Yes, yes, YES!!!
Here is an all-you-wanna-know-about-hunting-with-a-slingshot kind of blog: http://www.slingshot-hunting.com/sli...effectiveness/
I love my slingshots, and have had years of fun playing with them. As a result, my aim is very accurate. Although I have not killed small game with it yet, I know I could if I had to. One thing that I have enjoyed doing is practicing with different shaped rocks, and learning how they fly.
If you shoot from far enough distance, you can use it to repel the neighbor's dogs that wander onto the property. I have used it for that purpose, and they DON'T come back. One lil' rock can save a lot of hassle.
You don't need to spend a bunch of money to get a good wrist-rocket/slingshot. A friend made his own and is deadly with it.
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We have not had a slingshot thread in some time.
Slingshot threads always make me feel like I am on a British forum. They are great users of and believers in the slingshot, or as they call them "catapults", endowing them with almost miraculous powers. Mostly because many of them are convinced they can not have a firearm. Most can, but do not exercise the option.
Anyway, here's another concept to add to the variations in design.
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-...Arrow-ShooTer/
I spent many hours shooting critters with slingshots as a kid. Mostly lizards on tree trunks and walls but a few small birds and mice. Best to have your knife handy to finish them off fast. If you get very good at it you can take a cottontail rabbit with a wrist rocket (what we called them).
It takes a LOT of practice, I don't think ball bearings or sharp rocks are really necessary, just a smooth pebble will do. Also effective at waking up sleeping squirrel high in the trees so you can get a shot at them with your .22, sometimes I know they are there might even see their bushy tail but they remain protected behind the branch.
Get a slingshot and have fun, also try rigging up a simple device to fire crossbow bolts with surgical tubing or a mod to a slingshot for this. Warning this may be illegal on public land and always requires a hunting license unless you are just on rural private property doing target practice. That should be obvious and common sense to anyone with a fully functional brain but a few folks here have forced me to add these disclaimers.
Edit: I saw some DIY small crossbow like devices made with latex tubing (surgical tubing from H.W. store) that look like a kid could accidentally put a hole in someones eye or heart with, i.e very dangerous. On youtube.
Better are just simple wrist supported sling shots. I learned to make these with the "Y" branch of a tree, tubing, some cord (inner from 550 paracord), and a bit of leather or polyester webbing strap to hold the projectile, and for bracing on your wrist. Does not require a youtube video it is obvious. Also require a knife or blade to construct.
So basically it's more for fun then for hunting?
My limited experience is that even a fairly round pebble or round metal ammo like ball bearing or similar tends to spin off to one side or the other. I.e. like "fliers" when shooting a group from a firearm. Therefore even at close range you need to compensate for each shot going slightly to the side (aka windage), as well as the drop and if using ammo that is not all standardized it will vary from shot to shot.
So many people around the world still do hunt small animals with various types of slingshots but it is challenging. At close range a 14-24" long pistol grip "bolt" shooter made with surgical tubing is more accurate. The bolts or small arrows at least have fletching/feathers to help them go straighter and spin axially. Also this is much shorter and easier to carry than a 8-10 foot blow gun (aka blowpipe). Be sure to check if this is legal where you plan to use it. Blowgun/pipe darts fall from trees and put out people's eyes occasionally so always wear eye protection and a good hat is also wise, same with small bolts or arrows, I like bright colors for fletching and cotton on darts for this reason. Can spray paint steel ammo for slingshot if you buy that, easier to find and reuse.
A simple slingshot costs less than $10 on eBay but if you buy it locally you can make sure it fits you and not a small child.
Like anything else...practice, practice, practice....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0
Apparently both.Quote:
Originally Posted by Adventure Wolf
Lots of info at this link. Contains a series of well-written articles that answered a lot of questions I had.
http://www.slingshot-hunting.com/blog/ (recipes included)
(Click onto the images to enlarge them. All were hunted with slingshots.)
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A nice alternative to the long blowpipe would be a shorter (3 1/2 - 4 ft) blowgun. Mine is made of local rivercane and I use traditional thistle down for the "fletching." But I cheat on the projectile and use bamboo skewers. Although it is less than four feet long, it is very accurate and MUCH easier to tote around than the traditional long pipe. Google "Cherokee blowgun - thistle down fletching" .Quote:
Originally Posted by TXyakr
they're pretty inexpensive, even for good ones. Get one and start playing
I have killed pigeons and squirrels with a sling shot. Using ball bearings and rocks both. In the refinery where I worked we used ceramic balls for "Support" in various different vessels as part of the process for making gasoline. We had "supersacs" full of them. most of them ran right at 7/16th of an inch and make awesome slingshot ammo.
I like a blow gun better than I do a slingshot and I have made several using cane "out in the woods" that were quite useful/effective. About the only time I have ever seen much value in "batoning" wood is when I split out my dart shafts from a chunk of Bois D'Ark.
When the opportunity presents, I use taconite pellets in my slingshots.
Phreshayer (sp?) Has a video on his slingshot and some tips he has picked up.
I built some slingshots like those in the photo , patterned off a kestrel. I made them from solid G10 and sold them for 100 bucks each as fast as I could produce them. I still have one I keep in the truck, it runs tubes and the others ran bands. Even made some from fig 8 carabineers. The last one I was making and hunting with were called pickle fork shooters. I made them from sctap titanium I had laying around in the shop but also made them from g10. All of the PS were flat band powered and all of them could easily kill small animals. The tube bands could easily kill fox and yote sized animals at 20 yards but they are drawing pretty high poundage's.
A friend of mine has a video of his slingshot in action as he shoot a can for 20 yards in rapid fire. Kyle is very good and runs Adirondack catapults.
Oh the tubes we ran are not the tubes like you see in wal-mart on slighshots. these are very small tubes ran in double , triples and quads on each side.
Get a gool ol' fashioned Wrist Rocket with a folding arm support. They'll shoot anything from bearings to rocks. Cheap to buy, easy to use, but the surgical tubing has a 3 year shelf life.
Consider making a rock slinger. easy to make, they look like an eyepatch that you tie to your pinky. Easy to master, great range, and great shelf life.
I was about to suggest a rock slinger myself, Allot of people don't give them as much merit but considering you're supposed to use heavier ammo in them opposed to a sling they can do quite a bit of damage.
Usually anything an Oz in weight or "golf ball sized" will do and with a properly measured sling with the practice behind it they can become quite the deadly little device.