Slingshot: Back to Dennis the Menace days

[alameinite]

Hi all
I used to be a real fan of slingshots in my childhood and used to have one low power catty or gulel which could accurately dispose off bottles and bulbs at 30-40 m. Now a barnett slingshot i saw online brought back childhood memories and I am back to basics of making slingshots. Here's the groundwork I've done for my slingshots. For ammo, I've selected marbels and ball bearings, for band,I'll pick up surgical rubber bands. For the bands, any better and durable suggestions are more than welcome plese. Here's the pic of the slingshot frames I made/cutout yesterday.

[brihacharan]

Oh Yes!
Catapults do bring back those delightful childhood days....plinking at soda bottles & cans
Surgical tubes are really good & using either glass marbles or ball bearings are ideal, as they travel effectively up to 40 / 50 yds!

If you get your local carpenter to make one as per above design...it surely fits the bill, especially the handle for a good grip.
Briha

[alameinite]

Roger Briha sir. Actually I have a maroon colour rubber which I'd picked up from Nepal last year. Its one of the best rubbers for a catapult, even better than surgical rubbers, but I dont know its terminology or common name and not able to find it in India.

[Mack The Knife]

Cattys are jolly good fun. As are darts.

Problem is finding enough like minded blighters, young or old, to play with. Barring the odd exception, the current crop of urban brats don't even know how to use one.

[TwoRivers]

Lilac and catalpa provided the best and most symmetric forks, though the latter wood was not as strong. In those days I was always on the lookout for symmetrical tree forks of the right size. My pockets were extended and re-enforced to hold a supply of stones. Rubber strips cut from truck inner tubes, though natural rubber was far better than the later synthetic (black) ones. Harvested many a sparrow for my hawks when I could not fly them.

[Mack The Knife]

Almost any fruit or nut bearing hardwood tree should serve the purpose. There are a few exceptions that I read about but cannot recall.

You need to make one up for old times sake and do a Rufus Hussey for us. Dungarees and all.

[Mack The Knife]

Two more. Got the Barnett Black Widow from a friend and modified it into a slingbow. Works well but lighter arrows with smaller fletching will fly a lot faster. The other one (Chalice) is a gift for a friend who used to be the catty champ of his village.

[Mack The Knife]

Received this in the afternoon.

[alameinite]

Received this in the afternoon.

Awesome,fantabulous collection sir. On my recent trip to Nagaland and rest of the East,I was amazed at the ease with which 5-6 year olds shoot down fruits with their catapults.

Added in 6 minutes 22 seconds:
Sir,the band in the ones you use look like golden therabands. I prefer maroon coloured chinese catapult bands that have awesome elasticity and generate great power. Where do you get these designs from?

[Commonwealth_of_PA]

I used to use marbles. Worked well!

We also used them to launch firecrackers. There was a firecracker that looked like an M80 but really wasn't that powerful. Since it was larger than the tiny ones it would fly about 50 meters and we shot them at our neighbors

Talk about Dennis the MENANCE!!!

[Mack The Knife]

Awesome,fantabulous collection sir. On my recent trip to Nagaland and rest of the East,I was amazed at the ease with which 5-6 year olds shoot down fruits with their catapults.
Added in 6 minutes 22 seconds:
Sir,the band in the ones you use look like golden therabands. I prefer maroon coloured chinese catapult bands that have awesome elasticity and generate great power. Where do you get these designs from?

Yes, that is Thera Band Gold. Haven't tried the Chinese bands as yet. I did try a light green band on a friend's catty (now in my collection ) that had light green bands by the name of Tyra Bands. Worked quite well and apparently available in Bangalore. If there is a Gold's Gym local to you, you could try their bands as well.

The Barnetts are from U.K., the first pair of wooden ones, along with the bufallo horn one are from Thailand, the remaining wooden ones were made here and the remaining cattys in black HDPE and Ballistic Resin are from Simple-Shot and Pocket Predator in the U.S..

If you finished making those cattys you posted about in August, I'd like to see them.

[jatindra Singh Deo]

There used to be sellers in the village weekly market who used to sell catapult rubber along with fishing lines and stuff .There were various shapes and sizes on offer ,triangular and the half circle were the best.I used to like the triangular rubber .The guava orchard served for the V shaped catapult base which went through a series of cosmetic changes and took days to get into perfect shape .We used marbles as well as marble shaped hand made clay projectiles .Sigh !!

Sent from my Lenovo P1a42 using Tapatalk

[Mack The Knife]

Don't sigh, make one or a few.

They are excellent time pass to make and play with. As a bonus, it irritates the smelly stuff out of some of the snooty powder burners on here.

[essdee1972]

I stick to my point.... Mack the Knife should be changed to Mack the Everything Under the Sun!

Mack, that arrow shooting attachment looks DIY. If so, can you enlighten us as to how to make it?

[Mack The Knife]

I stick to my point.... Mack the Knife should be changed to Mack the Everything Under the Sun!

Most kind, old chap but you really wouldn't want me to fix your computer or smart phone. And that's just one of the several things I do not do well.

Mack, that arrow shooting attachment looks DIY. If so, can you enlighten us as to how to make it?

Gladly!

Take one curtain ring or steel split ring from a keychain or any ruddy circular thingy. If it's a curtain ring, cut off the hook. No need to cut a slot if you only want to play with field points. Then attach it to the forks with rubber bands or zipties, etc. and ensure the ring is centred. The ring will support the arrow shaft.

At the pouch end, you can either do nothing and hold the arrow in the pouch and use or you could run a paracord through the holes, at the two ends of the pouch, and tie the tag ends with a knot. Nock the arrow and pull back the cord and release.

The arrow nock can be replaced with a screw with head slightly larger than the shaft diameter or golf tees for better purchase when pulling back the arrow using the first technique.

You don't need a Barnett to make a slingbow. A Y-fork from a tree will work just as well. However, a wrist brace does help if the bands/tubes have a lot of resistance.

By the way, when you don't want to use arrows, move the ring down or remove it and use the usual catty ammo. Have fun!