More Favorite Slingshots

My newest slingshot above with Chinese 2040 tubes.
This picture was made while on a recent deer hunt.

In the last post I wrote of my progression from wrist braced slingshots (wrist-rockets) to more traditional slingshots, and included a little modification to my Trumark S9 slingshot.  

The slingshots I'd used to this point were available in local stores.   There is a wide assortment of slingshots, bands, tubes, pouches... more often produced in small numbers and sold by individuals on the web. Some of them are made from man made materials and some from wood.  Some are works of art, but I went with a more practical model.

• Most of the slingshots in this group use large flat latex bands.
• Some can use common office bands, Chinese tubes, or most any elastics.
• The bands, tubes, and pouches can be attached in different ways.
• These bands or tubes are most often hand cut and hand assembled.
• There are many flat latex rubber compounds with each having some different virtues. 
• The flat latex can be straight cut or tapered in different ways for longer life, speed, power...
• The small office bands are sometimes used chained together in various ways.
• The larger office bands are sometimes doubled or even tripled for more energy.
• The Chinese tubes come in several different diameters and wall thicknesses. 
• The Chinese tubes can also be single, doubled, or tripled for easy pull or more energy.

There's almost no end to the slingshot setups in this group.  Some shooters want all the speed and power possible.  Some want the longest band life or an easy pull.  Many including myself are looking for a good combination of speed, power, band life, and easy pull.

BTW this is as good a place as any to explain that harder pulling bands do not necessarily offer more power or speed. Some materials snap back or retract faster than others and that along with the ammo's size and weight is what gives more speed and power.

SimpleShot Maxim Champ Polymer Slingshot is the big name of my tiny new slingshot.

This is a very versatile little slingshot.  I can use flat bands, office bands, Chinese tubes, or even the larger commercial Trumark, Daisy, Barnett... tubes.

In this picture the Champ has double looped office file bands, but I seldom use it that way. With any looped tubes or bands you simply snap/pull them in the fork slots.  Changing or replacing the tubes is super fast, easy, and simple.

The office file bands are dirt cheap, fairly easy to find (Walmart), and shoot 1/4 inch steel ammo with moderate speed when double looped. But with four small bands on each fork they tend to get tangled up after a shot.  The small yellow rubber bands around the forks helped some, but did not stop the tangling.

I also enjoy plinking with tiny BB's and only one of the same looped office file bands per fork.  They are only good for practice, but super easy to pull, fair speed with a tiny BB, don't get tangled too much, and I can shoot all day for pennies.

For most shooting and maybe for hunting I'm trying the double 2040 Chinese tubes in the picture at the top of the page.  The 2040 tubes have good speed/impact with 3/8 steel ammo I've tried, a reasonably easy pull, and are said to have good life.

What I like about this slingshot:

• The tiny size and simple flat shape fits very easily in a back pocket.
• Simple, tough, material! I don't worry about scratching, breaking...
• It can use almost any band and style of band attachment; I can experiment.
• The looped office bands and Chinese tubes take half-a-second to change or replace.
• I can buy the Chinese tubes and pouches and easily make my own for less money.
• Office bands are fun, available in many places, and dirt cheap.
• A good size package of the file bands at Walmart was less than $4.00 if I remember correctly.  

What I don't like is that while most of my shots are accurate I'm also making some wild shots especially with the Chinese looped tubes. I very rarely had wild shots before.

Both the slingshot and the pouch are smaller than I've used before. While I like the small size and it feels good in my hand I've got to figure this out.  I think it's the pouch hold, but I'm not sure.

• I could be letting the pouch go at an angle for some shots.  
• I could be holding the slingshot at a different angle for some shots.
• The slingshot could be moving in my grip for some shots.

If you're an experienced shooter maybe you can offer me some suggestions.

I don't care about having a lanyard so  I added a couple of tiny magnets to the lanyard hole.  The magnets allow me to easily pickup steel ammo or to keep a ball handy on each side.  If you'd like to know more about how I did it, leave a comment below and I'll make a short post about it.