Shooting a Slingshot

In the last two post I discussed some favorite slingshots and my transition from a novice with a wrist rocket to an advanced shooter (didn't say expert) with a more traditional slingshot.  

What I didn't talk much about is, SHOOTING! 

There are always exceptions, but:

• It's usually easy to identify a new shooter:
• He may hold his slingshot with the handle.
• He may hold his slingshot vertical.
• He may be looking between the forks at his target. 
• He may shoot a wrist rocket or gadgety slingshot of some type.
• More advanced shooters:
• May hold a slingshot with the hand higher and fingers wrapped around the forks.
• Often tilt/cant the slingshot 45-90 degrees.
• May aim down the bands/tubes or not appear to aim.
• Often shoot with a more basic Y shaped slingshot and no gadgets. (It could be custom made to fit their hand, a work of art, but still a simple slingshot at heart.)

When a new shooter I found:

• A wrist brace helped me steady and shoot more consistently.
• Thousands of shots reduced the need for the brace.
• The brace became a gadget which only added bulk and got in the way of my shooting.
• I was comfortable tilting/canting my slingshot around 45 degrees and shooting much like I do with my recurve bow.  
• My line-of-sight was my slingshot hand's relationship to the target. 
• I shot quickly and made some amazing shots.
• I was not consistent and often missed easy shots.

As we advance at anything we learn the little, but important, nuances about what we are doing. 

The picture below shows how experienced slingshot shooters sometimes grip their slingshots and hold them at 90 degrees rather than vertical.  

BUT! It was difficult to take the picture and hold the slingshot at the same time. The tubes/bands should be coming straight back under the eye and be lined up one over the other where you can only see the top tube.

This particular grip is all the way up on the forks.  Some slingshot designs lend themselves to a slightly lower grip than what is shown below.

For me:

• Tilting the slingshot to about 90 degrees allows me to look down/over the bands like an arrow.
• When lined up correctly I only see the top band.  The other band is directly under it.
• This gives me a good line-of-sight to aim over.
• Better points to line up to be more consistent.
• Slow aimed shots with fairly good results.
• Shooting this way has tightened my groups and improved consistency.
• I seldom have a 'big' miss anymore.
• With thousands of shots I can now shoot quickly.
• I can shoot fairly instinctively but also have the reference line-of-sight.

I'd like to say this method of shooting has made me a great shot, but actually I'm only a pretty good shot.  I make some amazing shots, but I still miss some easy shots.  My best shots come when I don't think too much and the shot just seems to flow naturally.  

When I'm not shooting well, or a shot doesn't feel right, I sometimes go back to the basics and aim down the tubes releasing when the target seems lined up. That's not how I like to shoot or make my very best shots, but it's available when I need it.