Slingshots are incredibly fun. I never leave the urban jungle without one. When I was a kid, my dad found an old wrist rocket in a house he tore down. That slingshot entertained me every summer from the time I was 8 until I was 12 or 13.
I would gather the best pieces of pea gravel out of the creek and used an orphan socket as an ammo pouch. I got to where I could shoot down a small paper wasp nest (about 2" wide) in our barn with ease. Soda cans were child's play and were ragged ruin when I was finished with them.
I just got back into them in the last couple of years, and man it's like riding a bike. Perishable skill, sure, but not as bad as I was thinking after a 25 year hiatus. I like to shoot the 3"×3" wind paddle that actuates the wind chime in our backyard. I can hit it consistently from about 20 yards instinctively. It gives a nice ring like shooting steel and doesn't damage anything as I use hard clay eco friendly ammo.
I would never ever consider a sling shot a viable self defense weapon of serious consideration. However, I am willing to say that if I met a ruffian on the trail with nothing more than my sling shot and a .45 caliber piece of steel, i wouldn't consider myself well armed...but the other guy will NOT like what happens to him. He may not know it yet, but it's not going to be a good day.
I keep my slingshot in my hiking vest with about 50 rounds of clay ammo. It takes up almost no room and the yolks is made of polymer and virtually indestructible. Fun for plinking and the .45 call ball ammo would put out the lights of small game in short order. I think even the clay shot would ladle a squirrel pretty easily, at least get it on my level enough to finish it off.
