The African Godess of Slingbows

[JoergS]

I revisited the sling bow today, inspired by Fish (he made a sling bow a while ago, but posted the video again here in a different thread).

I had a few tasks.

First, I wanted to eliminate all the dead play.

Second, no handslaps.

Third, a conventional bow release had to work.

Fourth, I wanted a quality arrow guide for accuracy.

So I made the "bow" 40 cm long, and the bands are a bit pretensed in unloaded mode. This way, no dead play at all!

Then, I put a Hover arrow rest (kind of a whisker buiscuit) INSIDE of the bow, right in the middle.

The bands can never touch the arrow rest (a big problem with sling bows usually).

Next, I designed the bow arms in a way that the bands are effectively stopped and can not slap on my hand.

I formed the "cable" from some paracord, with a loop for the release (otherwise the angle is so steep that the arrow falls out in full cocked position).

This shoots great! It is the best sling bow I have made so far.

Weight is 550 gramms (1,2 lbs), complete with bands. It looks a bit like an African sculpture, that is the reason for the name.

Too bad is rains so hard that I can't do a video today, hopefully tomorrow will be better. But I have to finish the Scallops video first.

Jörg

 

[jahwarrior]

i noticed the band aids; is that from bow/sling bite? nice work, in any case; i'd love to see a video of it in action.

 

[JoergS]

I cut myself moving some furniture... this time, no slingshot related injuries.

Jörg

 

[PT1911]

Alright... I can admit it.. that is pretty damn cool!!!

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Jörg, I don't recall if you have a chronograph or not, but I'd be interested to know what kind of velocity you get from that.

 

[heron]

Awesome! I'm waiting for the video!

 

[JoergS]

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFTpIlAh6iM

 

[phoglund]

Very nice item. Could be developed into a good survival tool. I enjoyed the video as well, informative.

 

[Gord]

I am now obsessed with slingbows.

 

[seal]

Very nice I would not mind having one of those. How much heavier could you make the pull? 60? Would also be great for some heavy brush shooting

 

[sherman123]

That is just too cool! Very innovative and well crafted. Joerg never fails to deliver!

 

[Ogreon]

By the power invested in me by me, I name thee "King of Sling".

 

[JoergS]

I have now upped the rubber to 55 lbs, also used (lots of) thinner, more tapered rubber. This increases the speed of the 25 gramm (400 grain) arrow to about 200 fps.

I can go higher in draw weight, but I think I would loose accuracy then.

Jörg

 

[rodensouth]

That is nice work! I was surprised how fast it slings an arrow.

 

[Webbj0219]

Thats beautiful, JorgeS. You are a master craftsman. Ill bet you could actually bow hunt with that. Just seeing how deep you imbedded that first practice tip, had to really work it to get it outa there. Then you used the hunting tip and it broke off inside your target. Do they have a bow hunting season in Germany? And, wonder if you could use something like that as a hunting bow? Looks like it would be easier to lug that around in the woods than a conventional bow.

 

[Mp7]

pure awesomeness.

Would it make sense to grind away more of the wood in the upper part,
to make it lighter and less bulky?

Actually a nice survival rig, i you had a quiver made where the slingbow
and like 20 arrows make a compact easy to carry package.

 

[KodiakBeer]

Fascinating!

 

[PTK]

Jörg,

Once again, your unending creativity and craftsmanship has inspired me to take up tools and experiment on arms that I have, on more than one occasion, relegated to a mental category of mere toy, and not the serious arms that they indeed are.

These slingbows in particular have piqued my interest. Zum Spaß!