Wrist-rocket!

[Gifted]

Yesh, that's right. a slingshot. I got one this weekend, very fun. We got a foam archery target to go with a friend's bow. I only shot it once, lost two arrows(I suck at archery). But I used the slingshot a good bit. It would bury the ball bearings a good ways into the foam. I'm not sure how far exactly, but I'm sure full draw would break skin if I shot it at someone.

At any rate, I couldn't hit squat beyond a few yards. I couldn't find a good aiming point, and I don't have a terribly steady hand. These points bring me to the reason for this thread. How do you aim a slingshot? And are there excersises I can do to steady my hand(something that would help with bows and guns too)?

 

[Joe Demko]

What you need to do is practice. A lot. Ideally, with the same kind of ammo every time. With practice, you get a feel for where the projectile will go. It's a lot like bare bow archery in a lot of ways.

Hint: Use a consistent anchor point. Try your chin for starters.

 

[Skofnung]

I used to hold the slingshot in my left hand and draw it with my right. I would tilt the thing slightly to the side to where I was aiming down the left "arm" of the slingshot. Elevation was always my bane, but windage was pretty close every time. As Mr. Demko said, practice is your friend. Ammo was scarce in my neck of the woods... Rocks don't show up alot here in N. Florida.

When I was a kid (9-11 y.o. or so) me and and other boys from the neighborhood would lay on our backs at dusk and try to hit bats on the fly... No one ever bagged one. I'm glad too... My dad would have made us eat it. Hunters ethics and all...

 

[Joe Demko]

You know what a good source of cheap practice ammo is?
Jelly beans. Buy the cheapest ones you can find. You can even use them indoors, to some extent. Though not nearly as destructive to home interiors as ball bearings, they are still hell on windows and such. In any event, they are pretty consistent in weight andyou can shoot a lot of them for cheap. Outdoors, they have the advantage of biodegrading.

 

[sm]

Slingshot you say ?

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97970
[scroll down a bit, I 'm there]

< enter angelic smile here>

 

[goon]

OK, here is how I always did it.
You just more than less face your target with your "stick" side toward it at about a 45 degree angle. Just raise the slingshot until it looks like your are pointing at your target and let it fly.
I used to shoot one like this when I was a kid and I could hit aluminum cans in the air all day long. My brother used to get tired of pitching them for me but damn was I good.
One thing that I have noticed is that I shoot a slingshot by holding it in my right hand and drawing with my left but I shoot a bow by holding with my left hand and drawing with right.
Same thing really but I have to do them that way.
Maybe you are the same way ???

BTW- I used to use most anything for ammo but my two favorites were acorns and green grapes. The green grapes worked really well on my brother since they would sting like hell but not cause any real damage.
I also used to use a pouch full of gravel as a grapeshot load for wasps. They generally didn't like it as much as I did.

 

[Gifted]

I'm kind of funny too. I shoot rifle right-handed, and pistol left-handed. Bows and slings are held with the left, and drawn with the right. I write left-handed, and I'm thinking when I learn knives and swords, I'll be using that hand for them too.

It sounds like I just need to steady my hand, and the rest will take care of itself. Any ideas on how to do that?

 

[zahc]

How do you aim a slingshot?

You don't.

Oh, you can try, but you won't hit anything.

The slingshot is a purely instinctive weapon. The only way to get better is to shoot a lot. In my youth I could achieve remarkable feats with mine.

 

[Hand_Rifle_Guy]

I do it "wrong", believe it or else...

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.

I, uhh...[furtive lookaround]

I shoot mine [wince] "gangsta-style". There, I said it.

Having known a guy who had suffered from essentialy a destroyed retina in one eye as a result of a slingshot rubber failure, I'm REALLY reluctant to line those rubber tension bands up with my vision machines, and I don't always have eyes in the fields when I'm sling-shooting.

Another point is that I tend to favor a higher weight-class of projectile than the normal 1/4"-3/8" BB. The bearings rip along quickly, and they're consistent, but I'm unimpressed with their impact energy, and they fail to penetrate into shrubbery well when I'm harrassing a squirrel up-and-down a tree by cracking pebbles through his neighborhood.

I like smooth creek pebbles, about 3/4" across. They hit hard, you see 'em to track 'em, so as to adjust at long range, and they CARRY. Weight=momentum, and smooth-surfaced river pebbles fished out of a gravel bank are plentiful, consistent enough for good results, and they're plenty fast. They're the greatest for long-range ballistic barrage-fire such as hassling ducks wayyy out in the pond/swamp.

DON"T bounce 'em off yer mounting pillars. Cut rubbers, and ultimately, catapult failure from the front is inevitable. That blanked retina rears it's ugly head in my memory here. [--shudder!]

Hokay, technique specifics. Brace is on the right hand/wrist, canted 90 degrees to the left and extended almost straight out in front. Left hand holds a pinch-grip on the pouch, and pulls back alongside my ribcage or hip, about. Right-hand is extended slightly to the left, across my body so that the rubbers are pointed straight out.

Left/right alignment is guaged by looking out over the extended rubber, this actually works easily. Elevation is guaged by checking paralell-ness of the draw to my sightline, plus a little overage for slow trajectory. Awkward as this sounds, it's surprisingly easy to figure out with just a few shots so long as you can track your ammo in-flight! Feedback is immediate, and with plentiful ammo, you can practice as much as you like.

Granted, the rocks are moving slower than the BB's, but they weigh 4-5 times as much, and they don't slow down to any appreciable degree unless your shooting at extreme range, i.e barrage fire. Slower speed allows for better visual tracking and feedback, also.

I'd never much messed with wrist-rockets or slingshots until just recently. Always got a bit nervous about drawing those thick rubber whips up by my eye, you see. Then my buddy turns up with a couple of slingshots he rooted up outta his garage, and we go to Big 5 for new rubber. He then drags me out to pester squirrels at the park despite my reluctance, and LO! He reveals this shooting technique to me.

Wonder of wonders, hey, this is EASY! And NOWHERE NEAR my eyes! He likes to shoot BB's, which cost cash, but I much prefer the creek ammo which is abundant and free, and in one afternoon I could reliably nail the streetlights along the bike-path at 40-50 feet, most times. (Snap!-whzzzCLANG!...uh, oops. )

It's a great technique for us wimps afraid to lose our eyesight. The only caveat is to make sure you're not mis-aligned with your right/strong hand when you're at full-extension right before you fire. It's easy to twist the catapult, which makes for pillar hits. Just adjust your grip position so the the bands 're coming straight back off of their posts bfore releasing. Better accuracy, too.

In flight tracking works for guns, too. The day I saw the backs of .38 Specials going downrange at 100 yards, I immediately quit trying to plunk bullets into water jugs at full range, and started to try to loft bullets through a tiny little "hole" in the air at the top of the bullet's arc, about 1/2-way between me and my targets. When I got 'em through the hole correctly, I scored hit. But aI wasn't looking at the targets beyond checking the alignment of the "hole" I was trying to shoot through. With immediate tracking info close at hand, I was able to dial in on the target much easier than I did just shooting off of a rest with a sharply focused front sight and a blurry dirtbank.

I guess that's what tracers are all about, right on the face of it. I wanna fool with summa those sometime...

 

[Lt. G]

I have always liked slingshots. I've nevere used a Wrist rocket, looks like it would do double duty , as a fun target "shooter" and as a weapon.

Hey Skofnung, Yall got Chinaberry trees up there in North Fl. Here in Central Fl. , they were an endless supply of ammo. The famous CHINABERRY WARS of Central Florida. Many a welt were raised and many a head knotted!!!

 

[Flashpoint]

It's been a long time since I shot a slingshot. Haven't really messed with them since my canoe turned over. That was the last time I saw my slingshot .

My ammo of choice was marbles.

 

[tex_n_cal]

ahhh...my short happy experimentation with slingshots....

For some reason (probably my dad's intelligence) I never had a slingshot as boy. One day I'm in my mid '30's wandering through a gun shop and realize that a wrist rocket would be great for scaring deer who kept eating my friend's roses. I was renting a room from friends at the time, at a hillside home in Oakland, CA.

A few nights after my acquisition I come home late one night, the friends are outa town, the dogs are barking behind the house, and the smell of skunk spray fills the air. I go out back and Peabody the spaniel is about three feet from a skunk, barking while the skunk continues to spray him. Scarlett The Rottweiler, having some degree of intelligence, is hiding under the deck.

I run up to grab the spaniel when he turns around, sees me about to grab him, wags his tail - you can see the look in his eyes, "..oh boy, reinforcements! Let's attack!" turns and pounces on the skunk, who turns and bites his face. Dog and skunk tumble down the hill, while I stand there in disbelief, saying, "you stupid dog". I am tempted to go back in the house.

As I walk down I see the dog is chomping the skunk's middle, while the skunk is doing his best to bite out Peabody's eyes. Not wanting rabies shots, and having neighbors too close to use a Colt, I needed a quiet weapon of distance to break up this fight to the death. The closest one handy was my slingshot. A shot at close range made the skunk let go, which in turn made the dog let go. I grabbed the dog, tied him up, and had him shake and cover me with skunk spray and dog blood. I euthanized the skunk, cleaned up the dog's wounds (he was lucky, no eye injury) and took a shower with cajun barbeque sauce.

Episode number two occured when a friend's cat was badly chewed up by a neighbor's cat. My friends wanted this neighborhood bully to stay out of their yard, so I mentioned my slingshot and they thought that was a great tool to use on the animal. By this point I had graduated to .433 lead round balls, which packed way more punch than ball bearings. I was demo'ing the slingshot one day in their back yard, lined up on an empty planter pot, and drilled a lead ball completely through it. The husband said "yes!" and his wife said "no!No!NO!". I left the wristrocket with them, never did hear if they ever fired it at the cat.

If you get a slingshot, wear eye protection, the rubber can break and pop you in the face. My sling had a adjustable post sight on it, which made aiming similar to a modern bow. They are great fun.

Now that I have pesky geese wandering around in my yard, I wonder what sorta slings I can find online?

 

[Piney]

I'm over 60 and I still shoot a wrist rocket. I use marbels and I shoot deer. Yup, can't tell you how many I've nailed in my garden or munching on my landscaping. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than whacking a deer in the butt as he's chewing on a $200 plant of mine. They usualy jump stright up in the air and head for a neighbors place at about 30mph.

 

[Dirty Bob]

Your goal is CONSISTENCY

If you want to be accurate with a bow or a wrist rocket or a pistol, practice shooting it exactly the same way every time. Find a good anchor point for your right hand at full draw. With a bow, I tuck the joint of my thumb under my cheekbone. With a slingshot, you could anchor with your thumb at the base of your sternum, or some other comfortable place that's well away from your eyes.

Aim by learning where your left hand or the bow handle or arrow tip or slingshot arm should be in relation to the target.

That, and lots of practice, was the key in my case. If you draw and shoot the same way every time, it becomes mainly a matter of learning where to aim.

Have fun!

Dirty Bob

 

[unreal45]

I remember having wrist-rocket wars with my brothers using grapes.
We also used wet cloth rolled into balls. It stung like heck!
I miss the good old days.

 

[Skofnung]

Hey Skofnung, Yall got Chinaberry trees up there in North Fl. Here in Central Fl. , they were an endless supply of ammo. The famous CHINABERRY WARS of Central Florida. Many a welt were raised and many a head knotted!!!

I've never seen a Chinaberry tree anywhere near Tallahassee. Now over in Jacksonville, where my Father was from, there are tons of them.

He told me they used to make "pop guns" to shoot the chinaberries. The pop guns were just tube and plunger type things that would fit an average sized chinaberry. He said that he and his brothers got into MAJOR trouble with those things on several occasions.

The ammo I used for my slingshot was a combination of broken up oyster shells, store bought landscaping rocks, marbles, and lead buckshot or round balls that I purloined from my father's blackpowder or reloading stuff.

 

[reagansquad]

When I was a kid, I was a slingshot ACE from about 30 yards. Few people know that the aiming point is the left 'stickey uppy part' when held in the left hand and pulled with the right. It takes a little practice to figure out where on the left 'sticky uppy thing' to use as your sight, but I always found that a good spot on my wrist rocket for shooting a popcan from all the way across my grandparents property was where the rubber meets the metal. I could hit a 1' x 1' sack of clothespins at 30+ yards 95% of the time.

 

[Bravo11]

I bought a wrist rocket a couple of years ago to take care of the rabbits that were eating my plants. I used 3/8" steely balls and started at it. At first I missed all the time, out of range. I realized I could actually get closer to the rabbits and shoot. One day I got fairly close and let go a round, it hit the rabbit square in the mid section, made a thump sound and the rabbit just hopped away. I put the wrist rocket away. Graduated to a BB gun.

 

[Little Loudmouth]

I have a Marksman slingshot with a Daisy band. It's really cool when you shoot thin Styrofoam with big rocks. Boom! (insert vision of flying Styro splinters here).

Marbles are good ammo too.

 

[George Hill]

Kept on in my ruck sack when I was in the Army. Pulling OPFOR missions it was quite handy. I could keep a whole platoon occupied and freaked out with one.
Zip off a shot into the brush to the north of the "Good guys", then another to the south of them... They'd freak... "We're surrounded!"
Lots of fun launching glow sticks too.