I have a few things to discuss about slingshots but lets start with this u-tube film

Has any of you seen it ?
Can it be true ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0

Not sure about the guy but yes, a slingshot is an accurate and powerful weapon in skilled hands. A decent modern slingshot will shoot a metal bullet (ball bearing etc.) with lethal force to at least a few dozen yards. Same for a glass marble. Small stones are somewhat less effective and not so accurate.

Neat Video!

Does anyone know how long the slingshot's rubber lasts?

Do some bands last longer than others?

-NIM

I doubt that man has any trouble with folks stealing a few ears of corn for the dinner table very often... At least not the same folks twice. Question I have is how does that corn get put to use. Is it as a solid or a liquid?

On the whole, it seems like a usable skill that would take a lot of refinement and practice. I always wound up hitting the back of my hand holding the "stick" part.

As with any good tool, the more you use, the better you get, within limitations of course.

Slingshots aren't bad for close up work, but just like a smoothbore musket, you can't stabilize the projectile, and most of my stones usually peeled off to the left of target out past twenty or thirty yards. I liked using white marbles most of all cuz they worked like tracers and gave good feedback on how well your aim and dope was. Usually I could tag the can at 10 paces after three shots.

The ones grandad used to make for me out of plywood and inner tube rubber weren't powerful enough to do much. Nowadays they have wristrockets with rubber tubing that'll turn a cat inside out with a 45 cal lead ball at 15 paces. How long the rubber lasts varies greatly, from a few weeks to a couple years, depending on use, environment, care, etc. The biggest practical slingshots I've seen were made from multiple strands of great lengths of rubber tube attached to stationary frames with buckets as the well and were used to launch water balloons at nearby frat houses during the frat wars at Washington State University. Lots of fun.

One problem with slingshots (wrist breace type) - technically here in NYC they fall under the same rules as illegally carrying a pistol - you can do just as much time in jail

When I was a LEO/range officer, I used to kill time at the range shooting slugs that I dug out of the backstop (the ones that were not too deformed). With my generic wrist rocket I could repeatedly hit a man sized silhouette from the 50 yard line, something that some officers had a hard time doing with their handguns (which is just scary)...

Video seems to have been removed from YT.

Yes to seeing it, and yes it can be true.
The David and Goliath type slings can be useful too.
Both styles take a lot of practice to be any good with, but
the ammunition to practice with is pretty cheap.

The best rubber you can get now is the latex tubing from medical supply stores.
The synthetic stuff for automotive tubing or inner tubes simply doesn't have enough snap.

For some people, it is just an extension of themselves. Just like any practiced skill.

Those suckers can be powerful and lethal!

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0
Seems to be working for me. It might have been a server problem.

Slingshots can be pretty useful. I use a wrist brace style slingshot with a fishing reel attached to run lines up into trees. Sounds strange? Well, it's how we string wire antenna's at a good height for amateur radio. You fire a lead fishing weight, with the fishing line attached to the reel. I wish I came up with the idea, but, it's someone else's concept. Works great though, the mono line can be fired, pretty accurately, a long way, and then used to pull heavier line up and over a limb on a tree. Same concept as throwing a monkey's fist with a light line attached from one ship to another, and then pulling a heavier line across.

Use to do the same thing at my parents house with the maple tree in the back yard.
It always got me how the line would manage to wrap around itself near the branch instead of the weight pulling the line to the ground. If I could tie a knot that good that fast I would be happy. It got to the point there where a number of weights in the tree that would fall out of it without warning, usually while I was cutting the grass under it. And we will not talk about the half of a brick on a masons line that my father got hung up while trying to rig a 40 meter inverted vee.

Well, yeah, I never said it was perfect... I too have a collection of weights and segments of fishing line hanging from my trees... it looks like I decorate them as xmas trees with fishing tackle or something I do know my wife was a little upset when she saw something hanging alongside a birds nest, and realized it was a lead fishing weight... I started mumbling something about daddy robin teaching baby robin how to use worms for bait, instead of eating them, and just got one of those looks from my better half.

When I was younger, I had a slingshot for years and managed to snag Grouse and Ptarmigan with it. The secret was to load up the pocket with small pieces of gravel, get as close to the bird as possible, pull as hard as possible, aim for the head and let it loose. The effect was much like a shotgun shell and worked pretty well all things considered.

I've got this "modern marvel" a while ago: http://www.catsdomain.com/ Extremely precise (even with laser sight off), very powerful, and really easy to master - thanks to its auto-adjusting construction (see videos on the site). The Magnum rubber band is still good after almost 2 years (however I see some signs of wear already).

Cool... a laser sighted wrist rocket... where was that when I was a kid? I know the neighborhood rodent population would be undergoing a serious downward trend.

Hi YoDuh,

Proficient with a David/Goliath style version?

Well, I'm not too terrible with them. I spent 1 hour a day for almost 5 months straight to be "not terrible."

When I started I had to be in a field with nothing around for 100 yards in every direction. I had about a 40% chance of sending a stone in the forward 180 degrees. I almost brained myself a few times with rocks launched straight up. I had to resist the urge to look up and just cross my fingers.

After two weeks I had a 75% chance of firing a rock forwards.
After 3 months I could place 4/10 rocks on a bucket 30 feet away. By the end I could do almost 9/10 shots into a pop can at 30 feet.

I was told that you had to learn at full power (unlike most other sports). I could put a stone through light sheet metal or through half inch board. I figure I'll need about 7 more months at 1hr per day until I'm ready to hunt for food (unless it is an emergency).

You can also lob massive rocks with it (pop cans/molotov cocktails) Very fun and horribly dangerous to learn (for bystanders mostly).

With a large rock you could easily kill a human. The great thing is you can make the sling itself for free and carry it anywhere. I fly with mine all the time (as a belt). Works as a garrote too. The technology is so old that it is slipping from knowledge.

A very fun toy to play with! My only regret is that there was a tree near where I was learning that lost many branches to powerful yet very errant shots.

I learned a few different ways to launch it. All of the shots required none of the circling around and around. I didn't want to learn a method that would startle game and you can only gain to much power by doing so. I found that only with the overhead shot did you need to spin the stone around your head to make a level trajectory to keep accuracy.

One of the things I found most interesting was that I had my best accuracy when I realized that the sling wasn't actually a launching device that had to be aimed...but rather an extension of the throwing arm.

One of the sneakiest shots was to fire a stone like you'd strike out with a nun chuck. The stone is held in the pouch with your left hand with the strings going behind your back to your right hand. A quick flick forward with the arm and the stone launches forward....ummmm forget it. I suck at describing it....

I'll have to do a Youtube video sometime.

-NIM

Awesome! Is there any online source which you can recommend for one willing to master a sling too?

I think you would find Slinging.org a good place to start. They seem interested in other historical and primitive weapons too.
http://www.slinging.org/
Since they have an active forum they will be able to give advice and leads.

There actually is an international association that has slinging matches too but I don't remember their site any more.
There are some interesting videos posted on youtube by them.

I love my wrist rocket. I do actually take it out with me to the lake for practice.

I have read that this is the type you should use if you are serious about hunting and accuracy and self-defense. The guy in the film is amazing, but I would guess that half his proficiency lies in designing, making and maintaining his gear, and only half in shooting. As soon as the rubber begins to wear too much, he’s going to lose accuracy, and probably he has to break in new ones before they’re up to the standard of his old ones. Besides, look how close he is to everything he shoots.

The other kind is much cheaper, and always available in an emergency when there are hard objects within reach and clothes on your back. Imagine the reaction of a mob who pursues a seemingly defenseless barefoot man when suddenly there are 1, 2, 3 of their people down in the dirt with bloody heads, before they’ve even reached him.

Hi

I have a problem with pigeons around my home. They make lots of mess that nmeeds to be cleaned almost everyday. It bothers my DW. And we husabands have to lose our nerves when DW's feel bad.

OK, I tried a slingshot and it was OK.
Shooting at pigeons at sunset disturbed them enough, but that startegy had its problems. Some small stones changed course and hit something else or flew to neighbours homes. They were too small to break windows but noisy enough to disturb the neighbors.

So, here is the question: Is there a home-made "gun" that I can make and shoot the pigeons with that will be a bit more accurate than a slingshot?

Oh, some friends suggested to me to shoot and cook them
But those old enough in this forum must have read about my "too-soft" heart.
All I can do is try to make my house less comfortable for them and hope they will understand and leave.

Thanks

Well, up in Maine, to keep seagulls off the low-bush blueberry fields, they shoot one gull, put it up on a stick in the field, and it seems to act as a nice deterrent.

Any decent air rifle will do. A lower powered model won't kill a pigeon unless you score a headshot, which is good if you just want to scare them away. If you want something more lethal, get a higher powered air gun, maybe .22. They're all very accurate at least up to 20 yards, which is probably good enough for what you need.

If the pigeons are roosting on your roof maybe you can just put up some of the spike strips or string a wire so they can not land instead of shooting at them.

A site with more information:
http://www.deterapigeon.com/faqs.htm

I have also seem people use chicken wire at some places to screen pigeons out.

Hi Alex,

If you want to learn the 'older' style sling I think I still have a pdf book (out of print). You tube videos are also helpful. Expect (at first) to suck, and be a danger to everything around you.

Remember that you have to practice with full force at all times. When I first started I was easily launching errant stones the length of a football field (in almost every direction...not so far behind me).

IF you can figure out how to send me a private message with your email I can try to hunt down the book.

-NIM

You can also purchase one of the automated repellents. Basically, a motion sensor hooked up to a can of a spray that animals dislike.

A pigeon lands and gets sprayed terrifying it. The cans are good for something like 100 blasts. The pigeons learn quickly.

If you have a water hose there is also a motion sensor for them.

-NIM

Regarding spikes to deter pigeons, I want to see a house with these spikes installed. If I put them wherever there are pigeons, my house will look like Guantanamo. But then again, I shoudl suggest to the company to redesign the spikes in the form of spiky flowers ( shhhh, I am going to the patent office ).

I read something about some sonic devices ( warning sounds in bird "language") but I dont know about their range and cost .. etc. or if the birds will finally figure it out and ignore them.

Someone suggested putting dummy predators like rubber snakes near where birds are nesting. Do you think this would work ?

I made an owl decoy out of brown paper, to discourage a male cardinal from beating himself bloody--fighting his reflection--on my bedroom window. It worked fine, different application, I guess.

Kind of off topic still, but the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, MI, paints the eaves a robin-egg blue color. Does a great job keeping insects and birds from nesting. Apparently they see the blue and think "sky" and so don't roost there... kind of like they can't make out that it is still a solid surface.

Might be worth a shot.

I don't know how well rubber snakes will work. At an old "fixer upper" that I used to have, I had a pigeon problem as well. I hung a couple of inflatable owls (I got at Lowes or someplace like that) under the eaves and it worked very well scaring them away. I don't think it was as much that they were owls, but rather something swinging around in the area that they wanted to roost.

LW

A sling shot should be used the same way as a Bow. use the brace and do not grip the handle*. Just let it press against the palm of your hand. Grip the sling between thumb and the knuckle of your index finger. Like you are drawing an arrow. Look at the target. Draw in a smooth motion and loose.


* Gripping the handle imparts torque. Which causes the projectile to curve off to the left or right.

I have heard that using a pellet rifle will work well, though as has been said before, a shot to the body will not kill them immediately, so I have heard.

I have a cactus in my backyard that has some bird holes in them. I have stuffed a oily rag in them so it funks the enclosed area up without damaging the cactus.

I had a most bothersome Woodpecker that decided to poke a hole in the siding of my house and start building a nest in the insulation. I grabbed my $25 Red Ryder BB gun and from the corner of the house put a copper ball on his butt. I know what it feels like to get shot with that gun, and while it won't penetrate the skin, it will definitely sting and raise a welt. I doubt it has enough power even at close range to kill a bird the size of a pigeon except for an ideal head shot. Certainly anything within 30 yards is well within the accuracy capabilities of the little carbine. As a pest deterrant, it is one of the best I can think of. If you are worried about what an inadvertent BB might do, then they also have those wonderful soft pellet guns that don't have nearly the range but will do a good job, or even a paint gun.

In fact, shoot paint balls from your slingshot and your errant shots should also diminish.

Careful with that paint ball gun inside city limits. Due to the number of paintball drive-by shootings of recent years, you can pick up almost as much time as a real firearms charge.

Just ask my sons. The local group didn't have the cash for the paint ball park, so they went to a large abandoned area. One single paint ball made it to the road and hit a car window.

I really thought the older of the two was going to go to the slam. Both got 180 days probation and no conviction (deferred).