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!