Slingshots

B

barber oregon

Joined
Nov 19, 2000
Messages
234
I've been considering a slingshot as a back-up tool for my bug out bag.

I originally considered a Marksman model until I came across the Trumark website http://www.slingshots.com/html/catapults_fs1.html. What caught my eye was their FS-1 model that incorporated a storage unit capability right in the handle. This feature would be an asset in a survival situation (storing extra shot, first-aid etc.)

Has anyone had any experience with this slingshot? Is the storage handle useful/functional?

Any suggestions for Canadian sources of this slingshot would be appreciated as well. Thanks everyone.

P.S. I've also posted this in the Gadgets and Gear section
 
I have just finished an article on this very topic, as well as some other stuff on a new page on my site. I just have to tweak it and upload it. I hope you enjoy it when it goes up.
 
Good topic. I think slingshots have simplicity and effectiveness worth investigating.
 
This is just my personal experiences with Slingshots, it's not the last word on it or anything. I've had at least one, as a matter of fact...I have had one that has always been with me since I was a child. But I've owned others...

This is just some personal experiences with them, it's not "Pseudo-Scientific" or anything. I've always been impressed by them.

There is also a portion at the end that is about hollow handled survival knives. The reason these two things sort of went together is, when I was growing up, I had an Aitor Jungle II Knife, which had Slingshot forks built into the sheath...blah blah blah. :D

Take a look-see. Slingshots.
 
I read "deathwatch" and have always loved the classic wristrocket.My best friend and I used to hunt and plink with ours.I always had problems with how the yoke came across my wrist,so i made a gauntlet with an extra layer of thick leather where it hit to help pad my then bony wrists.It helped alot.I always had problems with consistency,but every once in a while I would make a miracle shot and amaze myself and anyone who was around at the time.I usually shot stones so that may have been part of the problem.Thanks for bringing back some memories Don.I haven't shot any kind of slingshot in 20 years.I might just have to go buy one...
troy
 
Indeed, stones can throw some wicked curves. Unless you can get some that are perfectly rounded. Smoothed stones you find in some areas with water are not alot better sometimes, they tend to give a wizzing flight like a throwing star and if you get them leaving the Sling at a good velocity, they can do some strange things. :D

"Deathwatch" was an interesting book, the Author basically described something I have never seen on a Slingshot and I'm just wondering if they used to make this or if I am mistaken about my interpretation of what he was writing.

He described a leather pouch that was more of a cup. I think the last time I read that book, the last time I saw it as I don't remember what happened to it, would have been before 1980. Believe it or not. Even for a 33 year old guy, that's a LONG time ago. It might be my memory that has faded but I got the impression it was a leather cup-like pouch and he was using lead buckshot.

That's something I always wanted. I've hunted birds, mostly pests-crows, with a Wristrocket, but never got a good flying hit on one. I always lobbed them into barren trees in the wintertime and nailed one from a distance. :D

I love them, I wish I had the time and space to shoot everyday, firearms, bows, crossbows and Slingshots. I wish I had the time to learn and get good with a David Sling as well.
 
LWS-1.jpg


There is the baby, but there must have been a problem with the trademarked name of "Wristrocket." This is the one I have, I did not even think they were made anymore! For $10.00 you can't beat this! Get two or three of them! I know the ones the other Manufacturer is calling a "Wristrocket" was not marked that way per se in the 1970s.

And, they have Heavy Pull bands if you look under replacement bands!
 
Hi Don,

You see the "cup" style pouch on older Slingshots. I have a few old "American Rifleman" magazines from the 1950's that show these types. You can find them sometimes on Ebay.

HTH:)!!!
 
That's very interesting indeed. I always wanted to try to make one with the surgical bands...never got around to it. They would be hell on birds at short distances. Use a cupful of BB shot.
 
On the topic of ammo, I've had good luck in a pinch using pocket change, also lug nuts. Anybody else try these?
 
Hey Don, I was looking around in my room, and I found my wrist rocket (just like yours, except mine has a clear handle with the wrist rocket logo)

Did you know that they were built in Columbus Nebraska?
 
Don, I used to make "birdshot" loads for my wrist rocket when I was a kid. I used plain old BB's, wrapped in a hank of newspaper. Cup the newspaper, and pour in 20 or 25 BB's, then give the paper ends a twist to "seal" it. Had to be carfeul or the paper would rip when pulling the bands back, but it usually kept the shot together fairly well.

Also, I never had any luck with the wrist yokes. Maybe it's because I'm left handed, but I could never get used to the angle I had to cant my wrist to. I was never able to get a consistent sight picture. I have a more modern, folding wrist rocket, with a more or less solid gray plastic handle, in which the yoke folds for pocket carry. I just cut the yoke off, so that now it's just the handle and forks.

Unless you have very weak hands, it's still easy to shoot, even without the brace. I did add a loop of 550 cord as an alternate "loop", mainly so that I had a place to hang my slinghshot from. One of these days I'm going to order some .30 lead rifle balls from Gander Mountain for hunting ammo. It takes a lot of practice to stay good with a slingshot, but they're fun to shoot and plink with.
 
There was a time when you could take your own ammo to Turkey Shoots, meaning, you did not shoot the turkeys, you won frozen turkeys and hams...roasts and whatnot if your pattern was the most dense in the target.

Well, I heard a rumor/myth a long time ago...one of the reasons people were no longer allowed to even bring factory loads that were even of approved shot size and power...was that people were using hypodermic needles and they were placing a good amount of hot bacon grease into the top [crimped area] of the round, the grease would cool and the shot would land in a tighter pattern.

I've heard of people carefully tearing the star crimp as well and pouring hot wax in there. Don't try this at home kiddies, you want to keep your face intact, just in case something should go wrong!

Anyways...when I heard about that, I made some wax BB-Balls, hot wax and you rolled about 15 to 20 BBs in it, using a small soda bottle cap to begin with, then rolling it in your hands to make it take form. It was not excellent, but it was "O.K."

Sometimes, the thing did not even come apart! When it did, it offered mediocre results for all the trouble...like I said, it was "O.K."
 
Re: shooting wrist rockets in small places, trumark used to recommend draping an old coat or other heavy fabric in a cardboard box and hanging a plastic disk via two strings in the front of the box. Fire away, but if you miss, you will likely have riccochets and ding the wall behind you. Hey, I didn't recommend it.

My pops grew up in Taiwan eating rats, shocking prawn, frogs and GOK what else using car batteries in the rice paddies. Slingshots were also apparently part of the repertoire, because 30 years later, he one took a chunk of pea-gravel, took aim at some poor tweety bird with my Trumark and nailed it one shot at about 35 feet. Then we both felt sick with guilt and put the slingshot away.

I never had much luck shooting seagulls with the Trumark when I worked on a biological field station that had a collecting license. The factory marbles had a ****** ballastic coefficient and slowed down too fast. Maybe if I had used lead. I was also shooting at ranges of greater than 25 yards.

I was never much with the slingshot.

BTW, I recently bought one of the Trumark folders. Sure you could stick any number of things in the handle, but I think there are better places to stash things. The power bands seem lamer than I recall, but memory fades. There were "55 lb" and "45lb" power bands available.

I always lusted after the ComBow Sling, but it wasn't to be.
 
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