[Nico]

Sterling are the most sturdy and firm stretch of all alliance rubberbands. The pale gold crepe suck! They are slower dont know why cos they are stretchy, I know an old guy who said the term for such elastic is " lazy resorte" cos it stretches but has a slow retraction.

I am going to have a go at some alliance sterling 107s as the only ones I tried are the gold and they suck..

Nico

Good thread Henry

 

[radray]

Henry,

Good post and very informative. I will have to get some of these Alliance Sterling 107s to use as spare bands when on the field and will also be part of my survival kit.

Raymond

 

[As8MaN]

Awesome bands, i wish that one day they will ship it to my country (Israel)... if so, i will buy like bunch of em!.

And thanks Henry

Since you have one of my Typical Panama Slingshots with 107 bands, can you tell us how they perform for you, and how long they lasted?
[/quote]

They lasted for about 1000 shots (and i have been shooting with rocks only).
No doubt, those bands have no competition at all, they are cheap, strong and fast!
Also, if im not wrong, u dont even have to cut them with a roller or anything, cuz they are an office rubber bands, easy to attach..
Oh god, if any1 knows a source that ships some of these to Israel and accepts paypal, pls let me know!

 

[Hit and run]

What's the active length of the bands? (Same for both?)
What's the maximum elongation for those bands? (Same for both?)

 

[Tex-Shooter]

When I got back into shooting in 1999, I could not find sheet latex and used alliance 107 rubber bands for awhile. -- Tex

 

[Henry the Hermit]

They lasted for about 1000 shots (and i have been shooting with rocks only).
No doubt, those bands have no competition at all, they are cheap, strong and fast!
Also, if im not wrong, u dont even have to cut them with a roller or anything, cuz they are an office rubber bands, easy to attach..
Oh god, if any1 knows a source that ships some of these to Israel and accepts paypal, pls let me know!

Thanks for the report, Kfir. I will send you 5 sets of bands (10) uncut, and a fresh pouch next week, so you can make your own. You can send me $3.00 to cover shipping to the PayPal address that will be in the package.

Henry

 

[Henry the Hermit]

What's the active length of the bands? (Same for both?)
What's the maximum elongation for those bands? (Same for both?)

Both bandsets measure 8 inches between the pouch tie point and the frame. I don't know what the maximum elongation is, because I suffered a very nasty slap from a broken band while trying to see how far it would stretch early in my slingshot career. I use the highly scientific method of holding a length of band in my left hand and pulling with my right to my draw length, adjusting the hold points until it feels as if the rubber is near maximum. Then I measure how far apart my two hands are on the relaxed band, and that becomes the pull length for that material. I determined that #107s can be set at 7 inches for my draw, but that 7 inches offered no increased speed over 8 inches for me, and was a bit lighter pull, so I use 8 inches for #107s. The .050 latex can be as short as 6.5 inches and still give me full draw, but I wanted both slingshots to be as close to the same as possible.

 

[As8MaN]

They lasted for about 1000 shots (and i have been shooting with rocks only).
No doubt, those bands have no competition at all, they are cheap, strong and fast!
Also, if im not wrong, u dont even have to cut them with a roller or anything, cuz they are an office rubber bands, easy to attach..
Oh god, if any1 knows a source that ships some of these to Israel and accepts paypal, pls let me know!

Thanks for the report, Kfir. I will send you 5 sets of bands (10) uncut, and a fresh pouch next week, so you can make your own. You can send me $3.00 to cover shipping to the PayPal address that will be in the package.

Henry
[/quote]

Thanks alot Henry, and of course i will send u 3$, that is the least i can do for u!!, i really appreciate it, god bless u

.

 

[Henry the Hermit]

The latex bands tore at the pouch after 390 shots. They can and will be shortened a bit and shot some more. I expect to get about 300 more shots before they tear again. All shots after the speed tests were with .44 cal (Oops! 11 mm) lead balls.

I'll post some pictures later.

 

[Hit and run]

What's the active length of the bands? (Same for both?)
What's the maximum elongation for those bands? (Same for both?)

... I use the highly scientific method of holding a length of band in my left hand and pulling with my right to my draw length, adjusting the hold points until it feels as if the rubber is near maximum. Then I measure how far apart my two hands are on the relaxed band, and that becomes the pull length for that material. I determined that #107s can be set at 7 inches for my draw, but that 7 inches offered no increased speed over 8 inches for me, and was a bit lighter pull, so I use 8 inches for #107s. The .050 latex can be as short as 6.5 inches and still give me full draw, but I wanted both slingshots to be as close to the same as possible.
[/quote]
Thanks for the info. That's quite impressive for ordinary rubber bands.

By the way, that's more or less the same way I test max elongation. I just take 10 cm of rubber, that way I don't need a calculator

 

[Beanflip]

Great info, thanks Henry!

 

[Henry the Hermit]

Today I'm shooting 107s with .50 cal lead. I expect to have over 400 shots on them before the day is over. Here are a few pics from the first round of latex tests.

Here is the tear in the latex band. This set of bands can be cut and retied, but I am retiring them from the test, because not everyone will be ab le to retie them and not every tear will be so close to the tie point.

This is the slingshot and a #12 steel can that I dented up a little with the .44 cal lead balls shown.

 

[philly]

Ordered a box today, should have them this Friday, can't wait to try them. I will post chrony results when I shoot them. Thanks Henry for a great post.
Philly

 

[Henry the Hermit]

Ordered a box today, should have them this Friday, can't wait to try them. I will post chrony results when I shoot them. Thanks Henry for a great post.
Philly

I'm looking forward to seeing the Chrony results. I believe my measurements are pretty accurate, but will be very interested in what a dedicated chronometer says.

 

[philly]

I recieved my Sterling 107 Crepe bands today from Amazon. Couldnt wait to try them. I am impressed. I shot around 30 break in shots at 10 meters then set up the Chrony. My draw length is only 27 1/2" so with 3/8" steel i was getting 153FPS Avg. I drew to approx 34" like Henry does and I got 173FPS Avg. 457 lead was only at 135FPS at my draw length and 153FPS at 34" draw.

Working length was 7 1/4", no hand slap at all. I used my EPS for this short test.

I will definately use them for target with the 3/8" steel but I have recently tried .050 latex 7/8X5/8X7 1/2" long and get 185FPS with the same 3/8 steel and 165FPS with .457 lead so will stay with that for Hunting,

Can't beat the price for a 107 band set and Henry has already seen good life so I say give them a try. With my latest cut of .030 latex I am going through a set of bands every other day so this is a great alternative.

Thanks Henry, great find and thread.
Philly

 

[Henry the Hermit]

I recieved my Sterling 107 Crepe bands today from Amazon. Couldnt wait to try them. I am impressed. I shot around 30 break in shots at 10 meters then set up the Chrony. My draw length is only 27 1/2" so with 3/8" steel i was getting 153FPS Avg. I drew to approx 34" like Henry does and I got 173FPS Avg. 457 lead was only at 135FPS at my draw length and 153FPS at 34" draw.

Working length was 7 1/4", no hand slap at all. I used my EPS for this short test.

I will definately use them for target with the 3/8" steel but I have recently tried .050 latex 7/8X5/8X7 1/2" long and get 185FPS with the same 3/8 steel and 165FPS with .457 lead so will stay with that for Hunting,

Can't beat the price for a 107 band set and Henry has already seen good life so I say give them a try. With my latest cut of .030 latex I am going through a set of bands every other day so this is a great alternative.

Thanks Henry, great find and thread.
Philly

Your numbers are pretty close to agreement with mine. I have only .25 steel, and no lead of the same size, but after seeing your measurements, I think I can pretty well trust the numbers I'm seeing with my Acer Netbook/Linux/Audacity setup. And from your numbers, it doesn't seem the Crepe bands are much different in speed from the Sterling.

Thanks,

Henry

 

[philly]

I recieved my Sterling 107 Crepe bands today from Amazon. Couldnt wait to try them. I am impressed. I shot around 30 break in shots at 10 meters then set up the Chrony. My draw length is only 27 1/2" so with 3/8" steel i was getting 153FPS Avg. I drew to approx 34" like Henry does and I got 173FPS Avg. 457 lead was only at 135FPS at my draw length and 153FPS at 34" draw.

Working length was 7 1/4", no hand slap at all. I used my EPS for this short test.

I will definately use them for target with the 3/8" steel but I have recently tried .050 latex 7/8X5/8X7 1/2" long and get 185FPS with the same 3/8 steel and 165FPS with .457 lead so will stay with that for Hunting,

Can't beat the price for a 107 band set and Henry has already seen good life so I say give them a try. With my latest cut of .030 latex I am going through a set of bands every other day so this is a great alternative.

Thanks Henry, great find and thread.
Philly

Your numbers are pretty close to agreement with mine. I have only .25 steel, and no lead of the same size, but after seeing your measurements, I think I can pretty well trust the numbers I'm seeing with my Acer Netbook/Linux/Audacity setup. And from your numbers, it doesn't seem the Crepe bands are much different in speed from the Sterling.

Thanks,

Henry
[/quote]

Yes Henry, very close, when the bands start to tear I will cut them to 6 1/2" working length and do some more chrony tests. BTW, they are Sterling 107's not Crepe, I mispoke in my response..
Philly

 

[AZshooter]

As far as price for the 1 pound box of Alliance #107 Sterlings (also the 33`s, 64`s etc.) Staples stores seem to have most beat..... $4.89 each...If you have a store close to you place an order with the clerk and they will ship free to your local store...Free shipping to your home for orders of $75 or more....Shipping for one box to your home wouldn`t be worth it...

 

[Henry the Hermit]

Today I went to 600 shots with the #107s. They are still in good shape, but have stretched about .4 inch and the pull weight is now 5.6 kg/12.5 lbs. Tomorrow I plan to do velocity tests again with .375 cal lead balls. So far, so good.

Henry

 

[Henry the Hermit]

The velocity tests were a pleasant surprise. I expected to see a drop-off in speed, but instead got a bit more than 4 fps increase. That could be because I may have had an inch or two variance in distance between target and backstop. I can't say for sure about the first round, but this time I measured before and after shooting. At any rate, after 600 shots, the bands are lighter draw, slightly longer, and at least as fast. They just seem to get better with age.

Ammo - .375 lead balls
Velocity, average for 10 shots - 178.7 fps
Pull weight - 12.4 lbs at 34 inches
Length, pouch tie to frame - 8.4 inches

A couple of targets, steel on left, fresh beer can on right.