[Wark]

I'm getting ready to make a rifle, probably out of a aluminum crutch so it will have a very long draw length. I've seen some "flat bands vs tubes" videos, and the tubes seem to be almost the same speed. In one video the dankung red tube was faster than the flat band. So I think I would prefer tubes for the rifle, tubes are easier to cut and also seem to be a bit quieter. And people here say tubes last longer

I've read many people in this forum recommend dankung tubes, but at the moment Im only shopping on Amazon, and I don't see any dankung on Amazon. Unless I'm missing it

Can I get some recommendations on a good quality fast tube sold on Amazon that is equal or similar to dankung tubes?. Also, what would be the best/fastest tube size to get for the rifle?. I plan to get a roll of it.

 

[Reed Lukens]

Nope... not on Amazon. Try these -

https://slingshooting.com/dankung-tubing-slingshot-tube/

 

[Wark]

Nope... not on Amazon. Try these -

https://slingshooting.com/dankung-tubing-slingshot-tube/

The problem is I don't have any credit cards or checking account, and on Amazon I can use prepaid gift cards.

But your website said "Dankung Tube,Made from High quality natural latex"

If dankung is made of natural latex, what makes them superior to other natural latex tubes?

 

[Fabulous Butterfly]

The problem is I don't have any credit cards or checking account, and on Amazon I can use prepaid gift cards.

But your website said "Dankung Tube,Made from High quality natural latex"

If dankung is made of natural latex, what makes them superior to other natural latex tubes?

I'm a beginner as well but here is my understanding.

Different latex has different properties. Power, durability, snappiness, elasticity, all sorts of things. Is all knife steel the same? Are all cartridges of the same caliber the same? Think about it with that sort of logic. The base is the same, yes, but the characteristics differ.

 

[EllipsisNL]

I think the best bands for a rifle have got to be hands down Snipersling Black.

Sniper Black has some interesting properties. It's got the fastest retraction out there (correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't seen anything beat it). It's also got a low maximum elongation factor, as it doesn't want to go past 500-550% elongation, it starts to really stack around there. This means that you'll need a longer ABL for the same draw. For example, if you were maxing out something like Precise rubber at a 30" draw, you'd need somewhere around 4.5" or 5" of ABL to get 600-650% elongation. For Sniper Black, you'd need 6" of ABL to get to the same draw. This means you're getting an inch less of acceleration, but it more than makes up for it imo.

My thoughts on what makes Sniper Black so fast has something to do with how much weight it draws at. Let's say, if you have a 20:15 taper cut of 0.5mm precise at 5", and you have the exact same cut and length for Sniper Black, and draw them both to ~550%, you're going to get like 60% more draw weight from the Sniper Black, and your going to get around 20% more FPS. For a lot of people, the extra draw weight doesn't seem worth it, and it doesn't make for the most comfortable shooting. On paper though, for the same volume of latex, sniper black has the highest draw weight, which also translates to the mass it's able to chuck. This means you'd need a fair bit less latex to get the same FPS on the same ammo as any other latex. The reason it retracts so fast is because latex has to pull its own mass as well as the ammo and pouch, which means sniper black is more efficient at retracting its own mass over any other latex (not more efficient in terms of draw weight : ammo fps, this is different).

What does this mean for slingshot rifles?

First of all, comfort isn't an issue if you're not having to pinch the ammo by hand. Heavy draws can have negative impact on accuracy, but if you're using a built in release mechanism, this isn't a problem.

Second, if you're using a slingshot rifle, you're probably looking for max fps in your ammo. Sniper Black is the obvious choice.

Third, if you're using a slingshot rifle, I'm assuming you're looking to throw some of the heavier calibers of ammo, things that are at minimum 3 grams up to 10 grams and on. Sniper Black pulls above its weight class compared to other rubber, so it makes sense to go with that.

Fourth is that SniperSling is an all around awesome company to deal with and has great customer service and report with the community. So you can't really go wrong there lol.

 

[Wark]

I checked Amazon, they have a roll of Snipersling yellow but no black that I can see. I did a search here on the message board for "Snipersling black vs yellow" and it appears the black is stiffer than the yellow. From what people say yellow is just slightly slower than black. I don't care about stiffness, I only care about FPS, as you said.

And I no longer strictly care about tubes. I'm changing the design to a compound bow using two wheels off of a walker, and ill use tapered flat bands (I may double them up) to get the maximum speed. I'm using this exact walker -which I already have-, and the wheels from it. I can make four adjustable sling rifles from it

 

[vince4242]

Hello, I have been on the rifle building and tuning scene for about 2 months now and I think I finally got something figured out. First off feet per second is nice and is important, but accuracy is more important and tubes stretched to their Max are not as accurate as to stretch to about plus or minus 500%. I am using 3070 single to for my 8 mm practice sessions. From all of my shooting and testing different lengths of tube it works best at 460 to 480% stretch, still getting the accuracy to hit a 20 mm spinner at 10 yards.
The next thing that is really critical with tubes is the temperature. I found that when I'm shooting in temperatures under 70°f accuracy can go down and throw my shots off due to slight variations in wall thicknesses that only show up when it's colder. Above 70 or 80°f I don't see any of these issues and I can take a longer time to take my shot without any issues. At around 70 or below you have to count out your timing for every shot to make sure you release at the same time so that the cooling down in the tubes is the same for each shot giving you an accurate result. For me to use my foot to stretch out the bands and lock the arm in place get on Target, and shoot "six Mississippi" is my comfortable spot. Sometimes it may take an extra second, but I always try for that long six second hold to allow me to get on target and take a clean shot. Cooler temperatures if you take longer to take that shot the tubes will cool down and your shot will be low and\or off to the side of it depending on to wall variations. This is something I didn't realize was so important that you time your shot the same every time, it allows for very accurate results. I have one x4 scope for shooting in 55°f weather and another scope that's set for 70° F and above so that I know I'll be on target depending on the temperature. At 55° f my 3070 tubes shoot Dead on when they're adjusted to the temperature. At 50° f the same tubes will shoot one inch to the left of Target every time accurately. If it's 60°f and breezy and in the shade it will do the exact same 1 inch off Target to the left because of the cooling down of the tube factor. This was something I didn't not really understand importance of accuracy until just recently.

I plan on using my Slingshot rifles for hunting, so accuracy to me is very critical. If you're trying to cut cans or just have some fun which they are a lot of fun then hitting a 20 mm spinner every time may not be it's important to you. Hope this helps and you have good luck making your slingshot rifle, I have found that I have a so much better luck buying the Falcon from Ali Express much less headaches and it is very accurate and a great hunter even at a 24 inch call length. And I've spent more money trying to make it myself than just spending the $120 for the Falcon.

Cheers

 

[Wark]

Hello, I have been on the rifle building and tuning scene for about 2 months now and I think I finally got something figured out. First off feet per second is nice and is important, but accuracy is more important and tubes stretched to their Max are not as accurate as to stretch to about plus or minus 500%. I am using 3070 single to for my 8 mm practice sessions. From all of my shooting and testing different lengths of tube it works best at 460 to 480% stretch, still getting the accuracy to hit a 20 mm spinner at 10 yards.
The next thing that is really critical with tubes is the temperature. I found that when I'm shooting in temperatures under 70°f accuracy can go down and throw my shots off due to slight variations in wall thicknesses that only show up when it's colder. Above 70 or 80°f I don't see any of these issues and I can take a longer time to take my shot without any issues. At around 70 or below you have to count out your timing for every shot to make sure you release at the same time so that the cooling down in the tubes is the same for each shot giving you an accurate result. For me to use my foot to stretch out the bands and lock the arm in place get on Target, and shoot "six Mississippi" is my comfortable spot. Sometimes it may take an extra second, but I always try for that long six second hold to allow me to get on target and take a clean shot. Cooler temperatures if you take longer to take that shot the tubes will cool down and your shot will be low and\or off to the side of it depending on to wall variations. This is something I didn't realize was so important that you time your shot the same every time, it allows for very accurate results. I have one x4 scope for shooting in 55°f weather and another scope that's set for 70° F and above so that I know I'll be on target depending on the temperature. At 55° f my 3070 tubes shoot Dead on when they're adjusted to the temperature. At 50° f the same tubes will shoot one inch to the left of Target every time accurately. If it's 60°f and breezy and in the shade it will do the exact same 1 inch off Target to the left because of the cooling down of the tube factor. This was something I didn't not really understand importance of accuracy until just recently.

I plan on using my Slingshot rifles for hunting, so accuracy to me is very critical. If you're trying to cut cans or just have some fun which they are a lot of fun then hitting a 20 mm spinner every time may not be it's important to you. Hope this helps and you have good luck making your slingshot rifle, I have found that I have a so much better luck buying the Falcon from Ali Express much less headaches and it is very accurate and a great hunter even at a 24 inch call length. And I've spent more money trying to make it myself than just spending the $120 for the Falcon.

Cheers

I'm brand new to slingshots and didn't realize cold weather effected the shots. I've been studying a lot of different designs, some that include springs, and I will probably experiment with different configurations. I understand FPS can effect accuracy, I just saw a video on that with airguns. The accuracy goes down when you get over 1000 FPS. 200-300 FPS is all that is needed with close range plinking. I tend to scare the rats away from my factory.

A homemade airgun is another possible project that I have beem studying, and may compensate for using rubber bands in the winter, they are just as easy to make.

 

[vince4242]

I personally never had any true luck with accuracy until I went with the sliding rail system. When you have a static head that holds the latex and a static release mechanism you have to stretch those bands all the way back and get them into place quickly while trying to manage the rifle itself. It never worked great unless my flat bands had a low stretch rate so it was easy to pull them back, and then they weren't going to be good for hunting. It really works nice where you can set your pouch on the release trigger get the pouch perfectly lined up and ready and then cock it to full length and take your shot right away. I have some tubes that I bought from China for hunting that are giving me 270fps with ⁷/¹⁶" (11mm) steel with a foot pound of force of 13.7!? That is a lot of killing power for such a big piece of steel. I also have to use all my strength to Cock it back to the full 26 inch distance. I have two rifles from China One is 24 and one is 26-in.

I will say that flat bands do better in the cold than tubes and if I were truly hunting in colder climates I would try flat bands as an option. But for good warm temperatures the tubes work awesome!

Vince

 

[Wark]

I personally never had any true luck with accuracy until I went with the sliding rail system. When you have a static head that holds the latex and a static release mechanism you have to stretch those bands all the way back and get them into place quickly while trying to manage the rifle itself. It never worked great unless my flat bands had a low stretch rate so it was easy to pull them back, and then they weren't going to be good for hunting. It really works nice where you can set your pouch on the release trigger get the pouch perfectly lined up and ready and then cock it to full length and take your shot right away. I have some tubes that I bought from China for hunting that are giving me 270fps with ⁷/¹⁶" (11mm) steel with a foot pound of force of 13.7!? That is a lot of killing power for such a big piece of steel. I also have to use all my strength to Cock it back to the full 26 inch distance. I have two rifles from China One is 24 and one is 26-in.

I will say that flat bands do better in the cold than tubes and if I were truly hunting in colder climates I would try flat bands as an option. But for good warm temperatures the tubes work awesome!

Vince

I'm not sure I've seen any sliding head mechanism, can you post a video of it ?. Also, can you give me the name of your tubes, 270 FPS sounds nice. I've read here tubes last longer than flat bands. Can you also give me the name of your rifles, I'd like to check them out.

 

[vince4242]

I got my two slingshot rifles from aliexpress.com as well as my tubes for the rifles. If you do a search for slingshot rifle Falcon you should see the slingshot rifle I am shooting. I'll send you a private message here in a few minutes with some links for the tubes I'm shooting and the 26 inch rifle.

 

[Wark]

I got my two slingshot rifles from aliexpress.com as well as my tubes for the rifles. If you do a search for slingshot rifle Falcon you should see the slingshot rifle I am shooting. I'll send you a private message here in a few minutes with some links for the tubes I'm shooting and the 26 inch rifle.

Got it, thanks. I've seen that rifle before, nice looking, but I'm not prepared to pay $250 for it at the moment. However I could basically duplicate it's power with a adjustable painters pole, I just bought one that extends from 4ft to 8ft for about $12 at Harbor Freight. I could easily install a foot stirrup to assist in pulling the tubes. I plan on making it a compound sling by installing cams/wheels (from that walker) to double the length of the tubes. When I eventually get it all done I'll post the video of it.

 

[vince4242]

Yes I'm sure you could get creative and make something yourself that works great. It is $130 including shipping costs for that Falcon that I put a link to, but I understand wanting to make it yourself I am trying to get three slingshot rifles tuned in that I made myself and figuring out all the adjustments. I have one homemade slingshot rifle that works very well it's just really heavy but it is dead on accurate.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with I'm sure it'll be awesome.

Vince

 

[Konrad]

dead on accurate

Really good to read it. They did come good Eventually. That artillery hold seems to be key (letting it vibrate freely on the balance point).

 

[Wark]

Yes I'm sure you could get creative and make something yourself that works great. It is $130 including shipping costs for that Falcon that I put a link to, but I understand wanting to make it yourself I am trying to get three slingshot rifles tuned in that I made myself and figuring out all the adjustments. I have one homemade slingshot rifle that works very well it's just really heavy but it is dead on accurate.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with I'm sure it'll be awesome.

Vince

The price varies, $250 is the high end. I'm also considering making a homemade air gun and homemade alcohol gun, I think they are around 400+FPS. Airguns and alcohol guns shouldn't have the same limitations in the winter that rubber bands have.