[vince4242]

I was inspired by Biker Bob's post about his new Falcon that he got from China. I have made several slingshot rifles out of many different materials and have always had difficulty with consistency, I think part of that reason was I never had sliding rails. I would pull the bands back to almost 600% with my hands and then slide them into the release trigger. It always felt treacherous and scary every time, I had a couple of times where it didn't seat properly and I got smacked in the thumb with 11 mm steel and that was really not very pleasant. The bigger problem was consistency, and I could never quite get that figured out.

I went ahead and ordered a sliding rail kit from Amazon with 10mm hardened steel rods and picked up a trigger and slingshot head to mount to the front. After a day of building and another day of fiddling and getting it just right, I think I've got it figured out. The hardest part was the locking mechanism to hold Carriage that holds the laser and firing trigger in firing position. After a lot of thinking I found a very simple method, a steel bar and some very small grooves in the steel rod with some rubber bands, and later latex tubes to lock it in place. Works perfectly and it is very secure never had one problem with 100 shots so far.
The rail kit I received from Amazon is top notch. The sliders have metal bearings inside so that the steel rod moves effortlessly. Sliders are also pre-tapped for M8 screws so I can get a very tight connection. Very good quality here, and I've ordered a second rail kit with 48" (1240mm) rods to go with my Falcon that'll be here in the next month from China.

I used single looped 3050 tubes and in this setup I can move 8 mm Steel fast but not crazy fast. I have my stretch at 600% so I was a little surprised that it doesn't move the ammo faster. I have a 33 inch draw on the rifle and I tried using double looped 3050 tubes and did not get the same consistency but it moved 3/8" steel like a bullet! I will continue to work on those and try and get everything even and see if I can't get it more consistency using the double looped tubes too.

Taking lots of advice from everyone here I got some dry graphite spray, adjusting the pouch every time to be perfectly even and using only clean ammo and am getting good results. By the end of the day yesterday I was able to hit a 50 mm spinner every time from 10 meters!
All of my shooting was done right around 32°F, it definitely made my technique more important with those cold temperatures. I found that if I counted to 6 as soon as the carriage was locked into place I would take that shot as I said six and I could get good consistency. If I wasn't exactly on the money with my timing the shots would be high or low. I can only assume this would not be such an issue in normal temperatures but I'm glad I was able to figure it out for the cold temps. I am using a high quality green laser for sighting.

I hope everyone has an awesome week!!

Vince

 

[Talaman]

Looks good Vince - knowing you, you will not be happy until that is a 20mm target being hit consistently!

 

[vince4242]

Thanks. You know me... The smaller the target the better!

 

[Reed Lukens]

That's a great looking build Vince, what's the overall weight?

 

[vince4242]

Thanks Reed. I haven't had a chance to weigh it yet, but it is pretty heavy. Those steel rails are solid and it's not light. I will have to weigh it tomorrow.

 

[robertappleyard66]

g,day can you buy those rods with forks that will take flatbands mate. i found tubes where great for steel fishing darts ,but flatbands leave tubes for dead with steel ammo on my 45 inch draw rifle. i load it by hand like you used to ,but i got a braced handle behind the trigger,like a pistol grip, which i push on while pulling the bands back and cant shoot myself that way, mate keep a eye on the screws you got into the timber maybe you could replace the front ones with nuts and bolts, not trying to push my opinion on people mate but if that lets go those forks hitting you in the top of your head would not be the best fashion excessory. cheers robbo

 

[SLING-N-SHOT]

Pretty cool Vince


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Darrell Allen

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[Portboy]

Very cool 😎

 

[vince4242]

For the kind words. Robert I will definitely keep an eye on those six screws holding the fork on the front. It is screwed into oak and I did pilot holes so that we get a nice tight grip on the Oak block, they shouldn't go anywhere. But I will definitely keep an eye on them and make sure nothing loosens up. On that note I actually put a drop of super glue at every screw on the rifle to make sure none of the attention points would loosen up with use.

Vince

 

[vince4242]

UPDATE: After a week of shooting my custom I think I really have it dialed in. My big break was moving my operations into the greenhouse and shooting out the greenhouse door into a catch box. The total distance I can get is 10 mters until it warms up and I can get out in the yard to shoot.
These tubes are very sensitive to temperature. I also received my Falcon from AliExpress and have been using that for about 3 days now. That is also a top-notch slingshot rifle for a great price and definitely powerful. As long as I was above 65°F I was getting very consistent shots. I am sticking with single looped 3050 tubes for now with 8mm steel. Today I had some sun and was able to hit the 60, 50, 40, 30, 20mm spinners all in a row without missing!? Then I ate lunch and came back out and the sun went behind the clouds, the greenhouse dropped to where my shots were not on target anymore, they were all low.

I will do a separate review of the Falcon from AliExpress in a couple of weeks when I have more time to really work with it, but I was able to put 3/8" and 7/16" Steel On Target every time, only raising up my x4 scope one notch to accommodate for the heavier 7/16" steel.

I am looking forward to doing some testing when it warms up and seeing distances, I'd like to be able to be consistent at 20 meters.

Vince