[A+ Slingshots]

This has been an interest of mine in the past. Shooting "darts" (small arrows) seems to be common in some other countries like the Phillipines as a tool of defense and hunting. They are shot sometimes from a single stalk, but also regular slingshots with a cord between the bands instead of a pouch. One name is a "Pana" which strangely I believe just means "bow". Here are a couple of pics I've collected on the subject.

Here is an interesting link as well:
dart patent

An interesting thread:
Filipino Archery

 

[A+ Slingshots]

Perry, in your link someone wrote:

The accurate range is about 20feet (maybe 25 max?) away. The arrow will start to tumble after a certain distance.

Did you do any testing or research to test this and what was the reason for the instability?

I've done a bit of work on the idea quite a few years ago. Frankly, I abandoned the work because it felt too risky and I decided that with lead ammo a slingshot works perfectly well on small game without any dart or arrow. However, I never saw them begin to tumble when fired. The one thing that is critical is that the notch to cord or wire connection work perfectly, and that different darts need the "tassel" bigger or smaller. If it does not release well, it could hang and travel in an arc into your leg or just return back like the pen in Joerg's recent video.