shorts

OK, this is weird.

I did the tube thing, running the solid band through another tube sleeve through the hoops so it wouldn't even touch the metal, and the band still began to wear out after like 25 shots.

In this instance the actual rubber of the band never even contacted the metal slingshot frame, and it started to wear out in exactly the same spot as before even though it never touched the metal.

The outer tube showed no signs of wear at all.

However, if I make looped bands out of the same solid rubber it lasts perfectly fine.

All I can think is that there must be some reason why the stretching through the frame loop bit causes the solid rubber to wear out there. It's fine when made into looped bands, so it's not a case of rotten rubber.

I noticed that it seems to be worse the thicker the band is, but all sizes of solids seem to wear out badly at the spot where it goes through the frame loops. It's great in any other configuration, so it must have something to do with the way it bends through the frame loops when shot.

Yeah, on Aliexpress it's sometimes called "fishing rope" or something but it's also found when searching for "slingshot rubber", you just have to do a lot of digging. It's not hugely expensive and in my experience it lasts really well, probably even better than tubes for longevity on the right slingshot frame.

I've found the 3.5mm looped bands I've made to be easy to draw and really fast for anything up to about the weight of 10mm steel balls and it really zings smaller ammo like 6mm.

The 4mm and 5mm works well for heavier ammo like 8mm and 10mm hex nuts on some of my other slingers. The solid round band is nicely suited for attaching to oddball slingshots that aren't made to take flats bands.

Yes I'm also a big fan of the ball in the end of the tube method. It's quick and easy. I've got some that use that style. I rather like 3060 tube.

However, today I was experimenting with these homemade jobbies that I was having the problems with above. This time both are armed with solid round rubber band looped. The top one has 4mm and the bottom one has 3.5mm slightly longer loops:



I was using 6mm, 8mm and 9.5mm steel ball bearings on various cans today. Both slingshots with these bands had no trouble with thin ally. Here's a fortunate pic of what the holes look like side by side on an ally cat food tin:



Here's a slightly sturdier tuna can. The 6mm only dented the can but some 8 and 9.5mm went through, so these looped solids are putting out some pretty good whack.





And then here's what happened to a really sturdy tin can. Don't know what it was for but it seemed to be even sturdier than the baked bean tin I shot the other day. Only the slingshot using the 4mm bands and 9.5 made it through.





I must have shot at least a couple hundred rounds through each slingshot today and the looped bands show no sign of wear whatsoever. I was at it for quite a while and managed to kill several tins without sustaining any casualties myself.

This just shows how powerful these solid bands can be. The 3.5mm loops are a heavier draw than flats but not anything much more. Seems to be almost as good as my flats and lasts a lot longer.

The 4mm is a fairly heavier draw, harder than any of the flats I've used. Could probably do with some longer loops, but it seems to work best for heavier ammo. I've shot 12mm steel ball and 10mm steel hex nuts with this and they hit with some force. None of my flat band slingshots can handle ammo that heavy.