[Soske]

I have heard some people say that thinner elastic shoots faster (thinner=faster retraction speed). This is contrary to my experience.
Why is this? Is it that thinner is faster with only very light ammo?

Lightest I have shot with is 3/8 steel

Or is it that it just shoots faster for the draw weight.

So not really faster at all just easier to pull.
I saw a Simple shot video demonstrating this. Thicker elastic shot a bit faster but at the cost of alot of extra draw weight.

Or maybe cutting thin bands wider then more narrow thicker bands can get better speeds....but that just comes down to draw weight again.

Obviously hunting purposed bands are always thicker then target shooting bands so unless it's the light ammo thing I can't see how thinner bands could be faster???

 

[mattwalt]

Its more about matching rubber to ammo.

Many people assume heavy draws increase power - but thats not the case. In fact actual speed test show that it can in fact decrease. Fact is the rubber itself is heavy and has to move itself - and internal friction also robs power.

There is generally a sweet spot where you'd get the best performance combination. And in general its lighter than you'd logically expect.

Also performance is affected by the length of time the ball is in contact with the pouch on release - longer draws perform better - but also require less rubber to do so.

Obviously if you use a setup for BB's to hurl 10mm lead performance will be dismal.

Hunting bands are usually a little heavier so that the max power for a human kill shot can be achieved (though bearing in mind the chance of a loss of power if overly so). Target bands are simply lighter as its only down to accuracy.

Shooting BB's with overpowered rubber will also have them corkscrewing all over the place - simply they start becoming unstable. Its evident as the ammo weight increases this instability becomes less of an issue - but at some point the draw weight results in difficulty ability to hold on target.

Just my 2c

 

[MakoPat]

So thinner is faster if the ammo is smaller (matched to bands)?

 

[mattwalt]

No - I'd say correctly matched bands are faster than incorrectly matched ones.

And some new higher performing rubber options are only available in sheet form.

 

[Heifereye]

Here's a question I had in mind and have not fully delve deeply into the archives. It touches on band thickness, elongation factor, potential energy etc... Let's use SS black latex for example. It all seems to have an elongation factor of 6. I have a draw length of 82cm.

I cut it at 17cm (2cm for the ends, and 1cm for longevity). I'm using 5/16 ammo with .5 latex cut at 19mm. If I switched to .7 latex and cut at the same width but increase length (lessen the elongation), will it still be good with the same size ammo?

If this has been discuss to death already, I apologize

 

[Soske]

So your saying, correct me if I misunderstood. That if you use a thicker rubber with longer bands, will you get the same speed as thinner rubber with shorter bands, with an increase in bandlife. That's a good question!

 

[Soske]

I was thinking, the only real way to check the theses that thinner may be faster is to buy a .35 ss latex roll cut them twice as thick as I usually do 40mm/20mm instead of 20mm/10mm and then see if it's any faster then my usual setup. It's money though, a ss roll cost me over $30 after shipping

 

[Reed Lukens]

The thing is, not all latex is created equal. Some thinner may be faster then others, yet have a harsh pull that is inconsistent, where others are slower with a smooth and more consistent pull. I'm still in testing mode, waiting on materials right now. There's big differences in the different brands even in the same thicknesses.

 

[Soske]

To true. I was thinking to stick to simpleshot rubber. However I looked and they don't make .35 so I can't do it anyway. Were you thinking of doing a similar test?

 

[Island made]

Matt explained it perfectly. Here's an example.....my cut is 3/4" to 3/8" 12" active. If I use that cut with 1mm elastic and shoot 3/8" steel it's gonna shoot 240ish with a hard draw and inconsistent accuracy. If I do that cut with .5 elastic it will be shooting well over 320 FPS and be a very accurate setup. That said if I'm using .5 lead, the .5 will shoot extremely slow and the 1mm will be still shooting 240ish and shooting consistently. And say I have something I can put wide bands the .5 cut 1.5 to 3/4 would probably be faster than the 1 mm.

With my setups I go as thin as I can before I start losing efficiency.

 

[Soske]

Do you think wider thinner bands would break sooner then thicker ones. Is there durability trade-off?

 

[High Desert Flipper]

Soske- I think you hit on a couple good points and many others have also explained it well above, and here's my two cents.

I think the "thinner is better" comes from thinner bands having (slightly) faster contraction rates- like Matt pointed out the thicker bands are heavier and have to pull themselves along plus the ammo. While the thinner band contracts faster, it also has to have enough power to move the ammo. So matching the band to the ammo is important. To weak a band can't move the ammo = no advantage. Also, too thick a band may end up slower because of the extra band mass being pulled above what is necessary to move the ammo. I think Island made summed it up well- the thinnest band that still moves the ammo well is probably optimal.

I have thought about testing doubled thin bands vs thick bands- something like doubled up 0.4 vs 0.8 of the same brand to see if two thin bands would outperform the thick band. This should be the case if there is really much to be gained from the thinner bands being more efficient.

I have shot some doubled up thin bands and really loved them, but haven't done this in a while and never made a rigorous comparison to see if double thin would outdo single thick though. Maybe something to test in the near future.