Never really had that issues. Did have a benchrest shooter that's a good friend chuckle about my shooter the other day. Handed it to him to shoot and in few minutes he had that big grin on his face.
Suppose if your having that problem do like I did.

 

When I mention slingshots I usually get raised eyebrows and a stupid looks from people !! As for being boys toys, you are only as old as you feel !! The ignorants do not know how much fun you can have with a slingshot, so I always point them in the direction of the forums to have a look at the works of art produced there and check out some of the videos contained within ( If they can be bothered to get a life and get off their Facebook page !! Apologies to any Facebookers on here !! ) Now that's a thought - there iphone against my slingshot at 10 mtrs - I know who would have more fun LOL !! Sorry went off track a little.

Anyway, whether they do or not is none of my concern. So I suggest you don't let it worry too much because they are the ones missing out on our great hobby !!

Have fun.

 

I explain to them it's about more than the slingshot, it's about friendships, the willingness to help a fellow shooter overcome whatever obstacle they may have. I also explain how I witnessed several competitors at the MWST helping the very person they would be shooting against in competition. I then give them Pocket Predator's website and tell them to watch a couple of the videos Bill has made. Then I have them checkout the Forum. I did have one person tell me to grow up, I explained I did but I turned out like them and didn't like it. To end the conversation I asked them how many times did they use their $50,000.00 boat pulled by their $58,000.00 pickup. I then asked them if they ever figured out how much per pound it cost them to catch a fish. Sure makes my $100.00 slingshot look good to me, I step out the back door and the fun begins. I will pass my slingshots down to my nieces and nephews, they will pass their truck and boat to the junk yard.

 

I get that often enough, the polite veiled eye-roll. it's hard to express to people that slingshotting provides all the fun of shooting and more without the cost, danger, noise, lead vapor, and requirement to carry a bunch of stuff to a range that guns do. Yesterday a friend said "mehhh... I might see myself using a pellet gun." There's way more zen to using a slingshot, I say; I think I'd get bored shooting can with a pellet pistol.

 

It's amazing how a relative small group of people from all over came together on this forum with a common interest. Are we wrong? I think not. Some times its best not to cast pearls to the swine. Kind of how I live my life. I smile inside knowing with my child toy I can out shoot their firearm,bow,airgun ect. Once you can shoot a slingshot those other things come really easy.

 

Good one Treefork!!!!!!!

 

This is an easy one. Be willing to laugh at yourself.

I have had this conversation with hundreds of people. Imagine if your dentist were to pull a slingshot out of his/her back pocket. That's me. Since I carry one pretty much 100% of the time - even at work - I have to have a ready explanation. First of all I tell others, unapologetically, that I am a nut. After they laugh a bit and agree with me, I tell them "when you own a slingshot the whole world becomes a target".

This last weekend a somewhat angry woman came up to my truck window (I was in the country and parked next to a forested draw and I was shooting out of my window). I laughed (at myself), used the above lines and proceeded to shoot a leaf out in the distance. When she brought up shooting animals I just laughed, looked at her surprised and said that it was fun shooting leaves and that I didn't see the sense in shooting animals. We had a nice chat and she continued on her way.

Fortunately, it wasn't hunting season. (BTW, I am much more discreet when hunting. With a game pouch in my jacket and a slingshot in my pocket no one would know I was hunting to begin with unless I wanted them to.)

Half the fun is in the sharing.

winnie

 

Dude this is an awesome thread! I do have trouble with this, for one I try to avoid it I don't carry one around with me (I live on an airforce base so no reason to show off what kind of weapons you carry) or I might get in trouble or worse have them confiscated and I think some of what I do might be considered illegal but no one knows cause I don't think a rule against throwing spears and shooting slingshots exist But yeah I have to be a little more careful with what I show people and carry around. So basically the weapons involved at my house stay at my house .

 

Perhaps one of the reasons I don't have any trouble is that I don't consider a slingshot a weapon and I speak of it accordingly. It is primarily for plinking with the occasional bit hunting thrown in. (Here we have a form of the old "firearm/weapon" argument.)

The only exception to this that I know of personally was a good friend of mine.

A number of years ago I gave some old friends each their own slingshot. We had fun in their back yard and then I took off. Several months later Debbie told me this story:

She was at an ATM when she noticed someone lurking too close. She quietly pulled the slingshot out of her purse (the slingshots I use are set up to be pre-loaded) then turned, drew back, and told the guy to "back off". He turned and took off. She has since bought a gun.

winnie

 

I would refer them to the sling shot channel and see if they still thought of it the same way????! It's not for everyone, but to each his own. I know Jorge's videos hooked me, and others like Bill Hays educated me, while the Bean Shooter Man's and others inspired me. I wouldn't argue with people like that. I would just say I like it, and if they have a problem with it, then they are the ones that need growing up.

 

I have never been outright criticized for my slingshot passion. However some people give me the look. Many seem to not take slingshots seriously at all, as an effective hunting weapon or as a precise target sport. I do not try to convince them. For those that know .. know.

 

This idea has been rolling around in my brain pan for two decades ...

This sport needs a well written book or screen play along the lines of the original 'Red Dawn' featuring slingshots instead of firearms; something that will do for slingshooting what 'Hunger Games' or 'Robin Hood' did for archery. The plot possibilities are endless - perhaps a group of mountain bikers with mere wrist rockets who encounter a Gandalf of catapults with the shooting skills Bill Hays, Torsten, and Treefork combined, and throw in a bit of Donald Shimoda magic from 'Illusions'.

Like it or not, slingshots are seriously global; anything less than a powerful, absorbing yarn would do us a disservice. It has to be a compelling story like 'The Art of Racing In The Rain' (Garth Stein), or any other A+ author that could plant a literary flag that would establish our identity and credibility. No 'Sharknado' writers need apply.

Or is it best to stay under radar, not seeking any attention, living quietly. We might be past that point.

I certainly don't have the talent or skill to write such a thing but I think the idea is ripe, low hanging fruit. Run with that.

 

This idea has been rolling around in my brain pan for two decades ...

This sport needs a well written book or screen play along the lines of the original 'Red Dawn' featuring slingshots instead of firearms; something that will do for slingshooting what 'Hunger Games' or 'Robin Hood' did for archery. The plot possibilities are endless - perhaps a group of mountain bikers with mere wrist rockets who encounter a Gandalf of catapults with the shooting skills Bill Hays, Torsten, and Treefork combined, and throw in a bit of Donald Shimoda magic from 'Illusions'.

Like it or not, slingshots are seriously global; anything less than a powerful, absorbing yarn would do us a disservice. It has to be a compelling story like 'The Art of Racing In The Rain' (Garth Stein), or any other A+ author that could plant a literary flag that would establish our identity and credibility. No 'Sharknado' writers need apply.

Or is it best to stay under radar, not seeking any attention, living quietly. We might be past that point.

I certainly don't have the talent or skill to write such a thing but I think the idea is ripe, low hanging fruit. Run with that.

I agree. Slingshots have sort of fallen into the shadows and mildly forgotten. Some kind of movie or documentary would surely kick start its popularity once again. Yeah...maybe a documentary

 

When I get this reaction, I just mention that the legal power limit for my air rifles is 12 ft/lb and I get 15 ft/lb from my slingshot, they seem to raise one eyebrow and sort of change the subject. :naughty:

 

Show them some of the youtube videos posted by Bill Hays (Pocket Predator).

 

I say i love shooting slingshots and i always will - i don't care what people say I'll keep doing something i enjoy that's it !

 

If they can't accept my hobby I don't want to associate with them anyway.

 

I do what I like and i like what I do and really don't care what other people think of my hobbies/sport

 

I relpy with "Ok." Thats about it.

 

AHAHAH!!!, I smile when I read this topic... some time ago I was looking for some small pesty rats with my friends, they all have an air gun and I took my cattie, when they saw the slingshot one of them said :" -- You will use that toy??? ahahah, you dont gonna hunt anything!", we start hunting and a rat get out from some grass and start running, when she stop they start point to them with the airgun, but is to late she is already dead, using a child toy and a rock...In the final of the day they all want that I make one slingshot for them!! Slingshots will always surprise someone !!

SSPT...

 

i say nothing, as far as im concerned its one less person whos never going to ask me if they can see or shoot my slingshot.

 

Nerds! You think slingshots are a social stigma? Try dropping your polyhedron RPG dice in front of a cafeteria full of students... that should crush what little pride you had. :bonk:

 

It is a shame how many blank stares I get from people. It's like trying to explain something really exciting to someone who doesn't speak English. Then again, some people just are not as obsessive as I am. I suspect obsessiveness, perfectionism, compulsivity are traits that tie all of us here on the forum together. Normal people are content to hit a can once or twice and move on. We are all consumed by the need to hit it AGAIN AND AGAIN and to hit ever smaller targets.

 

Thanks to all of you for those great replies .

It's ripe fruit season once again, and a neighbour across the road told be how fed up he was with dozens of starlings literally feasting on his anticipated harvest. When I asked him whether he'd ever considered using a slingshot, his reaction was: "a slingshot ? Not really effective...". I then showed him one of my birch plywood flat band slingshots, and shot a couple of rounded stones at a safe target. He tried it himself, and was truly impressed with the power output, adding: "yeah, maybe one of these will scare them off...". (Using an air rifle at them is not an option because of applicable hunting laws).

Well, I gave him one of my birch plywood slingshots (once you've made one, others follow... ), and wished him luck in keeping those starlings at bay. Who knows, maybe he'll be tempted to tell others about how much fun and effective slingshots really are. This it maybe all it takes to get a newcomer on board - or at the very least, to change a skeptical opinion to one that is generally positive.

To me, the big difference between a slingshot and other kinds of legally available weapons (firearms, airguns, bows, crossbows...) is the very fact that you have the satisfaction of making it yourself according to your personal tastes, or based on existing designs, and appreciate shooting it all the more as a result.

Moreover, I am always very impressed with the artistic designs that are regularly presented on this forum: there is so much to learn!

 

Personally I couldn't care less what people think, anymore than I care that they look at me like I'm a terrorist because I own a couple of firearms (I live in New York) or that they take a step back when I tell them I collect swords, axes and daggers (actually I kind of like that) My girlfriend likes them, owns them and goes shooting with me, no one else matters.