# BB Shooter Failure



## Urban Fisher (Aug 13, 2014)

Hey All,

Well I figured I would share with you what I consider a failure&#8230;no let's say a small set back. I recently cut me out a small little bb shooter out of some self-molded HDPE. I first shot it with regular ¾" TBG and ¼" steel and though I got a few mis-fires, it actually shot pretty good. Well last night I got me some bb's (2500 for $3.50!!!) and with much anticipation, I proceeded to try out my new bb shooter (this time with ½" TBG and a small pouch I made)!! Well first off I was getting some crazy mis-fires! I'm talking about missing the target by 5' or more at times! I was astonished at how bad I was doing! I conclude my tiny pouch was just too small, hard to hold and the leather was too thick.

Then next&#8230;hand slap. I have read about it here but never really experienced it. On my other ss's I would get what I thought was hand slap but it was more of the bands just hitting my fingers without any kind of pain (I shoot OTT on all my slingshots). Well last night a couple of shots I was like OUCH!!! Man that thing came back and hit my fingers hard! After about twenty shots my index finger on the hand that holds the ss was throbbing in pain and was red and swollen. It was to where I was afraid to shoot it knowing the slap my fingers were about to endure. I'm sure it effected my accuracy.

So anyway I was rather disappointed. I was so looking forward to this little shooter and it appears I need to make some modifications. Like I said, I need to make the pouch just a hair bigger and find some more supple material. Then the hand slap I guess will be eliminated by making my next little bb shooter a TTF shooter.

But one success&#8230;on the few good shots I did get off&#8230;man for a little bb shooter that thing has some power!! I filled up a couple of 24 oz. beer cans with water and was shooting at about 30 feet. Those bb's would fly right through the can and I could hear them hitting the fence behind the cans. I figured if it can shoot through a can full of water, it has the power I was hoping for&#8230;well it did and with no problems!!


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Sounds like an interesting little beast ... How about some photos???

Cheers ... Charles


----------



## Urban Fisher (Aug 13, 2014)

Thanks for the reply Charles! I posted one (a picture) before but it was just the little slingshot and no bands. I'm at work now and where I work...I can not take a slingshot to my office! But I will get a picture up once I leave work (hopfully soon!).

I think the biggest reason I was getting such nasty hand slaps is the pouch I made. It is 2" by 3/8" (so very small) but the leather I used was rather thick. I think with the bigger bands and pouches, they seem to cushion a lot of the band bounce back. With those little bands and that kinda heavy pouch (I think heavy for the bands) it seemed like that pouch would bounce back and nail my fingers at full speed.

Even though I wasn't happy with last night's results, does not mean I won't keep trying. I have completed many hobby type projects over my life and I guess I would be more scared if it was a complete success with the first try! 

Also that is why I love working with HDPE. I can make as many slingshots as I want, success or failure it doesn't concern me much because all my raw materials...well they are free to me!!!


----------



## Scarface48 (Oct 9, 2014)

Hi Urban,

I had some trouble with fork strikes while shooting BBs until I shortened my bands on my BB shooter. I now use 6 ' band of TBG, at 5/8" width.

My pouches are 2 " x 5/8 " and I dimple the pouch to center the BB.

I don't know the term, but I pass the bands through the pouch then back through the band to save weight. That method does not require ties.

hope this helps,

Scarface48


----------



## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

Try TBG 3/8 x 1/4 and see what happens. Choose whatever length works for you. The lighter tapered bands will give you much more power and it should significantly reduce handslap.

Latex is weird. It likes to be loaded and the tapered band will continue to add force throughout the shot. Strange as it may seem, if you were to take the 1/2" bands you have now and taper them to 1/2 x 1/4 you will significantly increase your power (though with BB's you'd still be overpowered). If you really want to be impressed try 3/16 x 1/8. A six or seven inch band will shoot faster than a BB gun and I'll bet they would shoot more powerfully than your 1/2" bands. The only problem is that the really light bands don't hold up for very long. I once made a little slingshot that was small enough to be on my key ring, (It think there's a picture in my gallery),that I strung with 3/16 x 1/8 x 6" bands, and it shot over 300fps.

Hand slap is pretty much always from overpowered bands and it represents force that wasn't transferred to the ball.


----------



## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

I just checked an older post of mine and found out the bands I used were 3/16 x 1/4 x 6" and I got 310 fps from them. Search for: "Key Ring BB Shooter" on the forum page and scroll down to Aug '13 and you'll see my version of a really small BB shooter.

winnie


----------



## Urban Fisher (Aug 13, 2014)

Well here is the offender in question. Simple but painful little beast! I cut it out if a template I found here, but kept no memory of who it was from!...my bad! It's not the slingshot (nor did I get any fork hits) it was my band, pouch, ammo combo. But I'm glad I tried it (must reiterate at really no cost to me) and with the above tips, I'll refine it. Heck...to be honest it's half the fun! But I do now understand the power of a good hand slap!


----------



## you'llshootyereyeout (Apr 5, 2014)

Just this evening I picked up a small BB shooter that I had quit shooting because of bad hand slap. It's funny to me now but at the time I didn't know any better. The pouch on it was ridiculously large. The pouches I use now for BB's are 1 3/4" X 1/2" I'm using TBS 1/2" X 6" pouch to fork. I now get little or no slap. I doubt I'm setting any speed records but I can shoot all day.


----------



## you'llshootyereyeout (Apr 5, 2014)

You might try to wrap your bands closer to the top of the fork.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Try a thinner, smaller pouch. I bought some very thin leather from Michaels that works well. It won't hold up with heavier ammo and bands, but it will work fine with BBs or .25 steel. My BB shooter is good for 340 fps with .25 steel.


----------



## oldmiser (Jan 22, 2014)

I use winnie's suggestion for bands for the bb shooter...3/16" x 1/4" x 5" small leather pouch...1/2" x 1 1/2" Latex .030

Them bb's haul the mail ..pretty good......OM


----------



## Urban Fisher (Aug 13, 2014)

Wow Henry!!!...that's AWESOME!!! That's what I'm talking about! Scary power from such a small shooter! Thanks for posting that! So I guess the few good shots I got off and I was like wow!!...did that just fly through that can and leave a big dent in the wood behind it?...was true! Keeps me modivated for sure!

And on a side note, I want to live in Panama!...do you need a roommate? I'm a good cook!


----------

