# GZK .54 Green



## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

This is some zippy stuff! Cut bands out with my 15 - 20 mm template. Eight inch working length. Measured in 1" from each end for pouch/fork attachment, for a 6" active length. These are sending 5/16 right at 260 fps, with my 30" draw. The point of impact is much higher than my current Precise .50 setup. The Precise pulls much more smoothly and the shot is also smoother and less noisy than the GZK. The GZK has a stout pull and more in line with SS black. Has a lot of snap and I actually get a little bit of slap on my index finger. Once I got used to where it was hitting I had no trouble keeping shots on target. It shot a bit better with the heavier 3/8. I prefer 5/16 so I will try to dial it back a bit with a 6.5" active length. It's good elastic, but I won't give up my Precise just yet.

I have some GZK green .62 and yellow .62 to test and compare. May also try to get some Precise .45 to try.


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## Got Bands (May 12, 2016)

sounds like pretty good stuff thanks.....I just got turned on to ss black or I would try this keep us posted on what you find out with that .62 and precise .45


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

Got Bands said:


> sounds like pretty good stuff thanks.....I just got turned on to ss black or I would try this keep us posted on what you find out with that .62 and precise .45


In my opinion the SS black is close enough to the feel and performance of the GZK that there is no real advantage to one over the other. If one were to have a significantly better shot count, then that would be more of a factor. I don't really keep count, but I have a few hundred on my Precise and it's still going strong. SS black had a much shorter shot count, but I was close to maxing those out, so not a true comparison.


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## Trap1 (Apr 12, 2020)

Good info! I've got some .58 yellow (more kinda orangey) & .66 black. Really like the yellow to date, smooth draw. haven't tried the black yet.


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Thanks for sharing


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

I don’t know what it is about that green. I have yellow green and black all in .66. That green is snappy.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

Ibojoe said:


> I don't know what it is about that green. I have yellow green and black all in .66. That green is snappy.


I will try the yellow .62 next and see how it compares.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

So I re-tied the bands at 6.5", which equates to 460% elongation. They were much better behaved! Smoother draw and while the shot was still snappy, it felt a lot better. Point of impact is still high. Shot over the chrony and only lost 10 fps (now 250 fps) with 5/16. Pretty good elastic, but I think I'll cross this one off of my list.


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

For a while I shot a ton of green gzk, I shot it until all I had was gone. I loved it. But now I have orange and black...i shoot the black the most (because I like black bands) but I think the orange is the smoothest band and my favourite. But the black last forever. I’ve got a set of black .66 cut 3/4 to 3/8 with an 11” active and I’ve had them on a thumper since august, I’ve taken countless game with them and if I had to guess got well over 2,500 shots on them and there still going strong. Come to think of it I’ve never wore out a set of gzk blacks.........


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

Island made said:


> For a while I shot a ton of green gzk, I shot it until all I had was gone. I loved it. But now I have orange and black...i shoot the black the most (because I like black bands) but I think the orange is the smoothest band and my favourite. But the black last forever. I've got a set of black .66 cut 3/4 to 3/8 with an 11" active and I've had them on a thumper since august, I've taken countless game with them and if I had to guess got well over 2,500 shots on them and there still going strong. Come to think of it I've never wore out a set of gzk blacks.........


Crazy shot count!

What size orange? I have a sample of .62 to try.


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

.66 is all I’ve tired in all the colours. I forgot to mention.....the original white is one of the smoothest elastics you’ll ever shoot. It’s about 15 pfs slower than the other colours but it’s like drawing butter.


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

Thanks for the info, I've never tried GZK but have always been curious about what the differences are between the different colors. If you had to summarize them relative to each other for smoothness, optimal elongation factor, and speed, how would you rank them? Black stiffest and maybe fastest? Yellow smoothest and longer draw? Green in the middle?

While I haven't tried GZK I am sold on the Precise 3rd 0.5 and get results similar to yours with 20-15 and 20-12 tapers putting out 5/16 very well.

I also have the 3rd gen 0.75 and trying to make my mind up on it. Smoother draw and stretches farther than SS 0.8, feels great, but seems a bit slower than SS 0.8 and Gong Chi green 0.65- both of which are stiffer but really spit the 3/8" and 7/16" balls out. But maybe I haven't gotten the active length quite right yet for the Precise 0.75, have it stretching ~600% now vs ~480 for the SS and Gong Chi.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

High Desert Flipper said:


> Thanks for the info, I've never tried GZK but have always been curious about what the differences are between the different colors. If you had to summarize them relative to each other for smoothness, optimal elongation factor, and speed, how would you rank them? Black stiffest and maybe fastest? Yellow smoothest and longer draw? Green in the middle?
> 
> While I haven't tried GZK I am sold on the Precise 3rd 0.5 and get results similar to yours with 20-15 and 20-12 tapers putting out 5/16 very well.
> 
> I also have the 3rd gen 0.75 and trying to make my mind up on it. Smoother draw and stretches farther than SS 0.8, feels great, but seems a bit slower than SS 0.8 and Gong Chi green 0.65- both of which are stiffer but really spit the 3/8" and 7/16" balls out. But maybe I haven't gotten the active length quite right yet for the Precise 0.75, have it stretching ~600% now vs ~480 for the SS and Gong Chi.


I only have experience with the green so far, but I believe you have the order correct (black, green, yellow). Hopefully someone with more info can chime in.

Precise 3rd gen .5 is my favorite so far.


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## Trap1 (Apr 12, 2020)

The yellow I mentioned above is definitely "GZK orange" The green I got from cattyshack & thought it was unbranded GZK but not sure now as I think there is a Green elastic made in Europe (maybe Germany..) but it packs a punch.



StringSlap said:


> Island made said:
> 
> 
> > For a while I shot a ton of green gzk, I shot it until all I had was gone. I loved it. But now I have orange and black...i shoot the black the most (because I like black bands) but I think the orange is the smoothest band and my favourite. But the black last forever. I've got a set of black .66 cut 3/4 to 3/8 with an 11" active and I've had them on a thumper since august, I've taken countless game with them and if I had to guess got well over 2,500 shots on them and there still going strong. Come to think of it I've never wore out a set of gzk blacks.........
> ...


From what I've read in here (in some other thread...) I dont think that there much difference between GZK orange .58 & .62 performance wise so I just stuck with the .58 (sample I received) when buying an additional 2m.


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## perp90 (Nov 12, 2020)

Does anyone put calipers on their elastic to get the actual thickness?

I have GZK black .62 and .66 and yellow .66, the .62 black actually measures .6, the .66 measures .68-.69, and the yellow .66 measures .65. I have a roll of Sumeiki .65 that actually measure .63 and my simpleshot black .6 has the greatest variance coming in at .54. Curious to see others experiences.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

perp90 said:


> Does anyone put calipers on their elastic to get the actual thickness?
> 
> I have GZK black .62 and .66 and yellow .66, the .62 black actually measures .6, the .66 measures .68-.69, and the yellow .66 measures .65. I have a roll of Sumeiki .65 that actually measure .63 and my simpleshot black .6 has the greatest variance coming in at .54. Curious to see others experiences.


I've thought about this and I've tried to measure with calipers. Maybe others have more control than I do, but I find it very hard to get consistent readings with regular calipers. It's just too easy to compress the elastic a touch too much. I'm considering buying a thickness gauge. They have heads about the size of a dime and should spread out the contact area enough for a more accurate measurement.


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## perp90 (Nov 12, 2020)

StringSlap said:


> perp90 said:
> 
> 
> > Does anyone put calipers on their elastic to get the actual thickness?
> ...


Using a digital caliper, it is actually quite consistent and very quick. I close the jaws until it just stops, it actually takes some authority to compress the elastic and get a skewed reading. The more rubber you put in the caliper, the more surface area you have to compress which will require more force. I take 5-6 readings along a 7" band and get a consistent reading all the way down. With some brands offering elastics in .65, .67, and .7, and having variations of +-.03 and some as high as +-.06, its hard to tell what you are ordering. :iono: Just goes to show some of the inconsistencies in some brands/batches. I haven't gone through enough of the same brand and thickness to test for consistency between batches/different rolls, but I'd be curious to hear if anyone has any of the brands and thicknesses I mentioned above and what they actually measure out to.


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## Sneaky (Oct 1, 2019)

This might common knowledge but just to add some info, I’ve been trying to figure out what GZK colors and thicknesses to try, and sling-tech responded by explaining that green, orange, and black have stretch ratios of 6.5:1, 6:1, and 5.5:1 - I’m honestly not sure I’m positive on what that means, I’m guessing max elongation? But I thought it might be useful information if anyone didn’t know.


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

Sneaky said:


> This might common knowledge but just to add some info, I've been trying to figure out what GZK colors and thicknesses to try, and sling-tech responded by explaining that green, orange, and black have stretch ratios of 6.5:1, 6:1, and 5.5:1 - I'm honestly not sure I'm positive on what that means, I'm guessing max elongation? But I thought it might be useful information if anyone didn't know.


Thank you for sharing this, I hadn't seen this info before. I would be great if all companies would list recommended / optimal elongation factors for their materials.


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## Trap1 (Apr 12, 2020)

Using a micrometer I've found GZK to be accurate, calipers are not the best instrument to use due to touch & the nature of the band material. Dial test indicators would be best with large flat (load spreading) head with the lighter plunger springs should give consistent readings on bands.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

Some very interesting results...

I just tested GZK .62 orange (yellow) to compare to the .54 green. Used same exact band cut, ammo, etc. as stated above. The .62 shot at the same exact velocity (250 fps) as the green .54, but at a smoother draw and less snappy feel to the shot cycle. It also shot more to point of aim than the .54, which was shooting high. This may be a band I can live with for a while.

If the trend holds true, then I imagine the green .62 will be a fast band and maybe better with 3/8 or 7/16. I have some and will test ASAP. For now I want to shoot the .62 orange for a while and see how I get along with it. I actually don't like to do extensive testing. I'm a set it and forget it kind of guy. I did the leg work and settled on a type of frame, favorite pouch and what I like to use to attach pouches and bands to frame. Now I'm looking to do the same with elastic.


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## Sneaky (Oct 1, 2019)

Thanks for the info! I’ve been shooting just basic TBG for a while and am going to start to experiment so this is really helpful. I ordered the green, orange, and black samples from slingtech in .62 yesterday.


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## StringSlap (Mar 2, 2019)

The GZK .62 orange is working out fairly well. Took about 40 shots to get used to it and then threw up a target. Five shots. Two in the bull and three just above.


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