# Sumeike Wins on Speed so far "Slingmail"



## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

I finally received my slingmailfrom Slingshooting.com, it sat in California for 3 weeks over the holidays, then arrived a couple days later.








Here's the list -














I cut the .4 SoBong Taichi and the .4 BSB test rolls into speed bands today and unfortunately they didn't cut it. The SoBong topped out at 366fps and the BSB topped out at 378fps, where so far my fastest double band set up has come from the .45 Sumeike topping out at 426fps. I have been maxing out the Pocket Predator Taurus on band width at 1-1/4" tapered down to 1/2, which ties the pouch in at about 5/8" with a 9-1/2" long active band. I've tied all of the sets the same, but with different pouches, since the Chinese pouches came in. 
I have a bunch more tests and tomorrow I'll be banding up the .45 and .5 sets to test. I already shot a movie for the 400fps badge but I don't have a way to post it since Covid has slowed our house closing... we were supposed to have the keys today, but now they're saying it's going to be another month because all of the appraisers are booked way out with the housing boom that's going on here... and they didn't show up last month when they had been booked to appraise it.

So the bad news is, I won't be posting a large video and I won't be shooting in my back yard this month. And the good news is, that I will still be shooting out here in the desert, I don't have to move yet, and our friends are having to change their plans on when to come visit 

I've got to say that I've been putting the Taurus through its paces and it showing signs of wear from the heavy pull on those bands. No fork hits or anything, just the bands leaving stretch marks in the plastic. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow in the daylight before I start sanding it smooth for the next test


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## robbo (Jun 8, 2019)

well done mate what size ammo are you shooting, and what draw length do you have keep up the good work.


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

The scenery is awesome


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## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

robbo said:


> well done mate what size ammo are you shooting, and what draw length do you have keep up the good work.


For the speed tests, I'm shooting 1/4" steel balls, then I'm also shooting bb's, 3/8 & 7/16 steel along with 5/8 marbles for fun after the speed bands break and it's time for fun with the rest of my slings. That's the problem with speed bands though, the extreme taper really doesn't last long, but I'm cutting them long for up to a 60" partial butterfly with the release.









The release really increases the power of the draw and being able to pull back the double and triple band set ups with my whole hand instead of just a couple of fingers, or a thumb and finger clamped onto the pouch, really makes it nice. You can feel when the bands have been stretched to their maximum elongation, and I have pulled them past that just to try and get more speed, resulting in broken bands usually.

One of the reasons that I bought the SoBong Taichi test band, was that on the Slingshooting.com web page, it states that the elongation is more than 650% like the Sumeike, but these are the only 2 brands that state that and not all band brands are created equal.














Being able to buy a couple SoBong test bands was only $1.87 for me because I only ordered 2 sets at 180mm or 7" x 2= one 14" piece. Had I known that it would come in one piece beforehand, I could have bought the maximum 280mm for 10 cents more, still under $2 dollars. For testing, you just can't beat that 









So, I was able to pull the SoBong Taichi to full length draw, which is still a partial butterfly because of the release or trigger mechanism that bends my wrist back towards the slingshot comfortably, but that wasn't the case for the .4 BSB White, surprisingly. They don't sell the .4 BSB anymore, and I don't see it listed on their website. I read somewhere that it had been discontinued, but I bought it because most people say that the thinner elastics are the fastest and the .4's are the thinnest that I saw. Unfortunately for me, it actually broke at the pouch after after less than 10 shots. This is the only true pouch break that I've had during my testing. It wasn't over stretched when I tied it, I think it was just too thin to start with. But it started out as a 10-1/4" band, so it can be retied for another session. The other thing with the BSB, was that it didn't stretch out to over 650% like the other two, but it didn't say that it would on their web page either. Still though, it was surprising to me and part of the learning curve. It did stretch to about 500%, but having it break so quickly was a big disappointment. I have a whole roll of .5 BSB though that I will be putting through its paces against the Sumeike, ALS, SoBong Taichi, SoBong Xunmeng and the Yongshuihu test bands. Everyone raves about the BSB .5, and I have rolls of different thicknesses of that, Sumeike, ALS and of course the .6 Simpleshot Black


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## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

You can see the wear marks on the Taurus where the bands have rubbed the plastic down a layer.









I just used the Dremel to smooth it out.









I put the 4 little black pieces of paracord in the banding grooves top and bottom, to be able to use the full length of the 1-5/16" band area. They just fill in the gap to reduce the band being stretched down into it.









I ended up spending the day retying the bands and setting up my slingshots with different bands. Below is the SoBong Taichi doubles being tied with a heavier pouch. Being that the SoBong bands didn't beat out the Sumeike for speed, they don't need a light weight pouch on them anymore, so they have moved up to can killers 









The .4 SoBong Taichi Black/ White is on the left and the .4 BSB is on the right. This is all from the sample they sent, I still have plenty to play with and more not shown 









Here are a few pics of my little portable shop with our trailer. A few of the birds, etc.





















And last but not least, look how well this little Roadrunner blends in to the ground. Roadrunner's are carnivores, they hunt snakes, lizards, bugs and birds. They sit here under the tree hunting birds on the feeders. Truly, they are fast.


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## eaglerockdude (Dec 27, 2020)

Detailed review. If you have some time, for the newbies, can you maybe list band thickness and what is best for what? The sling shots I bought from simpleshot just come with a default, and the few I bought from Fowler..well on the website they don't even list the thickness, but I like them. What would be best for clay ammo just general target practice. I am willing to give up some power for being able to take my time and practice shooting positions/ref positions all that..thanks.


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## eaglerockdude (Dec 27, 2020)

So kind small milestone today. Finally got all my GZK CHINA order sorted out(bands/pouches/template cutter/band rig) and some time to cut and tie my first bands. I knew I wanted light bands and a stiff thin pouch...so far shooting excellent. Sumeike .45mm blues..look good :>)

I just copied the taper of some lite bands I liked.


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## armando (Jun 3, 2015)

Have you tried snipersling elastic?


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## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

armando said:


> Have you tried snipersling elastic?


Nope, I've GOT more Precise, BSB, ALS and Yongshuihu on order though for the next round of tests, they were all smooth shooting


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## KawKan (May 11, 2013)

Pardon me for hijacking Reed's thread (he said as he hijacked the thread).

You don't need a different thickness for every different ammo. Shortly after tapers became popular, and flatband shooters either shot Theraband Gold or .030 natural latex, Bill Hays suggested using a 3:2 taper and adjusting the taper widths based and on ammo size and composition. I have found it to be good advise for a starting point, even with the .45 that's now available.

Steel: wide end = 2 times the ammo diameter

Glass/clay: wide end = 1.5 times the ammo diameter

Lead: wide end = 3 times the ammo diameter (or double bands 1.5 times the ammo diameter).

IMHO, a 3:2 or 4:3 taper ratio works well for short draws, and 2:1 works better for longer draws.

I tend to cut new band material to 1/4 my draw length, and go shorter if I need to boost the speed. But, heck some latex will really stretch to more than 6 times the relaxed length for max performance and give good life at 5 times the relaxed length.

But the tinkering is fun.

I have settled on .50 or .55 for most purposes, and .75 for 1/2-inch steel and .44 cal lead at short draws. That's not a recommendation, just what makes me happy!

You do you!



eaglerockdude said:


> Detailed review. If you have some time, for the newbies, can you maybe list band thickness and what is best for what? The sling shots I bought from simpleshot just come with a default, and the few I bought from Fowler..well on the website they don't even list the thickness, but I like them. What would be best for clay ammo just general target practice. I am willing to give up some power for being able to take my time and practice shooting positions/ref positions all that..thanks.


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