# The "Barnett Diablo Slingshot"



## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

I picked up this slingshot in the early 80's. I believe this is the 2nd generation ( 2nd production model ) of the Diablo.

The British guys might know for sure. I think the original had wood grips. This slingshot has gone through many revamps/upgrades over the years.

It is now known as the "Pro Diablo".The one thing I didn't like about this Diablo was the handle. It was too short for my big hand.

Barnett was known for heavy bands and big pouches. This one had both. One powerful slingshot!


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## Ukprelude (Apr 17, 2016)

This was my second mass produced catty (first being a blk widdow) and I think this style Diablo is still in production although revamped as you said, the pro Diablo was a later seporate model brought out with all the fancy weights and counterbalance added, very good catty's and advanced in their day but personally back then once I got a taste of the cobra I didn't touch my Diablo again haha I remember getting holes in the tubes always at the fork tips and simply cutting them and reinstalling thus making the catty more powerful at full draw. Looking back now it seems weird patiently waiting and actually looking forward to bands failing just to get that bit of extra power haha

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


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## Bugar (Dec 24, 2009)

Yeah, good slingshots, had a friend that was a Barnett factory exec of some sort, he kept me in slingshots and crossbows for bout 10 yo or so, he quit the job and moved to another kind of job, kinda miss all the Barnett stuff, don't use it anymore cause now would have to buy it.


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## Jack666 (Apr 2, 2019)

Very nice catty, I remember as a kid in Wolverhampton the Barnet factory down ettingshall before it moved product to the USA. Me an a few friends built up many cattys from rejected products left in skip outside lol


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## Melchior (Dec 27, 2009)

Wow, never seen this Diablo model. To my knowledge, generation 1 was cast metal with plastic plates screwed to the side. generation 2 was a wood/epoxy mix with ventilation ribs. Gen3 is the plastic/rubber grip that is in production today. Yours doesn't fit the timeline. We ought to find out about this!


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## AKA Forgotten (Jan 26, 2019)

I like it, got that vintage classy look to it's lines


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## N.Bird (Dec 29, 2009)

Rightly or wrongly I have always believed this to be the first generation model of the diablo. I have an early one with leather wrist strap later changed to plastic. They were available with ( Pro Diablo ) or without stabilizers. I agree with Flatband that the handle is much to small for a large hand. Here is an advert from the mid 80s.


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## gunslingster (Sep 23, 2019)

The handle looks a little bigger in the advert. Love the ad though.


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## markhucker74 (3 mo ago)

Hiya, this is a mk1 , super rare, only produced for around 18 months, this was replaced by the cast red, blue diablo, followed 2 years later by the sexy wood grips n alloy pro diablo. These were classed as mk2, then the mk3 came out, all rubberied plastic. This was replaced by the mk4 all plastic, with fish scale grips. This wasnt very popular hence the mk3 still being produced by, I believe, poelang in china. You can definitely get them, brand new from allibaba in bulk, in cobra, diablo and pro diablo versions


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## N.Bird (Dec 29, 2009)

A interesting thing about these early Barnett Diablos which I have not seen mentioned before is they share a plastic grip with Milbro mod2 air pistols. As far as I can see the grips are interchangable. Milbro went bust in 1982 so I presume Barnett bought a job lot of Milbros old stock of mod2 grips and incorporated them into their first Diablo.


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## markhucker74 (3 mo ago)

well oil beef hooked! never noticed that crafty cost cutting move before, explains wht the mk1 was such a short production run. i wonder what happened to the old pistol mechanisms and components. should the barnett mk1 diablo, have been really called gthe Barnett Milbro?


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## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

https://www.jsramsbottom.com/all-categories/slingshots-catapults.html?p=2



Here's a link to the site I buy my Tru-oil and targets and there's 2 or 3 different slingshots I think yous barnnet guys will like 🎯👊👍


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## markhucker74 (3 mo ago)

Flatband said:


> I picked up this slingshot in the early 80's. I believe this is the 2nd generation ( 2nd production model ) of the Diablo.
> 
> The British guys might know for sure. I think the original had wood grips. This slingshot has gone through many revamps/upgrades over the years.
> 
> ...


hiya pebble, i didnt know these pics was yours, i grabbed one from google images, to use in a video, as yours is in better condition than mine, hope that ok skipper? cheers mark


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