# Elastic question?



## JASling (Feb 4, 2019)

Hey everybody hope you all have a question and I know I am not a newbie to a group but I still think the question i am about to ask might be one.

So my question is:

When choosing an elastic I know you can have thin elastic and thick elastic. Example .8 and .5 but. You can get the same power for both for 9.5steel for example but the taper will vary with short and butterfly draw with both elastics.
So would you go .5 and cutting a wide taper or going .8 and having a smaller taper with about same weight pull for both? Sorry if it's a confusing questions and thanks in advance 

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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

Thin elastic is fast elastic, for me it’s also more accurate/consistent. So for me I will always go with the thinnest elastic I can


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## Pebble Shooter (Mar 29, 2014)

Thinner rubber will by definition always be more "zippy" i.e. have a faster relative retraction speed as compared to thicker rubber.

Thinner rubber will generally not last as long as thicker rubber, and a high rate of tapering will increase your projectile velocity while reducing the longevity of the flat bands. 30 to 40% taper seems to work out quite well in terms of band longevity, at least according to what I've seen with the 0.55 mm Chinese "Precise" flat bands cut for a cheekbone anchor point.

It really is a question of finding a trade-off between band longevity and ammo velocity, but my personal preference would be the 0.5 mm flat band rubber for the ammo size you mentioned, as you can have good performance while nevertheless having reasonable draw weights - essential for accuracy and general shooting "comfort".

The 0.8 mm rubber should do quite well with 11 to 12 mm ammo, and possibly larger calibers.


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## robbo (Jun 8, 2019)

for me .50 45 inch long draw and .75 or .8 26 to 27 inch short draw but thats not set in stone


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## jazz (May 15, 2012)

If you have two bands of the same chemistry, where one is thinner than the other, than for the same characteristics of the draw (length, ratio etc) they can have same draw power only if the thinner one is proportionally wider than the thicker one. That is, they have to have the same mass.

And if you have the same taper, 3:2 for example, then they should propel the same ammo to the same velocity except for the fact that thinner rubber is faster than the thicker one, however, this difference in velocity is such that the rabbit wont notice it.


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## vince4242 (Jan 11, 2016)

I agree with everything that's been said here. I would throw in when target practice and not hunting, tubes work amazing and they last forever. I'm a big fan of 1842 for 9.5mm Steel. I did a test with the simple shot black 1842 and got over 1200 shots at a 33 inch draw length.

I then switched to 8 mm steel and those same bands were very fast and flat-out to a very long distance. Just something to think about.

Cheers


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## Tombo (Aug 31, 2020)

I've been really enjoying sumeiki 4.5 and 5.0, pink and green respectively. I get really flat fast trajectory from the 3/8 (9.5mm) ammo, v and does a great job cutting cans, right around a 4:3 taper, right now I'm shooting a 24/18mm taper on this wasp wolf, and am getting killer results. These 6 were from this afternoon, and the can you the right of the slingshot only survived 5 hits before it was split apart, atom by atom

As to your question, I'd say that it depends a lot on your preference. For instance, if you wanted to shoot the bands I'm talking about, but your slingshot only had say, 20mm posts to tie to, then you might need to fold the taper I'm using in half an your attachment point to get a nice square attachment and better sight picture. If you were to use the thicker material, your taper will be smaller at the attachment point to achieve the same velocity vs the thinner material, so you may be able to stick to a single layer. So let's say this hypothetical slingshot is OTT only, then to me it is no contest - I would much rather have the clean site picture of the single band than the messy site picture of the folded bands - and so I would go up in elastic thickness until I can get a single layer taper to shoot how I want. But if it were TTF only, I would probably stick with the folded bands, since if anything, the site picture is improved by having a narrower band when sighting


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## Soske (Oct 24, 2020)

Or........ Avoid the whole mess and just shoot tubes! The best compromise between speed and longevity! Want more velocity? Shoot full butterfly!

2040 singles tubes full butterfly using 5/8 (regular) marbles works splendid!


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## vince4242 (Jan 11, 2016)

I second shooting tubes. If you're not hunting tubes do an amazing job and they last forever. Cheap and very easy to work with can't say enough about tubes for Target.

Cheers


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## Cjw (Nov 1, 2012)

vince4242 said:


> I second shooting tubes. If you're not hunting tubes do an amazing job and they last forever. Cheap and very easy to work with can't say enough about tubes for Target.
> 
> Cheers


 I know a lot of people that are very successful hunting with 17/45 and 18/42 tubes. Jim Harris from Performance Catapults has been hunting Squirrels successfully for years with the SPS and looped tubes.

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