# Cheap, environmentally friendly, accurate ammo ? ? ?



## Hernan

Hello, everyone.

Been shooting 1/4" and 3/8" steel SBs indoor, but was wondering if there was something environmentally friendly and cheaper for me to plink around my walk in the woods with, other than bbs.

This would not be used for hunting. Accuracy is all I'm looking for.

I've tried bb's but they're hard to see and not gratifying enough. I like to see a bit more destruction of the target. lol

Thanks

PS: I've searched the newbie forum for this and didn't find much.


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## twang

have you tried stones?


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## Yosemite Sam

What about pea gravel? The stones are bigger than a BB, and approximately 1/4 - 3/8" in size. I think sort of cheap, and environmental friendly. You could have your cake and eat it too. WIN/WIN.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jazz

Hi Hernan and all,

I think that having in mind only typical / wide spread ammo: stones, marbles (glass), steel and lead - stones are most environmentaly friendly but their accuracy can never be satisfactory, if that is what you are after, as the second requirement.

glass marbles are much better, however, they also can make weird trajectories, usualy just before they get to the target (murphy's law..), especialy long range one.. also their environmental friendliness some people question since they (can) brake and cause harm to people and animals.

lead is best acuracy wise - it is for centuries preffered ammo material because if has most flat trajectory etc., but many people think that lead is hazard to the nature (some people, again, question this..)

This leaves us with steel (balls): they are usualy perfectly round and well balanced which alows you to go after not only "plinking accuracy" but for target/tournament one; on the other side, steel balls do not brake, do not cause dangerous chemical reactions etc (which does not mean tey are not unneccesary in the neture) so they do represent, in my opinion, some kind of an optimal solution for what you want..

cheers,

jazz


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## Hernan

Thank you all for your time. Gonna have a run w pea gravel and see how that goes.


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## Phoul Mouth

Chickpeas. Things are pretty accurate and the squirrels in my yard seem to like them. As do some of the birds.


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## treefork

Marbles are great . Use the solid decorative glass balls . Avoid the traditional marble with the swirling inside . Glass balls are as accurate as any sphere shape ball .Check craft or dollar stores . mcgillswarehouse is a good online source if you buy 30 lb. lots .


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## lunasling

Yup chick peas are the most env friendly
As far as i see it what dont break on impact 
Will provide food or with luck will sprout up lol


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## Hernan

Although marbles shoot great, I don't want to risk leaving sharps out there. Chickpeas sound interesting. Lol

Thanks, guys.


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## lunasling

[quote name="Hernan" post="579615" timestamp="1456345573"]Although marbles shoot great, I don't want to risk leaving sharps out there. Chickpeas sound interesting. Lol
Thanks, guys.[/quote

H
They aren't the fastest or hard hitting as marbels and shot 
But they do satisfy with the right band set up


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## twang

how about clay? you can make them, they are cheap,they break down with time,not likely to be eaten by animals etc or poison them.

I made some balls from plaster. they dont need fireing.v cheap. esp from a plasterer, part bag he didnt use,as it goes off,they like fresh.

nice picture btw


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## Hernan

Gonna start rolling my boogers n letting it dry. Lol

Gonna start w pea gravel for now. I'll let you all know how that goes.


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## Samurai Samoht

For cheap disposable and accurate ammo its hard to beat buying bulk 1/4" steel balls online. Like here... http://www.ebay.com/itm/5000-1-4-Inch-G25-Precision-Chromium-Chrome-Steel-Bearing-Balls-AISI-52100-/291017574948?hash=item43c1ffca24:g:iD4AAOxyXDhShNnN

At 1 cent per shot I personally think that's pretty good for using perfectly round ammo that will eventually rust away. They would probably be more destructive than pea gravel anyways. 

Tom


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## Hernan

Yeah, I picked up 3000 1/4 for $37. Haven't shot them outside yet. They'd still end up getting too pricey for my budget.


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## brucered

Hernan said:


> Yeah, I picked up 3000 1/4 for $37. Haven't shot them outside yet. They'd still end up getting too pricey for my budget.


If you shot 100 of them each outting (no catchbox for retrieval), it works out to under $1.25 and outing. You could do that every day for a month, which is unlikely.

That's a pretty cheap and economical activity compared to most things these days.

In the summer or depending on where you are, you'll have access to rocks, pebbles to supplement your number of shots too.


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## Hernan

I hear you. Pretty sure I'm gonna end up shooting just about anything that fits the pouch. Lol


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## NaturalFork

Bulk 1/2 inch gumballs.


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## brucered

I've shot gumballs in the backyard. Stains the pouch a bit, but they work. The dog is always happy when she finds one that didn't hit the catchbox too.

Make for interesting, multi-colored Doggy Doo pickup as well.


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## willedwards

Check out some of Trumark's "tracer" ammo. I've found the quality to be superb and it is easy to spot in flight. I have yet to break one shooting against natural materials such as wood.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002J1S21W/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1456421596&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=slingshot+ammo&dpPl=1&dpID=51cZJuXDbAL&ref=plSrch


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## Hernan

Thanks, ya'll. Det having a go at the gum balls. Lol

Hope I don't start attracting bears.


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## Simpleman

I like clay balls. If you can find natural clay it's one of the cheapest also. I can find it in abundance here. You can roll it to any size you want. I usually roll two sizes. One the size of marbles and one bigger for hunting. Just roll the up and sun bake them and they get pretty hard


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## bradclark1

AliExpress has wooden balls but they are expensive.

Brad


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## jazz

Hi Hernan and all,

I have already commented on this thread but after reading all the other comments, including mine again, I came to the conclusion that we simply did not answer the original question that is sitting in the title of this thread, which is, paraphrased: What is (1) Cheap Ammo that is (2) Environmentaly Friendly and that is (3) Accurate?

So I had a set of new thoughts which I want to share with all of us.

As far as I could pick up all the suggestions, they are:

stones

pea gravel

chickpeas

marbles

clay

boogers (!?)

steel

lead

gumballs

Trumark's "tracer" ammo

wooden balls

If the question is taken literally, NONE of the suggestions above satisfies fully all three requirements because they all tend to comply to one of them, and push away the other two requirements in the background. (But they are interesting suggestions in themselves for sure!)

As an example I will start with my own thread where I suggested steel and lead. To be honest, in this way I favoured Accuracy as opposed to Environmental Friendliness and Cost (please note that these can be different for different people: if I can cast my own lead might be much cheaper than somebody having to buy it and pay for the shipping costs; also, I can be more or less environmently conscious, no matter how realy an ammo is friendly, etc.)

Other suggestions, it seems to me, favour more Environmental Friendlines and/or Cost on the expense of Accuracy, and in various degrees. (In this regard, marbles for example, might be pretty Accurate, especialy the ones that treefork suggested in his comment - but still less than steel or lead of the same weight.)

Stones (for me at least) have a romantic meaning and are reminiscent of my childhood; they are Cheap, yeah, but Accuracy - if that is taken litteraly - is very questionable: only if the stone/rock/pebble is round, then Accuracy improves, but in the final instance it leads to stone marbles commented above).

And this is an example of personal differences: I knew a man who was deadly accurate with stones..

I love the idea of chichpeas, pea gravel and others but they have nothing to do with (high) Accuracy.

And there are still other types of ammo not mentioned in this thread such as frozen peas, paintballs, sand balls, iron cylinders etc. etc. which all suffer on this or that requirement/parameter.

This comes to be so if we want a type of ammo to comply well to all three requirements: VERY cheap, VERY environmentaly friendly and VERY accurate.

The solution is easier to find if we relax each requirement (Cost-Environment-Accuracy) in a range of their values, maybe on some scale of 1 to 10; in that regard a given suggestion, say, Clay Balls might be estimated to be 9-10-6, which looks better than Chickpeas whose score might be 9-10-2 - and so on, but keeping in mind that there scores can be objective as much as they are subjective.

I also think that we could simply conclude that the solution that would have all the tens (10-10-10) simply does not exist - or at least in my experience I am not aware of it.

Putting this all together, another thought is comming to my mind and this is that we should maybe not evaluate the ammo solely against the three requirements, but give a weight (ponder) to a given requirement depending on the ocasion.

What does it mean?

Well, if you go out in the woods for plinking, for example, then the Environmental Friendliness might be the most important requirement; Accuracy might be the second and Cost the third, and the same score, say 5, given to a type of ammo will not have the same weight or significance.

If you go hunting, especialy for a larger game, than going there with, say, Wooden Balls in your pockets might be VEEERY questionable and in some instancies inhumane, too. Accuracy (and Energy) might be crucial here as any hunter will say. For this very reason they rarely go hunting without lead or steel, all other options possible.

And finaly, if you pack your pockets with chickpeas when you go for a SS tournament where all these great shooters will come - you certainly could win - because they would all be rolling on the ground laughing so hard that they would not be able to shoot. Accuracy here is the king - well, that is all what a tournament is all about, isn't it?

So, it seems that (i) how well a type of ammo stands on each of the three requirements, (ii) the ocasion and (iii) given personal and (iv) other circumstances - all together call for the choice of the type of ammo.

As anything else in slingshots, the answer to this topic is highly related to personal preferences, possibilities, knowledge, availability, even mentality, but also stands on firm objective grounds.

I myself solved this problem by experience: I shot everything in the lists above and more (well, except boogers..) and found my optimum with lead and steel. Other people suggested to you their solutions from their experience.

What this then boils down to is the same as many other topics related to slingshots - taking all the information into account it is still you who has the responsibility to work hard experimenting and decide on what is the best solution for you - in various ocasions and for different purposes.

cheers,

jazz


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## Hernan

Thanks, Jazz. Although im new to this, what you said makes sense. So far ive tried pea gravel but its unpredictable after a short distance. I dont have the time to roll my own ammo and gum balls, although i look forward to tryiing, id be reluctant to to use them for long in fear of attracting pests. So far .177 bb's arent too bad upto about 20'. Ill keep you all posted in my findings.


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## twang

jazz said:


> Hi Hernan and all,
> 
> I have already commented on this thread but after reading all the other comments, including mine again, I came to the conclusion that we simply did not answer the original question that is sitting in the title of this thread, which is, paraphrased: What is (1) Cheap Ammo that is (2) Environmentaly Friendly and that is (3) Accurate?
> 
> So I had a set of new thoughts which I want to share with all of us.
> 
> As far as I could pick up all the suggestions, they are:
> 
> stones
> 
> pea gravel
> 
> chickpeas
> 
> marbles
> 
> clay
> 
> boogers (!?)
> 
> steel
> 
> lead
> 
> gumballs
> 
> Trumark's "tracer" ammo
> 
> wooden balls
> 
> If the question is taken literally, NONE of the suggestions above satisfies fully all three requirements because they all tend to comply to one of them, and push away the other two requirements in the background. (But they are interesting suggestions in themselves for sure!)
> 
> As an example I will start with my own thread where I suggested steel and lead. To be honest, in this way I favoured Accuracy as opposed to Environmental Friendliness and Cost (please note that these can be different for different people: if I can cast my own lead might be much cheaper than somebody having to buy it and pay for the shipping costs; also, I can be more or less environmently conscious, no matter how realy an ammo is friendly, etc.)
> 
> Other suggestions, it seems to me, favour more Environmental Friendlines and/or Cost on the expense of Accuracy, and in various degrees. (In this regard, marbles for example, might be pretty Accurate, especialy the ones that treefork suggested in his comment - but still less than steel or lead of the same weight.)
> 
> Stones (for me at least) have a romantic meaning and are reminiscent of my childhood; they are Cheap, yeah, but Accuracy - if that is taken litteraly - is very questionable: only if the stone/rock/pebble is round, then Accuracy improves, but in the final instance it leads to stone marbles commented above).
> 
> And this is an example of personal differences: I knew a man who was deadly accurate with stones..
> 
> I love the idea of chichpeas, pea gravel and others but they have nothing to do with (high) Accuracy.
> 
> And there are still other types of ammo not mentioned in this thread such as frozen peas, paintballs, sand balls, iron cylinders etc. etc. which all suffer on this or that requirement/parameter.
> 
> This comes to be so if we want a type of ammo to comply well to all three requirements: VERY cheap, VERY environmentaly friendly and VERY accurate.
> 
> The solution is easier to find if we relax each requirement (Cost-Environment-Accuracy) in a range of their values, maybe on some scale of 1 to 10; in that regard a given suggestion, say, Clay Balls might be estimated to be 9-10-6, which looks better than Chickpeas whose score might be 9-10-2 - and so on, but keeping in mind that there scores can be objective as much as they are subjective.
> 
> I also think that we could simply conclude that the solution that would have all the tens (10-10-10) simply does not exist - or at least in my experience I am not aware of it.
> 
> Putting this all together, another thought is comming to my mind and this is that we should maybe not evaluate the ammo solely against the three requirements, but give a weight (ponder) to a given requirement depending on the ocasion.
> 
> What does it mean?
> 
> Well, if you go out in the woods for plinking, for example, then the Environmental Friendliness might be the most important requirement; Accuracy might be the second and Cost the third, and the same score, say 5, given to a type of ammo will not have the same weight or significance.
> 
> If you go hunting, especialy for a larger game, than going there with, say, Wooden Balls in your pockets might be VEEERY questionable and in some instancies inhumane, too. Accuracy (and Energy) might be crucial here as any hunter will say. For this very reason they rarely go hunting without lead or steel, all other options possible.
> 
> And finaly, if you pack your pockets with chickpeas when you go for a SS tournament where all these great shooters will come - you certainly could win - because they would all be rolling on the ground laughing so hard that they would not be able to shoot. Accuracy here is the king - well, that is all what a tournament is all about, isn't it?
> 
> So, it seems that (i) how well a type of ammo stands on each of the three requirements, (ii) the ocasion and (iii) given personal and (iv) other circumstances - all together call for the choice of the type of ammo.
> 
> As anything else in slingshots, the answer to this topic is highly related to personal preferences, possibilities, knowledge, availability, even mentality, but also stands on firm objective grounds.
> 
> I myself solved this problem by experience: I shot everything in the lists above and more (well, except boogers..) and found my optimum with lead and steel. Other people suggested to you their solutions from their experience.
> 
> What this then boils down to is the same as many other topics related to slingshots - taking all the information into account it is still you who has the responsibility to work hard experimenting and decide on what is the best solution for you - in various ocasions and for different purposes.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> jazz


So stones then...cheap=10 e/f =10 acc=shape dependant.so choose the roundish ones.8-10


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## Hernan

I agree.


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## twang

Hernan said:


> I agree.


thanks.

and if you do attract bears with the gumballs.just wear your hat and the bears will think that they are on a picnic. presupposing your in the woods.


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## jazz

Hi Hernan and all,

Still another thought crossed my mind, and it is that in all our posts, including mine, we basicaly speak of "Accuracy of ammo".

While this ammo can be cheaper then some other, or environmently more friendly than some other by some standards, the fact is that the ammo does not have an intristic quality of "accuracy" in itself, but rather, we can say that ANY shooter will certainly be more accurate with this ammo (lead, for example) and less accurate with that ammo (wood balls for example) - no matter that one shooter is better than the other.

cheers,

jazz


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## Viggy

I picked up some iron ore "ammo" on eBay....more or less roundish....very dirty, but after rinsing seems to be fine for shooting in the woods and things of that nature. I think it was about five pounds for $12 give or take -- roughly 1,000 pieces. roughly 3/8"....just another option


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## Hernan

No shit. Thanks, Viggy.


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## Chuck Daehler

Don't leave out garbanzos and soy beans. Believe it not olive pits are smack down ammo for targets...and for pests. In olive producing areas you can get all you want for practically nothing. They are like cylindrical ammo and hard enough and dense enough to do what you want at 10 meters. I was surprised when I tried them. I was out of ammo in my bedroom window sill and my wife pranced in with a half dozen olive pits on the way to the kitchen waste can. I grabbed them and continued shooting at leaves floating in the pond in front of the house. I was enlightened. Unfortunately Ecuador isn't an olive producing/processing place...whereas Chico CA was, not far from where I lived.

Steel ammo, either spherical or cylinders are just as much natural as the dirt they came from. Iron abounds almost everywhere and is a necessary ingredient for any insect or animal which has red blood. Spinach and avocados for example must have iron as do many other plants. Run a magnet over any sand, the black stuff is iron oxide the magnet collects. The steel ammo just rusts and forms iron oxide. If anything it is good for the environment...or just plain neutral since there is so much iron on Earth. The whole center of Earth is a huge iron ball giving Earth the necessary magnetic field for blocking harmful radiation particles from the sun, causing northern lights and shielding cosmic radiation from zillions of stars as well as sustaining compass factories. Iron is cool.

I make my own steelies by using my band saw cut off tool and a stop set to cut lengths equal to the diameter, and feeding in round black iron rod and cutting it precisely the same length as the width. They fly true and are heavier for the diameter than spherical ammo. Square steel stock can also be used and is called "cube ammo" here. My stealies cost me about a cent each and I make about 600 at a time from a 6 meter length of 9mm black iron rod. It takes me about an hour and a half and lasts me a very long time. Since I don't plink much nor hunt, I use lead also or used to before I went to steel slugs. Nothing against lead at all, just like the feel of cylinders in the pouch better than spheres...a personal pref thing.


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## Hernan

Thanks, Chuck. I ordered the iron ore 3/8 pellets on Ebay. Dont own a band saw yet, but it is in the works. Iron seems like a great way to go.


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## Hernan

So here's what it's come down to for me.

Chinese mud balls... not bad, a bit light, too expensive.

Iron ore... great size, 3/8 ish, not accurate after 10'.

1/4" steel balls.... At $40 for 3000 w shipping, they're super accurate and most reliable shot for the $.

Wish they were cheaper, but it's what I'll have to stick to for out door plinking.

Thank you all for all your input on the subject.

I'll be at the East Coast competition in PA this year for my first time. Looking forward to meeting some of you there.


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## poekoelan

Those iron ore pellets are called taconite and they do make decent ammo. Not as round as a marble or a steel ball, but more round than any stone I ever saw. If you have any railroad tracks near by, take a walk on them and look on the sides of the rails and between the ties. You may be able to find it for free.


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## Hernan

Oh cool. I actually have tracks down the street. Thanks


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## Slingster

We have lots of natural 3/8" ish size balls that the deer leave behind for us in our field and woods.  Once it is dry I am pretty sure you could shoot it. You may not want to carry it around in you pocket though. Hehe.

Seriously though, why not shoot plain carbon steel 3/8" steel balls. They are natural and will dissolve into the land in a number of years.


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## Hernan

Cant afford it.


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## dogcatchersito

I'm going to try the gumballs and chick-peas as well


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## NaturalFork

Hex nuts too!


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## SlingNerd

I know this is super old but I'm compelled to put my two cents in.

Popcorn kernels. Cheap, biodegradable, and they sometimes explode on hard targets.. Needless to say is pretty gratifying.

Cheers.


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## twang

SlingNerd said:


> I know this is super old but I'm compelled to put my two cents in.
> 
> Popcorn kernels. Cheap, biodegradable, and they sometimes explode on hard targets.. Needless to say is pretty gratifying.
> 
> Cheers.


not bad . but imo soy beans are rounder.also i saw that "baking beads" are cheapish and about the right size.


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## lunasling

You'll turn the whole forest into diabetics if ya use gum balls lol, chick peas or any other legumes will work fine as long as you balance bands and pouches!

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk


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## Gary Chandler

Iron come from the ground, returns to the ground. I just got 1000 3/8" balls off Amazon for $20. I won't waste time with anything smaller. 7/16 is my favorite ball, and sometimes the small glass marbles I foubd for fishtanks, but the nail magnet can't pick them up, so...


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## romanljc

Acorns work if you just want to mess around in the woods


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## mostho

Chickpeas sounds interesting too. Feedings thru targeting.
How about lentils?


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## lunasling

Lentils too light you'll get hand slap .

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk


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## jazz

Hernan said:


> Hello, everyone.
> 
> Been shooting 1/4" and 3/8" steel SBs indoor, but was wondering if there was something environmentally friendly and cheaper for me to plink around my walk in the woods with, other than bbs.
> 
> This would not be used for hunting. Accuracy is all I'm looking for.
> 
> I've tried bb's but they're hard to see and not gratifying enough. I like to see a bit more destruction of the target. lol
> 
> Thanks
> 
> PS: I've searched the newbie forum for this and didn't find much.


In the title and in the opening of this post Hernan clearly asks for cheap, environmentally friendly ammo but as I see, without the loss of accuracy, quite contrary, he says: "This would not be used for hunting. Accuracy is all I'm looking for."

Now, acorns, chickpeas and the like: are they really an answer to his original question or they are only here to show what sorts of things one can shoot from a slingshot.. Am I missing something here? :iono:

cheers,

jazz


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## mudfox

and I often use a mud ball, because we use the steel ball is very dangerous here


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## mostho

The more I use chickpeas the more I love it.
At least for my (low) level of expertise and at close range. Usually within 7/10 meters


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## AaronMB

I appreciate the dialog in this thread. It's what prompted me to try chickpeas, which I've also come to appreciate, especially as a new land owner who wants to keep steel and marbles in a catch box.
As suggested above, the chickpeas are accurate, to a point; it's a Goldilocks thing here. And I like that they hit harder than I anticipated coming out of my bb shooters. They put a nice dent in soup can lids and will bruise a thumb nail if technique gets sloppy(!).


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## Yosemite Sam

mudfox said:


> and I often use a mud ball, because we use the steel ball is very dangerous here


Looking at the picture, are these the mud balls you spoke of? Did you make them or buy them? If you purchased them, do you have a link to the site?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Hernan

I've tried the mud balls... not bad. Turns out I've ended up shooting 1/4 steel in the forest, where I don't worry about retrieving them and 3/8 into the catch boxes. Great discussion, everyone.


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## mattwalt

M&M's... or TicTacs


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## Imperial

Dried balls of monkey poop. If they fling it, why cant a slingshot. . . Hmm, next time im at the zoo i should toss my slingshot into the monkey cage ...heehee!


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## TARDIS Tara

I buy in bulk off eBay quite a lot.

Iron, mud, and clay mostly.


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## tastetickles

Mud balls I have tried but there's one thing I don't like is they are dusty on fingers and pouch but the thing that made me stop using is every time I shoot, the inevitable release of dust and dirt from ammo makes my eyes uncomfortable after a while.


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## Kenpeh

http://h5.m.taobao.com/awp/core/detail.htm?id=520990899684&toSite=main
Try this one for marble

http://h5.m.taobao.com/awp/core/detail.htm?id=525913198638&toSite=main
Try this one for mud ball and this seller sell steel ball.


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## TARDIS Tara

My fellow herpatologists (we catch snakes, lizards and amphibians for money) were wondering if I could knock a lizard off a rock with a gummy bear (the idea being to not hurt the lizard) so I've been playing with shooting gummy bears with my BB Shooter and they're crap as far as any accuracy over a few feet.

They'd probably be great for pegging rugrats at close range for disciplinary purposes.

Something else I played with this weekend was a semi-hard candy that was much more aerodynamic














These little suckers hit pretty hard and are pretty good accuracy wise. And they're tasty!

12oz for about $3 at Walmart.

I don't think they'd be cost effective over the long run, but as far as somthing that'll break down over time and not hurt the environment, a bag of these might be fun for plinking somewhere where you can't retrieve your ammo.


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## CornDawg

TARDIS Tara said:


> They'd probably be great for pegging rugrats at close range for disciplinary purposes.


No. They would not.


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## treefork

TARDIS Tara said:


> My fellow herpatologists (we catch snakes, lizards and amphibians for money) were wondering if I could knock a lizard off a rock with a gummy bear (the idea being to not hurt the lizard) so I've been playing with shooting gummy bears with my BB Shooter and they're crap as far as any accuracy over a few feet.
> 
> They'd probably be great for pegging rugrats at close range for disciplinary purposes.
> 
> Something else I played with this weekend was a semi-hard candy that was much more aerodynamic
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_9038.JPG
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG_9039.JPG
> 
> These little suckers hit pretty hard and are pretty good accuracy wise. And they're tasty!
> 
> 12oz for about $3 at Walmart.
> 
> I don't think they'd be cost effective over the long run, but as far as somthing that'll break down over time and not hurt the environment, a bag of these might be fun for plinking somewhere where you can't retrieve your ammo.


Advise your fellow herpatologists not do do so . The small animals may be harmed . Its about energy delivered .


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## brucered

When I'm camping, it's rocks and clay balls that I make. Both are from the earth and do no harm to it.

As for shooting at kids or animals with gummy bears, I'm in the mindset of "Only aim at something if you are willing to kill or destroy it". So don't do it unless that's your plan.


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## TARDIS Tara

Well, they're shooting at them with rubber bands now, without killing them.

We're catching them for science, not screwing around.


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## mattwalt

Hey Tardis - Think its a fine line. I know you're a herpetologist and its all science and you're going out of your way to catch your specimens as humanely as possible.

But think by simply posting you could be promoting or advocating guys trying to shift gecko's off their walls with M&M's etc. Obviously Mose people don't know how tough or fragile reptiles can be. Its just easy to take out of context (as we have no point of reference).

Its not you - its us


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## VAshooter

The cost of ammo can definitely poke a hole (pun intended) in your budget. Before you get too angry over the cost of ammo go down to Bass Pro Shop and check the price of a bass boat. Not the little aluminum jobbies but the big fancy bass boats with the 300 HP motors that all the bass fishermen want. That's a heck of a price to pay for a fish your going to release anyway.


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## kevmar

cheap environmentally friendly ammo,(I don't have shares in them)


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## AaronMB

I'm wondering if glass and ceramic are really that environmentally friendly, if we are to consider decomposition time. They're probably preferable if a lawn mower blade or the like were to find one, versus a steel ball. And they seem to instill "less concern" from the masses who might question a slingshot and its ammo. But glass should take a significantly longer time to breakdown than steel given the same conditions, but I'm no Science major.
My wife and I bought five acres last year and it's nicely wooded, great for shooting. But for long term environmental impact (I'm not a tree hugger but do try to maintain what balance I can), most of my shooting outside of a catchbox is done at closer ranges with chickpeas (usually when it's raining and I shoot from a covered porch). On occasion I shoot here and there with 1/4" steel but the wet Oregon weather ought to help those balls rust down in short order, the grand scheme of things considered. Maybe I'm more sensitive to my land than I realized. Huh.


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## kevmar

Well I can only think what ''environmentally friendly ''is like where I live,

there is a lot of flint etc naturally occuring in the ground,that is similar to glass anyway.

I'm not sure what the natural environment is like where you live,sorry about any confusion on my part.


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## VAshooter

I have shot steel in my back yard for years because I had a large supply of 3/8 inch steel balls. I've always wondered what would happen if someone bought my house someday who's hobby was metal detecting and they started searching the back yard for treasure. They would go crazy digging up rusty ball bearings.


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## AaronMB

Good point, Kevmar. Well taken.

Me, too, VA Shooter. The man I got the acreage from was an interesting fellow; it's interesting indeed the little treasures I'm finding here and there without a metal detector (would be fun though!)...using the term treasures loosely, of course.


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