# Biggest animal that a slingshot can kill?



## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

Simple curiosity, what would you say is the largest animal that could be hunted with a slingshot? With an accurate shot to the head and at short/medium distance.

With lead and a powerful configuration but a conventional slingshot, not a invention of Jörg Sprave lol.


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

I’ve taken 3 raccoons with semi butterfly draw and .50 lead and .625” steel. I wouldn’t recommend doing it, but at the time that’s what I had on me and it dropped them like rocks. 2 About 20 feet up a maple tree and one was in my barn.


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

Just looking back through photos I guess I’ve taken more than that. Some taken with tapered roller bearing.


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## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

Great, I read that raccoons have a hard skull.


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

They do, but I have pictures proving a catty and some elastic can bust ‘‘em up lol

like I said, I don’t promote hunting raccoons with a slingshot. But when there at my house and I have a sling in my pocket and the rifles are locked up, you know I’m gonna sling some lead at em


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## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

I would do the same in that situation🎯


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## skarrd (Jul 20, 2011)

racoon is about the biggest thing i have taken with a sling,usually rabbit would be the biggest i would attempt,but like Shane it was in my yard facing down one of my [dumber] pups,so what i had was what he got,it bwasnt the cleanest of kills,but it killed-2 5/8s glass marbles


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## Slide-Easy (Aug 16, 2020)

*Goliath *


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## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

skarrd said:


> racoon is about the biggest thing i have taken with a sling,usually rabbit would be the biggest i would attempt,but like Shane it was in my yard facing down one of my [dumber] pups,so what i had was what he got,it bwasnt the cleanest of kills,but it killed-2 5/8s glass marbles


Serious thing the glass marbles lol😳


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## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

Slide-Easy said:


> *Goliath *


In slingshooting.com sells the sling that killed Goliath


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## skarrd (Jul 20, 2011)

i have one of those[not identical] around here somewhere,got it a few years ago in a trade,beat myself severely and put it up,takes a special kind of talent/coordination that apparently i Dont have,lol


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## madmax96 (Sep 27, 2021)

Island made said:


> They do, but I have pictures proving a catty and some elastic can bust ‘‘em up lol
> 
> like I said, I don’t promote hunting raccoons with a slingshot. But when there at my house and I have a sling in my pocket and the rifles are locked up, you know I’m gonna sling some lead at em


I'd LOVE to see those pics ! Seen an guy on FB shooting an fox with an sling.


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

I started packing a slingshot gear on the farm for snakes and have busted a bunch of em. Like Island and Skarrd I busted a raccoon in the head with .44 lead full butterfly. He made it about 10 feet. 
lead will flat out a thumpin on something. 
I see no reason to shoot a fox.


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## Squid (10 mo ago)

Blue Whale. They only have a 4 inch gullet so could easily choke to death on a slingshot (wide forks only, those pfs would just be a tasty snack!)


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## HOE (Nov 13, 2010)

All I've killed with a slingshot are filthy cockroaches


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

madmax96 said:


> I'd LOVE to see those pics ! Seen an guy on FB shooting an fox with an sling.


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## madmax96 (Sep 27, 2021)

Island made said:


> View attachment 369037
> View attachment 369038


well.. ask and one shall receive, thank you !!


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## madmax96 (Sep 27, 2021)

Ibojoe said:


> I started packing a slingshot gear on the farm for snakes and have busted a bunch of em. Like Island and Skarrd I busted a raccoon in the head with .44 lead full butterfly. He made it about 10 feet.
> lead will flat out a thumpin on something.
> I see no reason to shoot a fox.


Neither do I, seen it in UK group. Might be because of the pelt ? I have no clue if it is even legal.. 
I know where I live it is def. NOT.


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

There are several good free bullet energy calculator aps out there, as well as several web sites where you can calculate energy online.

For perspective, a standard .22 LR, pretty much a small game rifle for squirrels, rabbits, etc,, shooting ~1200 fps with a ~30-40 grain bullet produces ~130 ft lbs of impact energy. The high velocity .22 LR loads will hit 1600-1800 fps and break 200 ft lbs of energy.

For perspective, get a 3/8" steel ball moving at 250 fps (not a world record but not so bad) and it produces about 7.6 ft lbs of energy or about 6% of a .22. Get that 3/8" ball up to 300 fps and you get ~11 ft lbs of energy- getting close to 10% of a standard .22 LR.

Move up to 7/16" steel and get it going 250 fps and you get about 12 ft lbs of energy. Take a look at the Power Ranger thread and you will find setups that others have used to get over 20 ft lbs, or play with an energy calculator to see how fast to get your favorite ammo going to break this or that energy level. From the Power Ranger thread, the number of folks getting over 40 ft lbs is pretty slim.

I don't have much insight on how big an animal can be taken with a slingshot, but I would approach that question by thinking that slingshots produce projectile impact power of about 1/10 that of a .22. Certainly enough to be dangerous to people and humanely lethal to a lot of small game. This level of power is probably why the experienced hunters stress accuracy for being able to produce humane kills on small game.

Another interesting comparison is with a Shepard's sling- a sling on a stick. Some serious power with those and rope / thong slings if you can learn how to aim them.


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

Staff slings use heavier projectiles and get up around or over 100 ft lbs. I don't want to think about how much practice it takes to make a head shot at 20m!


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## David D (Oct 20, 2020)

High Desert Flipper said:


> Staff slings use heavier projectiles and get up around or over 100 ft lbs. I don't want to think about how much practice it takes to make a head shot at 20m!


That looks like fun and maybe easier to use than a shepherd sling. Deadly in battle too I would think when there were no guns. Thanks for posting.


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

David D said:


> That looks like fun and maybe easier to use than a shepherd sling. Deadly in battle too I would think when there were no guns. Thanks for posting.


Youtube has several more videos on how to make and use the staff slings. It looks really simple to make and maybe not so hard to launch in the general direction. Getting reasonable accuracy is probably a bigger challenge.. Making and trying one is on my list but I haven't gotten to it yet.

Who knows, maybe I will get to it. And when I do I'll make and armored box for my chrony to see how fast things fly out of it.


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## S.S. sLinGeR (Oct 17, 2013)

I killed a Rino with looped 2040s.


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## S.S. sLinGeR (Oct 17, 2013)

Shot him in the foot and he just dropped. By the way they were not maxed out and I was using 1/4 inch ammo. I showed him who is boss.


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## Hoss (Jun 3, 2014)

Rb1984 said:


> In slingshooting.com sells the sling that killed Goliath
> View attachment 369031
> 
> View attachment 369034


Amen!

That smooth stone was guided by GPS, God's Positioning System.

Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk


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## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

Hoss said:


> Amen!
> 
> That smooth stone was guided by GPS, God's Positioning System.
> 
> Sent from my SM-A326U using Tapatalk


It wouldn't be bad if God gave me a bit of that system🙇🙏🏼


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## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

S.S. sLinGeR said:


> Shot him in the foot and he just dropped. By the way they were not maxed out and I was using 1/4 inch ammo. I showed him who is boss.


Sounds like overkill. 1632s and BBs would have the same effect.


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## S.S. sLinGeR (Oct 17, 2013)

Henry the Hermit said:


> Sounds like overkill. 1632s and BBs would have the same effect.


I agree! I went over board. I didn’t want the rino to suffer. 😀


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## skarrd (Jul 20, 2011)

Rb1984 said:


> It wouldn't be bad if God gave me a bit of that system🙇🙏🏼


when its time to face giants again,i am sure he will


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## Rb1984 (Sep 25, 2020)

skarrd said:


> when its time to face giants again,i am sure he will


I hope so🏄🎯😎


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## Foresight17 (6 mo ago)

High Desert Flipper said:


> Staff slings use heavier projectiles and get up around or over 100 ft lbs. I don't want to think about how much practice it takes to make a head shot at 20m!


Yeah the accuracy is an issue, at 10 yards it is reproducable consistently with lots of practice but at 20 meters? I can guarantee that the amount of training required to do it consistently would be more than anyone would be willing to put in. A target the size of about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide is much more doable at 20m.


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## Slide-Easy (Aug 16, 2020)

Foresight17 said:


> Yeah the accuracy is an issue, at 10 yards it is reproducable consistently with lots of practice but at 20 meters? I can guarantee that the amount of training required to do it consistently would be more than anyone would be willing to put in. A target the size of about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide is much more doable at 20m.


I shoot 4-8" targets at 30 yards every day. I hit my mark 8 or 9 times out of 10. some days 10 for 10.


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## Knoxtenn (9 mo ago)

Don't get lost in the woods calculating energy. If you shoot full sized arrows out of your Hammer slingbow, you can harvest much bigger quarry than a 22lr could take.


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