# Danger: Faked zinc alloy slingshot from China



## Melchior (Dec 27, 2009)

Hi,

I received a warning message from the owner of www.dankung.com :

A chinese slingshooter was severely injured by a broken fork last week.
The problem is that some slingshot manufacturers use cheap zinc alloy that is not strong enough to withstand the forces that rest on it. The result is a catastrophic failure, the fork end can break and hit the shooter.

low temperature Zinc alloy is a lot cheaper to precess than steel, and can be plated with metals to imitate a stainless steel look. Zinc alloy slingshots have been long abandoned by chinese shooters after accidents happened and most forums / webshops deny the discussion and sale of them.

However, there are fake slingshots, sold over ebay and elsewhere. They look like existing stainless steel models and are sold as steel, but are in fact only plated alloy.

Don't buy these!
One identifier is that a plated zinc alloy is much shinier 
than mirror-polished steel could ever be. Another indicator is the material's density.

Here's a list of slingshot models that are known to have been faked.

1) "Romantic Cup"
The largest number of zinc alloy slingshots are the "Romantic Cup" model.
2) Zinc Sniper
So far, only one faked zinc alloy "Sniper" has been found.
3) Bat
4)Fox

Attached are pictures of faked alloy slingshots.


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## NightKnight (Dec 16, 2009)

Good to know! Thanks for posting the info!!


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## JoergS (Dec 17, 2009)

AaronC said:


> Good to know! Thanks for posting the info!!


Scary. I received the same email from Jim at Dankung, seems like Dankung is afraid about their reputation. Understandable.

Jörg


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## Inquisitive (Jan 16, 2010)

Thanks for this .
I will now buy my new Slingshots from elsewhere.


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## pelleteer (Dec 19, 2009)

Scary indeed.







If you'be bought a slingshot that's listed as stainless steel, but you're in doubt, you can tell right away by holding a magnet to it. A magnet will stick to the iron in any steel, but not to these cheap alloys, which are usually some combo of zinc, copper, and aluminum. If it's listed as aluminum, of course, it will be harder to tell. I think I'd stay away from anything listed as aluminum or alloy altogether, unless it's from a very reputable seller.


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## crazyslingshot (Dec 25, 2009)

" A magnet will stick to the iron in any steel'
That's not true. A magnet will stick to some steel,but not all steel. It depends on the metal process techniques.

So magnet can not act as identifier of steel and non-steel alloy.


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

No wonder I got it so cheap! Flatband


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## pelleteer (Dec 19, 2009)

crazyslingshot said:


> " A magnet will stick to the iron in any steel'
> That's not true. A magnet will stick to some steel,but not all steel. It depends on the metal process techniques.
> 
> So magnet can not act as identifier of steel and non-steel alloy.


I didn't realize that. I guess the magnet idea is out then.









Flatband, do you think you got the zinc version?


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

I'll have to put a magnet to her. Flatband


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## Melchior (Dec 27, 2009)

Many aluminum-baed alloys and stainless steel types are non magnetic.
Some of them have also a low density, so even this criteria is no
surefire way to find a zinc alloy slingshot.

www.dankung.com is, as far as we know, not affected by the sale of
fake slingshots. They sell the good stuff







and they also published
the warning message, which shows they really care about the shooters.


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## JoergS (Dec 17, 2009)

It is true, Dankung is a great company. No dangers in buying from them.

You should just be careful when things are offered from dubious ebay sellers.

And it is also true that stainless steel is very often non magnetic.

Conclusion: Buy slingshots only from sources with proven reputation, or make them yourself.


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## faca (Dec 24, 2009)

JoergS said:


> It is true, Dankung is a great company. No dangers in buying from them.
> 
> You should just be careful when things are offered from dubious ebay sellers.
> 
> ...


All my purchases have been made to Dankung company and all are stainless steel or titanium.
No problem with them, good company and great service.


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## Melchior (Dec 27, 2009)

What I always do when I doubt a slingshot's stability is...try to break them.
No kidding, I take the fork ends in each hand and try to break it. Then I replace
the rubber bands with strong string and draw it back in the same fashion as I'd do
with rubber, but with at least 3x the strength of the bands I plan to use.

Better a broken slingshot in your hand than one in your face!


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Well those Chinese Pretzels and their Wrist Brace (Sniper) version are both too small for me to be comfortable shooting with. They are nice additons to my collection though. They won't be used much if at all. Flatband


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## Chuff (Dec 25, 2009)

Flatband said:


> Well those Chinese Pretzels and their Wrist Brace (Sniper) version are both too small for me to be comfortable shooting with. They are nice additons to my collection though. They won't be used much if at all. Flatband


Oh I don't know, they don't seem bad to me! Maybee my hand is smaller?


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## dgui (Jan 12, 2010)

crazyslingshot said:


> " A magnet will stick to the iron in any steel'
> That's not true. A magnet will stick to some steel,but not all steel. It depends on the metal process techniques.
> 
> So magnet can not act as identifier of steel and non-steel alloy.


Ferrous magnets only attract to ferrous metals.


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## slingcn999 (Feb 7, 2010)

A updates at dankung site

source:

http://www.dankung.com/dk/?q=notice1

Here is a list of some infamous zinc slingshots and manufactures.

*1: The fox, scorpion,bat and other popular models marked with 'Ipangzi' or 'haopangzi', which is a individual-business zinc slingshots maker making the cheap copies with zinc alloy and mark them falsely 'Stainless steel' regardless of the safety of shooters*

*2: The notorious 'Crazy stone' zinc slingshots, by far it includes the 'Romantic cup', 'tiger','General II' and other models and their golden editions. Those fake slingshots also been marked falsely as 'Stainless steel slingshot' to deceive customers*

source:

http://www.dankung.com/dk/?q=notice1


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## Rayshot (Feb 1, 2010)

Great heads up.

I can say I have had outstanding customer service from Dankung. My local post office screwed up and sent my package back to China.

Prior to it's being sent back to China, while the package was still in US I was trying to get it returned to me before being shipped back. I alerted Dankung as the post office told me to do. Dankung called me personally. Did you catch that? Called me from China,as they were with the same idea as me, stop it from being sent back. I was shocked, in a good way when I heard it was them on the phone. Fantastic!

They get the customer service award in my book. And there are other things they did along the way with this situation.

I am looking forward to seeing the slingshot design Jorg gave them. I saw on a recent post it is soon to be available.


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