# Alliance gold crepe vs others



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

I finally got a chance to try out some Alliance Pale Crepe Gold #107 bands, which Claudio very kindly sent me some time ago. Thanks Claudio!!! I banded up a mutant ninja with these bands at a 7 inch band length, fork tip to pouch tie. I did all my comparison shooting with 3/8 inch steel. I compared them to Alliance Sterling 107s, set up in the same way. While I had the chrony set up, I took some shots with a Dankung Owl with double 1745s, six inch band length. Here are the numbers:

Alliance Pale Crepe 180 fps

Alliance Sterling 205 fps

Double 1745 190 fps

Well, 180 fps is not too shabby. I would not hesitate to use the Crepes if nothing else was available. However, they did not perform as well as the Sterlings nor the 1745s. The Crepes had an easy draw, and were quite stretchy. They had greater extension and lighter draw weight than the Sterlings. I think they would make fine bands for the younger set. I am not sure about band life. If memory serves, others have reported that the Crepes have a shorter band life than the Sterlings, but I have not had a chance to test that.

Cheers ...... Charles


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## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

Thanks Charles, good info.


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## DaveSteve (May 16, 2012)

Charles, you got me interested in those Alliance sterling #107.

Especially because they outperform double 1745.?

I'll check the forum for more info.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

I admit that I do like Alliance Sterling #107s. They are readily available, fairly cheap, and simple to deal with. Certainly Theraband Gold is faster, but expensive. Actually I prefer Alliance Sterling #105s. The 107s are not long enough for me to get two slingshot bands from one rubber band; but there is a lot of excess if I use one rubber band per side. There is less waste with the #105s, as they are shorter by a couple of inches.

Many folks swear by the tubes. Certainly Henry and MJ get good results from the tubes. I think that to get the best from 1745s, you need to use them in a pseudo taper with quite a long draw. Personally, I just find the tubes a bit fiddlier to deal with. For every day, walk around use, I like 107s.

But it is in part a matter of application and of taste. Probably if you want really high speed, you will do better with some sort of tube configuration or severely tapered Theraband. But the 105s or 107s are just very simple to deal with and have a good band life. And for general plinking and occasional hunting, they do the job for me.

Cheers ..... Charles

Everyone needs to do their own experiments to see what works best for them.


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## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

I'm a bit surprised that the 107s were faster than 1745. Probably because they work a bit better with 3/8 steel than looped 1745. I've never really tried 107s with 3/8 steel. I usually get about 190 with 107s and .44 lead.

You are dead on about 107/105 Sterling being a great resource if you want good band life, reasonable performance, non-fiddle assembly, and low price.


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## VillageSniper (Jan 22, 2013)

Nice, I need to get some 105 sterlings. I was wondering if a guy could taper these bands for more speed or cut them thinner for smaller slingshots, with a rotary cutter, like people do with theraband gold. I'm new to this scene and ever curious.

Thanks


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

VillageSniper said:


> Nice, I need to get some 105 sterlings. I was wondering if a guy could taper these bands for more speed or cut them thinner for smaller slingshots, with a rotary cutter, like people do with theraband gold. I'm new to this scene and ever curious.
> 
> Thanks


Certainly you can taper the 105s and get improved results. Here is a test I did a while back. I "tapered" the 105s by punching holes down near the pouch.

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/10911-taper-by-perforation/

I also tried a couple of taper cuts on the Allaince bands:

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/11038-taper-by-cutting/

And I tried pseudo tapers by partial doubling:

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/10994-taper-by-partial-doubling/

In all of these cases, it is not the absolute velocities that matter, but rather comparing the results from the tapers to the results with non-tapered bands. Today I was shooting indoors with a good fire going in the wood stove, so my bands were pretty warm, and consequently I was getting good speed. Those tests I just referred to were shot at a lower temperature.

It is fun to play around with various configurations. Tapering by any method will shorten band life.

Cheers ...... Charles


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Henry in Panama said:


> I'm a bit surprised that the 107s were faster than 1745. Probably because they work a bit better with 3/8 steel than looped 1745. I've never really tried 107s with 3/8 steel. I usually get about 190 with 107s and .44 lead.
> 
> You are dead on about 107/105 Sterling being a great resource if you want good band life, reasonable performance, non-fiddle assembly, and low price.


Well, Henry, those were just my results today. Those 1745s were only 6 inches long, which would be rather less than ideal for my preferred draw length. I suspect with slightly longer tubes so I could draw them a bit further, they would be as fast or faster than the 107s. I just wanted to do a quick comparison at the same temperature, so I could see how the bands were doing. I also suspect that the speed from tubes varies more with temperature than it does with 107s. I haven't actually tested that though. It would explain why you are getting such good results with yours.

Cheers ...... Charles


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## crapshot (May 3, 2011)

good testing results thanks for info used crepe 2 years back were ok 3/8 rocks and marbles but sparcos seemed to have more snap and longegivity


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

crapshot said:


> good testing results thanks for info used crepe 2 years back were ok 3/8 rocks and marbles but sparcos seemed to have more snap and longegivity


Your experience with Sparcos vs the crepe matches mine. And your report on longevity matches what I have heard before. Thanks for the confirmation.

Cheers ..... Charles


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