# Sparco Vs Alliance Sterling - 107 Bands



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Sean sent me 6 Sparco 107 rubber bands for a comparison with Alliance Sterling 107s. This is what I found so far.

On visual inspection, the Sparco bands appear to be better quality. The join lines are much harder to find than on the Alliance bands. They are also lighter at 133.4 grains as opposed to 137.8 grains for Alliance. After assembly with Jim Harris' superb pouches, and trimming to test length, the Sparcos weighed 208 grains and the Alliances 229 grains. Both sets were cut to 10 inches, pouch tie to end and marked at 9, 8, and 7 inches. They were mounted on my plywood frames which I created for Christmas 2010. These are wide throat and low fork, and can be comfortably shot hammer grip. The pull length for the first set of tests was 8 inches, and all shots were at maximum draw, which is about 36 inches for me. In pull tests, after break in shots, the Sparco bands pulled 9 pounds 4 ounces at 30 inches and 11 pounds 8 ounces at 36 inches. The Alliance Sterling bands were quite a bit stouter at 11 pounds 8 ounces at 30 inches and 15 pounds 4 ounces at 36 inches. Here are the results of the first round of testing.

Sparco
10 shots at ~36 inches draw, .375 steel ball, average velocity 203.8 fps
Alliance
10 shots at ~36 inches draw, .375 steel ball, average velocity 217.7 fps

_Note: I had forgotten how badly heavy bands in an OTT configuration can handslap, but a few shots with these sets reminded me, so I'm now using a glove on my left hand. Ring Shooters and Chinese tubes have spoiled me. IMO, these bands are definitely too heavy for .375 steel. I even got handslap with .495 lead balls._

Sparco
10 shots at ~36 inches draw, .429 lead ball, average velocity 181.9 fps
Alliance
10 shots at ~36 inches draw, .429 lead ball, average velocity 196.6 fps

Sparco
6 shots at ~36 inches draw, .495 lead ball, average velocity 169.8 fps
Alliance
6 shots at ~36 inches draw, .495 lead ball, average velocity 177.9 fps

Summary - The tests are not finished, but I feel safe in saying that the Alliance bands are capable of more power than Sparco at the expense of a harder draw. Either set seems to be fine for casual plinking and both have the advantage of being dirt cheap and easy to construct.

For the next round, I will remount the bands at 7 inches pull and use an anchor point.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

interesting so far Henry


----------



## bullseyeben! (Apr 24, 2011)

Good findings, look forward to the next results...


----------



## Sean (Nov 17, 2011)

Thanks Henry, I appreciate the efforts and interesting so far.


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

I find this very interesting. In my tests, the Sparco 105s were a tad faster than the Alliance. Perhaps there is some variation batch to batch. I will have to break out my "no hands" rig and do some tests.

Cheers ..... Charles


----------



## pop shot (Sep 29, 2011)

.495 pball at 177fps is killin time! That's chain speed!


----------



## bullseyeben! (Apr 24, 2011)

I get around 260 fps with .454 and double tapered tbgold cut at about 9.5" tied for comparison in case you feel like trying double tapers hint hint..


----------



## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Informaiton like this is always appreciated. Thanks for doing all the legwork Henry.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

bullseyeben! said:


> I get around 260 fps with .454 and double tapered tbgold cut at about 9.5" tied for comparison in case you feel like trying double tapers hint hint..


Sounds like fun, but I've got my hands pretty full already. I have this series to complete and then back to Chinese tubes. Also on the back burner is a test rig (sling rifle) to eliminate the draw length variable.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

For the second phase of the tests, I tied both bandsets at 7 inches frame to pouch tie. Measurements were taken at full draw and at my ear anchor draw, which is about 32 inches. I found that I reached what seems to be the maximum stretch for the Alliance bands at a few inches shorter than the Sparco bands. Please note that my "full draw" is simply as far as I can pull the bands before they bottom out or I run out of strength. This is usually between 34 and 39 inches. Below are the results.

Sparco
6 shots at full draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 222.7 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 182.0 fps

Alliance
6 shots at full draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 241.9 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 203.6 fps

Sparco
6 shots at full draw, .429 lead ball average velocity 191.4 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .429 lead ball average velocity 154.1 fps

Alliance
6 shots at full draw, .429 lead ball average velocity 204.3 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .429 lead ball average velocity 167.0 fps

Sparco
6 shots at full draw, .495 lead ball average velocity 178.0 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .495 lead ball average velocity 143.5 fps

Alliance
6 shots at full draw, .495 lead ball average velocity 189.0 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .495 lead ball average velocity 157.8 fps

So far, the Alliance Sterling bands have outperformed the Sparco when only projectile speed/power is considered. The Alliance bands are harder to pull. I am frankly very surprised at the speeds I'm seeing, because I always considered these bands to be capable of no more than 180~190 fps. In the "I warned you" category, both bandsets are vicious handslappers at higher velocities.

For the next and probably final test, I will optimize each band set for my 32 inch anchored pull length.


----------



## Jakerock (Mar 8, 2012)

Thanks Henry.... I concur about the handslaps. Yeeeouch.


----------



## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

Excellent information. Thank you.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

This has been a lot of fun, a lot of work, and a lot of pain (handslaps), but I will probably do it again with different rubber.

First I optimized each bandset. I do that by adjusting the band length until the bands bottom out about 2 inches beyond my anchor point. With the Sparco bands I ended up with 6.25 inches measured from the shooter side of the fork to the pouch tie. The Alliance bands measure 6.5 inches. After optimizing, the Sparco bands pulled 13 pounds 4 ounces at 32 inches, the Alliance 17 pounds 9 ounces.

Here are the final set of figures and my conclusions.

Sparco
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 201.6 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .429 lead ball average velocity 171.6 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 148.3 fps

Alliance
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 203.7 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .429 lead ball average velocity 178.1 fps
6 shots at 32 inch anchored draw, .375 steel ball average velocity 162.2 fps

In my opinion, either brand is a great, dirt cheap source for versatile rubber. Alliance will build your muscles faster, but Sparco won't slap you quite as hard. At optimized length and lighter ball weights, I give the edge to Sparco for the lighter pull. Leave the bands longer and stretch them out more, and Alliance takes the lead, particularly with heavier balls. While both brands are capable of delivering small game hunting power, there are better choices for hunting, just as there are better options for target shooting. Even so, if your game is killing tin cans or random stumps, these bands will serve about as well as any. Both have pluses and minuses, but I don't see either as clearly superior to the other. Whichever brand you can get will serve you well.

Here are the two slingshots used in the tests, Alliance bands on the left, Sparco on the right.


----------



## Sean (Nov 17, 2011)

Thanks for taking the time and doing the test Henry, I really appreciate it. I tried purchasing some Alliance bands but the shipping up
to this neck of the woods is just as expensive as the bands themselves so the Sparco's are a good option as they sell local.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Sean said:


> Thanks for taking the time and doing the test Henry, I really appreciate it. I tried purchasing some Alliance bands but the shipping up
> to this neck of the woods is just as expensive as the bands themselves so the Sparco's are a good option as they sell local.


You're welcome. I hope the test answered your questions.


----------



## Sean (Nov 17, 2011)

Yes it did.


----------



## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

thanks for the info. i like this test, there was no  







nerdy formulas to make my head hurt  







or to confuse me  







. sstraight forward and to the point for us non scientific shooters . the only thing i really care about when it comes to bands is if they work for me . once again thanks for the info .


----------

