# Gopher's New Kestrel



## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

Today in the mail, I received a sweet little surprise...an envelope from Dan at Gopher Slingshots containing a new version of his poly Kestrel...the GS51. This is a smaller version with a 2 3/4" pinch grip and the forks are 2" apart and sport 1" forks for OTT and 3/4" for TTF.

The attachment method is also different. There is a hole with slots to it and rubber plugs to hold the bands in place. There were 2 different sizes of plugs included to make sure any bands would be held secure.

The band set that Dan included was set for butterfly style, but I did take that off as I wanted to start with some light target bands. As this is my first try at this attachment method, it took a little time to get things figured out and to get the bands even, but after some playing with it, I did manage to get it back up and running.

As it is, this one is pretty much a dedicated OTT shooter. I did try to set it up for TTF and the bands wanted to go into the grooves, so I didn't get a chance to really try it out, although I'm very sure it would be a shooter that way as well. As far as OTT, as most know, I'm not a very good shot with that style, but I did ok with this one.






All in all, this is a great little shooter. It's small and will fit into a shirt pocket and is strong enough to handle just about any bands that anyone could want. The only way this shooter could be better is to come with a choice of attachment methods when ordering...no hole or slot for tying bands on (the old fashioned way) or just the hole and plugs for flatbands only or as this one is..for all of the above and tubes.

Dan, thank you for sending the new Kestrel. I'll be trying to improve my OTT shooting with this one.

Todd


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## kwinpr (Sep 25, 2014)

Sweet! Thanks for sharing!


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

Gopher is the man. Glad to see he is still at it!


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## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

Thanks Todd, I have been thinking a lot about the tips, and I think i will make this available with several different tip options. thanks again!


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## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

here is a setup that just has a centered hole with the rubber plug, this is so easy to change band length and switch from ott to ttf. Here is have single strand 1745's.


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## oldmiser (Jan 22, 2014)

I am liking this shooter..I may have to get one of these for my collection~AKAOldmiser


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## Devoman (Oct 15, 2010)

Very cool!


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## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

The Gopher said:


> here is a setup that just has a centered hole with the rubber plug, this is so easy to change band length and switch from ott to ttf. Here is have single strand 1745's.


This looks great! The larger hole might keep the bands from having to be folded as they come around the frame. This will work well for everything except looped tubes.

Todd


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## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

Look what I got in the mail today!!! Dan sent what looks to be the frame in the post above. It didn't take long to put a set of bands on and send some ammo down range.






Thanks Dan...love this new frame.

Todd


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## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

Love the background music! thanks again Todd.


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## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

The Gopher said:


> Love the background music! thanks again Todd.


Luck of the draw...had the radio playing.


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