# Thera Band Vs Tubes



## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

I have only fired one slingshot as I am new at this. It appears to me that bands are faster than tubes. My tubes are the stock yellow tubes that came with my Daisy F16. I want to switch to bands when my tubes wear out. Are these high fps numbers achieved no matter what your draw style is? Relatively speaking I mean. Will I achieve higher speed using bands if I use my static draw and cheek anchor point than I do with tubes? I guess I'm asking if everything else remains the same, are bands faster than tubes? Do people who shoot bands use butterfly draws to get speed? Or is the speed inherent in the bands.


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## Phoul Mouth (Jan 6, 2015)

I don't really know if bands are faster than tubes in a general sense. What I do know is that you cannot base your opinion on bands based off the garbage that comes with the Daisy label, they are all junk.

As to maximizing your bands potential you have to make the active draw length maximize the bands elongation factor to reach your draw length. Basically, take the bands you want to use and vice off 1-2 inches of it, then pull it as far as you can over a ruler to find the elongation factor. lets say you pull 2 inches to 9 inches for a 2:9 ratio. This becomes a 1:4.5 ratio. Take this ratio and divide your draw length by the second figure. Say your draw length is 30 inches, this gives you 6.66 meaning you want your active draw length, meaning the length of the bands from fork to pouch, to be 6.66 inches. This will give you the maximum elongation factor for your draw length which will give you the best possible chance of reaching the best FPS your bands can give you. I generally round that figure up to the next inch.

Just remember that when you do this you will be lowering the life expectancy of the band because you will be stretching it to its capacity every shot. This is good for hunting as it will give you the best chance of having good kill power, but for target plinking I don't suggest it as you really don't need that power fr popping a can.

Don't expect much from that Daisy junk though. Their retraction rate (rate at which the bands return to unstretched length) is terrible.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Thanks Phoul Mouth. NightKnight posted a chart with resistance and elongation, but the raw numbers did not help me. Your explanation make the numbers clear to me.


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## Phoul Mouth (Jan 6, 2015)

bread said:


> Thanks Phoul Mouth. NightKnight posted a chart with resistance and elongation, but the raw numbers did not help me. Your explanation make the numbers clear to me.


The chart is handy, just remember it is not going to be 100% accurate. Always test the elongation of the bands yourself just because there can be slight differences in every batch of bands they make.

Glad I could assist.


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

Maybe this video will help a little.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Good video, Grandpa Grumpy. That pretty much sums up what's out there. I like that Bill tells you how some setups don't draw back very far. That's important to me because I don't like the butterfly draw. Thanks for the link!


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

Any thing you use will be way better than the yellow Daisey's!! Only thing they are good for are tube protectors. Just my opinion.


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

You don't say if you are going to be hunting or target shooting or what ammo you are using. As general rule flats are going to be a little faster if you compare flats properly sized for the ammo against tubes that are properly sized. Tubes will probably last longer. Looped tubes will last forever. I think that tubes perform when they are pulled to their max.

The good thing about the Daisy F16 frame is you can shoot just about any type of band. I shoot flats, single tubes and looped tubes on mine. For single tubes I use the small tubes from Simple Shot (5/16 & 3/8 steel). For looped tubes I use the extra small tubes from Simple Shot (3/8 steel). Both of these are probably faster than the Daisy yellow tubes. The Daisy tubes are good for very heavy ammo. Bill Hays got good speed from the Daisy tubes but I think you would have to be as strong as Bill to get those type of speeds.

Here are some links on flat bands and looped tubes on wire frames like the Daisy.

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/46089-trumark-s9-with-fatbands/


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Thanks again for more good info Grandpa Grumpy. The tubes I have are fine for target shooting in my backyard. I wanted to switch to bands for more speed/power for hunting ground squirrels. I have popped ground squirrels with .22 rifles and had them run down their holes! They are tough little suckers! Anyway, the place I hunt has horses nearby so I don't want to shoot firearms and disturb them. I really like the photo of the setup with the wire frame showing the tubes lapped over the bands. That's a really secure looking method. I'll try that for sure. Thank you too for the examples of what you use. It helps a lot!


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