# 7/16" Steel Setups (Brands, Thickness, and Tapers



## Atomic_Chimp (Jun 29, 2021)

I'm looking into shooting 7/16 steel now so what would you recommend?


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## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

Atomic_Chimp said:


> I'm looking into shooting 7/16 steel now so what would you recommend?


Am I right in thinking that is 11-12mm ammo 🤔🎯👍


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## AUSSIE4 (Nov 21, 2019)

Hey mate can't exactly tell you which videos to look at specifically but Wayne Martin (CattyShack On YouTube) only uses 11mm steel and 10mm lead. I only use 8mm steel for hunting and target so I can't give great input as what to use from personal experience, but can give a some what educated guess based off of what I used to shoot. I would say for 11mm steel for either hunting or target, would require a single band from a .65mm thickness up to a 1.0mm thickness. Personally I would start at a .70mm and go from there. Tapers most commonly used for bigger steel and lead include; 30/25mm (Lighter band around .65mm / .70mm thick), 27/22mm (Band around .75mm / .80mm thick), 25/20mm (Same band thickness as 27/22mm with the exception of .85mm thick) and 23/18mm for bands between .85 and 1mm thick. Personally I would not go any lower with tapers unless a 20/15mm taper for targets, even this would probably not be very quick with 11mm steel. As for brands, sumeike, sheshou, great white, precise, BSB etc are all fairly well known brands. That only covers the flat band side, there is still single and looped tube setups that I can not give much info on. That is all I can say and hope someone with more experience shooting larger steel gives you a better insight into setups.


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## rowbow (Jul 12, 2021)

AUSSIE4 said:


> Hey mate can't exactly tell you which videos to look at specifically but Wayne Martin (CattyShack On YouTube) only uses 11mm steel and 10mm lead. I only use 8mm steel for hunting and target so I can't give great input as what to use from personal experience, but can give a some what educated guess based off of what I used to shoot. I would say for 11mm steel for either hunting or target, would require a single band from a .75mm thickness up to a 1.0mm thickness. Personally I would start at a .80mm and go from there. Tapers most commonly used for bigger steel and lead include; 30/25mm (Lighter band around .65mm / .70mm thick), 27/22mm (Band around .75mm / .80mm thick), 25/20mm (Same band thickness as 27/22mm with the exception of .85mm thick) and 23/18mm for bands between .85 and 1mm thick. Personally I would not go any lower with tapers unless a 20/15mm taper for targets, even this would probably not be very quick with 11mm steel. As for brands, sumeike, sheshou, great white, precise, BSB etc are all fairly well known brands. That only covers the flat band side, there is still single and looped tube setups that I can not give much info on. That is all I can say and hope someone with more experience shooting larger steel gives you a better insight into setups.


Slightly off-topic, but regards steel balls have you tried this company Simply Bearings Ltd ~ Oil Seals SKF *** TIMKEN KOYO NTN NKE TRULOC Needle Rollers Taper Rollers Rod Ends Oil Filled Bushes Loose Balls O Rings Grease Plain Thrust free postage


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

For me, Simpleshot 0.8 works great with 7/16". Bigger tapers, like 27-18 or 30-20, and 500% elongation get 7/16" going up around or a bit over 220 fps for me (29 inch draw) with a pretty reasonable draw weight (something I can manage anyways). Pretty reasonable for heavy ammo IMO. If your draw length is a bit longer like 30-32 inches (mine is on the short side at 29), you should do even better.

Cattyshack green 0.8 also tosses 7/16" out really fast, even 1-2% faster than the Simpleshot 0.8 with the same tapers, but has a draw weight is significantly higher with the same tapers to get this done. There are several sets of speed test data for different bands and 7/16" in old posts if you search for them.

I have also started playing with butterfly lately and don't have a specific band / taper rec nailed down, but will say the draw length makes a huge difference. Precise 3rd 0.5 latex with just a 20-12 taper will get 7/16" going up around 220-230 fps and a draw weight that is easily managed with full butterfly (about 50% lighter than short draw bands that shoot 7/16" at the same speed). 

My only challenge now is hitting the catch box more than half the time from 20 yds with full butterfly- but maybe someday I'll learn to aim the long draw. I imagine going up to the 0.55 or some other 0.6 or so latex and optimizing draw length / elongation factor would get 7/16" over 250 fps from full butterfly. Learn to aim that and....

For me for now, Simpleshot 0.8 seems to do pretty well with 7/16", my current favorite heavy setup.

Good luck


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## vince4242 (Jan 11, 2016)

I have very good luck in my shooting setup for 7/16 steel is 30 x 15 taper with .6 simple shot latex. I have a 32 inch draw length and I'm getting 220 feet per second got. 
Plenty fast for a clean kill.


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## AUSSIE4 (Nov 21, 2019)

rowbow said:


> Slightly off-topic, but regards steel balls have you tried this company Simply Bearings Ltd ~ Oil Seals SKF *** TIMKEN KOYO NTN NKE TRULOC Needle Rollers Taper Rollers Rod Ends Oil Filled Bushes Loose Balls O Rings Grease Plain Thrust free postage


Simply bearings I use seem great. Low carbon balls are the only cheap ones but that doesn't matter.


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## Booral121 (Jan 6, 2019)

The spalted oak NLS (ott) I done last week was purchased by a guy that uses 10mm lead ammo with 0.85 & 1mm great white 💪🥵.I asked if he would like it banded and ready to shoot he said yes please could you just give me what you would use for shooting 10mm lead I gave him 0.80 100% slingshot band tapered 18-23 170mm active real easy draw but power to chuck them leads 😀 he sent me a video of a easy 25m shot on a pigeon 👌🎯 I asked if he was happy then here's what I got back (pic) 😉 🎯👌👊👍 you don't have to go mad with tapers I don't think like I done it when I first started heavy band crazy tapers couldn't get any kind of consistency now I use anything from 0.55-0.65 in most brands of elastic or 0.70 in the snipersling yellow with 8.7mm and 9.5mm steels my shooting is really consistent and accurate 😉 and accuracy kills 🎯👌👊👍


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## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

.62, 1 in to 3/4 in tapers. 6.5 active length at 32 in draw kills squirrels and birds with 7/16 steel no problem. I have a bunch of videos in the hunting section with that set up.


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## Chris H (Jun 28, 2021)

I use Snipersling yellow .8 cut at 25-19, with a 6" active length for 7/16" steel/.395 lead. My draw length is 33.5" which is a 550% elongation. I get speeds of 240+fps with .395 lead, and 250+fps with 7/16" steel. Band life is very reasonable at well over 350-400 shots. Very smooth and manageable draw weight. I get nearly the same performance out of Snipersling .6 black cut at 26-18, same elongation. Band life is less at 200+ shots.


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