# Shooting stones



## Ibriel (Mar 23, 2020)

I've got a slingshot, unfortunately the only ammo I was able to get hold of was 1/4" steel shot, which is hard on the fingers and difficult to see where it's ended up. There's plenty of stones around (though mostly pumice so really light) but the guide on the slingshot says not to use them because of damage to the band.

How bad is it really? I literally cannot get anything else, because the entire country is in lockdown and neither hunting stores, nor toy sellers (for marbles) are considered essential services....


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## tangolima (Mar 2, 2020)

When I was a little kid, we shot rocks. Hardly could hit anything we aimed at because of the irregular shape of the projectiles. Frame strikes were pretty regular, hurting the fingers pretty bad. For older kids who went bird hunting, they made clay balls out of mud, formed by hand and baked hard under camp fire. Those shot pretty straight. Marble and steel balls were to precious to shoot out to yonder and got lost. Only the rich kids in America could afford them.

The slingshot vendor doesn't want customers shoot rocks, perhaps because the liabilities. They can't stop you, but you don't get to point your finger at them if you hurt yourself doing that.

You have access mud? You can make your own clay balls. BTW you can order those online. Some fellow here even shoots jawbreaker candies. Well, only rich kids in America can afford shooting perfectly good hard candies.

-TL

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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

You need to use a slingshot with a wide fork gap to lessen the chance of damaging the bands with stones. Heavier stones will fly straighter than lighter ones. The trick is to match the weight of the stone to power of the band. If the stone is too light for the band's power it will curve like a frisbee. If the stone is too heavy for the band's power it will not make it to the target. Choosing the right stones will come with experience. Stones do not have to be round but avoid flat stones they almost always curve.


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## dogcatchersito (Jun 6, 2012)

I think you should still be able to order through Amazon. But select the USPS option because that service is still available. Hope that helps, I know it's a bit rough out there now.

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## Ibriel (Mar 23, 2020)

Ordering anything off Amazon is still pretty ridiculous. The shipping to New Zealand on a $15 pack of ammo is $107.

Making clay balls might be a goer.


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## dogcatchersito (Jun 6, 2012)

WOW ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!

no idea shipping ever got that high.

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## Ibriel (Mar 23, 2020)

Yeah, living at the bottom of the globe has a few drawbacks...


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## mattwalt (Jan 5, 2017)

I'm with you - shipping costs are a killer... Getting steel bearings here is a real pain in the rear.

I'd look to buy from China. have seen a few ammo options available on eBay.

Stones are fine - just try find some that are as smooth as possible and uniform as possible.

Steel nuts also make great ammo - M8 etc. Also try bicycle shops or car mechanics - you may be able to get some scrapped bearings - but being in lock-down not sure how simple that is.


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## Pebble Shooter (Mar 29, 2014)

I started shooting stones before using steel ammo: it's the essence of slingshot shooting in my opinion, "Dennis the Menace" comes to mind, it's great fun. Above all, stones are abundant and free of charge.

When using stones, the following criteria need to be considered:

- symmetrical rounded or oval shapes for balanced mass distribution are paramount when it comes to maximizing accuracy and safety;

- Irregularly or flat shaped, or jagged stones will fly rather erratically, and can cause nasty fork hits or crushed fingers; :hmm:

- the stone size should ideally not exceed one third of the inner fork width, and fork height should be sufficient to protect the slingshot holding hand;

- The pouch should be calibrated for the diameter of the stones you want to use for optimized performance.

Depending on your location, your best bet is to find a river bed or a seaside beach to find rounded pebbles. Once you've filled a few bags, you may want to sort them according to size as far as possible, as this will improve consistency in terms of band performance and downrange accuracy.

I would recommend wearing safety glasses, particularly when shooting stones. Here is are two videos I made several years ago on the subject:






and






Last but not least, you may find disused steel ball bearings from car wheels at a junk yard for next to nothing (just a possibility)


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## ZS1 (Jan 20, 2020)

Hello,

Shooting stones out of a catty is absolutely "traditional" and acceptable , I do it all the time.

Train your eye to spot stones when you "go walkabout" and pick them up , this becomes second nature after a while , but avoid the flat ones , they do not shoot well .

Trial and error will teach you  .

Cheers.


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## tangolima (Mar 2, 2020)

Shooting stone was indeed the "tradition" when I was kid. Everyone started by shooting everything that could into the pouch. But quickly we learned it couldn't be just everything. We learned from the older kids what went and what not. Then we started looking for the round and smooth ones. They were hard to find as the rivers were mostly mud bottomed. The ones we could find we traded them with the big kids for other stuff. Making clay balls was the graduation badge to bigkidhood. They were way more abundant and "quality controlled" than stone. However good stones held better value when it came to bartering.

Sounds like scenes from Tom Sawyer? We lived just like Tom, only poorer.

-TL

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## dogcatchersito (Jun 6, 2012)

tangolima said:


> Shooting stone was indeed the "tradition" when I was kid. Everyone started by shooting everything that could into the pouch. But quickly we learned it couldn't be just everything. We learned from the older kids what went and what not. Then we started looking for the round and smooth ones. They were hard to find as the rivers were mostly mud bottomed. The ones we could find we traded them with the big kids for other stuff. Making clay balls was the graduation badge to bigkidhood. They were way more abundant and "quality controlled" than stone. However good stones held better value when it came to bartering.
> 
> -TL
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


Do I have read a few of you talking about making mud rounds "clay". Could one of you do a video on how you did do it? The ones purchased seems like it takes precision. If I could cut down on cost and make my own rounds in down for that. Will be a more humbling experience and make me love sling shooting more.

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## tangolima (Mar 2, 2020)

I'm afraid I won't be able to do a video as I don't have the materials. But I can write it up based on my ever fading memory. It was 45 yeas ago when I last did it.

-TL

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## dogcatchersito (Jun 6, 2012)

tangolima said:


> I'm afraid I won't be able to do a video as I don't have the materials. But I can write it up based on my ever fading memory. It was 45 yeas ago when I last did it.
> 
> -TL
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


If you could please, that would still give me more than a rough idea of where to start.

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## NSFC (Mar 31, 2020)

Ive made four sandwich baggies of varing size clay ball ammo. I made one size at a time and spread them out on a cookie sheet then baked them for 10-15 min at 375 in my kitchen oven. They work just fine, they are by no means as accurate as steal bearings or marbles. Most of the ones Ive shot went straight but a few at random would go askew. it was kinda of comical. I just didnt count those as a miss in my shot to hit tally sheet. Try a few at first before you get carried away. They are a good way to watch a movie to in your spare time. Let us know how they go.

You could try lighter bands and get bb's next time your grocery shopping. Or shoot frozen pees.


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## flipgun (Nov 14, 2012)

You have dirt, water, rocks and an oven right? Make mud, wrap it around a rock/pebble. Round it out, bake it. shoot it. Even odd rocks give a sphere a balanced center. How big? Pick a pouch and a band set. You can shoot danged near anything. Rock on!


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## tangolima (Mar 2, 2020)

Here is what I remember.

1. Dig up a brick size of river mud. Actually any clay like dirt would do. Best is the one without much sand. Clay is the cement that holds the bulk together.

2. Knead the mud into bread dough consistency on the dry side. Add fine dry dirt if necessary. It is important not to have too wet of dough.

3. Pick a small chunk from the dough and roll into a ball between your two palms. 3/8" to 1/2" diameter is about right. Try to make the shape as spherical as possible.

4. Set the clay ball on clean surface to air dry. That's why you don't want to have runny clay as the ball will deform during the drying process. Wait till the balls are dry and somewhat hardened.

5. Sort out the balls with good shape for baking. The rest are to be sun baked for practice shooting.

6. The good ones are to be baked. We did it by burying them in the cold ash pile of a wood stove before a new fire was lit. When fire was out, the baked balls were raked out of the ash, hard as terracotta. They were the choice ammo for bird hunting.

Hope this helps, and hope we will never have to come to that for ammo.

-TL

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## dogcatchersito (Jun 6, 2012)

tangolima said:


> Here is what I remember.
> 
> 1. Dig up a brick size of river mud. Actually any clay like dirt would do. Best is the one without much sand. Clay is the cement that holds the bulk together.
> 
> ...


Ok. I remember trying to bake some clay, one exploded but I did not bury it under Ash bank though.

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## tangolima (Mar 2, 2020)

dogcatchersito said:


> tangolima said:
> 
> 
> > Here is what I remember.
> ...


Probably the clay was not air dried enough. The trapped water boiled and exploded. Burying them help to slow down the rate temperature rises, giving time for the water to escape.

-TL

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## raventree78 (Apr 20, 2016)

tangolima said:


> Here is what I remember.
> 
> 1. Dig up a brick size of river mud. Actually any clay like dirt would do. Best is the one without much sand. Clay is the cement that holds the bulk together.
> 
> ...


Neat write up, good information like this is valuable and important to pass down. Thanks


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## SLING-N-SHOT (Jun 5, 2018)

[quote name="dogcatchersito" post="1392234" timestamp="1585709158"]WOW ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!

no idea shipping ever got that high.

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Shippings crazy....went to ship an 8.5 x 11 padded envelope, with nothing more than a contract in it, UPS RED from Norcross, GA to California, and it came up $127.....took it to the USPS instead, and was still $37 for overnight........ridiculous

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## dogcatchersito (Jun 6, 2012)

SLING-N-SHOT said:


> WOW ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!
> 
> no idea shipping ever got that high.
> 
> ...


I'm wondering if this is from inflation due to covid? I know I cancelled some Amazon orders because I thought the shipping looked weird. Thought it was a fluke or something else. Only doing prime orders now won't eBay at all now.

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