# Band Confusion



## dross80 (Feb 20, 2018)

New to slingshots.

When I use the band calculator it recommends making the bands narrower as the ammo weight goes up. Simple Shot, however, it recommends wider bands form heavier ammo. Can anyone help me understand this?


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## MIsling (Sep 7, 2017)

Are you referring to Jorge Sprave's band calculator? If so, I would recommend just going with simple shot's reccomendations. When I was starting out, I found Jorge's calculator to be a bit confusing.

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## dross80 (Feb 20, 2018)

MIsling said:


> Are you referring to Jorge Sprave's band calculator? If so, I would recommend just going with simple shot's reccomendations. When I was starting out, I found Jorge's calculator to be a bit confusing.
> 
> Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk


Yes, that's the one. I wasn't confused by what it was saying, just confused as to why narrower bands would be used for heavier ammo.


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## MIsling (Sep 7, 2017)

Is it giving you a dimension for double bands maybe? As far as know, there should be no reason to use less rubber for heavier ammo.

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## KawKan (May 11, 2013)

I haven't used that calculator for quite a while.

I suspect a corrupted calculation pops up from time to time, because I was not always getting consistent results.

Simple-Shots guidelines are good and basic.

Dankung recently posted a fairly detailed flatband chart that seems on track, also.


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## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

You shoot 3/8 steel right?

Do you shoot short, medium or full butterfly?

winnie


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## dross80 (Feb 20, 2018)

Winnie said:


> You shoot 3/8 steel right?
> 
> Do you shoot short, medium or full butterfly?
> 
> winnie


I'm mostly shooting 1/2 marbles the last few days. My anchor point is the corner of my mouth, so I assume that's short. Right now I'm using 3/4 bands from Simpleshot, cut to eight inches before I attached the bands to the slingshot. I'm shooting a Peerless, so the bands go through vertical slots in the forks.


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## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

If you are cutting your own try TBG 8" x 1/2 x 3/8. 3/8 steel and glass marbles are both pretty light. I don't know anything about the calculator, I've just cut a lot of bands through the years.

You don't necessarily go narrower with heavier loads. In general people tend to shoot much heavier bands than they need to and there are real disadvantages in doing so. You actually gain velocity by trying to match your ammo with your band and tapering is always best.

Try the above and if you are getting any handslap step it down a bit more to around 8" x 7/16 x 5/16 and see what happens. My experience is that it works best to experiment yourself.

winnie


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Winnie said:


> If you are cutting your own try TBG 8" x 1/2 x 3/8. 3/8 steel and glass marbles are both pretty light. I don't know anything about the calculator, I've just cut a lot of bands through the years.
> 
> You don't necessarily go narrower with heavier loads. In general people tend to shoot much heavier bands than they need to and there are real disadvantages in doing so. You actually gain velocity by trying to match your ammo with your band and tapering is always best.
> 
> ...


I would second what Winnie wrote down. His numbers sound good for that ammo.


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

You're a new shooter, and you're going to have a lot of questions... I recommend reading my FAQ page: http://www.pocketpredator.com/faq.html

Now for an answer to your specific question:

Question: How do I cut bands to compensate for my particular preferred ammo size?

Answer: This is both an easy and a difficult question to answer, because glass, steel and lead all have different specific masses. But, I'm going to try and make it as easy as possible for you to understand, regardless.

So what I'm going to do is give you the formula for steel ball ammo, and since lead is about 50% heavier and glass is about 50% lighter than steel it's going to be fairly easy to compensate from there.

For 0.03 thickness latex you simply cut the small end so that it's 1 1/2 times the size of the ammo and the large end is twice as wide as the ammo.... So 1/4" steel ball ammo needs tapers of 3/8" X 1/2"... and 1/2" steel ball ammo needs tapers of 3/4" X 1".

For glass ammo, the small end of the taper needs to be the same size as the ammo with the wider end being 1 1/2 times the width of the ammo.... a 1/2" marble uses tapers of 1/2" X 3/4" and a 3/4" marble uses 3/4" X 1" tapers.

For lead ammo, your cuts can either be 50% wider than steel's.... or simply use two bands per side instead of one, and utilise the formula for glass marbles. (1/2" lead ball, TWO 1/2" X 3/4" tapered bands per side of the pouch.)

For straight cut bands, make them about 1 3/4 wider than the ammo (steel).

For Theraband Gold, it's a tiny bit thinner than 0.03, so to compensate cut about 5% wider.


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## Jonesy22 (Feb 14, 2018)

Great info on this thread thank you all!


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## Toolshed (Aug 4, 2015)

Really do love the newb posts.

I always get re-schooled in the simple stuff I always tend to forget.


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## dross80 (Feb 20, 2018)

Thanks to everyone for all the great answers.


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## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

dross80, you will notice that Bill cuts his bands much heavier than I do. This is where the fun is in slingshots. Experimenting. Cut some his size, cut some my size and maybe some in between and then go out and play.

If there is anything that I have learned on the forum through the years it is that everyone has their own preferences - different slingshots, bands and pouches all have their adherents.

You will get a feel for what you like in time. Keep in mind a couple of things as you fool around. Under-powered bands have a very sluggish feel about them (bands are rarely under-powered if for no other reason than most want to use too much rubber thinking more is always better) and, over-powered bands result in a lot of left over energy manifesting as hand slap. A well matched set of bands/ammo feels smooth, fast and has little hand slap at the end.

winnie


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## Dr J (Apr 22, 2013)

Winnie said:


> dross80, you will notice that Bill cuts his bands much heavier than I do. This is where the fun is in slingshots. Experimenting. Cut some his size, cut some my size and maybe some in between and then go out and play.
> 
> If there is anything that I have learned on the forum through the years it is that everyone has their own preferences - different slingshots, bands and pouches all have their adherents.
> 
> ...


je concur !

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