# another one with clay



## Gunnar (Dec 30, 2013)

Got this gal with clay is my neighbors tree really nice pelt


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

That clay seems to be working well for you ... good shooting.

Cheers .... Charles


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## Gunnar (Dec 30, 2013)

Thanks charles


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## 14585 (Aug 9, 2015)

Can you make a video on how to make the clay balls please.


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Gunnar said:


> Got this gal with clay is my neighbors tree really nice pelt


How far away were you and what type of tubes were you using?

wll


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Clay-like composite ball ammo and ammo maker kit.. a dough ball roller made of PVC pipe scrap and a formica'd particle board scrap.
http://slingshotforum.com/gallery/image/20252-fda-ferric-doughball-ammo-doughballs-vs-lead10mm/

It works on all dough ball stuff. I experimented with a weird dough ball mixture but it'd work with clay of course. Getting the right amount of water in the material is paramount for not sticking (too much H2O makes it sticky) and not breaking up when rolling (not enough H2O makes it break up and not form a ball).

The kit idea was copped from an online kit available for making fishing dough balls of consistent size.

1. Make a "rope" of the dough/clay, a long cylindrical roll of consistent diameter. I did this, made a roller for long rolls as pictured in the link.
2. Develop a way using a stop to advance the roll X amount each time to cut it into like sized sections as wide as they are long. (that's important).
3. Roll the sections in the ball roller apparatus (the grey PVC tube thing with a black handle in the linked page) to form them into like sized balls.
4. Dry the balls (days using ambient air or help them along with a fan or in an oven with less than 100degC or 212degF) and shoot. If you've a ceramic kiln you could fire them for added density and hardness.

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ALTERNATIVE THAT ELIMINATES 1 STEP:

It isn't necessary to have a round ball projectile for straight flight from a slingshot. For example, I've switched from round ball ammo to cylindrical ammo exclusively making steel slugs from cut off round bar stock iron...as long as they are in diameter. They fly straight and feel better in the pouch than ball ammo.

In making clay ammo all you have to do is make a long roll, cut it consistently into sections as long as the roll is wide in diameter, dry and shoot. For example, make a half inch diameter roll using a similar device as I pictured to control the diameter precisely. Make a cutter guillotine type cutter thing or a slot through which passes a knife, with a stop to control the length of the cut sections. Cut, dry, shoot. They will have more mass than a round ball by far, means more momentum/hitting power. Try cylindrical ammo and you may not go back to ball ammo...I didn't...that goes for clay ammo as well.

You can use any "mud" that is mostly or all clay and little sand. You can mix in iron dust or filings to increase the density. You can drag a good sized magnet (ceramic magnets from old speakers or microwaves are good) enclosed in a plastic bag along a beach (well, many beaches have magnetite in the sand but some don't) or river sand (some river sand has more magnetite than other rivers/creeks) to get the magnetic iron oxide (magnetite) black sand that is pretty dense. Mix that with your clay to increase the overall density.

Fire these slugs in a kiln if you have one to see if they partially fuse as in a ceramic item. In olden days, "crokies" were crockery marbles used for kids' games...ceramic balls.

Clay cylindrical ammo has similar total -mass- per diameter as glass marbles but not as much obviously as steel or lead ammo. It will lose velocity faster than ball ammo over range however due to more surface area slowing it down due to air resistance so ranges of 10-15 meters would be advised.

My FDA ball ammo curves in flight somewhat, caused by it's spin imparted by shooting them. But it's good at close range such as 10 meters. It flies pretty fast.


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## Gunnar (Dec 30, 2013)

wll said:


> Gunnar said:
> 
> 
> > Got this gal with clay is my neighbors tree really nice pelt
> ...


Looped 1842 and about 7m


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## Gunnar (Dec 30, 2013)

Tom Stevens said:


> Can you make a video on how to make the clay balls please.


I just hand roll em while watching a movie or something then bake at 350 fahrenheit for bout 3 hours


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## 14585 (Aug 9, 2015)

Thanks


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

For consistent mass, cutting the roll in like sections is important, hand rolling is fine but you can roll more than one at a time using the device I made, copied from something I saw online and can't find now. I rolled three at a time in it, a longer one would roll more at a time.

Firing above 1500 deg F would fuse the silica in the clay if it had silica...to produce a hard ceramic ball or cylinder. Fine glass powder would also substitute for silica (fine quartz) since it has a lower melting point than natural silica (quartz).

Again, cylindrical ammo cut from a long roll flies as straight as ball ammo if you don't want to roll stuff into balls.

I think it's wise to experiment with clay type ammo since you can get clay from the ground in the form of mud in just about any local on Earth. If you've no clay deposits around you, just shake dirt in a jar with water. Quickly open the jar and carefully decant off the liquid colloidal suspension only, into a fine sieve, and what doesn't hang in the fine sieve goes into a bucket or other recipient. Let it settle for a day or two preferably the colder the better (cold colloids settle faster than hot or warm ones), decant off the clearish water, the stuff on the bottom is clay sized micron particles. Dry that until it is dry enough to form into a roll, cut the roll into sections, dry, shoot away. (Soils engineering class, Ag Eng, south campus U Ga).


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Gunnar said:


> wll said:
> 
> 
> > Gunnar said:
> ...


Ha, HA ,,,,, Looped 1842 at 7m will knock the fur off those squirrels ... that is some powerful medicine at close range with those tubes, I imagine they are somewhere between 18-20mm in diameter and between 105-140grs .... with the looped tubes you are using, and that size ammo, your blunt force trauma to those guys must be off the charts !

wll


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