# Fork Hit Problem Solved



## Incomudro (Jan 12, 2012)

Ok, so I've pretty much always had a slingshot since I was a kid - I'm 48 now.
Never recall getting any fork hits to speak of, but I'm sure the occasional "what the **** was that??!" shot was due to a fork hit.
That was always with wrist brace slingshots.

So...
Recently, I find myself on this site - and I'm just loving these traditional non braced slingshots.
Picked up a couple, and to my pleasant surprise - I'm shooting well.
Well enough for me anyway, which means not noticably different than with my wrist brace slings.

Then it happend.
Fork hit.
****!
Then it started happening often enough that I was getting frustrated.
Naturally I read every post on fork hits to figure out what I was doing wrong.
Nothing was really helping.

Then I realized that since coming here, and since picking up the *Slingshot Shooting* book - I had been changing my style of shooting.
Over thinking it, and becoming over concious about my form.
I also realized that my normal cant of maybe 45 degrees had become a full on 90 degrees.
These were new thing that I had adopted, and they weren't working in my favor.

In order to see what was going on, I started looking in the mirror a lot to check my form, and noticed that the elbow on my draw arm always came up relatively high.
It seems like this high elbow angle bent the pouch.
Combine this sometimes bent pouch with a full on (I hate this term but) gangster angle, and bingo - upper fork hit.

So today, I'm back to my natural cant - not over thinking the angle - and just making sure to drop my elbow to a horizontal position.
This straightens my thumb.

So far so good!


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

That was an excellent way to diagnose the problem ... look at yourself in the mirror. It is amazing that seemingly little changes can make a big difference in the way we shoot.

Cheers ...... Charles


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

I just spent a pleasant couple of hours shaping my new ring shooter. I used my Nikon Coolpix mounted on a tripod to film myself shooting. I first discovered that I was leading with the top fork (gangsta style) by quite a bit. When I finished shaping I had a very comfortable frame and the forks aligned vertically. The mirror idea is good, but if you have a film camera, you can study all aspects of the shot, even freeze frame at a critical point.


----------



## Incomudro (Jan 12, 2012)

Charles said:


> That was an excellent way to diagnose the problem ... look at yourself in the mirror. It is amazing that seemingly little changes can make a big difference in the way we shoot.
> 
> Cheers ...... Charles


Thanks Charles, yes I saw videos and images of how a twisted pouch can lead to fork hits.
I tried to adjust my grip to where I was just grasping the steel ball, rather than the whole pouch.
Didn't seem too help much.
Then I noticed that when my elbow would rise on the draw, my thumb would angle down into the pouch resulting in a curve.
Being conscious of dropping my elbow puts my thumb in a straighter line.


----------



## Incomudro (Jan 12, 2012)

Henry in Panama said:


> I just spent a pleasant couple of hours shaping my new ring shooter. I used my Nikon Coolpix mounted on a tripod to film myself shooting. I first discovered that I was leading with the top fork (gangsta style) by quite a bit. When I finished shaping I had a very comfortable frame and the forks aligned vertically. The mirror idea is good, but if you have a film camera, you can study all aspects of the shot, even freeze frame at a critical point.


You know Henry, my wife brought me a video camera along with a tripod for Chistmas - I actually _could_ film myself!
I should set it up.


----------

