# Poll: How much do you spend on slingshot shooting?



## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

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*How much do you spend on this hobby per year?*

Under US$201110.09%$20 to $501211.01%$50-$1002119.27%$100-$2001513.76%$200-$5003330.28%$500-$1,00087.34%Over-$1,00098.26%

*How much did individual slingshots you bought in the last year cost you (inc. postage, tax, etc.)?*

Free (gift)1712.59%US$0-$101611.85%$10-$20118.15%$20-$30128.89%$30-$401410.37%$40-$501410.37%$50-$6075.19%$60-$7032.22%$70-$8064.44%$80-$10064.44%$100-$15096.67%More than $1502014.81%

*How Many Slingshots Do You Buy or Trade For in a Year?*

0109.17%11211.01%22018.35%3-53128.44%6-102119.27%10-2076.42%Too many to count87.34%


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

I wonder how much we each find ourselves spending on our hobby. I don't spend all that much (workshop rent notwithstanding) compared to my other hobbies like photography, I suppose. I spend most of my expense on making slingshots, but effectively that means I'm buying slingshots as I give them away in trade. I figure I must have spent $50 per month in materials and another $300 in purchases of bands and frames. I haven't travelled to any meets so I don't need to factor any of that in. Annualised, it must be over $1,000, but thankfully not by much.

As for slingshots, I think $20-30 is a total no-brainer if I like the design and fancy trying it. I think a $100 EPS or Scallops is about the upper limit for me, but who knows, if someone comes up with a really super design that I find inspirational or truly desireable i might go to over $100, but I think that $150 is all I can imagine spending these days. I guess that's what knife collectors said at first and look how many knives get sold for thousands of dollars.

This sport is unlike almost any other because it's a true social leveller. You can spend as much or as little as you like. Anyone can afford to get into it and get as much out of it as those who can afford to be chauffered to a tournament and shoot a solid gold fork.

What's your annual spending like? I've made is an anonymous poll so that your bank manager or spouse doesn't get the chance to see your response







but feel free to comment below. The top question is a single answer poll, but you can select multiple answers in the second one.

Edit: I've added a third question to see how voracious an appetite people have for other people's slingshot frames.


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## JoergS (Dec 17, 2009)

Kind of hard for me, the questions do not fit.

People keep sending me slingshots for reviews, which is great. I always offer to pay the full price, but in most cases people sent them for free anyway.

And I do spend a ton of money for my hobby (just the airfare to the ECST was more than a thousand), but then again I also have a growing income from youtube that I have to consider.

Anyway, interesting poll!

Jörg


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

JoergS said:


> Kind of hard for me, the questions do not fit.
> 
> People keep sending me slingshots for reviews, which is great. I always offer to pay the full price, but in most cases people sent them for free anyway.
> 
> ...


I am honoured and grateful that you would choose to pay full price for the Scallops, my friend.


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## PandaMan (Oct 14, 2010)

I voted the lowest for each one, probably because that's all I can spend. If I could spend more, I would.


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

PandaMan said:


> I voted the lowest for each one, probably because that's all I can spend. If I could spend more, I would.


That's the beauty of our sport. The man with no budget can beat the rich man and they can both share a beer and laugh together after.


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

JoergS said:


> Kind of hard for me, the questions do not fit.
> 
> People keep sending me slingshots for reviews, which is great. I always offer to pay the full price, but in most cases people sent them for free anyway.
> 
> ...


$1000 in airfare! Wow. Sorry to hear that. But I am sure everyone was pleased you could make it!


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## haertig (Jul 30, 2010)

My slingshotting costs are higher this year then I expect for future years. Approx $150-$200. But I just started this year - so of course I had to buy several slingshots, lots of ammo, replacement bands, etc. Next year my costs should be significantly lower. Unless I get into "collecting". Right now, I'm only into "shooting". I'm sitting pretty good on the shooting aspect. I could get by spending zero dollars next year possibly. But that probably won't happen. There's always an ammo backstop/catcher that will need to be built, or some cool looking slingshot design that will catch my eye that I just have to have, etc.

Most of my "hobby money" goes to firearms. They cost a lot more than slingshots. I think I've bought 8 or 9 of those this year. Don't even ask me about ammo costs (much more expensive than slingshot ammo!) But the wife still outspends me on hobbies by a factor of about 99-to-1. She has a couple of horses and plays ice hockey and has NHL season tickets. Exxxpppeeennnsssiiivvveee!!!


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## haertig (Jul 30, 2010)

JoergS said:


> ...but then again I also have a growing income from youtube that I have to consider.


Wow. You can actually get income from YouTube? Neat. I guess I'm behind the times and didn't know this. I'm glad to hear it, because I really enjoy your YouTube videos and hope they will continue for a long time. Getting a little income from them can only help. Yeah! ( Is this a donation thing for the videos that I'm unaware of and probably want to contribute to? Or does the money come from some other part of YouTube that I don't know about? )


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## USASlingshot (Feb 25, 2010)

I spend 40$ on ammo for a year and get a 40-50$ slingshot once a year. Not to bad cuz I break even on expenses, maybe soon I can make a little money once buisness picks up


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

Had not been shooting much till this year, but had to get some things I saw. From A+ I got a PS-3, 2 BB shooters and bands for each. Before finding this site I bought a Saunder Wrist Rocket Pro and had bought a Quick Point from Chief AJ. Bought a Dankung from Danny. Retubed my old Wrist Rockets, Pocket Hunter and Laserhawk Stealth. Did not have to worry about ammo till I got the first BB shooter; I have put about 1500 over the top on it now.







This is too addictive.


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## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

should also ask how many SS people make for themselves, as this is how i get nearly all my SS's


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## GreyOwl (Oct 21, 2010)

The Gopher said:


> should also ask how many SS people make for themselves, as this is how i get nearly all my SS's


That's a good idea.


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## Chugosh (Feb 9, 2010)

I've made four slingshots so far this year, but I included the cost of materials.
Technically the slingshot I made from the one board should be counted only a portion of the full cost of the board, but is counted above as that full cost. Future models made from the board will then count as free (materials on hand). That is, if I can convince myself to try it again. (The composite decking is devilish stuff to work without proper power equipment.) The other three were made from materials on hand.


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## dragonmaster (Dec 24, 2009)

I make most of my slingshots from salveged materal so my cost is in rubber most of the time.


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## NoSugarRob (Jun 3, 2010)

I


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## SlingMan (Jul 4, 2010)

I've easily already spent over $1000.00 and I've only been involved in this
sport/hobby 2 months now. WOW!

I wish you wouldn't have aksed now. LOL!!!

Addictions are expensive!


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## JoergS (Dec 17, 2009)

haertig said:


> ...but then again I also have a growing income from youtube that I have to consider.


Wow. You can actually get income from YouTube? 
[/quote]

Youtube (or, to be more precise, Google) has a partnership program. After they notice a certain amount of activity on a channel, they invite you (based on the individual video) to include your stuff into that program.

If you submit, you have to swear by your mother's heart that you haven't used any copyrighted material, such as a song or pics, and then they will add banner ads to your video, to your blog, the whole thing.

They send you checks only if you exceed 100 dollars in clicks (on the banners), which excludes most people out there. Fortunately, not my channel.

The money does help financing all the material and equipment, I am far away from making a profit. Which is cool, I don't want to make a business out of TSC.

Jörg


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## hawk2009 (Dec 30, 2009)

I sell a few slingshots and the money I get from those goes towards buying new tools always handy, and getting supplies of tubing ammo leather and small bearings for the tube sets I make up.The M.d.f I use ive always got for free and have plenty left at the moment,Got my eyes open for more though dont want to miss an easy opportunity of free material.


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## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

More than I expected to when I started but, all well worth the money. For the cost of one good shotgun (I have many) you can get many, many custom slingshots. Ammo is cheap compared to gun fodder, you can shoot them almost anywhere, even indoors. Like I said money well spent.
Philly


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## USASlingshot (Feb 25, 2010)

Bought 1 dankung, the jungle hunter, which is the only slingshot i have bought so far because i make my own. i spend a considerable amount of money on theraband gold making my own bands and testing different set ups but i have been selling my own bands and board cuts on ebay which has been good so far as i have made more money to spend on my favorite hobby. Thanks everyone for sharing.

Devan


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## Gene (Dec 28, 2010)

The figures seem pretty well distributed, but I was amazed to find out how much a majority of people spend on slingshots! But maybe that's because my goal at the very beginning was to make something that was fairly powerful and effective, at zero or near-zero cost.


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## Devoman (Oct 15, 2010)

This question should be asked to the significant other I am sure you would get a different answer....lol


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## dgui (Jan 12, 2010)

Devoman said:


> This question should be asked to the significant other I am sure you would get a different answer....lol


Hey DevoMann, That is fine as long as you dont have to hide what you do. It has been my regretable experience to find out that the less they know the better off you are. Perhaps we should take a poll on that instead.


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## bikermikearchery (Sep 30, 2010)

One of the beautys of this hobby is being able to collecte a shooting system that dosent break the bank, or take up the whole house. With 35 years of being a custome bowyer I have rooms full of bows equaling many thousands and thousands of dollars. The same number of slingshots of even the hightest quality could be placed in a larg trunk, at a fraction of the coust. 
I just bought a box of 6000 bbs, for some where around $10.00 That would be 1 arrow (not the best quality) or 20 rounds of 44mag or 75 reloads.
I love my slingshots

Semper Fidelus
Mike
BMA


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## M.J (Nov 1, 2010)

I try to maintain the cheap/free ethos of slingshooting, but I do spend some money. I make most of mine out of a salvaged coffee table, but I have bought 2 slings ($45 total). I recently bought a bunch of ammo, but that will last me for the forseeable future, so that cost will be amortized over a period of time when I would have been spending a little bit on less ammo more often. 
I spend a bit on bands, but really not that much. I have a 10m roll of 1842 tube that will last me all year and probably next that cost $15.
So, I've spent more than $100 but less than $200 and part of that is the cost of starting from zero. I hope to have reached a spending plateau and just coast on a few bucks here and there for quite a while.


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## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

Couldn't agree more Bikermike, by comparison, what I spent on sling shots this year, and I have bought alot of quality slings, couldn't pay for any one of my handguns. It is truly a very affordable hobby. The best part is that if you are on a tight budget or a young person, you can make your own for next to nothing and compete on equal footing with some of the most expensive slings out there. Really is an "Everymans Sport"
Philly


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## dragonmaster (Dec 24, 2009)

Well at the start I thought you had to spend allot of money to start but still kept that cost low. then I started making my own and spent even less even when I spend a little more on the better band sets. I scrounge for most of my material and spend less on what I buy now. my average cost now when I go all out on one is still under $3.00 us.


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## jamoni (Jan 21, 2011)

I haven't bought one yet, and don't plan to. For me, the pleasure is in the design and building, as much as the shooting.
As for cost, I've spent about $25 on band material, and everything else is scrounged scraps. For ammo, I've been using nice round stones, because I'm a traditionalist.


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## Egregious Ed (Feb 17, 2011)

I teach a slingshot course within the primitive skills community so I have bought a fair spread of both modern and older slingshots as teaching exhibits. I also make a variety of fairly basic slingshots for sale in conjunction with teaching or as giveaway/tradegoods at various rondezvous. Most of my purchases are plywood, steel balls, and either factory bands or bandmaking materials. I like flatbands myself but the durability of tubulars is important if I'm corrupting-oops I mean introducing a newcomer to slingshots. What I really try to do is introduce the slingshot as a DIY system that can be taken beyond the store offerings. Running a class might involve a lot of materials but little of it is slingshot specific, and most of that just gets passed around as exhibits. The end purpose of the class is not to send a student away with a rigged slingshot and a pocketfull of steel balls but to introduce them to the physics and limitations of the slingshot, show them examples from various time periods and cultures, and hopefully send them away inspired to take it farther on their own. So I spend plenty, probably don't actually make anything net of expenses but have the satisfaction of spreading the enthusiasm.


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## erlkonig (Mar 31, 2011)

I have ss from the vendor of this forum expect Tex-shooter stuff.


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## shawnr5 (Feb 16, 2011)

I haven't bought any slingshots since I got into this in April, but have bought plenty of different wood, glues, finishes, band materials and tool consumables. I've probably made 40 to 50 slingshots in the six months I've been doing this. Shooting doesn't cost me much. I'd rather be making sawdust.


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Bump!


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## Danny0663 (Mar 15, 2011)

From the the tools, mould, lead, bands. I think i have spent ateast $100US, if not more.
Never brought a SS frame though.


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## johnny r (Sep 7, 2011)

I've only bought two commercial singshots but have made aout twenty in th last few months. I like to give them to kids that have kept their grades up.ost of my expense hs been for bands and incdentals and small tools. I like to work with wood anyway and was lucky enough to be given almost a full sheet of birch multiplex (plenty of cutouts from that)


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## slingshotwizard (Jul 23, 2011)

I spend nothing because all my slingshots are homemade or natrual


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## Classic Slingshot (Apr 27, 2011)

Well i make a lot of trades and invest a lot on slingshots


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## maljo (Nov 27, 2010)

I've bought six (or seven) really nice slingshots from around the globe over the last year or so: Dankung (China), Hogan Castings (England - a part of a small island located off the North West coast of continental Europe, just North of France), Bill Hays (USA), Hawk (Lincolnshire - don't ask), Slingshots WS (who sent me a second one free from Nicaragua)) and Flippinout (also US).
That lot cost me less than half of what I spent on a new pair of limbs for my recurve (bare)bow (KG Nexgen - really fast & smooth!) 

I've also bought two 10m lengths of tubing from Dankung, a 5m roll of Theraband gold, a rotary cutter and a mat and 500 9mm ball bearings.
A couple of weeks ago I bought a dozen new Cartel Triple arrows (actually just shafts, points and nocks).
The arrows cost twice as much as all the slingshot paraphenalia.

This is a VERY cheap hobby (and truly international) compared to any other form of shooting sport AND is just as absorbing and frustrating for the truly committed nerd -*WONDERFUL INNIT?*


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## Bob Holland (Apr 24, 2013)

I just received this book from Amazon. The bottom line from the cover pretty well describes me.


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## halbart (Jan 23, 2013)

M.J said:


> I try to maintain the cheap/free ethos of slingshooting, but I do spend some money. I make most of mine out of a salvaged coffee table, but I have bought 2 slings ($45 total). I recently bought a bunch of ammo, but that will last me for the forseeable future, so that cost will be amortized over a period of time when I would have been spending a little bit on less ammo more often.
> I spend a bit on bands, but really not that much. I have a 10m roll of 1842 tube that will last me all year and probably next that cost $15.
> So, I've spent more than $100 but less than $200 and part of that is the cost of starting from zero. I hope to have reached a spending plateau and just coast on a few bucks here and there for quite a while.


I'm with MJ on this and not for shortage of funds. My expense has been on rubber and ammo (usually marbles). Many hobbies can be defined as something on which one spends a ridiculous amount of money but slingshot shooting (like soccer, just for an example ) is one of those great pastimes which can be enjoyed , in some cases, for almost no cost at all.
If people want expensive slingshots thats fine, and they'll get great pleasure from them but Rufus Hussey seemed to manage fairly well ( lol ) with a forked stick so I'm just following him for now. H.


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## PorkChopSling (Jan 17, 2013)

I'm in the I spend less on slingshots then I do my other hobbies, way less, and I can just step outside and have some great plinking fun which is a plus. But, that is what I like about all of this, I can buy a nice slingshot if I have the money or I can make one, I can buy whatever kind of ammo I want or just pick a rock, I can buy nice tubes or bands or get some free ones from the office. It's a win win anyway you cut it.


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## ruthiexxxx (Sep 15, 2012)

The Gopher said:


> should also ask how many SS people make for themselves, as this is how i get nearly all my SS's


me too


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## ruthiexxxx (Sep 15, 2012)

I don't think I spend a lot. I make my own slingshots and prefer to trade to get my tubes and bands, etc. And I've had some lovely gifts from lovely people. I've sold a few slingshots locally and I'm sure that covers any outgoings. The tools I had anyway and need for the non-slingshot carving.


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