# minimum fork gaps



## Hunter69 (Jun 23, 2011)

i was just wondering if there should be a minimum fork gap when hunting ? Obviously not so small that you can barely see through it but in theory the pouch and bands pass through this gap at high speed so small gap and lets say a 90mm leather pouch would probably get caught on way through depending on gap size and whether using bands in drilled holes Or flatbands on top ?

The reason is i have made a new slingshot with just 35mm gap and depth as i wanted a tiny compact little pocket hunter but trying out double theraband gold with 90mm pouch the accuracy is up and down as im sure the narrow gap hinders the pouch on passing over / through ?

Any info on this much appeciated . . Thanks in advance, Deano


----------



## e~shot (Jun 3, 2010)

Some where 46mm to 50mm are my favorits.


----------



## Alex Jacob (Jan 24, 2010)

If you shoot without a flip it's down to how good you are, so long as the ammo fits through the gap. I'm not so confident in this style as I've had a fair few fork hits with a throat width (at band height) of 45 & 50mm and one at 55mm. With a width of 80mm clear space I've had no problems. The wider forks give me more accuracy as well.

I tend to shoot with a flip these days so the throat width is more related to what overall size I want. I've seen single sticks used where there is no throat at all and the bands are all but on top of eachother.


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

The well-known pfs style of shooters have VERY little fork gap. And Guatamalen style shooters have virtually no fork gap. But these styles require a pouch twist and sometimes a flip style of shooting.

My current favorites have a fork gap of about 40 mm ... one at 38 mm. They are my most accurate shooters. I do not shoot flip style. Three of them are over the top band arrangements and one is outside the forks. I do not get fork hits. I shoot ammo from 9.5 mm steel and lead to 13 mm lead, and a lot of stones when out plinking.

Your pouch and bands do not need to pass through the fork gap. Your ammo will have left the pouch by the time the pouch gets to the forks. You just need to worry about the ammo getting through the fork gap. With flat bands cut from exercise bands I get some noise as the bands hit the fork ... but with 107s, there is very little noise.

I am not fond of wider forks ... my personal preference. Just by the physics, there is some loss of power with wider forks ... how much I am in the process of testing. And wider forks are bulkier ... I want little slingshots that are easy in the pocket.

The size of your slingshot is a matter of personal taste. You can put mighty powerful bands on a little slingshot frame. But if you have really big hands (and really big pockets), you might be more comfortable with a large frame.

Cheers ...... Charles


----------



## Hunter69 (Jun 23, 2011)

thanks for the advice everyone i learn something new everyday


----------



## bosh (Dec 3, 2011)

Twist the pouch and you can have a very small gap indeed, I got a PFS with a gap of 2mm, that I shoot double Thera band gold, with 12.7mm lead on, no way is the ammo going through the gap!


----------



## Jesus Freak (Dec 31, 2011)

Charles said:


> The well-known pfs style of shooters have VERY little fork gap. And Guatamalen style shooters have virtually no fork gap. But these styles require a pouch twist and sometimes a flip style of shooting.
> 
> My current favorites have a fork gap of about 40 mm ... one at 38 mm. They are my most accurate shooters. I do not shoot flip style. Three of them are over the top band arrangements and one is outside the forks. I do not get fork hits. I shoot ammo from 9.5 mm steel and lead to 13 mm lead, and a lot of stones when out plinking.
> 
> ...


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

you really dont even need a space between forks.
just for grins i made an G.S. flat shooter i saw on his channel, as long as i shoot OTT i can hit fairly well, its fun to shoot, and seems to make my TTF shooting better, more instinctive. you can see in the photo, 4 hit because i first banded it as TTF obviously i cant flick fast enough, but OTT works well.


----------



## Rockape66 (Dec 18, 2011)

I have been shooting very accurately with 2.5 in fork gap. I don't understand fork hits as I have never had one. I have tried twisting the pouch, but my accuracy suffers and I get nasty hand slap. I have been using .440 lead and bb's for ammo. Very accurate with both though I have just been shooting for a couple of weeks after a 30+ year span of not shooting a slingshot at all.


----------

