# New to real slingshots



## Bornin74 (Aug 5, 2021)

Hello. I just joined. I just received my hammer xt sling shot combo. It seams like a wonderful tool. I want it primary for hunting. I noticed the bands that came with it seam very weak. I have steel 3/8ths as well as the ceramic ones. I am a big guy with a long reach and I don't see much as in power when shooting. Is it common to immediately upgrade the bands? If so, to what? 
TIA. Have a great day.


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## Stankard757 (Apr 20, 2020)

Welcome to the forum. And it's very common to remove / modify pre installed bands. There is no shortage of hunters here to answer your qustions

Sent from my LE2117 using Tapatalk


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

You need to adjust the bands to your draw length. Take your draw length and divide by 5. That will give you the length of the band needed from the fork to the pouch tie. 

Slingshot bands should be relatively easy to draw back. If you come from an archery back ground they will be much less than the draw weight of your bow. A slingshot can have good power with draw weights of 10 pounds or less.


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## hoggy (Apr 17, 2017)

welcome & enjoy


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

Welcome and enjoy!

You have found the right place if you are interested in optimizing bands. Today's modern elastic is much better than the stuff from decades gone by. If you search around here you will find reviews of many brands, widths, tapers, etc..

You will probably find that draw weight doesn't have to be all that high. All latex has a maximum retraction rate and the trick is to find the band thickness and taper that are matched to the ammo size (weight) so that you get the best possible velocity without drawing extra weight needlessly. Obviously the heavier the ball the bigger the band and the higher the draw weight, but overall draw weight is not a good indicator or power. Also great if you bigger and have a longer draw length as that will increase velocity.

There is already some good advice above about optimizing the active length of bands, and tons more of good info here on getting to that sweet spot for band thickness, taper, and active length to get the maximum speed possible into the ball without pulling extra weight that doesn't do any extra work.


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## MakoPat (Mar 12, 2018)

Welcome from Tennessee. 

Yeah, you found a home, a wealth of freely shared information, and a deep, deep rabbit hole of a hobby/sport/lifestyle/nigh-to-cult of flippery.

Rule No. 1 is have fun.

You a slinger now.


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## vince4242 (Jan 11, 2016)

Welcome! The advice above his very good and you can go to the tubes and bands page and do a search for hunting setups. You will find a thread there with hundreds of replies from people who hunt and what they use and what is effective for the size ammo and animals are trying to hunt.

Don't forget that before you sight in on the head of a squirrel or rabbit that you feel very comfortable taking that shot. If you can hit a golf ball or ping pong ball 8 out of 10 times from the distance you want to hunt from usually around 8 to 10 meters for me anyway, then you can feel comfortable that you can take ethical kill shot.

Enjoy and you don't have to worry at all about power right now, as long as your ammo has a flat trajectory that's all you need right now. Your band's can be very light you can even use very light ammo like quarter-inch steel with very light bands. Once you get comfortable or when you're going to actually hunt you can bump up to 7/16 or 3/8 without any change of shooting style or Anchor Point. That took me awhile to learn is that shooting your hunting setup for targets is not necessary, and it will wear you out quicker. When what you really need is lots of time getting the ammo down range so you can get everything locked in.

Enjoy and let us know how things are going!


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## Bornin74 (Aug 5, 2021)

I appreciate all the responses. Thank you.


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