# Theraband Gold vs Snipersling Black - Tested at high power



## Biker_Bob (Mar 26, 2020)

On another thread I got into a discussion about the merits of bands other than Theraband Gold which I have always used.
TBG is 0.62mm thick, so I ordered 0.7mm Snipesling Black to compare.
I cut two identical sets, 65mm to 40mm taper, 290mm length - these are for butterfly stance.
Armed with 1oz lead ball ammunition, which is 488gn in weight I lined up for some chrono tests.

TBG maximum velocity 43.2m/s - 21.76 ftlbs
SSB maximim velocity 44.5 m/s - 23.09 ftlbs

I tested the draw weight. Static band length is 290mm

TBG draw weight 20 lbs at 900mm
SSB draw weight 29 lbs at 900mm

So, the SSB has a draw weight nearly 50% higher but generates less than 10% more muzzle energy.
The shooting experience with the SSB wasn't nice either, apart from the higher draw weight the SSB stacks up quite harshly, it gets to a point where it simply will not pull any further.
With the TBG the draw is smooth and progressively increases.
With the SSB I got several mis-shots and fork strikes (not a good idea at this energy level).

So overall my conclusion is that the SSB is actually less efficient than TBG and bearing in mind that the TBG is generating more muzzle energy than it's draw weight, that's pretty remarkable.

I'm not saying SSB isn't good or that it's not the best choice for some, but it's not for me. I'll stick with TBG.


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## Talaman (Sep 13, 2019)

WOW! I was under the impression - from hearsay I admit that Theraband gold was a little old fashioned and that more modern bands were better!

Thanks for your time and sharing your findings.


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

I didn’t like the black either. It stacks something awful. I’m all into smooth like TBG but hate changing it about every time I shoot. In my opinion the SS yellow is a much better elastic. For smoothness and speed I like the BSB’s. It’s smooth fast and last so long you forget when you made them. I love shootn big lead also. Good luck with your search.


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## Biker_Bob (Mar 26, 2020)

I found that TBG was tearing near the pouch, I made my tapers less taper-y so they weren't as thin at the pouch end and now I find the band life quite acceptable. I love the smoothness of TBG


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## Adonis (Jun 19, 2020)

Biker_Bob said:


> On another thread I got into a discussion about the merits of bands other than Theraband Gold which I have always used.
> TBG is 0.62mm thick, so I ordered 0.7mm Snipesling Black to compare.
> I cut two identical sets, 65mm to 40mm taper, 290mm length - these are for butterfly stance.
> Armed with 1oz lead ball ammunition, which is 488gn in weight I lined up for some chrono tests.
> ...


Nice test you have done Biker_Bob. High five. 
It is sad that TBG quality has changed over the years.


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## Sandstorm (Apr 5, 2021)

Have definitely noticed that Snipersling black stacks quite harshly. I do like the yellow though. Thanks for running that test, it’s always cool to see what those numbers are, and I had wondered about TBG because when I tried it, it really didn’t seem so bad. There are still quite a few long time shooters that will only use it.


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

Biker_Bob said:


> On another thread I got into a discussion about the merits of bands other than Theraband Gold which I have always used.
> TBG is 0.62mm thick, so I ordered 0.7mm Snipesling Black to compare.
> I cut two identical sets, 65mm to 40mm taper, 290mm length - these are for butterfly stance.
> Armed with 1oz lead ball ammunition, which is 488gn in weight I lined up for some chrono tests.
> ...



Great test, and interesting to see that TBG did so well with super heavy ammo. I am with @Ibojoe - like I said before the sniper black is super fast but super harsh with the heavy draw, stacking, and all. I think it would be a mistake to judge all "modern" elastics using sniper black as the standard. The yellow is nearly as fast but MUCH smoother, and lasts a very long time. I'll be interested to see if you test the yellow vs TBG at some point. And at some point I will try to test them head to head with real world ammo like 5/16" to 1/2" steel (I doubt I can pull hard enough to give the really heavy balls you are launching a proper push).


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## spewing (Mar 13, 2016)

Impressive results.
That’s some serious band sets but with some serious results.
Interesting that TBG came out on top.

I’ve never tried SS Black but do like the SS Yellow


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

TBG gold is my go-to.

I have no issues with any aspect of it.

The latest and greatest is always better. Go watch some of the trick shots and old timers shooting. They aren't using ver 2.746a of some overseas bands.


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## Hoss (Jun 3, 2014)

Good write up, I've tried several different brands of black and don't really like any of them.

In my opinion I haven't seen anything that I like near as well as BSB white, I also like the BSB yellow to, but the white is my out right favorite.

Sent from my SM-A426U1 using Tapatalk


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## cpu_melt_down (Mar 20, 2017)

draw weight 50% higher but generates less than 10% more muzzle energy, stacking, and several mis-shots and fork strikes.

Interesting results, not really what I expected when I asked you about TBG.

Thanks for the info; good food for thought.



Adonis said:


> Nice test you have done Biker_Bob. High five.
> It is sad that TBG quality has changed over the years.


I don't think the quality has changed. They did change the formulation of the Gold bands several years back. I found this interesting.


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## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

To me, the .7 sucks... It's just not even close to my favorite, I love .5 & thinner. Lot's of brands have .6 and I used Sumeike .6 for my 300+fps badge. The Sumeike .45 draws over 400fps consistently at normal draw length.
The thinner the band, the more speed, you know 😀
Maybe a .6 vs a .62 Theraband would give you mush different results.
Heck... film it next time for the 20fpe badge 🌞
Right now, I'm waiting for the hot weather for my tests... 🤠


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## Biker_Bob (Mar 26, 2020)

I think I'll probably leave it for a while. I'm happy enough with 22fltbs from my Rebar slingshot and I can easily get 290fps with a face anchor and clay balls.
I had half talked myself into there being some revelation waiting for me, some hidden secret, but it's just physics at the end of the day.
I love the feel of TBG, it's so smooth to draw and shoot.
Also that SniperSling Black smells funny, sort of like burned fish, whereas the TBG smells very nice, vanilla I think it is. What the heck does the smell matter? Don't know but it's something I notice with TBG when I open my storage pot.


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## tool (Oct 1, 2021)

You should try SS yellow, or even better: BSB white. 100% slingshot, also. SS black is just harsh, I have a lot of it in .5, but then I discovered better latex, same speed, smoother draw. I yet have to try TBG...


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Some nice work done there Bob. Good stuff!


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## High Desert Flipper (Aug 29, 2020)

Biker_Bob said:


> I think I'll probably leave it for a while. I'm happy enough with 22fltbs from my Rebar slingshot and I can easily get 290fps with a face anchor and clay balls.
> I had half talked myself into there being some revelation waiting for me, some hidden secret, but it's just physics at the end of the day.
> I love the feel of TBG, it's so smooth to draw and shoot.
> Also that SniperSling Black smells funny, sort of like burned fish, whereas the TBG smells very nice, vanilla I think it is. What the heck does the smell matter? Don't know but it's something I notice with TBG when I open my storage pot.


Unfortunately there are few if any hidden secrets. And when they come, they are the rare disruptive steps ahead. On the upside though, there are incremental gains.

I looked back at some of my earlier tests and found one where I compared sniper yellow, precise, and sniper black using thinner bands. Those results were interesting and go with the general theme developed in this thread- sniper black was the fastest, but also the heaviest, and therefore the least efficient. In my test I calculated "efficiency" by dividing fps by draw weight to get a fps/lb draw measure. The sniper black was particularly bad in efficiency when it got stretched near it's max- probably reflecting the severe stack many notice with it.

While sniper black was the fastest band it was the worst by this fps/lb draw measure. The sniper yellow and precise were only slightly behind on speed but way ahead on efficiency. 

Sometime soon I will try and redo this and include TBG to see if any of the recent latex has the incremental 5% of so gains in terms of efficiency and / or speed. All while waiting for the next revolutionary product that will give us a sudden 30% jump in performance.

My guess is that this will show recent elastics are incrementally better than TBG. But until I actually test it, that is just my guess.

Here is the link to the tests I referred to above- Snipersling 0.5 test


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## cpu_melt_down (Mar 20, 2017)

+1 for the TBG smell... mmm mmm good 😃


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