# Slingshot Range testing



## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Has anyone check how far their handheld slingshot would go with different types of ammo?

How did you measure it?

What band sets did you use?

What was the speed?


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## Josh16 (Aug 26, 2013)

You should go to Youtube type in Gamekeeper John,1611torsten or Bill hays they show what is possible with a slingshot


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## Individual (Nov 6, 2013)

Depends what bands, angle, ammo, temperature, How flat the ground is, Age of bands, Slingshot used, what elongation etc etc.

There are just too many factors too give a single number


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanks Josh, I'll check them out.

How would I go about testing the range myself?


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## projector101 (Aug 19, 2013)

You'd idealy use one of those rolling tape measure things that measures by number of revolutions.


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanks I'll get one of them.


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## Sunchierefram (Nov 16, 2013)

Well, I have tested the range before. It varies quite a bit. With real heavy ammo such as large hex nuts, they don't go too far, no more than 150 feet at the most, but they pack quite a punch. Rocks don't tend to go that far but that's probably just because they're rough and irregular. But one time, shooting several dozen shots with a light office rubber bandset and small gravel, it went ridiculously far. According to Google maps, it was about 250 feet. And that's shooting horizontally. Another time, with a paintball and Walmart exercise tubing, it went pretty far. Out of sight actually. So yeah, it really does vary.


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## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

Well I always wanted a more scientific answer but last summer I gave it my best shot!

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/24903-the-max-shot-and-a-great-day-out/

Belive it or not at that range it was hard just to hit the scree slope (around the size of a van) .. As for damage ... hmm minimul I assume sure I would not want to be hit at that distance still but were not talking life threatening..


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## BlackBob (Mar 8, 2013)

I found this on Wikipedia "Trajectory of a Projectile"

The United States Department of Defense and NATO define a ballistic trajectory as a trajectory traced after the propulsive force is terminated and the body is acted upon only by gravity and aerodynamic drag.[1

If you want to give yourself a headache then have a look. It certainly fried my brain.


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm going to have give this a lot of thought to do it right.

Has anyone done the unthinkable and fired one straight up at 90 degrees?

Did you time it?


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## TimR (May 22, 2011)

Jim59 said:


> Has anyone done the unthinkable and fired one straight up at 90 degrees?
> 
> Did you time it?


Yeah, Hatcher did, see his Notes. He went out on Chesapeake Bay in a boat, and shot all sorts of stuff straight up. He said you could hardly ever find the splash. He needed a really calm day, and a machine gun on full auto!

The easiest way to determine distance is to find a pond. Shoot into it, and back up. Keep doing so until you no longer get a splash.


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## JonM (Aug 17, 2013)

I've seen them do it with anvils. Using gun powder it's easy to see the impact, but a bitch to dig it up. :naughty:


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## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Here's a handy little Windows program to calculate round ball trajectory and velocity. Read the instructions carefully. For slingshot trajectory, use an aim point of 10 yards and this will give you the range of a slingshot fired parallel to the ground. Just look for the line closest to the height above ground that you hold the slingshot. Ex: 136 grain .45 cal round ball at 250 fps will travel about 45 yards before striking the ground.

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/rbballistics/rbballistics.html


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## rtaylor129 (Jun 19, 2013)

I never truly measured it but I know for a fact I was aiming at a pigeon flying over a field and I found my ammo that was painted fluorescent orange over 200 yards away


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## Sunchierefram (Nov 16, 2013)

Yeah, I've shot up into the air before. It went pretty dang far. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 500 or 600 feet away.


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## rtaylor129 (Jun 19, 2013)

Sunchierefram said:


> Yeah, I've shot up into the air before. It went pretty dang far. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 500 or 600 feet away.


Easily I would say. I remember as a kid a ricochet went back and took out my grand parents window of the barn and it was a good 50 yards away lol boy did I get my arse tanned that day


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## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

whoever posted about the water being a difficult medium to measure is correct. I first tried distance shooting on a large reservoir by my home about 1sq km , even when the water is like a sheet of glass it is still difficult to locate the splash because it happens so fast, the best medium to measure I have found is dusty earth those of you living in canyon country should be able to see shots way way out the puffs of dust shoot right up into the air.


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies again, its giving me loads of ideas.

Has anyone done any long distance target shooting?

What was the size of the target?

I'm not that very good at hitting targets over 20 metres (22 yards), five times out of ten I'll miss a 50cm (20 inch) square target completely .

Maybe I'm just a bit rusty, haven't done much shooting for a long while.


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## Tube_Shooter (Dec 8, 2012)

Once I shot from a first floor window at a fence 309 feet away I clearly heard the crack when ammo hit,I was using 22 to 16 mm Texshooter latex bands and 9.5mm steel bands cut 7" active length and drawn 40", I estimate 250+ fps as it was not much over a second for the ammo to arrive at the fence.


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

That's a good distance.

The initial velocity must have been at least 177 metres per second.

How many bands did you have on per fork?

I've not heard of these bands before, are they better than Theraband gold?

Did you fire it horizontally or at an angle?

How high off the ground do recon you were?


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## Tube_Shooter (Dec 8, 2012)

Jim59 said:


> That's a good distance.
> 
> The initial velocity must have been at least 177 metres per second.
> 
> ...


Approx 7 feet of the ground shooting sideways through the fork,two bands aside Texshooter latex is a tad faster than TBG I think about 3% and I aimed for top of fence...hope this helps a little.


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Even at 7 feet above ground level, still means you fired at about 149 metes per second.

I'll have to get some of that rubber.


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## Tube_Shooter (Dec 8, 2012)

No mate more like 75 mps assume 250 fps divide by 3.3 for mps


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

When you fired, was your slingshot horizontal to the ground?


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Individual said:


> Depends what bands, angle, ammo, temperature, How flat the ground is, Age of bands, Slingshot used, what elongation etc etc.
> 
> There are just too many factors too give a single number


What type of slingshot do you suggest I use?


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## Tube_Shooter (Dec 8, 2012)

Best advice I can give is a Bill Hayes hts or flip scout both will get you going


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Thanks.

What range do you get out of them?


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## Jim59 (Feb 7, 2014)

Had search on the forum, and I came up with this.

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/15476-slingshot-maximum-range-test-result300metres/

300 metres (328 yards) has got to be the distance to beat for a handheld slingshot.

Has anyone done better?


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## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

For anyone interested the following is at 200ft, The puddle I am shooting at is around the size of a small family car! It is difficult even at this size to get a splash.... 100ft yeah no problem 8/10... anything above that you loose accuracy fast. The problems come from gauging the drop and adjusting accordingly. The time of flight is just under a second. Anybody competent at hitting a tin can at that range... You are superhuman! I am guestimating it would take me 70+ shots.


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