# Square and round solid bands?



## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

I am wanting to experiment with some different guage solid bands just out of curiosity mainly and I was wondering where to get round solid band material. Surely there's some use for round elastic of some sort that could be fitted to a slingshot. I know elastics in general are far better than they were when I was a kid and the modern tubes are SO much better than when I had my first Wrist Rocket about 40 years ago.

But having just recently obtained an old school type of shooter I was sort of wanting to explore solid bands just out of curiosity. I know the solid square band I'm currently using isn't nearly as fast as modern tubes but it's very hard hitting with weighty ammo and at the moment it's a lot of fun. It's a bit like the difference between shooting .22LR and .45 auto- The .22 is fast and deadly accurate but the .45 hits like a ton of bricks, so it just depends on what you want for any given purpose.

Seems like here in the UK square bands are easy enough to find in a small variety of powers but where would I locate round bands? What would such a material be otherwise used for?


----------



## bigron (Nov 29, 2012)

i'm not sure if i have ever seen solid round elastics


----------



## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Much to my chagrin, I can't find what you are looking for. NICO was the last person I saw have some or write about it if memory serves me.

I think he may have been able to get some from a friend of his in Mexico, but I very well may be wrong. NICO uses his homemade slings for hunting and uses heavy ammo and very simple bands, nothing fancy. He proves you don't need to spend $$ to have a good effective hunting sling.

wll


----------



## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

I used to have a weird random giant o-ring in my garage, no idea what it came from. It was about a foot across and probably 5 to 6mm round rubber or something. Had it for years hanging on the wall just as some kind of curiosity. As I recall it seemed pretty stretchy for an o-ring, about the same pull as what my black square band is.

At the time I wasn't thinking about slingshots so I never made the connection. Naturally I've lost it or thrown it away in a clearout but it might have made good slingshot band. I'll guess I'll have to sniff around some farm machinery or diesel engine websites or something and see if I can find anything like it. You would think round rubber must be used for pressure sealing or something mundane out in the real world.

Of course I know I'm going to end up buying something like 1745 tube in bulk anyway eventually for the speed and ease of draw for hunting but for the moment I'm just curious about the world of solid bands.


----------



## AZshooter (May 1, 2011)

McMaster Carr carries ROUND elastic latex cord...97% latex rubber...I believe Bill Hays used these in one of his video demonstrations on elastic and bands...Check with McMaster Carr...look under ROUND ELASTIC CORD...BLACK....97% Latex rubber...there are a variety of sizes....Phil


----------



## crapshot (May 3, 2011)

try hogan castings slingshotsmight have what ya need


----------



## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

Found it, sort of.

Solid round and square cord is apparently pretty widely available but just not always known as slingshot band. It comes in all kinds of grades and configurations used for things like excercise bands, shock cord and a bunch of other designations in different categories. Focusing on "latex" cord that isn't braided turns up all kinds of stuff. Now I just need to study stretch properties and various forms of rocket science whatnot to narrow down the field of potential slingshot-use cord. I think I might have to get me a recurve frame for easy band changing and experiment with stuff.

Of course I know the easiest thing would be to just use what's already known, like square bands and tube, and I intend to get a nice flat shooter soon, but I'm just kind of interested in seeing what sort of newfangled rubbery solid band doodads can be found for slingshot use. It'll be fun experimenting as long as I've got one or two other slingshots at hand in standard trim.

Oh dear- am I really already talking about getting MORE slingshots? This addiction is evil.


----------



## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Be sure it is latex, I bought some a bit back and it was rubber all right but neoprene and not worth a darn !

wll


----------



## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

If you want to plink with BBs and use solid rubber, you might want to check your local tackle store. In the UK and Continental Europe they use thin diameter solid rubber cord in competition pole fishing as a sort of shock absorber to prevent breaking the often very very thin main line on the occasional big fish.

Diameters I've seen in tackle stores varied from some 1/50 inch upto approx 1/16 inch. So, for very small ultra light weight ammo only, like .117 BBs or 6mm airsoft.


----------



## cavedweller (Mar 10, 2015)

Yeah, the more I look the more I find. I figured there would be a lot more choice than there was when I was a kid using medical grade tubing. There's a lot more choice of elastic compounds these days. Modern elastics are far better and more available than they ever hyave been, it's just a matter of finding what's out there.

I know tubes are apparently faster than solids made from the same material, and for the most part I can understand why. It sort of gets into the rocket science of surface area and density and elasticity and drag and all kinds of things. But to my mind, given the vast assortment of available compounds I think there must be some solid band of whatever shape (square, round or otherwise) that's made of a substance which could give equal performance to standard tubes, or even much better.

I'm certain that these days pretty much any elastic compound can be formed into pretty much any band shape (tapered solid band!) and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't solid band materials out there somewhere that have for instance a lighter core to a stiffer outer area (or the other way around, I'm not sure which would be better) and that sort of thing which would give amazing performance and long life, but finding what it is and what it's used for could be a bit tricky because such materials could be anything like maybe old NASA stock space shuttle door seals (see "Jimmy" out back in the alley, cash only) or something targeted at the food, automotive or military industry among things.

And don't even get me started on spring loaded slingshot ideas.

Thankfully I'm only marginally curious and can have a perfectly good time with the standard materials already known and used for slingshots. It's not like I'm depending on it for food or trying out for the Olympic Slingshot Team so I don't really have this insane need to spend far too much effort locating the Holy Grail of slingshot bands. But this is the modern world and I am no longer satisfied with a forked stick and a bit of old bicycle inner tube.

For starters inner tubes aren't made like they used to be.


----------



## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

cavedweller said:


> For starters inner tubes aren't made like they used to be.


Ain't that the truth... Today's black inner tubes are butyl rubber, as opposed to the old fashioned red ones which were a latex compound. Butyl inner tubes are beyond useless
for slingshots, you will be able to throw the ammo faster by hand.

As for that holy grail you mention... 
It all depends which holy grail you're looking for.

Super long band life and super high ammo velocity are, I'm afraid, mutually exclusive.

For ultimate speed, the following factors are most important, as far as my limited knowledge goes :

-a bit of overkill but not too much (a little extra rubber relative to ammo mass but not too much cuz that can cause inaccuracy, even wild flyers)

-Tapering to reduce the amount of dead weight on the pouch end. This also ensures a good deal of the rubber is stretched out to the max

-Light weight pouch

-Fast drawing and quick release

For ultimate band life, the following factors are important, again, to my limited knowledge

-Moderate speed (ultra fast retraction damages rubber materials)

-A good balance between rubber power and ammo mass. Light ammo and heavy bands make for premature band breakage.

-Keep them out of the sunlight and don't use them in extreme cold.

Most tubes give better longevity than most flats. The EXCEPTIONS here being Linatex flatbands (best suitable for heavy ammo, available through Gary "Flatband" Miller) and the Saunders long life flats that TexShooter sells.


----------



## vashshadow (Sep 12, 2014)

so i found some latex solid round cord but dont know what dia i should get i take it 1/4 might be ok and guess 3/8 wont work but 1/8 should be great rite?


----------



## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

vashshadow said:


> so i found some latex solid round cord but dont know what dia i should get i take it 1/4 might be ok and guess 3/8 wont work but 1/8 should be great rite?


If you can buy them per yard, I would say get 2 yards (or meters) of each. That way you can try out what you like best. Where did you find it? I'd like to try some myself, especially the 1/4 and 1/8


----------



## vashshadow (Sep 12, 2014)

mcmaster carr has them


----------



## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

vashshadow said:


> mcmaster carr has them


Hmm... Maybe I can order some online at some point but it's a long way across the Atlantic for me to stop in at the store... Tnx for the info though ????


----------



## Nicholson (Sep 25, 2012)

The red kite solid squares are pretty good, had to order from the uk though


----------



## Smashtoad (Sep 3, 2010)

cavedweller said:


> ...but I'm just kind of interested in seeing what sort of newfangled rubbery solid band doodads can be found for slingshot use. It'll be fun experimenting as long as I've got one or two other slingshots at hand in standard trim.


I'm all about this, too. Silicones and latex tech is changing daily it seems. The future should be very interesting for us catapultists. We should always be on the lookout for new compounds to use as tubes and bands.


----------

