# Simpler way to build a slingshot walking target



## Charles

I previously did a video tutorial about how to build a slingshot walking target:

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/21214-build-a-slingshot-walking-target/

As I was prowling through some scrap in my workshop, another idea for building such a target came to me. Soooo, I built one ... took about 30 minutes. Here is a video of it in action ... construction instructions follow:






No construction video this time ... just photos and some prose. First, here are the materials you will need:









You will need:

4 tennis balls;

4 lengths of 1/4 inch threaded rod, each 6 inches long;

8 nylon lock nuts to fit the threaded rod;

18 washers to fit the rod;

9 regular 1/4 inch nuts;

one 1/4 bolt, about 3/4 of an inch long;

1 regular lock washer for the 1/4 inch bolt;

and a length of flat stock.

The flat stock I used was left over from a previous project; most hardware and building supply stores carry slotted steel angle and pre-drilled flat stock for constructing shelving units and similar purposes. I used a piece of pre-drilled flat stock; it is about 1/16 of an inch thick and about 1 3/8 of an inch wide. If you have other mild steel flat stock available and can drill appropriate holes, that would do just as well.

The first job is to drill two holes in each tennis ball on opposite sides of the ball. Then using the nylon lock nuts and washers, attach a tennis ball to the end of each of the pieces of threaded rod.









Next you need to cut a couple of pieces of flat stock. You want the pieces to be long enough to form a + with a hole in the middle and a hole toward the end of each arm. Here is one piece cut to length shown crossed on a longer piece.









Make the + with your two pieces of flat stock and mark each piece along the side of the other piece.









Use a vice and a hammer to put two 45 degree bends in each of the two pieces at the marked lines.









If you do not have any other means of measuring a 45 degree angle, you can use a standard rectangular piece of paper to do the job. Just fold one of the short sides over against one of the long sides and crease the diagonal. The diagonal will be 45 degrees to the side. I have scribed the edges in the photo with a felt pen so you can see the angle more easily.

Using two washers, the 1/4 inch bolt, and a standard lock washer, bolt the two bent pieces together at the middle, so that each one forms a saddle for the other. That way the two cannot twist relative to each other.









Now using two nuts and two washers, attach one of your rod and ball constructs to one arm of the +. By tightening the nuts against each other, they should be quite secure.









Attach the other 3 rod and ball constructs in a similar way, and your target is ready to use.









This target is not quite symmetric as is the one I made with the billiard ball, and I do not think it looks as cool. But it works in much the same way, and you may find it easier to make.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## strikewzen

man this is so cool, i will try making one with those small bouncy balls for kids for my weak ammo

maybe we can try stuffing the tennis balls with some materials to make it react more to impact, i have some training balls that don't use air pressure


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## treefork

Good one! :thumbsup:


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## Beanflip

Looks great Charles. Genius! Have you tested it yet?


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## Charles

Beanflip said:


> Looks great Charles. Genius! Have you tested it yet?


Have a look at the video at the top. That was this very target in action ... again, I took it down to the beach today to try it out.

Cheers ....... Charles


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## Imperial

thats really cool . i also liked the endless amount of ammo available . them rocks looked great for some bigger pouches and strong tubes .


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## Geko

its simple.

its clever.

its great.

greetings geko


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## e~shot

Wonderful tutorial Charles :thumbsup:


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## rockslinger

Imperial said:


> thats really cool . i also liked the endless amount of ammo available . them rocks looked great for some bigger pouches and strong tubes .


I agree!


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## SlingDaddy

Thanks Charles - I've got more chance of making one of these than the variant with the pool ball


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## LP Sling

Easy to do. Very nice


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## Charles

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. These gizmos are a lot of fun. And 3 cheers to Beanflip for drawing attention to them.

This design is dead easy to make. None of the dimensions is really critical. Give it a try.

As for the beach and ammo ... In the last year I began making pouches quite a bit smaller, as almost all my shooting was being done indoors with lead or steel ammo. I was really frustrated when I went to the beach with my billiard ball model, as the pouch on the slingshot I had with me was too small to shoot stones well. This time I took a slingshot with a reasonable sized pouch. No strong bands are required ... I was using Alliance 107s for bands. You just need a pouch large enough to hold a stone without the stone slipping out of the pouch at release. With the right sized pouch, shooting down on the beach is a lot of fun. As you can see in the video, stones and 107 bands were more than ample to flip the target.

Cheers ...... Charles


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## jazz

Hi, Charles, this is amazing, thank you for sharing this, and the instructions!

Great!

jazz


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## leon13

thanks for the tip and clip

i see AMMO every where !

cheers


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## Lacumo

That's absolutely fantastic! I wouldn't have come up with something that inventive in ten lifetimes.


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## NoForkHit

This one I'm able to build. For your first one I needed a billiard ball, but now. Perfect.


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## whacko

I have to add my applause to this one. What a brilliant idea and clever application! That pebbly beach has to close to being a SS shooters happy hunting ground, and when you add that walking target it justs gets sweeter. Bravo!

I have just got a new 'Gotta Do' on my list.


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## Charles

whacko said:


> I have to add my applause to this one. What a brilliant idea and clever application! That pebbly beach has to close to being a SS shooters happy hunting ground, and when you add that walking target it justs gets sweeter. Bravo!
> 
> I have just got a new 'Gotta Do' on my list.


Go for it! Maybe 30 minutes of very light work and you will be shooting it. It is a great outdoor target for stones. Using tennis balls, it would be hard to recover your ammo. But using stones means you do not have to care about that.

Cheers .... Charles


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## oldmiser

That is way too cool ~Charles..I like it~I will have too see how it goes for me come spring time...as for my outdoor shooting

I have to walk a couple miles to a clear area..just edge of town..No traffic or people..edge of a river..~AKAOldmiser


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## whacko

I finally got around to building one of these and they are good sport, and really good practise. I find that they are surprisingly hard to hit consistently; I have a strong tendency to over shoot and have to discipline each shot and aim low. The fact that I only use stones because I can't recover my ammo introduces an element of luck, which adds to the fun.

When the target flips over so that the upright ball is braced by two balls on the ground behind it, it takes a good, solid whack to turn it over, unless I move around it, seeking it's weak angle, combat style.

Great fun! Thank you Charles.


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## Charles

whacko said:


> I finally got around to building one of these and they are good sport, and really good practise. I find that they are surprisingly hard to hit consistently; I have a strong tendency to over shoot and have to discipline each shot and aim low. The fact that I only use stones because I can't recover my ammo introduces an element of luck, which adds to the fun.
> 
> When the target flips over so that the upright ball is braced by two balls on the ground behind it, it takes a good, solid whack to turn it over, unless I move around it, seeking it's weak angle, combat style.
> 
> Great fun! Thank you Charles.


Glad you are enjoying it! You are right on all your observations. Since ammo will not generally be recoverable, this target is best thought of as most suitable for stones ... and that means one is not quite as consistent as one would be with more uniform steel or lead ammo. And the target is not that easy to flip ... it takes a good square hit to do the job. But it is good fun and excellent practice.

Cheers .... Charles


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