# DanKung contest prize - nice frame!



## Northerner (Nov 9, 2010)

*Contest Prize*​​
During late August 2016 I wrote a detailed review for a DanKung contest and won a sweet little slingshot "made by top slingshot maker in China". I'm not sure on the maker or the actual name for this frame. DanKung does not sell this particular frame and stated that they do not plan to sell them. The frame was exclusively for the contest. I hope that plan changes. This is one nice frame!

The mystery frame is very close in size to the DanKung Bat-2 and the General-2 frames. It has the typical DK style of nice contours and a well polished stainless surface. This model has dished fork tips with grooves at the front and back to keep the tubes from slipping around during the draw. These excellent features work as designed. The forks sport little blackened designs located just below the loops on each side, both front and back. I'm not sure if this is a Chinese symbol or just an abstract design. The forks are squarish in cross section with slight rounding to the edges and sides. I find the frame to be comfortable to hold and shoot. Due to the thickness, it's a heavier frame at 185 grams. This weight doesn't seem to be an issue at all when shooting, although my several other DK frames only run 120-150 grams.

The handle on the mystery frame is a simple tapered edge design with added palm swells to the front and back. The handle is small but I prefer narrow and find that it allows a good finger wrap with my medium size hand. The injection molded black palm swells are made from polyoxymethylene (POM), more commonly referred to as Acetal or Delrin. These little additions definitely make the frame more comfortable in the hand. The palm swell edges are well rounded on the sides and beveled at the bottom so as not to interfere with a comfortable position in the generous pinky hole. When gripped properly the handle design gives you that "locked in" fit.

My only complaint with this frame is the position of the ring cuts. My preference would be for a lower position right next to the fork. This would ease installation of rubber fork sleeves, if desired. With a bit of extra work and lots of alcohol for lubricant I should be able to wiggle a set of sleeves into position.

*Measurements *

Overall length = 4.78" (121.5 mm)

Width across frame at fork loops = 3.21" (82 mm)

Width between forks = 1.55" (40 mm)

Fork loop outside diameter = 0.83" (21 mm)

Fork loop inside hole diameter = 0.38" (9.5 mm)

Width across top of handle = 0.74" (19 mm)

Width across handle at widest = 1.19" (30 mm)

Frame thickness = 0.39" on fork , 0.35" on rings (10 mm, 9 mm)

Thickness at handle swell = .85" (21.5 mm)

Pinky hole = 0.70" x 0.75" (18 mm x 19 mm)

Weight without tubes = 185 grams (6.5 oz)

*Metallurgy (3 reading locations)*

Cr = 17.35%

Fe = 82.65%

Cr = 17.31%

Fe = 82.54%

Zr = 0.16%

Cr = 16.52%

Fe = 83.48%

Cr = chromium, Fe = iron, Zr = zirconium

The above three readings were taken with an expensive Olympus GoldXpert analyzer. Two readings were taken on the base of the fork rings and one on the bottom section of a fork. The alloy appears to be 440 stainless. According to online data, a 440C mix should have 16-18% chromium, 0% nickel, 0-1% manganese, 0.95-1.20% carbon, and traces of other non-metals. The analyzer can't detect carbon and other non-metals, although carbon is important to the 440 alloy. The manganese is missing but I'm not sure how important it is to the 440C alloy. The second reading gave a very small trace of zirconium but I doubt it's anything to consider.

I'm not at all disappointed in the alloy of the frame. It does not contain nickel so it can't be a 304 stainless alloy. It's not a titanium alloy. From the numbers I'm guessing 440 stainless. I do know that it's an acceptable stainless steel alloy that does not contain zinc or copper.


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## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*Congrats on winning what looks to be a fine, well thought out design ... and DK should award you a second one just for this excellent review.*

*I like the pom in the palm handle and agree that this could be a good seller.*


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## MakeSlingshots (Jul 16, 2015)

yah nice slingshot.


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## Northerner (Nov 9, 2010)

It was a lot of pulling and twisting but I managed to get a couple of sleeves onto the new frame. A large pair of hemostats made the job just barely possible. Two tube sets tore before getting into position but TB black tubes worked okay. They sure are a tight fit!


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