# Made my First Bands!



## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

I purchased a Scout from Simple Shot last week and I liked the .030 latex it came with, but I know after reading numerous threads on these forums that neither bands not tubes last very long. So I ordered six feet of TheraBand Gold and gave it a shot.

I have watched a lot of videos and thought I could replicate what i saw.

My band is a perfect six inches wide so I'm cutting them one inch wide and getting 3 sets per foot. Actually, I'm cutting them ten inches as I use a static draw of 31" so don't need the extra length and I can get 7 sets of three that way.

Fortunately, my wife is a seamstress so she has a rotary cutter, board and nice straight edge. I made good cuts and I had some leather from an old wallet and made a couple pouches. Tied the pouches on with some office rubber and mounted them on my Scout using the Flip Clips. Now to test!

I'm back...The first two shots were low but on center. The third shot was a bullseye! I stopped there as it was getting dark and I didn't want to spoil the satisfaction of a good if short shooting session with my new bands!


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

Congrats on your bullseye and congrats on taking the initiative to make your own bands. much more fun being able to cut exactly what you want and save some money doing it 

you may come to find 1inch straight cut is a little hefty

(i dare say a little hefty cause it depends on the ammo you're shooting technically), but you may try to cut your bands with a little taper. Try a little wider at the fork end, narrower at the pouch end.

An example could be 1inch to 3/4 taper. You'll find it easier to pull and will be quite zippy!  If you're shooting marbles or small ammo like 3/8, one inch straight gold is a little overkill.


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

So you are cutting the bands a foot long? That's way too long for only a 31" draw...lemme explain if this is your case.

I also have a 31" draw and I use about 7 inches of free rubber...that means, from the fork tie to the pouch tie...not to the pouch hole. If I'd use more band length like you do, I wouldn't get the full potential of the rubber. TBG has about a 5 to 1 stretch, so max would be 35 inches draw...but I use only 7 inches for my 31 inch draw. That way I have four inches of leeway, that is, less than maximum stretch, that prolongs rubber life more than if I stretched it 100%. Yes I could be getting yet more zip out of my TBG by stretching it 100% to the max but I prefer to have more band life than max velocity per inch of band. So I get (using a little arithmetic) 30 / 35 = 86% which is fine for my work...of target only (no game hunting).

The suggestion to taper bands to increase velocity per lb of pull is what most of the members do here.

I don't and here's why. I can't get good slingshot elastic here in Ecuador so I get amigos coming back from civilization to bring it to me...and I don't get much that way. So I use non tapered bands and put about an inch more on the fork than I need, just hanging out. Usually bands break at or near the pouch so I just retie and pay out that extra so I don't have to discard that broken band. Were I to use tapered bands I would not be able likely to reuse a broken band for it would not match the one that didn't break...and matching bands are necessary for best shooting.

I use broken band segments to cut ties from also...recycling it as much as I can. It's not because I am cheap (although I am cheap), it's to use all the TBG I can.

Not only that, if segments are not too thrashed and fairly long, I join them together with a wrap and tuck connection using a tie, to make a tied together band. If both bands are made equally and thusly, they work as well as an ordinary band that is not tied together. I shot a hundred some rds today in fact using a set of tied together matching bands.

Just suggestions and ideas that work... glean from them what you desire. Hopefully you can get all the elastic you want and not rationed as in my case, so conserving bands won't be part of the formula for you. Afterall, slingshoting is a very inexpensive hobby compared to other shooting sports.

Congratulations on cutting your own bands...there are simple plastic sheet jigs you can make to make it easier still.

You might try some Alliance Sterling wide big ole rubber bands too...I use both them and TBG...all you do with the Alliance is just cut them to length, no fuss with cutting them from a roll.

How's the economy in Sacto these days? I lived in Redding before I retired.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

What the heck? As I posted yesterday, I made my first bands and had a good first session. My ties didn't stay tied so I retied them. Shot high. Retied them again and again. I keep shooting high. I can't seem to get my anchor point high enough to compensate for it. I'm talking six inches high! My windage is good though.

I don't think it's my release or my other shooting mechanics because I switched to my wire frame that I have looped tubes set up and shot normally.

Any input from you veteran band cutters/shooters would be most welcome!


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

You may have been lucky with your three shots, who knows. Depending on what you are using for ammo, 1" sounds a bit much for target shooting.

I used to shoot them too. Now I'm using 1/2" max and they are still plenty zippy.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Good thought, brucered. I'll cut what I have in half. It did occur to me that I was just lucky yesterday.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Thanks brucered! I cut my bands to 1/2 inch and my high shooting went away. It was much easier to tie to the pouch too. What a pleasure to draw! I want it a little faster but I think I can work with that. Maybe 3/4 tapered to 1/2.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Chuck Daehler said:


> So you are cutting the bands a foot long? That's way too long for only a 31" draw...lemme explain if this is your case.
> 
> I also have a 31" draw and I use about 7 inches of free rubber...that means, from the fork tie to the pouch tie...not to the pouch hole. If I'd use more band length like you do, I wouldn't get the full potential of the rubber. TBG has about a 5 to 1 stretch, so max would be 35 inches draw...but I use only 7 inches for my 31 inch draw. That way I have four inches of leeway, that is, less than maximum stretch, that prolongs rubber life more than if I stretched it 100%. Yes I could be getting yet more zip out of my TBG by stretching it 100% to the max but I prefer to have more band life than max velocity per inch of band. So I get (using a little arithmetic) 30 / 35 = 86% which is fine for my work...of target only (no game hunting).
> 
> ...


 Hi Chuck, Sacto is doing well. We passed a local tax the same year California voters approved an increase in the sales tax.

I have a connection to the Redding/Red Bluff area. A cousin in Redding and we used to have an uncle in Cottonwood. How long ago did you live there? My wife and I are part of the R-Wildhorse Ranch just out of Red Bluff. Are you familiar with it? Have you heard of the Sundial Bridge? It's a pretty nice attraction.

Thank you for the advice on band length. I am going to experiment with tapers. I can understand why you don't taper and I would do the same given your location!

Thanks for the encouragement too!


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Well, I think I have reached a happy medium. I am using 1" tapering to 1/2". It shoots pretty fast, is easy to draw and easy to tie on the pouch. I loved the light draw using the 1/2 inch bands brucered suggested but they were a little slower than I like. This set up shoots marbles well and does even better with the 1/2 inch white Daisy marbles.

When I want more speed, I can shoot the Dankung looped 1842's on my wire frame.


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