# Dankung Bi-Thor



## christopher (Jan 8, 2010)

Pictures now, review from me later when I have time.

http://slingshotforum.com/index.php?app=gallery&module=user&user=94&do=view_album&album=7


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## smitty (Dec 17, 2009)

I'm looking forward to the review.


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## NightKnight (Dec 16, 2009)

smitty said:


> I'm looking forward to the review.


I second that!


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## dragonmaster (Dec 24, 2009)

Having a Bi-Thor myself I'm interested in seeing what you think. Haven't been able to shoot much lately been cold and wet here the backyard is a mud puddle.


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## jmplsnt (Jan 1, 2010)

I'm not a huge fan of the Dankungs but there are a lot of you out there who are. I love these forums because I can see what everyone else is doing and pick up some good information in the process. I am looking forward to your review. I know Jeorg did one on his youtube channel and was favorably impressed with his so it must be a decent slingshot. I have to say the dankungs have a frame that would last through tiger attacks, virulent plagues, repeated atomic explosions, and polar shifts. All the other manufacturers could take a lesson from their durability.

After I've just said I'm not a huge fan of them I am honest enough to say that I am considering buying the Pocket Sniper.


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## christopher (Jan 8, 2010)

When the package arrived via USPS (7 days in total), it looked bad. I'm not sure if a customs drug dog thought it was a chew toy, or some over zealous shipping clerk made sure it fit into a shipping container. So when the postal lady came by, I didn't even recognize it as a box; more like a ball of mangled tape. And when she said it's from China, I was worried. On opening the package all was safe. Whew! Not a scratch or a bump. Just some US Customs tape on it to keep all the insides from spilling out. No problem, I support our port authority in making sure what comes into the country is safe. Even if the packaging looks like it went through a war zone.

Now before I continue, let me back up. From the wee age of 8 or 9 my father allowed me to shoot black eyed peas with his wrist braced slingshot in the backyard. And up until now I have not deviated from this. We are talking 25+ yrs of shooting exclusively wrist rockets. So when my dad got me back into shooting slingshots, I found this website and picked the sport back up. And like any enthusiast, I wanted to see what else was out there and what like minded people had to say. On reading I found Dankung and I'll be honest it was eye candy at first. Shiny and a departure from the standard wire framed wrist braced and the hand carved wooden forks I'm use to. It was also shiny. Let me repeat that, it was shiny. Sorry, I'm a moth to the flame with shiny things. So after looking at what was offered I decided on the Bi-Thor. The main factor was it's ability to mount different types of band configurations and this interested me.

On inspecting the Bi-Thor I have found the quality of craftsmanship is good. No rough edging, no plating burn marks, and the welding surprisingly good. As an ex-paintballer Chinese paintball goods were notorious for burn plating marks and really crude welds. Not here. It's a high quality tool. I also found the weight nice. There is just something about a solid feeling to give confidence in durability. Now I'm not sure where the whole small Chinese hands comes into play as most people comment on the slingshot being to small. I'm an average guy 5'11" with average hands, I wear XL (eXtra Large) Mechanix gloves snugly. I found the slingshot fit nicely into my hands naturally with no issues. So either people are walking around with meat hooks for hands, or they prefer their slingshot the size of clubs.

The Bi-Thor came attached with what appears to be 20x40 tubing in the ball bearing retention configuration. The pouch having four connection points in all. I found this default setup way to short as I could only pull it back six to seven inches at full draw. It felt very awkward as I could not extend my arm and pull back the bands so the pouched was under my chin. I could only pull it back to maybe my elbow. Nothing wrong with the bands, just they were cut for a person with much shorter arms or a different shooting style. Though this did not effect the usage, it's just not the right length for my style. I also ordered a quad-band loop configuration too, but I could not test it out. The only lapse in quality was the connection point on the pouch for 1 of the 4 points the lashing that held the tubes together around the pouch had come apart. Luckily I purchased 10 meters of the 17x45 tubing. The package also included a spare leather pouch and a baggy of retention ball bearings. So I constructed my own band set off the 17x45 tubes to fit my desires.

Now this is were my hopes for the Bi-Thor really came into fruition. I am now a fan of the "Chinese" way to mount bands. It's not only super easy, it's simple, and fast. The Bi-Thor has 3 holes on each side of the fork. The top two holes as engineered so that you can slip in a ball bearing into the tube giving it place to create a friction fit and a place for the ball bearing to snugly set into. No more slipping a tube over a fork and waiting for it to dry. All I do is stretch the band a little to slip it into the notch and let the ball bearing hold the band in place. I can change out a bandset in 10 seconds and probably less time if I used the loop attachment. I included some pictures of the ball bearing resting inside the hole to show that the bearing sit nicely into the frame.

A slight detour, just talking about bands for a second, the bands that I purchased are not as powerful as the latex surgical tubing bands and the flatbands. So for those that like to hunt small woodland creatures you could still make those kills, but I would recommend it be small light bone game; like birds and fish. You won't be slinging enough weight to crush the bone of a pig. On the flip side, if your a competition target shooter (or wanna-be like myself), the bands are far superior to the stronger bands I'm used it. If your goal is to punch a hole through a piece of paper accurately at 10 meters, then I would suggest looking into lowering your band's strength and looking into these bands. If you want to punch through plywood you can find better solutions.

As a shooter I'm a sight on target shooter. More specifically I am a left hand zero degree side non-canting shooter. I know instinct shooters can hit the dust off a moth's wing in mid-flight in a category 5 hurricane while sitting in a rocking chair on the porch off the hip. I'm not that kind of shooter. I have to aim and I use my eyes to sight a target. The Bi-Thor setup I was using allowed for greater shooting accuracy over the other slingshots, mainly because sight shooters needing a point off the slingshot to gauge the target. Traditionally the larger surgical tubing on my wrist braced slingshots covered up the target with the target right below the top fork. The Bi-Thor with the split band allows me to see the target through the window opening in the fork and the thin bands do not cover up the small target picture in the target window. This is much easier than the sighting mechanism than the Barnett Pro-Diablo uses and less guess work over the Trumark Classic. I use an old lead fishing weight as my target of choice at 10 meters. It's the rough size of a 9 volt battery. Having little practice with the Bi-Thor I got immediate results in hitting the target time after time. Something I have struggled with other slingshots. I believe it was the combination of the design of the fork, thinner bands, and the light pull that allowed steady and accurate shots. One thing I started to do was use the wrist loop that comes with the Bi-Thor as a "soft" wrist brace. This further aided me in getting those tight shots in. The paracord is nice and allows a firm grip. The two rubber sleeves allows me to grip the fork with no slipping.

Overall I am pleased with my Bi-Thor. With enough practice I hope to enter into some slingshot competitions as this has helped me immensely even for the sort time I've owned it. Placebo effect from a new shiny thing, or real long term results as to be seen. I try not to fool myself to the reality of it. But quality and craftsmanship wise, it's well worth the money.

And with any person's opinion, I offer this disclaimer, different strokes for different folks.


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## NightKnight (Dec 16, 2009)

Good review!!


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## TruckeeLocal (Dec 23, 2009)

That was a good review. My time with the bi-thor was very limited so I wanted to ask you a question. I was only able to take a few shots with the fixed attachment and the bands felt slower with this attachment. I was comparing it to my dankung so that was not a fair comparison. Have you shot it with the bands looped and did you notice a difference in speed? I've always thought that the Chinese looped method was a superior method of attachment but I never had enough time with the bi-thor to prove this. What do you think?


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## p4v_singh (Dec 21, 2009)

great reveiw + love the way that slingshot looks


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## smitty (Dec 17, 2009)

Awesome review Chris! Makes me almost want to get one for myself.


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## christopher (Jan 8, 2010)

TruckeeLocal said:


> I've always thought that the Chinese looped method was a superior method of attachment but I never had enough time with the bi-thor to prove this. What do you think?


I'm hooked on their mounting method too. Well engineered and implemented, a big improvement over lashing flatbands or slip fitting tubes. . My only I wish is for a wrist braced model that used the larger surgical tube sized bands with the same mounting method. Just use a larger ball bearing in the tube as a ball retention point.

My father makes a slingshot with flatbands and uses a dowel as an tensioner and a fold and slip method. It's super easy to attach flatbands that way. No lashing required.


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## dgui (Jan 12, 2010)

That was one sweet review. My first inpression of the Dankung was also the bands being a few inches too short. Smaller in my experience seems lend its self to greater accuracy. Dankung, SS, Precision. The way you wrote your opion was a literary adventure. Great crescendo. I cant wait to read the next one.


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## dragonmaster (Dec 24, 2009)

I have the Bi-Thor and prefer the looped setup as to the fixed tube. Couldn't tell much difference in the power but i jist shoot cans in the back yard. have been giving thought to a looped flat band setup though.


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## dragonmaster (Dec 24, 2009)

I do shoot from 10 meters.


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## dgui (Jan 12, 2010)

dragonmaster said:


> I do shoot from 10 meters.


I am thinking 10 meters is the fashionable 30 or 33 feet for target shooting. I find flats are far more stable but all I shoot is cans anyway.


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## christopher (Jan 8, 2010)

I'll try shorter bands. I think the idea has merit. The weaker bands allows greater accuracy control, however if form is not spot on you can't feel the misalignment like you can with heavier bands. And since the Bi-Thor is not self centering this can give rise to missed shots.

My goal is to hit a 1:1 ratio between the size of my ammo and the size of the target; as seen on some of those Chinese slingshot videos. I'm slowly working my way down to that at 10 meters. Once I can hit the target 5 out of 5 times, then I'll reduce my target area and practice against that.


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