# Need tips on getting higher velocities?



## gk1 (Nov 18, 2013)

OK part of my problem is l'm new and impatient but l need more performance. I'm way off getting what l thought l was going to get.

Yesterday l did some testing of some old cheap tube slingshots and was averaging 145fps using 7/16" steel balls. These were a couple of non braced Saunders with straight latex and l also tried some marksman ones with the red tapered tubes. These did shoot slightly faster than the latex banded ones but only by 10-15fps.

I then tried my first home made slingshot and l got 190 fps which l'm happy with as l made it all myself, but l need more. I made up a set of bands using TBG and l feel that l made these too short. These were doubles that were 8" in length and had a 15/20mm taper, so l will make another set at 9" in length and see what happens.

I will post some pics soon, but does anyone have tips or suggestions to get me some more velocity? What sort of velocity are people getting? I was expecting another 30-40 fps with this ammo.


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## S.S. sLinGeR (Oct 17, 2013)

Wow I was wondering what you were talking about in the title until I saw "velocities" lol 

Have you tried double banding or tapered tubes?


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

TBG has a 500 % elongation factor. Cut your band length with this fact in mind. More bands does not mean more speed in most cases. 7/16 steel doesn't need double bands. A single 25/20 mm taper will get you between 220 to 250 fps give or take depending on draw length. More speed shortens band life. The good news is you don' t need to use so much latex to achieve your goal. Good shooting!


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## Sunchierefram (Nov 16, 2013)

I'm not a speed person to be honest with you. I used the smartphone chrony app once and got between 160 &190 fps depending on the ammo. Which that is fairly good by me. But back on topic, tapered bands are typically faster, flatbands are typically faster, & it's typically easier to get smaller ammunition to go faster. So tapered flatbands shooting small ammo is probably a good way to go really fast.


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

another thing to consider- weather. in the winter your velocity will drop, but in the summer. . . it will pick up very nicely. cold affects the bands/tubes performance.


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## gk1 (Nov 18, 2013)

Thanks for the replies 
I did some more testing using some longer bands and got some suprising results.
I've posted a new topic in the band's forum.
George


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