# Consistent shooting



## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Mr and Mrs McClure for showing me what I needed to change to become more proficient with a sling shot. He had me try several slingshots before he sent a tube master home with me. After taking out one ceiling light and antiquing the bbq grill I got the hang of shooting tubes. Mrs Daranda Hays suggested I make a tape of me shooting, but I kept putting it off. After shooting a couple of days practicing MicChael' and Jodi's suggestions I have come to see the attraction of slingshots. Will I ever be competative, probably not. I will try to improve each day to satisfy me. I will be at the tournament in august to cheer for everyone of you. I feel a lot more comfortable belonging to the forum where everyone is accepted, not for their ability , but for the love of the sport. This was shot at 33ft. The target is 3-1/2 by 4-1/2. Good for me.


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

That is looking really good. I mean that.Stay with it and keep it fun. Don't be afraid to try new things. Try getting to a secluded area and pink some cans randomly.


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## M.J (Nov 1, 2010)

Definitely looking better!!

It always makes me really happy to help someone improve :thumbsup:

I "antiqued" my garage door with some arrows while I was learning the ins and outs of slingbows anic:


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## Rayshot (Feb 1, 2010)

That is respectable shooting.


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## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

Tag...that's looking really good! A pop can doesn't stand a chance in your neighborhood any more.

Todd


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

Very nice shooting!


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

The biggest secret of all is to just keep shooting. Obviously you are well on your way. And do not sell yourself short ... with practice you can be competitive.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## Neo Catapults (May 28, 2014)

I just finished my first home shooting while I was home alone 

The target almost the same with yours and the distance 10 m (33ft). I was trying to shoot my naturals in order to choose the best for my shooting.

I am not a great shooter since I am learning by my own, studing the all the advices from SSforum.

After 2 quiet hours of shooting I manage to choose a natural and then making nice groups.
Generally, with every slingshot I use, I have more misses at the right side of my targets. Is there any particular mistake that causes this result? I thing that my problem is in the way I hold the pouche and the angle of my elbow. Is there any topic in this forum or any video showing the basic rules to shoot a slingshot?


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

Hey, yer comin' right along!

Here is a simple set of suggestions for new folks to SSing. If the experts (of which I certainly don't count myself!) would like to add or correct, please do.

Accuracy depends on consistency. Of what? Let's look at the variables. Each shot has to involve keeping everything the same, consistency as the topic indicates, just like fire arms marksmanship.

1. Slingshot cant. The cant or angle of the SS should be such that the SS is at exactly "face on" to the target with no axis angle up or down and no angle side to side where one fork is closer to the target than the other..both spot on at right angles to the target. Keep your stance thusly (as well as feet and body angle) the same each shot if you can. While hunting this is almost impossible but for stand up shooting, it's wise.

2. Anchor point. In bow shooting we always have an "anchor point", that is, the hand that draws the string back with the arrow is "located" (army speak, "spot weld") somewhere comfortable near one's face, be it on the ear lobe, in front of the ear, on the jaw bone, on the cheek bone etc.. it doesn't make any difference where you prefer to anchor but you have to have that same anchor of the draw hand the same each shot. Experiment with what feels right. Fire twenty or thirty shots from each anchor point option to see what's good for you. This can be practiced by dry firing your SS without actually releasing the pouch but letting it go forward in your draw hand gently to pull again to try the new anchor point. Pause a few seconds inbetween practice draws to think what you just did and where the most comfortable anchor point is near or on your face. If you touch your face with the pouch or rubber you'll bark up your face and impair the path of the projectile so keep the pouch and rubber attachment bulge away from your facial skin. Butterfly stances of course are harder for there is no body anchor point, just a locus in back of your head somewhere and that's difficult to master the same position time after time. But experts do it by PRACTICING 1000s of rounds.

3. Pouch grip. You grip the pouch such that it is not torqued or twisted off from the plane of the center line of the forks, that is, draw an imaginary line, in line with the whole SS's axis from fork to bottom tip of handle. Align the pouch with your finger stance so the pouch fold is oriented on that center line. If you twist the pouch or pinch it so it's torqued or out of kilter, instead of aligned with the flight path of the projectile, that will greatly, adversely, affect your shot's impact point. For example, if the SS is held exactly vertically, the pouch fold should ALSO be pointing straight up and down. We don't hold SSs that way but it gets the point across. Another example is, if you hold your SS, say, 90 degrees from vertical, on it's side as I do, hold the pouch the same way...90 degrees off vertical, meaning parallel to level ground. It's perhaps a bit difficult to learn correct pouch stance but it has to be mastered if you want to be a good shot. That leads us to the release.

4. Release. The release should be without any anticipatory movement such as a nervous twitch that causes the pouch release to be inconsistent in some way. You should release the pouch with a crisp release, not a gradual one such that the pouch is free all of a sudden in a crisp release, rather than letting the pouch slide gradually through your fingers as in a lingering shot. The later causes inaccuracies for most shooters. Any movement during the release will affect your impact point. In a perfect world your SS hand doesn't move and your release doesn't move up or down or side to side, it's all rock solid and release. Don't forget to keep the pouch alligned to the flight path of the projectile.

5. I sight along the band. This is my personal preference however, just "judging" where to point your SS is also a favorite method especially for fast furious game shooting (animal targets). I don't hunt so sighting carefully along the band works for me. Afterall, the ball goes more or less in a straight windage line from the SS to the target except for fall called "drop" so sighting along the band if your SS is held at 90 degrees to the ground (level) will aid you in sighting the round exactly in its flight path, eliminating guess work. First, shoot a round at 3 meters or so at your target to see where it hits if you sight along the rubber band over the fork. Shoot ten times to get an average group using the same stance, release etc.. as described above. Don't try to hit anything, work for group only to see where the SS is shooting. Now put on a new target and note where it takes to hit the bull's eye LEVEL as to elevation off the tip of the fork where the elastic originates from SS to pouch. Experiment until you are hitting the right level on the target paper, where you want. Now adjust for windage, ten or twenty more shots to perfect the "sight pattern" that gets rounds on the bull's eye. Now increase the range to say, 7, 8 or 9 meters and repeat to see where you are hitting. At each range you'll hit differently so know what range and you'll know what sight pattern to use regarding the band method. The place on the fork where the band originates from fork to pouch is another good sighting spot rather than sighting down the band's length. I always use the band attachment itself to the fork as an aiming point to line the SS, eye and bands up with the target consistently. I place a cut off cable tie stub on the fork to get a height setting for a reference point to be a bit more precise. Afterall, the ball goes where the bands force it to go and that's along the band line generally for windage. For elevation, put the band origin under the target's bull's eye for 30 ft (about 9 or 10 meters) and fire. Note after several shots where they are going and adjust your sight picture accordingly.

5.5 Projectiles. All this is fun to do, afterall, shots are free if you use a catch box (recommended highly). No rocks. Rocks cause fork and hand hits and are highly inaccurate because the vary widly in weight and shape, planing off in random directions as well. Marbles or any consistent weight projectile are fine. Hex nuts that are thick, approaching a thickness equal to the diameter work OK per Joerg Sprage on youtube. I tried them, they're fine. Cut off rebar, lengths equal to widths work fine too but you'll have to bring your lunch to make enough to shoot...it's a lengthy sawing process and weights vary. As cheap as marbles are or larger lead shot, use 'em. Ball bearings of about 5 or 6 mm from bicycle shops are usually free but small. OO lead shot and up are fine. I cast mine, 9mm lead round shot. Stubby bullets such as .45 ACP or even 90 grain .357 work fine if you have a bullet mold or can buy them reasonably. For the distance and accuracy we're after, it makes no difference particularly if a projectile isn't exactly round or if it tumbles in flight, speaking of ten meter range or so. The more distance, the more round and consistent weight of ball you must use. Hitting soda cans at 100 yards you gotta be super consistent in all things.

6. Flinching. Sometimes due to nervousness we flinch as we shoot or right before. Flinching means any twitch movement of the body, fingers, hands, arms, whatever isn't rock steady..right before a shot. Flinching is akin to flinching when shooting a gun, a quick jerk movement in anticipation of recoil or noise BEFORE the trigger sets the sear free and the shot is fired. Flinching can involve the release hand and fingers, the arms, the SS hand, knees, anything. It's pretty common and with concentration and relaxing it can be eliminated. Hand and fork hits produce fear of anticipation of doing it again, and that produces flinching as well. If you've suffered a hand hit or damaging fork hit, at least wear a thick work glove on the SS hand to encourage your mind to not be afraid. Once you are not afraid after a few hundred shots, remove the glove if you like and continue. I hate gloves but have suffered hand hits from experimenting with anchor points for example, so I paid the price for no glove.

7. Eye twitch right before firing. If you blink your eye right before firing that affects the release and that affects the impact point.

8. Band bunch up, band issues. When you release the pouch, the bands propel the pouch and ball forward. As that progresses, the bands begin to bunch up as they approach the fork at the end of the power travel and the ball begins to be released by the pouch as the bands and pouch due to air resistance and lack of elastic energy, slows down. Band bunch up can permit the bands to enter the path of the ball and the ball and bands collide producing inconsistent impact points or random shooting and some pretty "wild" shots off the paper entirely and onto the neighbor's picture window as well as causing fork hits and hand hits. Make sure your forks are wide enough to help the bands pass through unimpared.

Bands which are not tied exactly opposite each other, or with a cant or twist on one side, result in a spin or flutter of the pouch and thus the projectile which is inconsistent and results in inaccuracy. My round "unifork" SSs for example does impair the bands at the end of their force stroke and sometimes I get pretty wild shots as a result. These wild shots are not your fault and you can't do anything about them except change to a wider forked SS. Pickle fork SSs and stick shots involve a quick downward movement of the SS hand to avoid hand hits or fork hits. That quick downward movement must be timed with the passage of the ball such that the hand or stick shot is DOWN before the ball gets to it. That's trickey as you can imagine but it's mastered by many. I personally don't like pickle forks nor stick shots for I've had bad experience with fork and hand hits from both, meaning I don't know how to duck my SS hand under to avoid impact. I can't be accurate doing the hand duck so I don't use PFS or stick shots but don't want to discourage experimentation with them at all. Plenty of folks master them, it's just my personal pref to avoid them. I don't want to know either how to duck my hand for ducking the hand down involves a slight compromise (or great compromise in my case) in impact consistency, for me anyway.

9. Pouch inequality. When you arm the pouch with a projectile, make sure the pouch is folded exactly in the center or it will launch the projectile at different angles, resulting in inconsistant launches. If all is correct and you've got a great stance, great anchor point, great steady hold, good ammo etc.. and the pouch is not folded around the projectile in the middle of the pouch, both laterally and height wise, you won't get consistent shots. SSs are not fire arms and a lot depends on a list of variables as you read above.

10. If you change bands/tubes, you will have to reestablish the impact point by shooting and observing the change. As elastics wear out they lose a bit of potency resulting in a different impact point from when they were brand new. Practice with new elastics to see the new impact point difference. It won't be much but it'll be there.

11. Fork hits and hand hits often result from elastic bunch up or just plain bad form. I've had fork hits out of nowhere as well, not my fault, but it happens, likely due to band/tube bunch up at the end of the power stroke when the ball collides with the rubber and sets it off on a tangent angle deviating from the normal flight path. I do prefer wider forks than narrower forks and prefer a deeper fork to a shallow fork to best avoid fork and hand hits. I may get some disagreement on this from those who use SSs with narrow and shallow forks of course or PKS or stick shots but this is my own personal preference and finding. Be open, try it all, make your own judgements.

Good shooting and PRACTICE. I try to shoot several hundred rounds per day and some days I can't hit worth a flip, other days, spot on. Remember, this is supposed to be fun and if you are having a bad day, forget it and come back tomorrow and shoot a few hundred rounds. Alcohol or other mental "lubricants", lack of sleep, frustration with other people, job issues, all sorts of mish mash affects the average person's ability to do anyting including shooting SSs. I like shooting for it forces me to either relax and get it on or shoot lousey. It's an exercise in focus and relaxation and that's great and it costs little or nothing if you are on a budget. I used to come home after work and shoot a few hundred rounds to get my mind tuned to relaxation and forget work things. SSs are great psychologists and so is archery. Making your own SSs is also rewarding, creative and costs little. I've bought some and made some. Combine things and you have sling bows. Nuff said.


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

Neo Catapults, I get errors on either the right or left side of the target consistantly as well...depending on the SS I'm shooting. It is the "nature" of each SS to shoot in a particular way just as it is "the nature" of a fire arm or bow to shoot in a particular way given all the variables. In my case for consistant errors in either left or right side of target center it was because of my stance. Sometimes I caught myself pinching the pouch a bit funny and off kilter, misaligned with the flight path. Other times I found myself using a slightly different anchor point. Still other times I found myself simply not on target with sighting and consistantly off the center on one side only. ?? If you have the same consistent error that's GOOD in that you will have better chance of analysing yourself to see what's wrong.

SS shooting forces one to be self analytic, afterall, the target is stationary (except for game hunting) so the only other variable is US. I find it challenging to self analyize and find out what subconscious deviation makes my body inconsistant. I guess a ballet dancer or ice skater must be the same way to perfect things and lessen the liklihood of a bruised hind end. Likewise, a hand hit or a fork hit alerts me to the fact something's dreadfully wrong NOW.

On one instance, I had to simply decommission a pigmy natural fork Chuck made for me, pictured in my gallery with a stone inlay or two, for it was just too small to let the bands pass through and bunched up resulting in fork and hand hits, and I wasn't going to do the hand duck maneuver nor use puney bands, so it's now in the shop on the pegboard waiting for a child possibly to inherit it to use puney bands that don't bunch up at the end of the power stroke and pass right through the fork.

Consistent accuracy and speed.

I do like Jeorg Sprage's super powerful H slingshot with two sets of rollers on each side using righteous TBG bands and no dead space. It has to be the most powerful SS in existance, design wise, whether the bands are modified for butterfly or anchor point shooting, and eventually Chuck will make one in his shop to try out the concept. With the rollers I'm not sure it'll be accurate for there are variables involved therein with consistent band travel along he rollers, and if it's not accurate it's getting decomissioned and will join the inactive "collection" in disgrace on the shop pegboard wall. With no dead space there is no band bunch up, they simply (theoretically) retract along the rollers to the undrawn mode, ready for another shot. I like the concept and so does hubby Chuck. Simply said, as far as I am concerned I think (but the word "think" implies doubt) that a simple fork design SS, be it a "hammer" or "U" or "V", whatever, as long as it's fairly wide (2.5 to 3 inch minimum) and deep (2.5 to 3 inch minimum) is going to be the most accurate, faster loading and safer albeit pleasant shooting SS design that exists. Chuck said he got a Whamo U design for Christmas one year and it performed fine and he made one for his brother out of cabinet grade hard wood plywood, 3/4inch thick, rounded and erged a bit more than Whamo's version, and it performed fine. Chuck said he NEVER got a fork or hand hit from the apple fork SSs my dad made for me and later I carved for myself for they had more than the minimum dimensions I listed above and many a bird and chipmonk met his/her/its fate with apple forks.


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

I suggest watching the videos Charles took the time to develop on youtube.com about fork hits. Put fork hits in the search field. Bill Hayes also developed video tutorial material on this subject. Just because I don't want to take the learning curve to duck my hand out of the way of the flight path of the projectile as it passes over doesn't mean YOU don't want to either. Very successful pickle fork shooters exist who have mastered this hand movement AND also the technique for releasing so they don't get as Charles puts it, the "speed bump effect" causing fork and hand hits. The release method is paramount in these video tutorials as well as the orientation of the pouch vs the orientation of the SS itself. You have to experiment and make your own style and judgements work for you and constantly analyze yourself honestly with no emotion to figure out what changes if any to make to improve your score. There is no such thing as perfect shooting but you can approach it keenly with amazing accuracy as demonstrated by Bill Hayes lighting match heads without destroying the match or cutting a playing card likewise or hitting a soda can at 75 yards. These guys have PRACTICED thousands of rounds a week not to mention in their shooting life time, so as Charles said above, practice. I work constantly to improve my overall form, release, anchor point precision, body stance in general and CONCENTRATION on what I'm doing. This relaxes me and focuses my mind on precision and I forget anything else for the time being except one of my puppies tugging at my pant leg while I'm trying to shoot.


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Awesome information.


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## Hoss (Jun 3, 2014)

Susi said:


> Hey, yer comin' right along!
> 
> Here is a simple set of suggestions for new folks to SSing. If the experts (of which I certainly don't count myself!) would like to add or correct, please do.
> 
> ...


That's a very good write up, well done.


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## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

As you develop your shooting do remember that a consistent anchor point, draw length, target distance etc. is one way to shoot. Another way to shoot is to shoot instinctively. With instinctive shooting you don't aim and often your target distance varies. Things such as a smooth, consistent release and squaring the slingshot to the target still apply but the notion of breaking your style down into repeatable processes isn't so much a part of instinctive shooting. Instead, look squarely at the target, draw back and imagine your hands lining up with what you are wanting to shoot. When things feel right, release. Keep in mind that I never target shoot, but I shoot all the time. Instead, I'm shooting leaves, cans, flowers, spots on boards or trees etc. and all are at different ranges. I'm probably not going to be lighting any matches but give me a decent target and I have a pretty good chance of hitting it. I find it to be more fun than just repeating a shot over and over again.

winnie


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Thank you Winnie, that's right on for me I believe. I try too hard at targets, but when it's moving I focus more on the object and not on my form.


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## Narcaleptic sling shotter (Feb 27, 2014)

Bump


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Neo catapults, one thing I learned from an archery shooter is to take a shoe string tie it vertically and shoot at that. He said once you get to where your arm comes up in line with the target every time the vertical part wil be easier to adjust. If you watch the videos on the forum, these people are like machines, they are so smooth and precise . Jeff Kavanaugh has an archery video of this on you tube. Hope this helps you. I have come to accept I have the concentration of a two yr old, the eyesight of an eighty yr old and nerves of mush. I'm going to shoot the best I can and be happy just plinking. That's what I love about the forum, everyone cheers their fellow shooters no matter what level they are.


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

My next step is instinctive shooting and thanks for that suggestion y'all. Hubby Chuck said when he was an avid SSer as a kid he only shot SSs and bows instinctively. Archery meets were his childhood passion and he won over adults at times he said, especially at Boy Scout camp when he beat the instructor and his awards at another camp fill a drawer. It was when he was in his thirties, ten years after his right eye went mostly blind due to a combat injury that he got his first compound bow with a string sight which he used with his good eye, and adjustable posts around the sight window of the bow...and loved the sight method. But he still shot SSs instinctively. It's only been this year that he "invented" the cable tie "sigfht" on his SSs as a trial to just see what he could do with a sight. He can shoot better with the sight at fixed targets than not and he says this is simply because he hasn't practiced after a long sebatical of not shooting SSs and his instinctive shooting suffered. As a quick fix he uses a cable tie rudimentary sight for gauging elevation and windage but it's only target work, albeit repetitive. He said competition doesn't interest him much, nor does it me either, but wants to perhaps start an old phardt SS club amongst the thousands of retired expats who now live here in southern Ecuador. The type of expat , Chuck claims, moving here however is more or less wimpy and won't be too interested in doing things other than sitting around getting fatter and using up the oxygen. (Chuck reminds me of a Marine drill sergant on the movie Full Metal Jacket at times!) so his prospect of starting an SS club is only an idea, perhaps he'll actually do it but it involves trips into town from our village 25 minutes away, and triips into town irritate him due to errant traffic and the general din of the city of Cuenca (Ec's third largest city of 900k) , he's a farm boy thru and thru and his fav song is John Denver's "Country Boy". So trips into town to start a club likely won't happen.

Back on target. He and I agree, plinking is where the real challenge and therefore fun is and our SSs do accompany us on hikes. Plinking also, logically, prepares one for hunting. There is nothing to hunt at this altitude of 9000 ft other than butterflies and sheep do do but plinkng for us is fun and we try to outdo each other but not to the point of competition adnauseum. Some days he can't shoot for flip but some days he can, ditto for me.

Please keep this thread going and thanks for all the replies! I started this off so please, add and add and add. PS, my pouch pinch position is now my main challenge, and not tweeking the pouch to produce Charles' "speed bump' with the index finger.

I tried a different release yesterday, using my index finger and bird finger (Chuck's colorful vernacular here, is this also called the middle finger?) as a pinch and it alligns for me with the bands better than thumb and index finger pinch. Chuck is trying this also with good results but needs practice like I do to perfect this. I think in archery it's called the Mongolian hold or something like that. I'm not as accurate with this new pinch yet but I think it will be better after a thousand rounds or so once I get used to it. We use such strong bands that the thumb and index finger pinch often is canted to better hold the draw force (I call it cheating) and the speed bump effect results. Canting the hand slightly cheats and permits a tighter hold with less effort so unconsciously I was canting my hand producing the Charles' speed bump. Thanks to his youtube video on that subject I noted this and am trying to correct it using the second pinch I mentioned, the index/bird finger pinch that naturally alligns better to the bands and doesn't produce a speed bump.

Sorry this post reply is so long.

Susi Castro


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

Winnie, I love the pic of you and a little boy working on an SS. Chuck said it reminds him of his dad making his first apple fork SS from a branch they cut out back of the house at the farm on which he used tp live. What a guy, helping youngsters appreciate constructive things, as an alternative to crummy things on the internet and other questionable activities.


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## Winnie (Nov 10, 2010)

For the last three years I have taught a slingshot making class at a local private school. It's part of a "twenty dangerous things all kids should do" series they hold each year between semesters. It's a lot of fun to watch the kids try to hit reject pottery from their pottery class. I collect forks throughout the year and we usually have 20-30 kids. I've come to look forward to it each year.

winnie


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Nathan from simple slingshots has a good video on instinctive shooting and release.


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Tag said:


> Neo catapults, one thing I learned from an archery shooter is to take a shoe string tie it vertically and shoot at that. He said once you get to where your arm comes up in line with the target every time the vertical part wil be easier to adjust. If you watch the videos on the forum, these people are like machines, they are so smooth and precise . Jeff Kavanaugh has an archery video of this on you tube. Hope this helps you. I have come to accept I have the concentration of a two yr old, the eyesight of an eighty yr old and nerves of mush. I'm going to shoot the best I can and be happy just plinking. That's what I love about the forum, everyone cheers their fellow shooters no matter what level they are.


Many years ago, when it was mandatory in England for young men to learn to shoot a bow, for the defense of England, they would practice shooting at sticks vertically placed in the ground. This practice was referred to as "wand shooting", and is the basis for your shoestring suggestion, which is quite valid. If one could consistently shoot a stick or "wand", than he had "windage" under his control, which only left distance-judging to master.

Regards,

Mike


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## Lee Silva (Feb 9, 2013)

Winnie said:


> For the last three years I have taught a slingshot making class at a local private school. It's part of a "twenty dangerous things all kids should do" series they hold each year between semesters. It's a lot of fun to watch the kids try to hit reject pottery from their pottery class. I collect forks throughout the year and we usually have 20-30 kids. I've come to look forward to it each year.
> 
> winnie


That sounds like a ton of fun! I can imagine you'd have quite a few young friends by now...... That's great Mr.Winnie


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Great idea THWACK, I have a piece of dowel rod I can cut into short pieces. Shooting a shoestring is good, but the dowel rod will make some noise. I can also hang it on my catchbox. Thanks for the suggestion.


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Tag said:


> Great idea THWACK, I have a piece of dowel rod I can cut into short pieces. Shooting a shoestring is good, but the dowel rod will make some noise. I can also hang it on my catchbox. Thanks for the suggestion.


Absolutely my pleasure :wave: :wave:


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## Lee Silva (Feb 9, 2013)

THWACK! said:


> Tag said:
> 
> 
> > Neo catapults, one thing I learned from an archery shooter is to take a shoe string tie it vertically and shoot at that. He said once you get to where your arm comes up in line with the target every time the vertical part wil be easier to adjust. If you watch the videos on the forum, these people are like machines, they are so smooth and precise . Jeff Kavanaugh has an archery video of this on you tube. Hope this helps you. I have come to accept I have the concentration of a two yr old, the eyesight of an eighty yr old and nerves of mush. I'm going to shoot the best I can and be happy just plinking. That's what I love about the forum, everyone cheers their fellow shooters no matter what level they are.
> ...


I have done something very similar to this lately. Might be a good "Next level" exercise for when you've mastered the plain stick.....

Basically, do the same thing, only this time score/cut the dowel in even increments from top to bottom. Color every other segment between cuts, and shootfrom the top down. done right, you can cleanly shorten the stick hit by hit. Hint.= Smart cuts help greatly! Make deeper cuts at the top of stick than the bottom.Hint#2 Speed is your friend!


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Lee Silva said:


> I have done something very similar to this lately. Might be a good "Next level" exercise for when you've mastered the plain stick.....
> 
> Many years ago, when it was mandatory in England for young men to learn to shoot a bow, for the defense of England, they would practice shooting at sticks vertically placed in the ground. This practice was referred to as "wand shooting", and is the basis for your shoestring suggestion, which is quite valid. If one could consistently shoot a stick or "wand", than he had "windage" under his control, which only left distance-judging to master.
> 
> ...


...and if the stick is rigidly suspended from above, as opposed to stuck into the ground, you'll want to be shooting from the bottom up.

Regards,

Mike


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Excellent information as always from the best ever


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## Lee Silva (Feb 9, 2013)

THWACK! said:


> Lee Silva said:
> 
> 
> > I have done something very similar to this lately. Might be a good "Next level" exercise for when you've mastered the plain stick.....
> ...


Definitely! You got it... Game should last a lot longer that way... hehe Happy Holidays everybody!!


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Tag said:


> Excellent information as always from the best ever


I am humbled.

Thanks,

Mike


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## Can-Opener (May 11, 2013)

Here is my favorite target set up I shoot it lots!  sorry for the 7 secound black out not enough hands  I really enjoy smashing cans but I come back to paper to see how I am really doing. the stickers are 3/4"  Cheap and fun!!!!


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## GrayWolf (May 14, 2012)

Can-Opener said:


> Here is my favorite target set up I shoot it lots!  sorry for the 7 secound black out not enough hands  I really enjoy smashing cans but I come back to paper to see how I am really doing. the stickers are 3/4"  Cheap and fun!!!!


A nice quick set up. I should shoot more paper than I do, but then I would see just how bad I shoot most of the time .


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