# Dankung vs Flats



## Wingshooter (Dec 24, 2009)

I just got a new Dankung Jungle Hunter. I had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I compared it with one of my finger shooters set up with 3/4 inch latex.
First I put them both on my bathroom scales to test draw force. The Dankung drew some where around 18 pounds my finger shooter drew 9 pounds. I set up the crony and shot for tenty or thirty times each. They ran around 190 to 195 feet a second. Both of them very close on speed. The tubes on the Dankung measure 6 1/2 fork to pouch and the latex 7 1/2. I know from past testing when I cut the latex to 6 1/2 I get over 200 fps. The surprise for me came when I used my little pocket shooter it is made from 3/16 steel wire covered with 3/8 latex tube and a piece of bamboo for the handle. I have 5/8 bands that are 7 1/2 inch long and it shoots 195 to 200 fps oh and it pulls a whimpy 8 pounds. This is not precesion testing just me drawing and shooting I used 3/8 steel for ammo. Interesting, half the pull weight for the same speed I know what I am shooting.


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## gaara4sand (Dec 8, 2010)

i think the dankung is better any way since it has double tubalar bands


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## BaneofSmallGame (Sep 22, 2010)

> i think the dankung is better any way since it has double tubalar bands


What are you trying to say by that??









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Good post Wingshooter, as is always said by those that really love and understand the slingshot and don't try and force things upon others...use whatever works for you...

All you did there is a primitive side-by-side comparison to see first hand which one is better for you...and it wounds like you've decided. That's all it takes, and your reasons make sense....

Whatever it is we choose to favor in slingshots it is important to have fun with it, as to my 2 cents to your opinions, I'll take the Dankung tubes over the .030 latex mainly because they last longer and there is no precise cutting..

Cheers - John


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## Wingshooter (Dec 24, 2009)

BaneofSmallGame said:


> > i think the dankung is better any way since it has double tubalar bands
> 
> 
> What are you trying to say by that??
> ...


As far as the precise cutting goes we are learning it isn't that important. I am shooting a slingshot with a 5/8 band on one side and a 1 inch on the other and it shoots fantastic. Like Flatband says maybe there is a lot we don't know yet about rubber. Thanks to guys like dgui who make us think.


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## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Your observations are not too much different from mine, but I think our interpretations of what it means may be different. 3/8 steel is, imo, too light for the Jungle Hunter, but near-ideal for latex pulling under 10 pounds.

I tested my Dankung with .375, .44, and .50 cal lead and compared velocity and energy to several different band-sets. The closest latex bandset to Dankung was .050 cut 1.25x.75x7 at 17.8 lbs pull vs the factory supplied Jungle Hunter bandset at 19.06 lbs pull. The latex was faster and delivered more energy, but not by much, with the .44 and .50 balls, but the Dankung won with the .375 balls. I concluded that the latex was more efficient at delivering the energy stored in the drawn bands (lower pull weight/higher velocity) with heavy ammo. This does NOT mean that a Dankung shooting .375 ammo is a better hunting arm than a latex powered fork with .44 ammo, even though it is faster. The heavier balls had about 1/3 more energy and the .50 cals had another 1/3 over the .44s with both slingshots.

The bottom line; There is very little difference in performance between the Chinese rubber and medical grade latex when properly matched to ammo. I personally find the Jungle Hunter to be uncomfortable and fussy to shoot, but I wouldn't feel at a disadvantage using Chinese rubber on a comfortable frame.

Henry



Wingshooter said:


> I just got a new Dankung Jungle Hunter. I had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I compared it with one of my finger shooters set up with 3/4 inch latex.
> First I put them both on my bathroom scales to test draw force. The Dankung drew some where around 18 pounds my finger shooter drew 9 pounds. I set up the crony and shot for tenty or thirty times each. They ran around 190 to 195 feet a second. Both of them very close on speed. The tubes on the Dankung measure 6 1/2 fork to pouch and the latex 7 1/2. I know from past testing when I cut the latex to 6 1/2 I get over 200 fps. The surprise for me came when I used my little pocket shooter it is made from 3/16 steel wire covered with 3/8 latex tube and a piece of bamboo for the handle. I have 5/8 bands that are 7 1/2 inch long and it shoots 195 to 200 fps oh and it pulls a whimpy 8 pounds. This is not precesion testing just me drawing and shooting I used 3/8 steel for ammo. Interesting, half the pull weight for the same speed I know what I am shooting.


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## JoergS (Dec 17, 2009)

I said it often, and I say it again: Thin tapered flatbands outperform tubes. Surgical tubes, Thera tube, chinese tube, any type I have seen.

The advantage is a little less dramatic when you shoot heavy ammo, but it is still very apparent.

If you want the best performance, flats rule.

Yes, tubes last a bit longer and yes, they are a bit easier to make. And yes, you can have fun with tubes. shoot at targets with precision and if you want you can also hunt with them.

But flats will simply shoot faster.


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## hawk2009 (Dec 30, 2009)

As you know im a tube man,Flats do need precision cutting and can be tricky but Jeff came up with a very simple idea of using sellotape along both sides of the cut line and and it works really well no nicks which was a problem when cutting flatband,no need for a rotary cutter either you can use a sharp stanley knife also as I did recently.


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## landus94 (Jan 17, 2011)

I use this method of cuting too, and I think it's great. Besides, I use some really heavy metal ruler, so that the cut is brilliant, without any disadvangates


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## M.J (Nov 1, 2010)

hawk2009 said:


> As you know im a tube man,Flats do need precision cutting and can be tricky but Jeff came up with a very simple idea of using sellotape along both sides of the cut line and and it works really well no nicks which was a problem when cutting flatband,no need for a rotary cutter either you can use a sharp stanley knife also as I did recently.


I use this method all the time and it works great!
Still, making 2 or 3 sets a week (I shoot *alot*) is still a pian compared to lacing up the Chinese tubes or the Trumark RRTs and just having at it for a month's worth of shooting or more.
Good post and an interesting result, Wingshooter!


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## Wingshooter (Dec 24, 2009)

hawk2009 said:


> As you know im a tube man,Flats do need precision cutting and can be tricky but Jeff came up with a very simple idea of using sellotape along both sides of the cut line and and it works really well no nicks which was a problem when cutting flatband,no need for a rotary cutter either you can use a sharp stanley knife also as I did recently.


I really don't understand all this I have used a pair of sissors forever and cut on a pen line I have got 1250 shots on a set and Bill came back and said he got over 1,500. As long as you don't butcher them when you cut you have no problems. As for the bands having to be exactly the same is an old wives tail. You can shoot different size bands with excellant results. See dgui's post and that works with flats to.


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## harpersgrace (Jan 28, 2010)

I have no problem with flatbands, no cutting no tying, i just PM Flatband and in a couple of days they just appear ready to go. Tubes are a little more work I have to remember where I put my roll of tubing.


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