# BBs a stable ammo?



## Medley

I only ask this because they are lighter in weight.

I am an adult, and have never shot a slingshot. Pretty sad, huh? Heavy into archery though.

So, I want to buy an inexpensive SS, and have no idea what to get. I am considering shooting mainly BB's at first, for cost effectiveness.

Does it require a specific type of SS to accurately shoot BBs? Can BBs be shot accurately and consistently with a SS?


----------



## Quercusuber

Indeed sir!!!

BB's are surprisingly accurate and powerful if match correctly with the proper bands. Even in distances of 12 meters or more.

Check the forum for better knowledge of the techniques, sizes of frames and band power/length.

Cheers ...Q


----------



## Henry the Hermit

Yes, you need a slingshot with very light bands and pouch to shoot BBs. Some of our Vendors sell small slingshots specifically designed for BB shotting. I would suggest you check the Manufactirers or Vendors Forums.


----------



## Medley

I am going to go check now. Is there a specific "name" for a BB shooter type SS?


----------



## Btoon84

Medley said:


> I am going to go check now. Is there a specific "name" for a BB shooter type SS?


BB shooters rule! We usually just call em BB shooters. Or mini's. I have a few in my gallery. Like my buddy Q said, BBs can be very accurate when matched properly with bands and a small light pouch. I like half inch wide Theraband Black about 9 inches long.


----------



## All Buns Glazing

Medley said:


> Is there a specific "name" for a BB shooter type SS?


"BB Shooter"  We may not be smart, but we can lift heavy things.

As the others said above - absolutely they can be shot accurately. Btoon makes gorgeous bb shooters, but they can be shot out of any slingshot, it doesn't have to be specifically made for bb's.

Are you handy with tools at all?


----------



## TimR

I'm not so sure this is a good idea.

BBs are cheap and accurate. But they're not that easy for a beginning shooter. You have to be careful to match the band strength and the draw length, they're a pain in the butt to get into the pouch without dropping them, they're tricky to hold in the pouch and get a clean release. You're probably going to get some handslap while your work it out. Depending on the lighting and the age of your eye, it can be hard to see them in flight.

Other ammo is more expensive to buy, but can be reused more easily.

I recommend marbles for the beginner. Use a hanging sheet for a backstop and you can recover almost all of them. Walmart used to have them 50 for $1, but apparently they no longer carry that bag and instead you have to get 150 for $5. Still, that's not that bad, you pay more than that for one arrow if you're an archer. And like the arrow you shoot it many times until you lose or break it. Marbles are a little more forgiving of variation in band strength, I think.

And for indoor use or testing a new setup, I use beans, the large ones from the International section of the supermarket.


----------



## Medley

Tim, Thank you very very much for your post. That was very thought out with Many interesting points. I haven't bought a slingshot yet still shopping, But I'm getting very close.

I never thought about the BBs being harder to see, harder to reuse, harder to load. You are right, BBs are a bad idea for me right now. I like the marble idea. I read somewhere on here that Michael's is a good place to get them.

I was going to get bands specific for BBs. That would have been a mistake. Thank U again for your post


----------



## TimR

Medley said:


> I was going to get bands specific for BBs. That would have been a mistake. Thank U again for your post


 Mistake might be a little extreme of a term.

Lots of people shoot BBs and do fine. Some people shoot .25 inch steel ball bearings and call them BBs, but I only use the term for .177 air rifle ammo.

If you buy a commercial slingshot from any local outlet the bands will be way too strong for BBs and the pouch way too heavy.

You could buy an expensive slingshot from one of the custom makers here, and get it set up however you want it. But until you have more experience, I'm not sure you'll know what to get.

Here's one possibility. Make a ring shooter "board cut" with chained bands. Choose a template from the template page, there are lots of good ones; I like the Ferret Hunter but the Chalice or the Dragon is a good beginner choice too. Cut it out of 3/4 inch plywood with a coping saw, insert the 3/16 x 2 in screw eyes in the ends, and get some #32 or #64 rubber bands from an office supply store. Nice thing about ring shooters, you don't have to get the wood real smooth, you don't have to cut rubber or tie bands and pouches, and you can start with a very light draw that would be fine for BBs, medium draw for marbles, or heavy draw for hunting ammo. They're pretty safe, too, you usually have one band snap at a time and you can fix it before it comes back and gets you.


----------



## Medley

I said mistake because I know I would have regretted it. Money is tight, can't afford anything that I'm not going to want to use. I wouldn't like it not seeing the BBs too well in flight, didn't think about that. The difficulty loading too

I'm not very handy, so I think I am going to get a poly or economical version of a Yo or Pocket Predator, with tubes built for marbles.


----------



## ZorroSlinger

I have a few Pickle Fork Shooters set-up for BBs (4.5mm / .180inch). I am still experimenting with band set-ups & continual quest what elastics set & drawing method works best for reasonable speed & accuracy. I see BBs as very economical back-up to one's slingshot shooting repertoire, to satisfy one's plinking addiction habit  in a more stealthy manner h34r: without attracting too much attention from the general public complainers.

For me, I need the small magnetic pouches which automatically & rapidly centers the tiny BBs in the pouch without fumbling. Rayshot's small (1/2 inch wide) magnetic pouches is what I use. If it were not for these pouches, I possibly would not have explored BB sized ammo for shooting.

As for bands/elastics, you will find different recommendations on forum. I have read that other's used .030" thick latex custom cut from 1/4 to 3/8 inch wide, then others used double layered narrow-cut exercise bands. Some say, bands set-up for long draws (such as partial butterfly) works to get the BBs flying fast. I do not do as much long drawing style but have used bands that are shorter in length so I can get the BB speed (without long drawing). In order to keep BB plinking as economical as possible, I have used office rubber bands such as #64 (1/4" wide) & #84 (1/2" wide). With the #64s rubber bands, I need to long draw to try & get some speed, but #64s have pretty short life if continually drawed to almost maxed out length. I'm now trying the #84s which are wider width (more rubber), and I use short draw and appears to be resulting in some decent power & speed.

BB's when used outdoors can be considered disposable ammo because they are so cost-effectively priced compared to other ammo. You can buy thousands of BBs and they are fairly affordable. If using indoors, shooting into catchbox, BBs can be recovered, also using a magnetic pickup tool or magnetic block, to more easily gather the stray BBs in the catchbox or the bounce-outs on floor. Yes, BBs can be more difficult to see and may take more time to make aiming corrections when bracketing your shots.

For beginners or newbies, perhaps using slingshots setup for regular ammo (steel balls, marbles) might be a good start as foundation, then one could later graduate to other forms of slingshot shooting. My *long* Two Cents :twocents:


----------



## reset

When i started out i used marbles. They can be bought at Dollar Stores for about $1.50 for 100. Very good way to start out. You can switch to bb's later.

I now shoot .177 bb's nearly exclusively. As Zorro above said the stealthy aspect is appealing to me and i can carry tons of ammo easily in my pocket and the slingshot will slip into a shirt pocket. Whats not to like about that. And at $12 for 6000 cant find anything cheaper to shoot except stones. I use tiny homemade pouches and i use Thera band gold or .30 latex cut 3/8" at 6"long x 32" draw. My friend has same set up and chronys 250 fps so lotsa speed and very accurate. But they are difficult to see for sure and pouch release can be a bit tricky till you get used to them. Im not so sure they are that easy to start out with but can be done.


----------



## Jeff Lazerface

I use many sizes and types of ammo, most things work. I even will stack 6 pennies and fire all at once in a big shooter, fun to blast cardboard boxes like a shotgun. I change slingshots constantly and shoot all styles. Buy cheep ammo and match the bands to that ammo and your set. Playdough baked for 45 minutes. I made this for a 9 year old.

With slingshots, you can be as chill, or as anal as you like.


----------



## danielh

Can't have a thread like this and not mention #64 rubberbands from walmart! it's all i use now days and all i shoot are BB shooters. a pouch can be anything light, as #64 dont put alot of strain on the pouch, ive used REAL duct tape many many times too.

Man, i really gota be back into shooting, just been so distracted lately.....getting nastolgic now! lol


----------

