# Searching for a "hunter minded" setup...



## Momo (Mar 15, 2011)

Hello guys !









I'm new, french, and recently came to the slingshot through bow hunting, traditional archery, and instinctive shooting that I practise since 1998...

I currently shoot a Dangkung Cougar, and, if I only shoot cans in my garden and pinecones in the woods, I still search for the perfect setup for a "hunter in mind" slingshot.

I bought Theraband Gold and currently use it, but I meet difficulties to find the good setup.
Is this material the best for you ? The fastest, and the more resistant ?
What dimensions would you cut to get the best speed ?

My draw length is about 30" with the pouch under the ear, and I currently shoot marbles and 3/8" steel balls that I think a little too small in size.
What are, according to you, the best ammunition for the kind of shooting I practise ?


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## John-Boy (Oct 15, 2010)

Click here

Hyper bands would be first choice along with .44cal lead!!


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## A+ Slingshots (Jan 22, 2010)

Check out the products on my website. I believe you might find just what you're looking for!!!








All the best,
Perry (A+) Adkisson


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## Frodo (Dec 19, 2009)

I use Tubes and lead, stones and steel. Cut your band's 4cm-3cm and use at least 7gramm projectiles (12mm steel)
Heavier is better...even if your shot will fly slower it will deliever plenty of energy..

Frodo


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## frogman (Nov 11, 2010)

I second Frodos equipment. I use tubes, steel balls, and lead, .45 for the lead (conical) and a minimum of 14mm for the steel. I'm getting up to 220fps out of a 280 grain piece of lead. Plenty of knock down for any wild game...Frogman


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## stelug (Feb 6, 2010)

thumb up for lead: else if I use way littler balls, mine are about 8,6 mm diameter, they are very effective with birds. Got flat trajectory and extremely penetrating shots. As for the elastics I think the best are the one you feel more confortable with, still retaining enaught power. I have hunted with therabands gold, with tubes, and soon I hope with chained. In doubt shorten the elastic so to strech them enaught to get a strong pounch. It's allyou need.


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## jmplsnt (Jan 1, 2010)

I don't have the great hunting experience many of the shooters here have but I have had excellent results both recently and in the past with .44 and .50 lead round balls.

Stones, despite being labeled as primitive, are great killers once you learn to shoot them. A stone completely transfers 100% of its energy upon impact. I only have begun using them recently but on the two occasions when I used them (pigeons) the result was in instant kill.

Stelug is correct in using his little 8.6mm lead round balls. I used a little wimpy .31 myself and it is a great killer of birds. I would not use these on furred animals but on birds the size of pigeons and below they are devastating. They can be shot very long range and still penetrate deeply.

Regarding elastics, every person here has a favorite (as I do). I am going to tell you I feel you should try every kind there is because you might miss your true Gold Standard just because you followed the advise of some person, who while meaning well, is giving you their opinion. I am not you, and what you like may be horrid to me. So try them all as time and finances allow until you find your own favorite. There are a lot of very helpful people (some of whom I will go as far as to call them qualified experts) here that are adherants of each elastic who will be very happy to help you.

@Frodo--that's a good looking pair of naturals, especially the one with the green tubes. Not to hijack this man's thread but are those clay balls or stones? They look great and I am forever on the hunt for good scrounge ammo as you have pictured here.


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## Frodo (Dec 19, 2009)

Thank you Jmp, these are clayballs. It's fun to make them and they explode nice on hard surface. But i prefer using stones because i have a few good places
to find them and it's faster to pick up 100 stones than to make 100 clayballs.

Frodo


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## Momo (Mar 15, 2011)

Thank you, all of you !!!









Let's ask the question another way : if I decide to shoot 1/2" steel balls, what is the setup which will allow me to shoot at about let's say 200 fps with Theraband Gold and the draw length I indicate above (first post) ?

If I come to choose tubes, I don't know them at all, what would be their benefits, opposite to Theraband ? Resistance ? "timeproofness" ?







And, above all, which ones (models, dimensions,...) will allow the same speed as Thera Gold in my first question ?

I hope my bad english is not too bad...


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## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

Momo, to add my two cents, I don't like Gold Thera, it is very noisy and I find the band life to be short compared to Latex. My personal choice is Tex Shooters .030 double latex in his Express cut. I set them at 7 1/2" from the fork face to the pouch tie and shoot .44 and .45 cal lead with them. They shoot pretty flat out to 20 yards wich is the limit for me in a hunting shot. I prefer to get closer when I can. The lead hits very hard with this set up. As I said, noise is a big factor in hunting. I also have had sucess with 5x5x5 Red clay chained rubberbands made by JMPLS, they are powerful and the quietest of all. Good luck on your quest for your perfect set up, we all have our favorite set ups, not all agree, you need to experiment and find your own sweet spot.
Philly


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## jmplsnt (Jan 1, 2010)

Chained rubber bands are, in my opinion, the quietest elastics due to their open structure and they can go probably 800 shots on a well-made chain with properly-matched ammunition. I get at least 600 shots per set from the ones I make from high-quality rubber bands and have had some pretty good success with cheap ones too in a #64 size. Nico's blog has a great tutorial on making these and he included a large amount of pictures. Using his instructions you can turn out a pretty good bandset for just a few francs.

I have not hunted the doubled Tex latex bands but I have shot them some (a few hundred shots) using marbles and .44 lead round balls. They are very sweet to draw and excellent shooters. I think I would hunt these in a second if the oppurtunity presented itself and if I were a man who bought his elastics instead of making them I would be very inclined to buy Mr. Tex's. They are absolutely wonderful.

There are also several vendors selling doubled Thera-Gold sets here on the forum. I haven't shot these but one has only to look at the numerous pictures of game downed by these to see the usefulness. I have made a few sets myself (nowhere near the equal of the professional sets) and they do shoot very hard. These are not my personal preference but I feel you should try them as a great number of the hunting men here love them and use nothing else. I would have no problems hunting with these bands.

I believe square elastics are easier to find in Europe than the US. I have tried both square and round solids and have scored my first kill on squares using a very fancy Milbro a short time ago. These are not as powerful as the other types of elastics but are a very quiet and last for thousands of shots. I bagged mine at somewhere around 20 yards using a marble, so there is some power there. There are a lot of people who completely swear by these and if you think about it, the absolutely staggering amount of game killed by Milbros over the years has been almost totally on square elastic. So I think you should try a set of this, too.

Finally, there is the round tube elastic. This has fallen out of vogue and a lot of people don't like it anymore, though there are some specialists here in the US making sets that will last for thousands of shots! Look at the Bulletproof Primitive Supply vendor here on this forum for more information. They also have a lot of posts in the Hunting Forum showing the end results of his tube elastic being used with good lead ammunition. I have two of his slingshots and they are excellent; I reccomend them with no reservation. They should be superb hunting slingshots and not having to worry about elastic failure in the field is great. There also is the option of using the tubes made by the same company that makes Theraband. A lot of forum members here (including Jeorg and Frodo) use this. I have not, though I understand the red and green are the best hunting strengths.

I said above you should try all of these as time and money allow. Don't let anyone make your mind for you as I don't want you to miss something great that may be just what you have been looking for. Good luck in your search and feel free to pm me with any questions you have.

One more thing--don't worry about your English; it's great. It is far, far better than my Spanish!


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## Momo (Mar 15, 2011)

Thank you very much everybody for these quick responses. I think I will try square elastics, and also tube elastic, with 1/2" steel balls...

Thanks again !


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