# Clay ammo



## lightleak

Hey slingshooters,

I have always used stones as ammo when I was smaller. Now that I am getting back into the hobby I have thought about which ammo to use. I exclusively shoot when I am out in the forest or in the countryside. I really dislike the Idea of shooting thousands of little metal balls into the forest or the sea, not only because another hobby of mine is metal detecting, (haha), but because it just seems so unfriendly to the environment. With my old tube slingshot I used to use hand rolled clay balls in about 10-15mm size. They might not be the most accurate choice (compared to using stones I felt they were extremely accurate!







) and are probably not heavy enough for very long distance shooting. For my purpose, which is just having fun while shooting at leaves, trees and rubbish in the great out of doors I decided to continue using clay ammo.

I was surprised that there are only very few people using clay ammo, but there are some discussions in the archives of this great forum. Those pointed me towards using a boilie roller (something apparently used for rolling bait for carp fishing) for more efficiency in clay ammo production. I just ordered one that produces 11mm balls , I guess they will shrink down a bit while drying out.

When the thing arrives I will give it a try and see how it works. I promise to update this post with the results.

So, why are only so few people shooting with clay? What are the downsides?

Have fun,

l.


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## Incomudro

When I was first introduced to slingshots - I would say very early in the 1970's - it was by my Father with a Scopeshot slingshot.
That slingshot came with "exploding ammo."
Some type of plaster balls that exploded with a puff of smoke on impact.
Very much like the clay ammo you speak of.

I would say that the lack of anyone using similar ammo today is lack of availablity for one thing.
Steel shot is easy to come by - clay is not.

Plus many people have ammo traps and reuse much of their steel ammo.

I'l also guess that the satisfaction of seeing steel shot tear into a can has something to do with its popularity as well.

As far as more enviromentally friendly ammo goes - you can try shooting Paint Balls.
I've read that these work quite well.

Regards!


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## dodgyfeet

i used clay balls when i was young, me and my brother used to shoot cans in the garden. I got the idea because my grandad used to shoot the pigeons and starlings in his garden. But when i was older i found out what he and we were using was the light brown subsoil. I have since started using the blue clay which is down deeper which is much better when the balls have been in your pocket for a while they go shiny like steel.
I was hoping to hunt with them because i know my grandad used to kill birds with the subsoil balls which are very difficult to make perfectly round and much more fragile than the blue clay but i just can't get much power. I have cut therabang gold alsorts of ways but can't match the speed i get with my blackwidow which is nowhere close to steel or lead speeds.
I've given up on the idea of hunting with them now, don't fancy wounding things but for plinking they are free and you can't get cheaper than that.
What bands do you use with yours? i was making 20mm balls to get the weight up, perhaps too big.


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## lightleak

Incomudro, the points you list make sense. Good reasons why people prefer steel ammo.

dodgyfeet, interesting, I didn't even consider there are different kinds of clay. I used clay from a shop that is used for pottery.
I plan on using non tapered TB gold in 2.5cm width. Clay Ammo will be around 1cm. It's an experiment, I will see how it works.

Best regards,

l.


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## Imperial

would putting a small stone or hex nut inside the clay be any good for you as a way upping the weight and hit power.


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## orcrender

One of our UK member was using a device for making bait ball to make clay ammo. I think the bait was for carp.


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## lightleak

Imperial: Yes, I have read about this idea. I think somebody also mixed sand into the clay to make the ammo heavier. The Ammo that I used to make was relatively heavy as far as I remember. I will see if it is good enough for me. If not I will try the sand method, as it seems to be alot of effort to "mod" every projectile.

orcrender: yes, I think it was his post that made me want to try it as well.


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## Iryman

yes the 'boilie roller' is a device used to make your own carp bait, and should work quite well for clay balls. its essentially just a moving mould, you roll out the clay ( or bait ) into a sausage shape, lay it across the top of the bottom section of the roller, place the top half on, and start rolling! by the time the clay has worked its way to the bottom of the roller, you should have perfectly round balls. The rollers are normally angled slightly to encourage the balls to roll down as you slide the top piece back and forth.

I would hazard a guess ( im no uni graduate! haha ) that the denser the raw clay, the better, harder and heavier you balls will end up.

Good luck!


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## -SRS-45-

I shoot clay mostly... I might be the uk poster you mean, I've done a few posts on it.

22mm balls will give you a weight of about 12mm steel shot.

It is very powerful, I shoot it at around 20 meters accurately.

Its easier to track due to size, marks on impact and looks awesome when it explodes.

Its free or as good as getting offcuts from pottery clubs.

I use a boily roller, you also need a sausage roller that needs to be a few mm larger. (For 22mm balls get a 24mm sausage roller).

If you want them accurrate you will have to finish rounding them by hand with a quick roll.

Sand doesn't make any real difference to final weight.

That's my bit on it anyway, I wouldn't use it for hunting as steel would give a more certain kill

Ta


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## cheese

i used to shoot it. to get then to a decent weight they have to be pretty big.you cant use them indoors cuz they will make a mess and the powder gets you and your clothes dirty. and im too impatient to make them or wait for them to dry, and if you hit something hard you have to make more.


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## lightleak

Thanks for the helpful comments and pictures!

-SRS-45-, 22mm is huge!! I hope the 11mm I am going to make will be OK for my purposes.

Iryman, yes, I bought one of these big ones. They deliver it with a bait gun to make the rolls, so I hope the size will fit. if not I am sure it can be modified.

Looking forward to trying the boilie roller and 11mm clay balls...

Best regards,

l.


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## -SRS-45-

Yeah looking at it again, I reckon 18mm clay more likely is the weight of a 12mm steel, which is what I use now.

11mm will be absolutely fine, I used to use 12mm clay which used to shoot insanely fast and pack a punch.


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## lightleak

Hey slingshooters,

Yesterday I received the boilieroller and the boiliegun. As promised here is the update with some pics of the process of making the clay ammo.

The procedure is rather simple, you will need a boilieroller, a boiliegun or something similar and of course clay. I bought 10 kg of modelling clay at a shop that sells art supplies.



















The only really tricky thing is to get the right diameter for the "rolls" / clay "sausages". If the opening of the gun is either too wide or too small (one millimeter + or - can ruin everything!) you will not have useable results.

The boilieroller consists of a bottom plate and a top plate. Place the bottom plate on a sturdy table, press a clay roll onto it (try to think of something pleasant) and place the roll in the upper region of the bottom plate. Press the top plate onto it (this will cut the clay into small bits) and slide it down the bottom plate. After a bit of practice I got some nice results!



















After you have rolled a batch make sure to pick bigger chunks of left over clay out of the boilieroller (mostly the thinner ends of the former clay roll). If you don't they will crew up the next batch.










For me it made sense to first make a bunch of rolls with the boiliegun and then proceed with rolling the ammo. You can also place two rolls inside of the boilieroller - keep some distance between them and you will have good results.



















The balls are imperfect, they have either little holes on the side or a slim stripe around them. If you give them a few spins between your hands they will be close to perfect. For me, the rough surface is good enough.










After around an hour I had two oven trays full of ammo. With a bit of practice this will go even faster/ more efficient.










Next weekend I will be in the countryside, can't wait to give the ammo a try. The weight seems nice so far.










I will let you know how they shoot.

have fun guys,

l.


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## cheese

lightleak said:


> Hey slingshooters,
> 
> Yesterday I received the boilieroller and the boiliegun. As promised here is the update with some pics of the process of making the clay ammo.
> 
> The procedure is rather simple, you will need a boilieroller, a boiliegun or something similar and of course clay. I bought 10 kg of modelling clay at a shop that sells art supplies.
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> The only really tricky thing is to get the right diameter for the "rolls" / clay "sausages". If the opening of the gun is either too wide or too small (one millimeter + or - can ruin everything!) you will not have useable results.
> 
> The boilieroller consists of a bottom plate and a top plate. Place the bottom plate on a sturdy table, press a clay roll onto it (try to think of something pleasant) and place the roll in the upper region of the bottom plate. Press the top plate onto it (this will cut the clay into small bits) and slide it down the bottom plate. After a bit of practice I got some nice results!
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> After you have rolled a batch make sure to pick bigger chunks of left over clay out of the boilieroller (mostly the thinner ends of the former clay roll). If you don't they will crew up the next batch.
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> 
> For me it made sense to first make a bunch of rolls with the boiliegun and then proceed with rolling the ammo. You can also place two rolls inside of the boilieroller - keep some distance between them and you will have good results.
> 
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> The balls are imperfect, they have either little holes on the side or a slim stripe around them. If you give them a few spins between your hands they will be close to perfect. For me, the rough surface is good enough.
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> After around an hour I had two oven trays full of ammo. With a bit of practice this will go even faster/ more efficient.
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> Next weekend I will be in the countryside, can't wait to give the ammo a try. The weight seems nice so far.
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> I will let you know how they shoot.
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> have fun guys,
> 
> l.


if your just looking for fun and not accuracy or power clay ammo is great.how do you like it?


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## Charles

Looks like a good job! These should be great for plinking ... no worries about contaminating the area. Now, if only you could find a nearby natural source for clay ... maybe an old creek bed, where the moving water will have removed the topsoil. Keep us posted. By the way, how expensive were the tools?

Cheers ..... Charles


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## rdmiller3

lightleak said:


> So, why are only so few people shooting with clay? What are the downsides?


I used clay when I was a kid because I could get plenty by digging around stream banks. Un-fired clay balls weren't as heavy as stones and tended to crumble during storage. And clay didn't have much "punch" on impact because it would disintegrate. The only advantage over stones was that they didn't tend to curve off target for long shots.

Recently I bought some "self-hardening" clay at Walmart. After a day of drying it seemed better than the muddy/sandy clay I dug up as a kid but it still disintegrates on impact.

I also have some low-temperature clay. I kind of like the idea of fired clay ammo, which would be like balls made of brick, but I don't have a kiln.


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## lightleak

Cheese: I haven't tried them yet, i will do so end of next week.

Charles: A natural source would be great. I'll do some research on that. The clay I bought is very nice of course, dried out it is solid and relatively heavy. I have seen it for 7 Euro per 10 kilo - I don't mind paying that considering the amount of 11mm ammo this will bring. The boilieroller cost me 20 Euro and so did the gun. I am sure there is another (cheaper) way of making the clay rolls with even diameter.

rdmiller3: yes, fired clay ammo would be very interesting, I don't have a kiln either.

Best regards,

l.


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## rdmiller3

Rather than buy a boilie-roller, all I want is a reliable way to get pieces of clay with consistent volume. Making a ball out of it between my hands should only take a few seconds each.


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## cheese

i weighed the clay on a scale til i got it to the weight i wanted and then rolled it into a ball.


rdmiller3 said:


> Rather than buy a boilie-roller, all I want is a reliable way to get pieces of clay with consistent volume. Making a ball out of it between my hands should only take a few seconds each.


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## rdmiller3

cheese said:


> i weighed the clay on a scale til i got it to the weight i wanted and then rolled it into a ball.


For each ball? That sounds like a pain.

I was thinking of screwing a couple strips of wood to the edges of a board like side-rails, then slide another board back and forth on top of it. That way a lump of clay would get rolled to a "snake" of uniform diameter between the two boards. Then I could cut pieces off of it with a knife using a ruler to measure.


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## cheese

rdmiller3 said:


> i weighed the clay on a scale til i got it to the weight i wanted and then rolled it into a ball.


For each ball? That sounds like a pain.

I was thinking of screwing a couple strips of wood to the edges of a board like side-rails, then slide another board back and forth on top of it. That way a lump of clay would get rolled to a "snake" of uniform diameter between the two boards. Then I could cut pieces off of it with a knife using a ruler to measure.
[/quote]that was when i wanted them more equail in weight. i also used a measuring spoon to measure the clay and then rolled that into a ball.


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## Hrawk

I suppose you could just use a melon baller, very little work required that way.


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## orcrender

I am not sure how well this would fire your clay balls. Some of the potters here in North Carolina just put their pots or whatever into a fire and add wood till the pots look right. They do have a lot of broken pots, but shoul not effect balls to bad. Maybe a charcoal grill.

Wayne


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## cheese

Hrawk said:


> I suppose you could just use a melon baller, very little work required that way.


yeah but most make 1 inch balls and they dont come out very even.


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## lightleak

rdmiller3 said:


> Making a ball out of it between my hands should only take a few seconds each.


Just give it a try, dude. Hand rolling of course is very simple. I found it to be quite time consuming - especially since i never recollect my ammo. Getting a constant weight for many projectiles will increase the time. My purpose really is to quickly get a huge amount of eco friendly ammo to use for fun shooting out doors.


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## Hrawk

cheese said:


> yeah but most make 1 inch balls and they dont come out very even.


Cant say I've ever seen one that big.

The one I have here is 10mm on one end and 15mm the other. Sure they might not be perfectly round, but it only takes a few seconds of hand rolling to finish them off and you will have a very consistent weight with each ball.


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## cheese

Hrawk said:


> yeah but most make 1 inch balls and they dont come out very even.


Cant say I've ever seen one that big.

The one I have here is 10mm on one end and 15mm the other. Sure they might not be perfectly round, but it only takes a few seconds of hand rolling to finish them off and you will have a very consistent weight with each ball.
[/quote]measuring spoons work pretty good, if you have two you can put them together to make a mold.


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## francoboy7

I use Clay in the first one half Year too, but i mixed a lot of Sand in the clay. i weight it by digital Scale, 3 and 4 gramms balls and rounded all by Hand, Boilie Roller worked by me not so good....But it`s so much work when you shoot every Day. The last Year i shoot only 8mm Steel Balls, it`s easier and i hit the Target better, but this is personal feeling.......Sorry for my not so good English. Peace Franco


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## lightleak

Just came back from a little walk and testing the clay ammo.

The experiment is far from anything scientific to say the least, I think this were probably the worst conditions for a "test" you can have. Reasons: This was not only the first time I shot my new slingshot, but also the first time I shot a slingshot with flatband (TB gold in this case). And then of course the first time with this size clay ammo. I didn't properly measure any distances or target sizes.

It does exactly what I want it for, but it wasn't unexpectedly great. To summarize it: It shoots "well" (for fun shooting) over short distances (up to 12 or 15 meters). For longer distances it doesn't work precisely - I didn't assume the slight imperfections of the ammo would affect its flight so much. If you get a really bad one it will curve away 2-3 meters... (on "long" distance shots, somethig like 20-30 meters).

I think for somebody used to steel or glass ammo the clay ammo of this size will most definitely turn them off. It is rather light as well.

After half an hour of shooting I started to get used to it and I had a lot of fun.

This shows 10 shots from 10 meters away (guesstimated by taking 10 large steps) . These were shot at the end of my testing time when I was already used to it a bit. (During the very first ten shots I didn't even hit the tree once! (it was a slightly smaller tree a bit further away)).



















Considering my unexperiencedness with the slingshot/flatband/clay ammo I think this has at least a little bit of potential (regarding precision and actually hitting something).

For my purpose I am very satisfied with shooting clay. For the next batch of ammo I will very quickly roll each ball after it comes out of the boilie roller. This means an extra 3 seconds work for each ball but I am quite sure it will largely improve the *relative* precision. A bit more weight would be nice, but I don't want larger projectiles and I am pretty sure these will work very fine for me after a bit of tuning the shape.

For me it is the way to go - not expensive, not very time consuming, easy to make, eco-friendly, relatively precise and most of all : Loads of fun.
The clay "explodes" when it hits a solid object, creating a little dustcloud, nice to look at! The chance for ricochets is also minimized.
This way of shooting slingshots and my approach to it has a lot to do with fun + play , and very little with precision or sport, and suffice it to say nothing with hunting. I also found out that intuitively aiming the catapult works far better for me than trying to figure out rules for how to aim.

Best regards and have fun!!

lightleak


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## Quercusuber

*Very interesting post!! The clay ammo is certainly a way for target practice and plinking. In Portugal there's also another product, made of a very light earth material, that is used for substrat in gardens and flower pots. I dont recall the name, but i've shoot with that some time ago and was not bad at all!!*


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## lightleak

Hi Quercusuber,

If I am not mistaken the word for them is "hydroponics". They are VERY light. I recall having tried them once but found them to fly really slow/ uneven. From my experiences clay is by far superior to hydroponics.

Would be great to just buy a ton of those as they are cheap!! Maybe for very short distance shooting? At 5 meters they should work fine


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## pomputin

First time i hear of boilie roller. Yesterday I was thinking how to roll clay balls and a star roller used in pyrotechnics might be the right answer for smooth and uniform clay balls and for the clay you would use bentonite clay.


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## -SRS-45-

If you want them more accurate then you could go for heavier balls later on. Like I say, I started on 12mm and now I'm using 18mm, the extra weight combined with a final hand rolling makes them pretty accurate... and the extra weight will make them slam the target with a hellish punch


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## JLS:Survival

so when the ammo is rolled do you let it naturally air dry or do you bake it in the oven?


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## -SRS-45-

Air dry, or if your impatient you can speed it up by putting them in the oven


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## lightleak

After 2 - 3 days of room temperature they are solid. I tried to throw a couple into a fires ember - don't do this at home, it exploded!


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## lightleak

pomputin said:


> First time i hear of boilie roller. Yesterday I was thinking how to roll clay balls and a star roller used in pyrotechnics might be the right answer for smooth and uniform clay balls and for the clay you would use bentonite clay.


I have looked up "star roller" - I am not sure this will work as the clay is very sticky. Have you tried it?


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## pomputin

lightleak said:


> First time i hear of boilie roller. Yesterday I was thinking how to roll clay balls and a star roller used in pyrotechnics might be the right answer for smooth and uniform clay balls and for the clay you would use bentonite clay.


I have looked up "star roller" - I am not sure this will work as the clay is very sticky. Have you tried it?
[/quote]
I haven't tried it cause it's cold outside (at least -2 celsius) and the clay might fly all over.


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## chuk101

How would it come out if you poured a bottle of copper BB's into the clay, and then rolled your shot? Or how about mixing up some cement w/ sand in a thick mix, and pouring BB's in that, then shape the balls? I was putting in my tile floor, had some leftover grout, made some balls with that, but didn't take the time to get them just perfect. Left them to dry, and still haven't shot them. But I don't think they would disintegrate easily. They still felt a little light. Made a few 2in oblong ones for a sling pouch too. (having fun while my hands were still dirty)


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## JLS:Survival

chuk101 said:


> How would it come out if you poured a bottle of copper BB's into the clay, and then rolled your shot? Or how about mixing up some cement w/ sand in a thick mix, and pouring BB's in that, then shape the balls? I was putting in my tile floor, had some leftover grout, made some balls with that, but didn't take the time to get them just perfect. Left them to dry, and still haven't shot them. But I don't think they would disintegrate easily. They still felt a little light. Made a few 2in oblong ones for a sling pouch too. (having fun while my hands were still dirty)


I like the BB idea, if you try this let me know how it works out Im very interested!


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## JLS:Survival

Where can you pick up one these clay ball rollers? Are they sold in stores that sell clay?


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