# Clay Balls



## Bugar

Been making clay balls for a while but really never kept track of how many or the cost, so I did that yesterday and day b 4, here's the scoop=
Purchased 2 1/2 lb container of air dry clay at Wal Mart, brand name Crayola in the craft dept, for $4.95, started making balls they are very close to 1/2 in dia, or 50 cal, can make around 200 an hour while watching TV=OK I got 746 balls out of the 2 1/2 lb container that cost $4.95,and they shoot very good in my shooters out to about 20 yards, then I really don't care where they go, penetration is about 2 layers of cardboard, but lead 44 cal is good for about 8 layers, the clay usually don't bounce ot richochet much, just fun to shoot, that figures out at around .0066 cents per ball, very cheap shooting, it's neat, fun, and cleanup is easy


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## mr.joel

Bugar said:


> Been making clay balls for a while but really never kept track of how many or the cost, so I did that yesterday and day b 4, here's the scoop=
> Purchased 2 1/2 lb container of air dry clay at Wal Mart, brand name Crayola in the craft dept, for $4.95, started making balls they are very close to 1/2 in dia, or 50 cal, can make around 200 an hour while watching TV=OK I got 746 balls out of the 2 1/2 lb container that cost $4.95,and they shoot very good in my shooters out to about 20 yards, then I really don't care where they go, penetration is about 2 layers of cardboard, but lead 44 cal is good for about 8 layers, the clay usually don't bounce ot richochet much, just fun to shoot, that figures out at around .0066 cents per ball, very cheap shooting, it's neat, fun, and cleanup is easy


Here's what I grew up testing pistol and rifle ammunition with. Old school mountain boy ballistic gelatin: cardboard box filled with layers of cardboard. dowse it in water and shoot. The consistency is similar to animal flesh and is an inexpensive way to test your bullet performance. If you want to make it more realistic add rib bones, but this really wouldn't apply to slingshots unless you're going after large game.

I wonder if the clay balls would melt inside the "gelatin?"


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## Bugar

The clay balls seem to hold up to most anything but water or anything concerning water, this morning i picked up a few bouncers
out of the damp grass, they had just hit the grass, and WOOOO, what a slimy mess, NO WATER, they really go bad instantly, shoot good tho, would probly have no trouble with the GEL.











mr.joel said:


> Been making clay balls for a while but really never kept track of how many or the cost, so I did that yesterday and day b 4, here's the scoop=
> Purchased 2 1/2 lb container of air dry clay at Wal Mart, brand name Crayola in the craft dept, for $4.95, started making balls they are very close to 1/2 in dia, or 50 cal, can make around 200 an hour while watching TV=OK I got 746 balls out of the 2 1/2 lb container that cost $4.95,and they shoot very good in my shooters out to about 20 yards, then I really don't care where they go, penetration is about 2 layers of cardboard, but lead 44 cal is good for about 8 layers, the clay usually don't bounce ot richochet much, just fun to shoot, that figures out at around .0066 cents per ball, very cheap shooting, it's neat, fun, and cleanup is easy


Here's what I grew up testing pistol and rifle ammunition with. Old school mountain boy ballistic gelatin: cardboard box filled with layers of cardboard. dowse it in water and shoot. The consistency is similar to animal flesh and is an inexpensive way to test your bullet performance. If you want to make it more realistic add rib bones, but this really wouldn't apply to slingshots unless you're going after large game.

I wonder if the clay balls would melt inside the "gelatin?"
[/quote]


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## ZDP-189

Clay ball + rain = soil. It's a pro, rather than a con.


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## Brooklyn00003

I shot clay balls to cartoon box and went through without breaking 1 layer though


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## Dayhiker

clay balls rock!


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## USASlingshot

i have though about it last time a thread was posted about this. havent goten to it because i just bough 1000 steel 3/8 so im set for a long time


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## dnullify

I've been using glass shot... My old marbles from years ago. Lost a good 20 or so in my yard, and can only shoot 15 or so into my cardboard and cloth trap in a row before I have to retrieve them. Not the biggest target, so that may account for losses. I contemplated steel but I can't find any cheap enough

It'd be nice to have ammo I didn't care too much about loosing. Can you shoot clay shot multiple times after impact? Or do they shatter?


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## USASlingshot

depending what you shoot at, they might last multiple shots... devan made a few and when i shot a couple at the ground they blew up, it was pretty cool


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## dgui

Are they hard balls?


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## e~shot

I have done a experiment with clay balls, mixed small amount of cement (about 10:1) when making balls. NOT happy with results, balls are very soft and not that much weight as 100% clay balls.


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## mr.joel

I used to buy 'em by the bag in Thailand for about 1 Baht for 2 balls. So like 1$US for 70 balls. They exploded on impact and were fun to shoot, easy to see where you were hitting.


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## ZDP-189

I just had a flash of inspiration. How about plaster of paris? Plaster can be moulded in silicone moulds that could in turn have been made around marbles. I just happen to have a surplus sack after casting an epic 4" x 3" stegosaurus for a dinosaur dig party.

Plan B would be slip casting clay into two-part plaster female moulds. I'm not sure whether that would get rid of more or less plaster. You need a lot of plaster for slip moulds becaus they have to drag the water out of the slip and then you return them to the shelves to dry out for a day. So you need one mould per set per day.


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## whipcrackdeadbunny

This is very interesting, I'm still thinking of making clay balls, but plaster of paris sounds fine ... what I want, is a ball a little smaller, with a little more weight, not much ... how about wrapping a small stone in the clay? I say this because I use square bands as well flat, and the size seems to apply a lot of resistance. It would also help for targeting, to have a smaller ammo ... how about, mixing clay or plaster with, with metal shavings, or something similar, to add weight? aside from that, I like the price and the practice of soil and animal friendly practice ammo, which will be on target.


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## Sam

ZDP-189 said:


> I just had a flash of inspiration. How about plaster of paris? Plaster can be moulded in silicone moulds that could in turn have been made around marbles. I just happen to have a surplus sack after casting an epic 4" x 3" stegosaurus for a dinosaur dig party.
> 
> Plan B would be slip casting clay into two-part plaster female moulds. I'm not sure whether that would get rid of more or less plaster. You need a lot of plaster for slip moulds becaus they have to drag the water out of the slip and then you return them to the shelves to dry out for a day. So you need one mould per set per day.


I like your thinking, but wouldn't plaster of paris crumble in the pouch?


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## Dayhiker

whipcrackdeadbunny said:


> This is very interesting, I'm still thinking of making clay balls, but plaster of paris sounds fine ... what I want, is a ball a little smaller, with a little more weight, not much ... how about wrapping a small stone in the clay? I say this because I use square bands as well flat, and the size seems to apply a lot of resistance. It would also help for targeting, to have a smaller ammo ... how about, mixing clay or plaster with, with metal shavings, or something similar, to add weight? aside from that, I like the price and the practice of soil and animal friendly practice ammo, which will be on target.


WhipCrack,
...This is an experiment I have been contemplating myself. Now that you have mentioned it, I will do it right away.
Here's my thinking on this: 
- The clay is smoother and closer to round, thus flies truer than most pebbles
- But the pebble has more density (for hitting hard) 
- By embedding the pebble into the center (as near as possible) you have added the needed density
- The center of gravity will still be off, but the tradeoff is that you have smoothed the surface of the pebble which would make it a more accurate missile.
- The advantage gained: you don't have to look for smooth, nearly round stones, just small cube-like pebbles. And you can keep their size fairly uniform.

I will start this project tonight and report back later. Thanks for reminding me.


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## ZDP-189

Sam said:


> I like your thinking, but wouldn't plaster of paris crumble in the pouch?


Nope. It's certainly harder than clay. I use a gypsum plaster/ british hard plaster mix for silver and pewter casting and it's rock hard.

I'm not knocking clay. I have just today bought a block of earthenware clay and am preparing to procure child labour in the morning to be paid for with the screening of a Disney cartoon.


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## Sam

ZDP-189 said:


> I like your thinking, but wouldn't plaster of paris crumble in the pouch?


Nope. It's certainly harder than clay. I use a gypsum plaster/ british hard plaster mix for silver and pewter casting and it's rock hard.

I'm not knocking clay. I have just today bought a block of earthenware clay and am preparing to procure child labour in the morning to be paid for with the screening of a Disney cartoon.
[/quote]
Lol good ol' Disney cartoons.







Oh I must have been using the cheap stuff, or probably didn't mix it properly, or a combination of the two!


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## bbshooter

Underneath the property where I live there is a natural clay deposit. The clay is from 6 inches to 2 feet below the top of the ground. After a rain, where the ground had been disturbed, the exposed clay is as slick as glass, but when dry it is as hard as a rock.

After a digging project I saved a pint of this clay to test as a slingshot ammo. I took the time to get the moisture content suitable for hand rolling and I made 100 clay pellets of 3/8 to 1/2 inch in size. Overnight drying produced a brick hard pellet.

Unfortunately there wasn't enough weight to use as a slingshot ammo because the pellets had a horizontal travel path of approximately 15 to 20 feet.

Any idea I came up with to add weight cost money and I was looking for a freebee.


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## Dayhiker

just curious, BBshooter, did you try rolling it around small pebbles?


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## bbshooter

Dayhiker...Even though there is some compression when rolling out the pellets, there wasn't enough to add any extra weight. Everything was right, but it was simular to shooting fluff. I have considered adding sand in a stable combination where the clay held everything together but added extra weight. But then, your suggestion of a small rock inside each pellet would probably add even more weight than the sand. Right now the natural clay is a work in progress, waiting for the 'best idea' to present itself, and turn the clay into a viable slingshot ammo.


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## Dayhiker

bbshooter said:


> Dayhiker...Even though there is some compression when rolling out the pellets, there wasn't enough to add any extra weight. Everything was right, but it was simular to shooting fluff. I have considered adding sand in a stable combination where the clay held everything together but added extra weight. But then, your suggestion of a small rock inside each pellet would probably add even more weight than the sand. Right now the natural clay is a work in progress, waiting for the 'best idea' to present itself, and turn the clay into a viable slingshot ammo.


Good! Please keep us posted as to what you learn.


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## dgui

Would Plaster Paris balls shatter hitting a solid target.?


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## Bugar

Yep would shatter, but they are just a little harder than air dry clay, would be harder to work with, cause plaster of paris hardens up so much quicker











dgui said:


> Would Plaster Paris balls shatter hitting a solid target.?


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## Roy

I have a block of clay and also have been making clay ammo. it is very good out to about 20 yards after that distance it starts to curve and the flight of the clay is not true. It does need some weight. I think I am going to try placing something as simple a a BB in the rolled clay ball. I will see how this works.


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## Dayhiker

I almost forgot about this post. Earlier I promised to report back on my experiments with rolling pebbles into the center of clay balls. Well there's not much to tell. It didn't work out. The clay was too weak and thin around most of the stones, and broke away when I squeezed them in the pouch. End of experiment. Still love shooting the clay, though.


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## Tex-Shooter

Clay is a lot of fun to shoot! However I am too impatient to make them. -- Tex


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## ZDP-189

I've made a bunch of earthenware clay balls, left half as greenware and fired the other half to Cone 06.

Neither have much weight to them, but you can make the biscuit fired balls heavier by soaking them. They hold their shape while the greenware would fall apart. It doesn't really take more labour or cost much more to fire them, just a few kilowatt-hours of cheap rate electricity.

Nevertheless, I won't be firing any more. I really love the way unfired clay explodes and sticks to the wall then turns back to mud and dust in the rain.

It wasn't a wasted exercise, though. We got some really nice dishes and animal figurines out of it. It seems my daughter was right all along.


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## mr.joel

Even if it had worked I really think putting pebbles in your bullets will cause your balls to fly sporadically(grim thought) as it will be impossible to perfectly center the weight because the pebble wouldn't be uniform. I think it will surely fly off center and defeats the purpose of spherical ammo. One of my favorite quotes comes to mind, "Son, ya can't polish a turd."


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## Bugar

I still shoot the clay balls in my Dankungs, I think they work fine because of the tubes being able to move around on release, but I still break a tube from time to time, got a nasty smack on the thumb today when one came loose at full draw, sure does sting.
The clay balls are cheap, fun to shoot, have weighed rocks that were about the same size, and the clay was heavier than most of the pebbles I weighed, yeah, they are fun , cheap, and every so often I even have one come apart and whistle, theyr'e OK , pretty accurate to 10 yards, sometimes even 20 yards, very un predictable, but so are pebbles, But to kill anything larger than A bird, I don't think would happen, and I wouldn't try. No need to injure anything, great for cans or stump shootin.
I like em when I'm on a walkabout, just shootin at whatever takes my fancy, fun ammo


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## ZDP-189

mr.joel said:


> Even if it had worked I really think putting pebbles in your bullets will cause your balls to fly sporadically(grim thought) as it will be impossible to perfectly center the weight because the pebble wouldn't be uniform. I think it will surely fly off center and defeats the purpose of spherical ammo. One of my favorite quotes comes to mind, "Son, ya can't polish a turd."


Have you tried it yourself or are you offering untried off the cuff intuition? They're pretty uniform. They're homogeneous in composition and the centring is certainly as good as, or better than, clay balls, because dried clay may have non-uniform water content. Basically they're just like light weight marbles.

I still prefer clay because the impact is rather cool.


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## Tom Krein

When I lived in Thailand with the Karen people we would make slingshot ammo every couple of weeks. We would go to a special part of a creek that had clay banks and dig out about 10 lbs of the stuff. When we got it back home we would work it and clean all the small rocks and vegetation out of it. We would then roll approx. 1/2" clay balls. We would put them on a scrap piece of corrugated steel and allow them to dry in the sun. The secret was to allow them to dry on the outside but stay damp on the inside. The increased water kept the weight up and also helped the balls hold together instead of powdering when they hit a game animal.

When done this way clay balls are lethal on small game much farther than you might think! I have witnessed birds killed at 30+ yards... Price per ball was ZERO also!









Tom


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## Gib

Clay is fun to shoot, PITA to roll. Unless you coat your clay balls with something (or fire them) I find i get alot of dust which drys my rubber out quite quickly, I find the shots are sporatic even at 10m so i no longer shoot them.

Tom- That makes sence! Leaving a little moisture in em and i sure they would fly just as good as marbles. Interesting indeed


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## ZDP-189

As an experiment, I tried biscuit firing earthenware clay balls and re-soaking them in water and found little significant difference. I also compared them to wet green clay. I was using a 0.1g resolution scale.


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## projectile

i have been using these fired clay balls
they are available from hydroponics/gardening supply store in big bags, very cheap , packs a good punch

but not very accurate over long range, good enough for garage indoor shooting with light bands.

google up hydrotron

projectile


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## Darb

projectile said:


> View attachment 4022
> View attachment 4021
> i have been using these fired clay balls
> they are available from hydroponics/gardening supply store in big bags, very cheap , packs a good punch
> 
> but not very accurate over long range, good enough for garage indoor shooting with light bands.
> 
> google up hydrotron
> 
> projectile


Interesting material.

What's average pellet diameter and weight ?

How hard are they ? Do they crumble or shatter on impact, or stay whole ?


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## Bugar

make em anysize you want, most of mine turn out around 1/2", Get my clay at hobby lobby, made by crayola, 2 1/2 lb runs about 6 bucks, will ,make around 500-600 balls, I usually make mine while watching the stupidvision set, can make bout 100 or so an hour, if the program is real crummy or politicians , can make around 200 an hour, fun to make, fun to shoot, OK for under 20 yards, after that hard to tell which direction they go, will shatter on rocks or cement blocks, bounce on other things, but when they bounce they have spent their energy, don't hardly have enough poop left to hurt hardly anything,=TRY IT-YOU'LL LIKE IT



Darb said:


> View attachment 4022
> View attachment 4021
> i have been using these fired clay balls
> they are available from hydroponics/gardening supply store in big bags, very cheap , packs a good punch
> 
> but not very accurate over long range, good enough for garage indoor shooting with light bands.
> 
> google up hydrotron
> 
> projectile


Interesting material.

What's average pellet diameter and weight ?

How hard are they ? Do they crumble or shatter on impact, or stay whole ?
[/quote]


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## Gib

Darb said:


> View attachment 4022
> View attachment 4021
> i have been using these fired clay balls
> they are available from hydroponics/gardening supply store in big bags, very cheap , packs a good punch
> 
> but not very accurate over long range, good enough for garage indoor shooting with light bands.
> 
> google up hydrotron
> 
> projectile


Interesting material.

What's average pellet diameter and weight ?

How hard are they ? Do they crumble or shatter on impact, or stay whole ?
[/quote]

I know of this material and thought of using it but in my opinion the stuff is way to light to shoot, Almost like dry firing your slingshot.

The pebbles are roughly the size of a marble but likely only weigh a gram at most, They are very porous as they are used for hydroponic growing medium and hold lots of water. May work for 10m and under but I dont think they would be consistant enough for longer range then that.

I can almost guarentee these would explode when hitting a hard surface


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## Darb

Thanks Gib.


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## projectile

as Gib mentions they are very lightwieght, i usually wet em before i shoot this helps a bit.

they explode dramatically on impact , and leave a mud mark when you miss a target put up against a wall.[ kinda nice to see the margin you missed by]
depending on your target the ones you hit a bulls eye with will survive to be reused.
I have around 3 kg left over from my aquarium experiments..
also bunch of different quality is available in online shops.

size varies between 1/4" to 1" with the majority being in 1/2" zone.

fun to shoot with very light bands. and also good for kids.

projectile


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## slingshooterman

awesome im doing that now


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## whipcrackdeadbunny

I forgot about this one too. Reading some updates has made me think ...


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## Gib

I hadn't seen the suggested post of adding sand to clay balls, I think this is a great idea, I took some air dry clay and formed it into 5 gram wet balls, I then took sand and mixed as much as I possibly could by kneading it in, It caused the clay to get quite dry but still form-able I weighed 5 gram balls after adding the sand and rolled them as well. They are roughly the same size (sand balls a TAD smaller) but there is quite a weight difference.

The 5g wet pure clay balls dried to about 3.8 gram each

The 5g wet sand infused ball dried to roughly 4.5g each

Being as the sand infused ball is slightly smaller and 18% heavier I think there will be a notable increase in accuracy with them at distance. Unfortunately we got dumped on with snow so I have not been able to go out and do some shooting with them to compare.

The idea of sand rolled into the ball immediately says to me that the abrasion will probably have effect on the rubber, Its hard to say without testing but they are able to be rolled very tight and the sand does not exactly protrude as its molded right in with the clay its actually quite smooth, If it was thought to be a issue I think the balls could be coated in some sort of organic casing material so that they are still eco friendly to shoot and very smooth. The sand causes the balls to be quite dust free when dry, Even without a coating it is MUCH more dust free then a pure clay ball.

After all this clay play (hah) Another idea struck me, What if I was able to find dense rock that was ground down to very small pebbles that could be rolled into the ball, All the clay would be is a binder. This would essentially allow you to make stone ammo that is near perfectly round and quite balanced, This probably wouldn't be ideal for hunting as who wants to have to pick clay and rock bits out of the meat but for someone who wants to shoot for fun with ammo that is eco friendly and cheap this would be great. The only problem with this is you would need pretty darn fine and dense rock and ideally be able to source it for free for it to be worth it as the main pointers with shooting clay are its cheap, And eco friendly if you eliminate those pointers there is no point to shooting clay.

Just some food for thought.

Cheers


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## Gib

I just tried a handful of them out, WOW. They shoot VERY well.

Only a day of testing will truely tell but im thinking these are what I will be shooting when theres no possibility of recovering my ammo.


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## jskeen

I've been thinking about this for a while now too. I wonder if the accuracy problems are related to weight, or if it's that they are not true spheres? I was thinking about trying to gin up a homebuilt version of a 
*Gardner Rollaball Longbase Boilie Maker*

to see if a little more uniformity in the balls might help. Probably not going to do much for weight though. The combination of sand additives and a mechanical roller might make a significant improvement. You never know.

What do you guys think? Of course I've got half inch steel bearings running out my ears now, so it might be irrelevant.  (hey, there are worse problems to have)

James


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## matthewt

I use a bolie roller,12mm perfect size,you can make dumbell and slug shaped pellets by only adding half a chunk


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## d69p

I wish I could find a boilie roller here in the U.S.; I've gone through the better portion of a 25 lb. box of air-dry clay rolling buy hand. I've been making them about 12-14mm and firing them with dual thera black bands. The bands held up pretty nicely considering that for a while I neglected to lube them up while looping them. (I use the hole-burning attachment method)

Still prefer steel, but that's only for attempted kills and my catchbox.


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## matthewt

Should be able to get them on ebay,i got mine from a local fishing tackel dealer


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