best slingshot ammo - Past or present

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - best slingshot ammo - Past or present

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:08:33 PM EDT

Cousin got a slingshot the other day for his birthday, what's good to use for ammo? Wallyworld sells thos 1/4" and 3/8" steel BBs -- although they seem rather expensive for the plinking at tin cans that he'll be doing (And yes, he's been told he can't shoot the neighbors cat)

So, whats out there that's good for cheap "good ole fun" ammo?

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:14:45 PM EDT

[#1]

Marbles. I forgot: for non-lethal crowd control, superballs would work.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:16:22 PM EDT

[#2]

Rocks

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:19:55 PM EDT

[#3]

What a silly question. Anything you can fit in the little pouch! Small round rocks are free. Marbles and steel balls work great. Ocasionally black cat firecrackers flew out of mine as well as small unripe apples (from my parents trees) when the neighbor's snappy little dogs came in the yard.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:22:35 PM EDT

[#4]

On the old East German Border at OP Sierra, one of our GSR (ground survellance radar) operators used to cammie up in daylight, low crawl out, and shoot at East German Border Troops with a wrist rocket and .45acp slugs. The guy was a bit crazed from all the time at the OP, someone from GSR was there 24/365. I watched through the bino's when he damn near caused one E. German Feldwebel to shoot down a E. German private! He was good with that damn wrist rocket!

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:22:56 PM EDT

[#5]

Long time ago I found that marbles were too damned expensive, same for that steel ammo they sell specifically for sling shots.

At some point I learned that it was easier and cheaper to run down to the local discount hardware shop and just pick up a TON of 1/4 nuts for using as ammo.

Those suckers carry a whollop if I ever saw one. They fly true enough for my uses with a slingshot and when I was younger I killed many a bird with my slingshot while using that ammo.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:23:23 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:

So, whats out there that's good for cheap "good ole fun" ammo?

View Quote

I've always been partial to a well picked out rock. If I'm in a particularly nasty mood... one of those jagged little pieces of gravel. Not the most accurate, but I was never a great shot with a slingshot anyway.

If you have an old style bullet molds... add water to dirt [or clay], pat dry and make a few .45 - .50 cal projectiles [after they had time to setup of course].

I am the proud product of a misspent youth.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:28:17 PM EDT

[#7]

[size=6]GROUND BLOOM FLOWERS[/size=6]
Pull back the band and have a friend light the fuze. Release when fuze has less than 1/4" to burn. Cool! If launched into the air at the correct angle, these will travel over 100 yards.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:32:56 PM EDT

[#8]

My dad worked in a machine shop so I had boxes of 1/4 to 1/2 inch ball-bearings that he'd bring home on a regular basis. Marbles and nuts are cool as well.But rocks are the oldest and a good smooth one will fly straight too. Basically anything that fits in the pouch and you can grab it, its ammo! Check the hardware store for a big box of bearings,nuts or even washers(not too balistically stable, but they shoot)they'll be cheaper than wallyworld for sure.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:40:40 PM EDT

[#9]

Pennies. They make a whirring sound, then a thwap. They're also cheaper than official slingshot ammo.

Posted: 7/10/2002 4:48:43 PM EDT

[#10]

OK, no one said it so I will have to.

[b]KITTENS![/b] [:)]

BTW: dont used jaded rocks for projectiles. Anyone want to hear how about when I was around 12yoa I accidently hit my old man in the forearm with a irregular stone from a wrist-rocket after it arc'ed 90 degrees off aim?
Ohh the profanity! This was no toy either, the kind with the wrist support.
It happened right after he warned me not to shoot my slingshot. I got the ass kicking of a lifetime. I mean in a hash way. I desearved it.
I can't imagine how much that hurt. Cut clean into his muscle tissue, and my old man has beefy arms.....And pointed cowboy boots.

Posted: 7/10/2002 5:08:03 PM EDT

[#11]

PopIts, firecrackers, etc.
pine cones, grapes, cherries, and other fruit.
paintballs

I never tried dog or cat food. OK, where'd I leave that thing...

Posted: 7/10/2002 5:17:31 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

BTW: dont used jaded rocks for projectiles.

View Quote

No kidding, a buddy of mine when I was younger put a chunk of chipped flat rock into my slingshot once while we were on the beach. It shot the rock out towards the ocean and the stupid little rock made a sharp turn going right into the wing of a seagull dropping it out of the air as if it had been hit by a surface to air missle. Couldn't believe it and still can't believe it to this day, it was such a sharp turn that a person would swear that it was a homing missle.

Posted: 7/10/2002 5:58:26 PM EDT

[#13]

Small wheel weights, round rocks, frozen paintballs,ball bearings. Go to a gun range when there is no one shooting and get some fmj pistol bullets. They are usually laying on the dirt at the bottom of a berm.

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:00:17 PM EDT

[#14]

Pennies

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:11:18 PM EDT

[#15]

Used Pachinko balls. Rots o' ruck!

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:13:43 PM EDT

[#16]

I can't believe that no one mentioned the best by far - 000 buckshot. Hits hard & true.

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:33:38 PM EDT

[#17]

wait for the weekend flyers (ads) in the sunday paper, get the [b][i]Michaels[/b][/i] coupon go and get the marbles they have by the bag full. They are usually in bags of 100, and an assortment of colors to choose from. Good cheap shootin ammo! [:)]

forgot to add...

Ball Bearings are a good source
and so are empty spray paint cans (marble inside) (usual disclamiers for safty apply)

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:39:10 PM EDT

[#18]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! It seems that a lot of us started off with "ye olde wrist-rocket". I started off with an AR-15 (yes, it was an expensive starting point). Guess I missed out on a lot of fun :-)

empty spray paint cans (marble inside) (usual disclamiers for safty apply)

View Quote

The problem with that is finding the blasted marble after I shoot the can with the AR :-)

FOTBR

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:46:22 PM EDT

[#19]

peanuts, m&m's, walnuts, anything the dogs, birds and other critters would eat out of the backyard so my folk wouldn't know I had been shooting critters.

Posted: 7/10/2002 6:47:48 PM EDT

[#20]

I would usually just use rocks and pennies since they were the most readily available. Those ball bearing/steel shot can definitly inflict some serious damage. I was able to put holes through a car winshield from about 15-20 yards away (rest assured; the truck was old, did not run, was in my cousin's backyard, and I had permission to shoot it.)

You could also buy bags of buckshot from reloading stores; but just be careful since it's lead.

Posted: 7/10/2002 7:08:03 PM EDT

[#21]

Pea Gravel, you can buy a bag of it from Home Depot for cheap. It's rounded quartz pebbles the from dime to nickel size.

Milan

Posted: 7/10/2002 7:21:28 PM EDT

[#22]

Marbles when you could get them. Rocks if your "old school".

Posted: 7/10/2002 9:17:28 PM EDT

[#23]

The old slingshots I had when I was a kid used to shoot .45 cal lead balls pretty good. The one I brought a couple of years ago wouldn't handle .45's. Not enough power. had to drop down to .32cal to get any decent range.

Posted: 7/11/2002 7:37:33 AM EDT

[#24]

Left over jelly beans after they hardened up a bit.

Posted: 7/11/2002 7:46:26 AM EDT

[#25]

When I was a kid we would walk the railroad tracks and find these round black balls of something, I think it was a coal by product , they were good , not to heavy not to light and free.About, between 40 and 45 cal sized.

Posted: 7/11/2002 8:05:19 AM EDT

[#26]

the best stuff i ever found also came from railroad tracks..maybe even the same stuff. it was these purple.grey.black marble sized things that fell out of rail cars. i once heard them reffered to as pellitized iron. maybe a coal by product or else steel? (i was in western pennsylvania) anyway, you could walk the tracks and pick up a gallon milk jug full in a short time.

they were round, solid, hard, and free.

Posted: 7/11/2002 8:12:34 AM EDT

[#27]

Long ago in what could be called my juvenile delinquent days we discovered ceramic spark plug insulators were great for mischief. Wonderful thing about them is they explode into powder after they do their damage. No evidence. Car windows are specially susceptible.

Posted: 7/11/2002 8:20:39 AM EDT

[#28]

Hickory nuts - One tree out by the driveway, one in the back yard. Perfect size, perfect weight...

I used to be able to hit a smallbore target (50' I think?) in the black (at 50') using whatever was on hand (Hickory nuts, good rocks, ball bearings, marbles, etc)....

Jonathan

Posted: 7/11/2002 8:46:28 AM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:
On the old East German Border at OP Sierra, one of our GSR (ground survellance radar) operators used to cammie up in daylight, low crawl out, and shoot at East German Border Troops with a wrist rocket and .45acp slugs. The guy was a bit crazed from all the time at the OP, someone from GSR was there 24/365. I watched through the bino's when he damn near caused one E. German Feldwebel to shoot down a E. German private! He was good with that damn wrist rocket!

View Quote

Muwahhhahahaha!

Former Berlin Brigade troop dittos!

QS

Posted: 7/11/2002 1:52:35 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
the best stuff i ever found also came from railroad tracks..maybe even the same stuff. it was these purple.grey.black marble sized things that fell out of rail cars. i once heard them reffered to as pellitized iron. maybe a coal by product or else steel? (i was in western pennsylvania) anyway, you could walk the tracks and pick up a gallon milk jug full in a short time.

they were round, solid, hard, and free.

View Quote

Yeah that was the stuff.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - best slingshot ammo - Past or present

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