Technik wrote:The biggest advantage of a decent bow is distance and accuracy on that distance. But like you said nickdutch, the slingshot is more portable. By the way - could you recommend me a decent slingshot? I wanted to get the hunter slingshot by "fish" but he temporarily stopped trading and this were aparently THE best slingshots out there. That slingbow looks very interesting too - haven't seen that one yet.
I don't think that there is a "decent" slingshot. They all have their benefits. Some people claim alarming qualities of accuracy from forked sticks and elastic bands that they chain linked and got from a good stationers. I like the "black widow" frame and similar wrist assisted models can be used as sling bows with minimum modification (key ring held in place with string or elastic between the forks and shorter bands).
You can get some basic cheap ones from dealextreme and modify them, but you have to think about the comfort in your grip when you pull back and build up tension in the bands. Some cheaper ones need modifying with elastic and leather to make the grip softer against the hands.
You need to think about the right bands to put on it, the distance of your draw and the accuracy you have at different times in your shooting career with different styles of shooting, how your art evolves so to speak.
Some frames look great, but have a price tag on them. You can get more power and more accuracy with a cheaper shooting iron depending on what you are trying to achieve.
reperio a solutio
Resident and Co-Ordinator of AREA 2 Area 2 = Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Bucks
I've got a Barnett Black widow with the red bands, I am useless with it and need lessons and somewhere to practice, My daughter seems to be getting the hang of it better than I am I bought a bag of butter beans to practice with ratbher than trying to catch expensive ballbearings etc, i like the look of those gamekeeper ones though, I am thinking the folding support only adds time to the process and bulk/pocketing issues if one is strong enough to do without it?
Wandering back on to thread subject i have a Cobra compound bow too, not had it long and getting used to it, installed a peep sight and a nice arrow rest, loop and release aid, I cant afford to join a club just yet but would love to.
I have a strategy, it's not written in stone, nor can it be, this scenario has too many variables, everything about it depends on those variables, being specific is not possible.
I love simple and useful things. The Hunter slingshots were very simple - single piece of wood Y shaped and a band attached to it with a leather holder. I don't know what kind of band was it but it was a key part of the performance. You could very easily make one of those slingshots but at the moment I don't have the time.
Here's a link that I found on utube just to show you what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl2pyJSIUHY
Just thought I'd ask here rather than start a new thread, but what kind of bows do you guys (those not in to slingshots haha) use? I'm looking at maybe getting one but I'm really not a fan of these new high-tech ones with all the bells and whistles. Was looking more for just a bog standard traditional bow but one that'll do some damage. That is... to the straw target, of course
nickdutch wrote:It must be a fun thing to learn, but I am not sure of the usefulness of having a bow. its big and bulky, whereas, a slingshot or slingbow is more compact. Yep, i am still a bit of a slingshot nerd and rather proud of it LOL
Hi nickdutch....can you recommend a decent slingshot? I am pretty well versed on my recurve bow (with a nice collection of bodkins and broadheads for hunting and such) but a slingshot is a pretty genius idea in terms of ammo...laying around EVERYWHERE!
I have had a couple of traditional english long bows that I used when I did re-enactments. Obviously as I was actually shooting at people there is some power restrictions on what I could have
Still it gave me an idea of using a traditional bow and I've got all the bracers, quivers, 'proper' arrows (as well as blunts that don't kill people), etc. There are plenty of sellers out there that'll make you a bow powerful enough to be of use, but it'll be more effort for the same power output than those modern ones with pulleys. Obviously the bows are very big (6ft or so) and you can't take them apart for easy transport either. With a bit of practice and the right type of wood you can make basic ones yourself but you have to be a bit careful with them. I had my first bow break on me on a really hot day, I suspect the sun dried out the bow limb and when i drew it back to it's full draw lenth it simply snapped just above the grip...bit of a shock i can tell you ! Such a bow could be useful for hunting etc, but you do need muscles + practice to make it effective. IMO x-bows and modern bows outperform a traditional bow, but if you could become proficient in making them it would be a useful skill.
Note: if you want to practice an archery club is a great place to do it and many clubs will not allow you to use a x-bow on their ranges, so a 'normal' bow gives you more options there. X-bows also suffer a greater power drop-off at range, that means although their listed power rating might seem very high, beyond 30-40 yards they suffer more power drop-off than bows which are consequently better at longer range.
We have 2x traditional recurve bows, one Scythian horse bow 25lbs draw for the little lady and mine is a Korean bow at 60lbs draw. The Bows themselves are tricky to string but very compact and powerful. I buy my arrow components seperate and have been making them myself for the last 6 months (with results that are getting better with each arrow) All wooden and traditional looking (i do weatherproof them...but i just prefer the tradtional look and my korean bow can put a bodkin arrow through a car door....relax it was abandoned!)
I would advise however, as some of of the previous comments said, to check out clubs as we were visited by the police once in a good little hollow in the ground in a wooded area, we set up some cardboard boxes (just a bit of light target shooting in a safe enviroment a huge wooded bank was our Butts with no sign of anyone) and someone had gone past us on the road (to our rear) and called the police! ironically this was just shortly after there was a somalian drug gang shootout in milton keynes....
Even the police looked a little sheepish when i said "Seriously....someone called 999 because of this!"
I bought a bag of butter beans to practice with ratbher than trying to catch expensive ballbearings etc, i like the look of those gamekeeper ones though, I am thinking the folding support only adds time to the process and bulk/pocketing issues if one is strong enough to do without it?
