Fifty years ago, it was a
pretty common thing to make your own slingshot. The right piece of wood
combined with a couple of strips of old inner tube, a leather pouch made from a
piece of an old wallet and in no time you had a versatile weapon capable of
inflicting some serious trauma on all the small critters in the area. It seems
that slingshots have now entered the high tech category and now have the
increased potential to be very formidable when used for hunting small game.
They can also help to provide a basic level of protection in a survival
situation.
The Y-Shot
slingshot is a good example of the new high tech slingshots that are now
available. This slingshot is made from high quality aluminum which has a very
strong but lightweight feel. The handle of the slingshot is approximately 4” in
length and is wrapped with a generous portion of paracord. It made an excellent
and very firm grip easy to achieve.
This slingshot has a fairly
narrow spread between the forks which was approximately 2 1/2 inches. Most experienced slingshot users know that a
narrower spread between the forks will give you better performance than a wider
spread but it is also less forgiving if you make an error. The band was also
pretty easy to replace or adjust by merely loosening a few screws.
If you wish to know some of the actual ballistic
qualities of this slingshot, there is a good review at Box O' Truth that has some relevant details. It’s
important to remember that a slingshot is designed to inflict blunt force
trauma and steel or lead balls or shot with lots of mass will work the best as
ammo. In a survival situation, there are also all sorts of options to replace
your ammo if you run out.
The slingshot fit easily in the back
pocket of my jeans and was quite comfortable to carry. It also fit in my front
pants pocket as well. It could have been carried just as easily tied to a
backpack with the paracord loop. One thing that hasn’t changed is the bands.
The bands on slingshots can fail fairly frequently and without much warning. It
would be best to keep a couple of extra bands available in case one breaks. In
a worse case scenario, you could probably make a new set from a piece of old inner
tube.
Strong but lightweight, with a
comfortable grip and an aluminum body you won’t have to worry about breaking or
cracking makes the Y-Shot
slingshot a decent choice to add a little stealth to your survival gear.
Plans are to do some serious varmint and critter hunting with this slingshot and post an update later.
Got slingshot?
Staying above the water line!
Riverwalker
Posts
11 comments:
If I get one RWalker I might have to shoot some windows out. I took a wrist rocket to West Africa. Little mango's work real good. Don't shoot me with one please.
To: One Fly
Managed to bust a few windows in my younger days...a lot more careful now.
Used everything from old ball bearings and marbles to green China berries for ammo...
Not much doubt that if someone is hit in the right place with a slingshot that they could suffer some serious hurt due to blunt force trauma.
Do you think trout might be susceptible to blunt force trauma?
Thanks One Fly.
RW
That is very cool, I've never seen that model before. My Dad used to tell me when he was a kid in the late 30's / early 40's, a slingshot was always in his back pocket. Mainly to chase off dogs - he delivered groceries via bicycle from his Dad's store. He kept a pebble in his mouth, ready for bear, lol.
When I was a kid in the 70's, I had a wrist rocket that was fun to dink around with. I tried hunting rabbit, but the thick brush just frustrated my efforts - they disappeared in a flash. Marbles were my ammo of choice, the various rocks I had mainly had flattened edges. They sailed off in different directions, got pretty frustrating sometimes.
I recently 'constructed' the Dave Canterbury arrow launcher. An arrow 'whisker bisquit' zip tied to the forks of a standard wrist rocket with the black heavy duty bands, it makes a short range bow. Its pretty neat. I think his website now lists an updated pre-manufactured.
Thanks Riverwalker.
To: anonymous 7:37
I used mine mainly to keep varmints away from the chicken coop...sold the eggs to make money to buy my first car.
Thanks anon.
RW
Really sweet looking slingshot, but I'm not about to plunk down $100 for one.
To: anonymous 5:00
Good quality American made products aren't cheap now a days. I've got friends that spend a $100 / month on satellite TV and cell phones without much to show for it afterwards.
I always try to upgrade my equipment when possible. Usually the better quality items become my primary equipment and the others become backups. It's worked pretty well for me over the years...even if I had to wait a while sometimes to afford the upgrade.
Planning on upgrading the green house pretty soon.
Thanks anon.
RW
Thanks for running the review.
We take a lot of pride in the quality of the slingshot. The frame is cut from a single sheet of .5 thick aluminum with a water jet. The handle is hand wrapped and the helicoil inserts are added by hand. I realize the cost is high, but unfortunately it is going to go up later in the year, when we run out of scrap pieces of the 1/2 inch aluminum.
If any of your readers would like to take a tour of our facility (won't take long, we are a small company) please send me an email at montie@montie.com. We are about 5 minutes south of the RDU airport.
Thanks again for doing the review.
Montie
I remember seeing my grandfather use a homemade slingshot (he called it a flip) to kill a goose. He hit it in the head with a ping-pong-ball sized rock and it went down immediately. I stood there amazed.
I learned how to make my own after that. What a weapon.
Joe
To: Montie
There's no doubt about the quality of this slingshot. I have a cheaper one with the surgical tubes for bands and the arm brace but it doesn't seem to develop the same amount of power.
This heavier duty one will now be my primary use slingshot.
Thanks Montie.
RW
To: Prepping to Survive
With a little practice, a slingshot can be pretty effective on smaller critters.
Thanks.
RW
I remember we used to keep a special lookout for Y shaped tree branches which were strong enough. use rubber bands and worn out leather pieces to make the slings. It was a fun aiming at squirrels with it.
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