A "plinking" weapon for the UK

[Jonas]

OK. I get it! Firearms are few and far between in the UK. But last night I was laying in bed, and I remembered what my buddies and I did as kids. We DID have something that we made ourselves and would kill a pigeon or a rabbit from a reasonable distance. Better yet, we didn't have to pay for the ammunition (as long as we were near a creek). So I did a search and here's what I came up with:

Quote:http://www.ehow.com/how_2034480_make-sling-shot.html

How to Make a Sling Shot
By an eHow Contributor

The human plight for survival has always tested the ingenuity of man. In the desire to survive, human beings devised tools for hunting, including the slingshot. While it may no longer be necessary to use one, you may be interested in learning how to make a slingshot yourself, either for fun or just to scare innocent animals who have carelessly wandered into your backyard. (Or to kill the "innocent animals" for food when the SHTF... JP)

Things You'll Need:

Y-shaped wood
Leather
Rubber bands

Instructions

1. Gather your materials. To make a sling shot you'll need a Y-shaped piece of wood that was cut, not broken, from a tree; a thick rubber band; smaller rubber bands for fastening; a piece of leather you can cut up; cording; sticky tape and a knife.

2. Prepare your forked stick. Peel any and all bark off the forked, Y-shaped stick by scraping it with the knife, then trim it so it is smooth and even.

3. Let the wood dry in a cool, dry place. You will then want to wrap the handle so it's easier to hold by wrapping it with cord.

4. Tape one end of the cord to the stick, wrap it tightly around the handle and then glue the other end to the stick to make sure the cord doesn't slide.

5. Make the firing assembly. Half the rubber band equally, or cut open 2 smaller ones so you have 2 equal strips between 15 and 20 cm long. Cut a 4 by 5 cm square out of the leather, and make a slit on each of the 2 shorter sides parallel to the edges.

6. Band it all together by slipping the rubber band pieces one through each slit you just made and folding it over, away from the square so it touches the rest of the rubber band. Make sure they are equal and wrap the overlapping pieces together with smaller rubber bands.

7. Attach the firing assembly to the forked stick. Lash the end of each rubber band to the top of the equally-shaped forks with additional small, strong rubber bands.

8. Break in the firing mechanism. Pull the rubber bands firmly but gently until they are soft and springy, and thus ready to be used in the slingshot.

Now I'm going to make a few suggestions:

1. Don't worry about rubber bands - use rubber strips cut from an old tire inner-tube. You should be able to get an entire tube (probably with a large hole) for free.

2. Don't use rocks for ammunition - use steel ball-bearings. You should be able to get these at little cost from an auto junk yard.

3. If you can, purchase some seasoned hardwood like oak, and make your "forked stick" in the shape of a "U" on top of an "I" rather than a forked stick "Y" with a jig-saw. Add a slot on each arm of the "U" for the rubber strip from the inner-tube. Varnish your wood, then wrap the handle with cord.

4. For the "deluxe model", drill a hole at the bottom of the handle and attach a leather or cord lanyard to go around your wrist.

5. Set up some tin cans in your back yard and practice, practice, practice!

There's no reason why every member of your family can't have a sling shot.

[bigpaul]

already ahead of you Jonas! also look on youtube for "slingbow"!

[Jonas]

(22 June 2013, 17:48)bigpaul Wrote: already ahead of you Jonas! also look on youtube for "slingbow"!

The story of my life BP... a day late and a dollar short!

[bigpaul]

(22 June 2013, 17:50)Jonas Wrote:

(22 June 2013, 17:48)bigpaul Wrote: already ahead of you Jonas! also look on youtube for "slingbow"!

The story of my life BP... a day late and a dollar short!

don't worry about it Jonas! as we say over here" done that, got the T shirt!"

[Steve]

As a youth I used to make blowpipe darts, they are easy to make and surprisingly accurate. The method is not easy to describe, it involves cutting a strip of shiny type paper from a magazine, about 2.5" wide and the length of the page. Hold the end and twist it so that the paper forms a cone, keep twisting and pulling the cone until it starts to get long and pointed. The angle of the remaining strip will get closer to 90 degrees to the dart body as you get towards the pointed end, when it is nearly 90 degrees tear it off about 1" from the dart, lick it and wrap it around the dart, plenty of spit will hold it in place. When dry you can cut off the point to leave a hole in the end and drop a nail in from the open end, with a little PVA on it. You can trim the dart to length so it fits your blowpipe, something about 20mm diameter will work well, and either leave it as it is or apply a coat of varnish to toughen it up.

A dart like this will easily pierce a metal dustbin and they fly very straight. Try to use a blowpipe of decent size, the thin walled tubing commonly used as hanger rails in wardrobes is good.

[Scythe13]

Thanks Jonas for looking out for us and trying to help us out with a solution. That's really cool of you to do that.

Do you know the story of the man and the squirrel?

There is a man who had a bird feeder. Every time he puts food in it, this squirrel runs over and eats all the food. So the man, being a vegetarian and unable to morally kill an animal, places a bit plastic cone over the bird table base, so the squirrel can't climb up it and eat the nuts. The next day the man looks out his window and sees the squirrel on the birdtable eating the nuts. So the man sits there and works out an even better defence system to stop the squirrel. He builds everything in place and the squirrel is deterred. 24 hours later, the man looks out the window and sees the squirrel sat on his bird table eating the nuts. The man is furious. He sits down, for 4 hours and designs the ingenious system to deter the squirrel from eating the bird food. The man doesn't see the squirrel for 3 days. On the 4th day, he looks out the window and sees the squirrel, in his garden, sat on the bird table eating the nuts. The man asks his neighbour what's going on and why the squirrel is able to always beat him. The neighbour replies "For you, it's a hassle, and you spend a few hours trying to sort out a solution. For the squirrel, he has no other option but to solve the problem. He spends every minute of every hour of every day trying to solve, what for you, is just a hassle."

Although we've figured it out mate, we do appreciate you looking out for us.

Thank you.

[bigpaul]

(23 June 2013, 08:45)Scythe13 Wrote: Thanks Jonas for looking out for us and trying to help us out with a solution.

Although we've figured it out mate, we do appreciate you looking out for us.

Thank you.

yes Jonas, many thanks.

[Highlander]

Thanks Jonas,.. I do have one of these, but so far I am not very good at it, although I am using stones, maybe I should try again with a bag of marbles