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RE: Is it really Bows or Guns??
(24 June 2012, 11:52)NorthernRaider Wrote: So would anyone care to tell me which is the world very best slingshot / catapult please, cos I have no experience with them?
Secondly i think that like TL the next society is going to be much more primative and agrarian than this one, it reminds me of the superb PA novel Earth Abides by George Stewart, In his book rolls of ten cents coins and dimes have a greater value than hundred dollar bills, because the survivors new society uses salvaged rolls of coins to make arrowheads with !!!! You cannot eat a coin or pound note, but converting coins into arrow heads means you can hunt or fight. Their millions of bunnies, pigeons etc out their to hunt and equally theres plenty of socialists that will need culling as well.
Mine was a present from a distant prepping family member NR and I do not know the exact name/ model. If you search on Ebay under "Scorpion Hunting Catapult" it will pull up similar ones to mine. I have no idea if this is the 'world's very best' but team it up with a powerful Theraband Gold elastic and it works pretty well for what
I need namely silent stopping power at close quarters and is accurate over long distances although I have not used it for hunting yet.
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RE: Is it really Bows or Guns??
Make your own NR and Theraband Gold is not cheap for the amount you get, go asda and get some asda bands, you could then design many type weaps that shot stones, balls, darts even bolts and so on.
Watch jorg on youtube
Watch oldmansballbag on the asda bands. (Really I did search asda bands and not old man’s balls)
Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ
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RE: Is it really Bows or Guns??
The OSS experimented with latex powered missile weapons during the 2nd world war. The elastic was very short lived for anything bigger like a crossbow etc. From this it is best to limit any designs using latex to small weapons like a hand held catapult or similar.
By the way, strips of innertube plaited roughly together can make a servicable expedient elastic skein. There should be plenty of this stuff - just lying around PSHTF - well blow me down!
For info on casting lead balls, just look up any anglers forum. Many of them cast up lead weights all the time. Alternatively you could buy a small easily portable single lead ball mold from a shooters supplier. Once you have the info on the actual casting process, remember that this can be done in an expedient situation with a campfire and some basic sourced items. The mold itself can be utilised from quite a few different materials/objects once you start to look around with scavangers eyes. A simple time honoured one is to make a mold of your thumb end by pressing it into soft sand if I remember right. This makes a very effective bullet/slug shaped missile. You can look it up anyway. TL.
(24 June 2012, 14:07)bigpaul Wrote: i believe that eventually post SHTF, as everything gets used up, we will go back to an agricultural existence, the cities will not be habitable and will eventually go back to nature as they are abandoned and left to rot.
Like the end of the Roman Empire or that Mayan job! :-)
(24 June 2012, 08:11)James Jackson Wrote: not blinkered, just prectical, get what you can. if you cannot get something, do the best with what you can get. Then if you can get it sometime later then get it then. No point in complaining you cannot get something or saying one thing is better then another, become the proficiant at what you have and keep your eyes open for the item you would really like
A bit of lateral viewing would be helpful! It is not all about what you can get.. One of the most useful survival skills is being able to recognise certain items in your environment that can be adapted to your needs. So just the fact that you don't have a type of tool/weapon, does not stop you from being able to make one up from expedient materials. Prior knowledge through open minded research is a pre-requisite to this. It is like having studied and knowing how to make up medicinal cures from everyday materials or plants, rather than just the fact that you can either buy it or not... Also this applies to licences for various things. Not having a licemce does not barr you from obtaining the knowledge or from some limited proficiency.
A wider point of note - A knife is not the next down on the list of self defence items from a missile weapon. There is a whole host of other exciting, intimidating, exceedingly proficient hand held weapons that are available to be utilized, from purpose made to expedient nasties. Remember, a knife for self defence is fundamentally just a sharp edge or point or both.. Sharpness is not all that critical anyway for melee combat. Bronze & iron weapons were pretty indiscernable from steel to the unfortunate soft skinned human recipient. Food for thought..
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RE: Is it really Bows or Guns??
Gracias Senors TL and W n C , BTW WTF is Theraband Gold ?
OK chaps n chappeses I'm going to look further into making my own slingshot, but currently I'm still laid up 99% of the time and loaded with painkillers, So can you wise people tell me which is the best ready made slingshot catapult please ?
Sorry if my posts are abit waffly cos the bloody medications make me dozy ( or dozier) and my mind wanders.
Can anyone please work out what the kinetic energy is of with that guys video firing steel ball bearing at 300 FPS, How much poundage hits the target cos to my untrained eye it looks bloodt lethal?
found this UK based Slingshot website, for folks info, dunno if its any good W & c will put us straight, http://www.catapultsuk.com/
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RE: Is it really Bows or Guns??
Theraband gold is a recognised brand of latex material. used extensively in the exercise industry at the moment. also top notch for catapults. Gold" is the grade of stretch of the latex. Gold is the heaviest duty from the manufacturer. Look on ebay and it will soon become apparent what is what. As for what is the best catapult - I don't know. I have one of those legendary black widow types but I am thinking a smaller non wrist strap type, that can easily be concealed and brought out of the pocket straight into firing mode may be the best option. It would want to have none of those angular fashion lines and to not be too spindly like some. Steel frame is good and wood is also if strong enough. fORGET THE SOLID ALLOY JOBS AS THEY WEILL BE TOO HEAVY. ALSO ANYTHING MADE IN cHINA i WOULD AVOID FOR QUALITY PURPOSES. i AM LIKING THE FLAT BANDS. The wrist strap on mine may increase stabilty of aim under tension but this may not be necessary with sufficient practice. yet to be decided. It would be ergonomically better without it. In which case, a fork that does not extend high above the hand would create less leverage/strain on the wrist. Have you seen the single stick catapult on the utube vid on that website I listed. That is compact! lol.
NR, the band is more important than the frame. Asking what is best, is like asking what is the best gun. You will get a lot of different answers to that. I can safety say, that a small and simple design is the way to go. Nothing that controversial there.
I'll get onto bands.
(25 June 2012, 22:31)Timelord Wrote: I have one of those legendary black widow types but I am thinking a smaller non wrist strap type, that can easily be concealed and brought out of the pocket straight into firing mode may be the best option. It would want to have none of those angular fashion lines and to not be too spindly like some. Steel frame is good and wood is also if strong enough. fORGET THE SOLID ALLOY JOBS AS THEY WEILL BE TOO HEAVY.
I still have my old Black Widow that I had as a kid, it is now on VERY strong theraband black tubular, for firing heavy lead balls.
I used to have one of the "solid alloy jobs" and you are right... it was an overpriced turd. It went in the bin.
I also use a small simple stainless steel pocket catapult, that I have fitted a double loop of long Theravada gold for shooting mid sized ammo butterfly style. I drilled a place for a couple of emergency BBs inside the wooden grip... mainly because I thought that would be cool.
This simple stainless job I would say is the most practical type for a survival catapult. The classic old Black Widow works very well with an upgraded band though.
The band is the most important bit... it does all the work. You only need very strong bands for heavy ammunition. Strong bands don't move faster, they just hurl bigger lumps at that speed... kind of like having more torque. So unless you have a lot of.55 lead balls about, a medium band is best, like theraband gold, as these tend to be fast and accurate. Heavy bands sacrifice accuracy a bit. Multiple thinner bands give better fps, but have a very short life (as with tapered bands), so not so good in a survival situation.
That's a Kawasaki Z1100, mildly chopped. That photo was taken shortly before it went woodland DPM.
It was a big heavy beast, very fast in a straight line, not so great round corners. They were popular drag racing bikes. That bike is smashed to oblivion now. The car that hit me did a bit of damage to it... but dropping it off the forklift at the recovery centre finished it off quite comprehensively.
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