thecatapultkidforums.myfastforum.org a friendly group for anything related to the slingshot. also known as the beanshooter, catapult, flip, shangahi, and many other names
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject: Hit but not hurt
Hi, I'm new on the forum, registered so I could ask Sneaky a question about his flatbands as my Black Widow has tubes. I've also ordered a pocket model from Bunny Busters which has flats, will report in due course.
Anyway I work near to a motorway bridge carrying the M40 over a watercourse, under the bridge there are always pigeons roosting opposite the walking path. I only started working there recently but spotted the potential for target practice! I've brought my cattie in a couple of times and (very discreetly) taken the odd pot at them during the lunch hour, after going off into nearby fields to warm up with mints as shot.
Anyway, today I actually hit a pigeon preening itself on a wooden railing at about 10m, but it just didn't do anything. The 9mm ball ricocheted off the back wall and I think broke some glass on the ground, but the pigeon only had its plumage ruffled with a glancing blow, it didn't fly off straight away as I guess it was shocked but then flew up to the back wall again none the worse. At least it wasn't wounded and suffering, but I would have thought it would have at least knocked it over - what exactly do you need to do to bring down a bird of that size, a head shot?
I wouldn't shoot every bird or creature I see though - and certainly not songbirds or anything like that. These are my hunting list:
pigeons - vermin in towns and the b@stards pecked at my cabbages
squirrels - rats-with-bushy-tails and the greys imported from US have driven the native reds out, there's a price on their heads
magpies - nasty quarrelsome things and they attack smaller birds, don't they?
crows - they once woke me up at 6am with their horrible cawing while I was out camping , I hate them
rats etc obviously
I'm a veggie but would eat something hunted as game like that, also a necessary skill to have if the supermarket trucks ever run out of diesel!
I faced the same problem when i first started too ! ha ha . Well there are three main factors bands , ammo , shot placement . The bands have to of some quality to take any game . Normally a normal band paired with slightly heavier ammo would do the job 10mm ammo is reccomended . If you are talking about shot placement a hit to the back is your best bet , wing shots i find is one of the worst place to aim . hope this helps . Jo
I have taken both pidgeon and rabbits with my black widow with flatbands from ranges up to 20ft. It's all about headshots on both ideally, I have hit pheasants from 10ft and had the steel ballbearing simply bounce off their plumage. Headshots headshots headshots
Thanks for the encouraging hints guys - as a beginner I was pleased enough just to make contact. I'll see how accurate I can be at 20ft - but getting that close to prey would be another subject as they tend to fly/run away!
I have taken both pidgeon and rabbits with my black widow with flatbands from ranges up to 20ft. It's all about headshots on both ideally, I have hit pheasants from 10ft and had the steel ballbearing simply bounce off their plumage. Headshots headshots headshots
Have to ditto that, if you are going to keep using light ammo such as 9mm then only head shots will do. When I was much younger I completely penetrated a starling with 6mm shot and it flew off probably to die elsewhere. I know I penetrated the bird because I found blood over the place it was sitting. Have never bought that size again and will never shoot game with such a light ball again.
I have been practising at lunchtimes and taking pots at the pigeons when no-one else was around, getting within a couple of inches, hit another one then today I totally f**ed one of them, must have got it in the throat as it wasn't knocked out but just twitched around and eventually lay still, will go back to see if it's dead tomorrow. This was at 12-13 yds with my Bunny Buster - my first kill.
I don't think I'll do it again though, it was a feral one so can't eat it, and anyway it's still stuck on the ledge 10ft off the ground! But I'd like to hunt woodies, rabbits and squirrels for food.
Well I went back today and it wasn't there, so presumably it recovered unless a hawk came and took it away or something. In the field it would have been disabled and I could have caught it, so counts as a kill I suppose. It could hardly move after I hit it, its arse was twitching up and down for a few seconds then it dropped its neck and lay still so I assumed it was dead.
Hit 2 today in 2 shots at 12 yds, first was a body shot, 2nd took it down flapping and it was still there 2 hours later. Will try to take pics next week if a fox doesn't get it first.
The Pigeon Era is now well-and-truly over. Although there was a young squab which for a time just stood there while I repeatedly hit it with 8mm nuts, even that has learned its lesson and nowadays my appearance under the motorway bridge is enough to get any pigeon in the area either taking to the skies or skulking for cover under the concrete lintels.
But there is a park a bit further on down the Cherwell, two-wheeled power is needed both to get there and back in time during the lunchbreak and also in the event of Plod ever being summoned by one of the members of the public who must inevitably notice you potting at the woodpigeons which congregate in the trees round there and which are much less wary than their feathered fraternity normally are. I was there this week and just as I was taking a shot I was surprised by someone popping out from the canal towpath with his bike and who stopped to talk to me. As it was a youngish man not particularly bothered about his appearance I was a bit wary at first, and the conversation went something like:
"What are you doing? - are you feeding the birds?"
"Er, birds? - no, just target practice, mate!"
"So you're not shooting at the birds, then?"
"No, not at all."
"So what's that up in the tree then?"
"Oh, yes, there's some woodpigeons, look!"
"So were you shooting at them, then?"
"Well you could say that, I suppose. Why, what do you think of that, not everyone would approve of it I guess? They are pigeons though - pests and all that."
"Yeah, I thought at first you were shooting nuts up into the tree for them to eat or something; shooting little bluetits or wrens wouldn't be very nice, but pigeons are OK I suppose."
"Oh no, I only shoot woodies, squirrels, etc ..."
We chatted like this for a bit, he was interested in my ammo and whether I'd ever shot anything, me thinking how the pigeon was still sat there and I could be shooting at it, then he said, "Come on, then, let's see you shoot it out of the sky!" I took a few more shots, one of them clipped its tail at 12 yards or so, even then it didn't fly off. Then I had to get back to the office. But I'll look out for him again, offer him a spare catapult to try if I see him, or even buy him a pint one day - wondered if he lived on one of the narrowboats down the canal.
So see how easily a catapult helps you make friends!
I ran out of 9.5mm BB so picked up some 10mm hex from Screwfix round the corner from work. Hit 3 squirrels yesterday with them, no effect whatever, then today took a pot at a gull on the Delph locks on the canal and hit it smack on the head first time from 9 yds - but it just flew off and wheedled round as gulls do, a bit slowly and crapping itself as it went, but clearly none the worse for it. Peakshooter PMed that 8mm hex was enough to deal with anything with feathers with a head or neck shot.
Then a bit further on there were some ducks and moorhen, I thought I'd try and get a moorhen (or coot, like a little black duck with a white patch on its head) as I was hungry and would have had some tinned fish from Lidl normally but thought less carbon footprint (in fact, sod all) from something like that. I hit a couple but same story, no effect. Then I saw someone in black uniform cycling towards me along the towpath, looked suspiciously like a special constable ie amateur police, anyway I legged it on my bike, there's snow and ice around so had been walking but now found myself skidding / braking on the corners, if he'd been a fit cyclist like me and had been out to catch me he probably could have as he had a MTB (which wouldn't have skidded around like my thinner tyres), but I left the canal before too long and found myself on a crescent where once I was round the corner he wouldn't have known which way I'd gone.
Anyway I received a mould for .44 lead through the post this morning and once I can hit a can from 10 yds every time instead of every 2/3 I'll maybe feel justified in using these instead for hunting. And will be having stew with no protein tonight.
Hit my first rabbit last night, and it was hilarious. Walking back to the office through an industrial estate with streetlights, saw a rabbit grazing over the other side of the road. Put shopping down, got catty and 10mm hex out and heard the smack as it hit. It flipped up and over onto its back about three times, which I took to be its death throes, but then started running like f*** round in circles and even towards me, though it was going to attack! Then ran back to its den - no, it wasn't going to die! I didn't see where it hit but almost certainly a body shot. Definitely going to do that again - just for entertainment value!
Are you sure you're hitting mate? An 8mm or 10mm nut will do the job with a headshot and a quartering shot on a pigeon. How big are you? Are you drawing the bands all the way back to your face? I've killed loads of quarry with stones, hex nuts, marbles, steel bearings and lead ball. Using tubes, flat bands and square elastic. If you aren't getting enough velocity out of your catty it won't matter what ammo you use. And it won't matter what velocity you get if you don't hit a kill zone.
Yes, I'm certain I've hit when I have done. Just not getting the headshots in. I once hit a pigeon so hard on the chest with a 9.5mmBB that a puff of feathers came off, but it still flew off. And smacked a squirrel so hard that it was as loud as if it had hit a tree, but it ran off. My worry is these creatures are being quite badly injured and going off to die somewhere.
The 8mm hex seem to be toys though, can't imagine killing even with a headshot, see above for the seagull I hit will 10mm. In fact I once aimed at a tiny bird 10m away just to see "how close" I could get but I accidentally hit it - I said "Oh no!" expecting it to die but it was fine! On the wings that was.
I guess I'll just have to keep practising - not accurate enough yet! I'm 5' 10" and draw it right back to my cheek. My current catty has shortened Trumark bands on and I can aim at things 15 - 20m away and the shot will reach them fine.
yeeharr wrote:
Are you sure you're hitting mate? An 8mm or 10mm nut will do the job with a headshot and a quartering shot on a pigeon. How big are you? Are you drawing the bands all the way back to your face? I've killed loads of quarry with stones, hex nuts, marbles, steel bearings and lead ball. Using tubes, flat bands and square elastic. If you aren't getting enough velocity out of your catty it won't matter what ammo you use. And it won't matter what velocity you get if you don't hit a kill zone.
if u are talking about 8mm hex, du u mean a hex nut which meashure 8mm ore do u mean a hex nut fittet a m8 bolt? _________________ http://www.youtube.com/user/slingshotdude
Ah! That must be what people mean. I bought about 5000 8mm nuts for target practice - 8mm from outer edge to outer edge - M5. And 1000 10mm hex which I shoot at pigeons and squirrels - M6.
Could draw length have anything to do with it? My natural length is 80cm anchoring under my nose, looking at baumstamm in action he draws it back beyond his nose, I could get to 95 like that maybe with my arms, would that be better?
Try shortening your bands to get the most energy out of them. If that dosn't work use stronger bands.It is better than trying to shoot a style you are not comfortable with.
Actually, after 3 weeks I'm just about as accurate as I was just pulling them back to my nose, I can recommend it. I got a couple of excellent catties from Baumstamm set up for his drawlength so rather than shorten them I've been pulling back an extra 10-15cm, it's more "instinctive" but works really well.
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Then ran back to its den - no, it wasn't going to die! I didn't see where it hit but almost certainly a body shot. Definitely going to do that again - just for entertainment value! 
That must be what people mean. I bought about 5000 8mm nuts for target practice - 8mm from outer edge to outer edge - M5. And 1000 10mm hex which I shoot at pigeons and squirrels - M6.