Improvised Archery

I took delivery of a new Barnett slingshot yesterday and after many hours of destructive fun stuff in a basement range later, wondered if I could make something that made bigger holes and more powerful dangerous and pointy...





he arrow shafts are made from 1/4" dia. 30" long dowels with superglue and taped card fletches found while wading through junk

The broadhead was made from 2 xacto blades set in a plastic rawlplug and bound with thread and thoroughly superglued. The push-fit mount onto the shaft allowed the arrow to fallaway and leave the barbed head embedded in the target

The bottom two are steel-tipped using the phillip crosshead socket heads from an electric screwdriver kit...These were bound-on using long superglue-soaked paper strips to wind round the tip and the shaft and bonds the whole thing together



Shooter's eye view...

The arrows sit on a notched rest made from a ramped sheet of thin plastic and a mound of blutack...very simple...very effective...



The first shot with the broadhead damaged it but shredded 4 inches through the cardboard and splayed the 2 blades out like barbs, and as the rest of the arrow pulled out it left the tip which had to be hacked out of the target to get back

Compared to the 1/4" steel BB shot that I'd been firing the arrows worked amazingly well...in the picture to the top-right corner of the target with the green sticker, there are several BBs visible that are only just embedded in the cardboard. The steel-tipped arrows embedded themselves upto 8 inches into the corrugated cardboard target blocks!

I've not had chance to test this out on an open range to see what the range/power is like but have already ordered a batch of aluminium bow arrows to test them against when i do...

Hmm.... Interesting concept.
I think I might try this sometime.

You should try going rabit/squirell hunting with it. See if you actually can get something.

But You might want to try sucuring those tips in so if you actually do go hunting with it they wont get stuck into the animal.
Not really sure how but you could experiment.

I'm sure the arrows would easily take down a rabbit or even a human at 50 mtr...though using ready-made aluminium arrows and a more efficient sight/rest would make for greater accuracy at range.

Great thread, idea, pics. Thanks for sharing. Star and flag for you.

The slingshot is underrated as as a survival tool. I used to carry a .22 S&W handgun but It's been replaced by a slingshot. Reason being? No noise. Lethal at a distance. Requires only rocks as ammo.

I've never tried to shoot arrows with mine but the thought has crossed my mind. I figured the metal pellets were lethal enough for what it should be used for. I'm willing to bet that crossbow arrows would work great.

Everyone should have a slingshot in their kit.



[edit on 10-5-2008 by METACOMET]

www.primitivearcher.com...

here you go...

Great idea. I haven't had a slingshot since I was a kid.

Just wondering, have you considered a crossbow? Crossbows are easier to shoot and use similar arrows.

I have a stock left over from one I started making years back. I used power tools to cut the stock - out of walnut. I had planned on ordering a bow kit for it, but never did. I don't know if you can anymore cause they seem to be making them illegal or at least hard to find.

[edit on 11-5-2008 by verylowfrequency]

Originally posted by verylowfrequency
Just wondering, have you considered a crossbow? Crossbows are easier to shoot and use similar arrows.

I did consider buying a crossbow but at £100+ for a half-decent full-size xbow and £20 for a slingshot, I thought the slingshot would be more versatile.

In terms of ammunition use, you can choose between 1/4" and 3/8" steel BB shot, 1/2" marbles, and arrows, depending on your target. It's a quick and easy solution to having multiple weapons for different targets, when you can fire a lethally versatile range of shot from one weapon in seconds

The flight-rest I rigged up was just a simple notched design fabricated out of thin flexible plastic-card and held in place with blutack, but seems to be shredding the cardboard fletches on my homemade arrows and needs to hold the shaft steady at full draw, about 28"-30" with the standard magnum bands and is difficult to hold without the arrow 'skipping' out of the rest at full stretch, so ideally, you want to use the longer standard archery arrows of 30"-32" length which allows the tip-end to sit on the rest



Something like this rest would be the perfect solution and should enable an accurate shot at distance...

Good effort Citizen of the arrow!

But how is it the rest ties into the catapult/slingshot? Are you just gaffertaping it on or using screws/bolts?
Is it an assembly on the site job or a permanent fixture?

Hey I like the idea citizen smith! Never thought about using arrows for a catapult its a great idea I'm gonna have to give it a go, I've got some 32" fibre glass arrows for my bow so I'll test them out in the garden.

Also have you thought about using a dart point for the end of the arrows? I bet you could skewer bugz bunny no problem using one and it shouldnt get stuck in like normal arrows.

star and flagged for this out of the box idea!

:update:

I shattered the two drillbit 'bodkin' arrowheads putting big holes in an old mobile phone...the points were only meant as a temporary proof-of-concept construction and made on a rainy afternoon with what craft materials I had to hand (4x 35" dowels for the shafts from a former kite, sketch-pad paper for binding and card for the fletches, a handful of rechargeable-screwdriver philips-heads that had been wrecked, for the arrowheads; and two tubes of superglue).

I stuck the cordless-screwdriver phillips-screw-bit onto the end of the dowel with blutac to hold in place as I then wound superglue-saturated strips of sketchpad paper round them, ensuring that the tip wasn't lopsided and off-centre to the body of the arrow-shaft...a bit like building up matting when you use resin and fibreglass but wi ' glue n' paper instead

(note: when playing with large quantities of superglue, it will always get onto your hands and sick stuff to them, always allow at least 15minutes for any glue on your hands to dry before using the bog! )

Each arrow lasted a good 100+ shots into compressed corrugated cardboard target pads 6" thick but as soon as they hit the steel/plastic body of the mobile phone the arrowheads shattered apart but not before leaving the 'bodkin arrow tips' embedded 3/4 of the way into the fone chassis!

I've been trying my hand at longer range accuracy using found stone-shot on the beach today plinking beercans filled with seawater and it's a lot harder than it seems to hit a rabbit-sized tincan from 20 metres with .50 to .75cal equivalent-size pebbles.

My miss/hit ratio was something like 20-1 (not bad for a beginner...two weeks at an hour a day's practice should see me fillin me casserole pot by the end) but when the pebbles DID hit, they went thru-and-thru, even tho the cans were filled with water, and kicked and spun a good few feet thru the air when hit

The misses were rather more spectacular...I'd arranged the cans at 10, 15, and 20mtrs away from me at the foot of a cliff so whenever i missed, the pebble/gravel projectile would either explode in a cloud of shards, or riccochet off the boulders and make 'zzzzz-ing' noises though the air, I caught a stone shard riccochet in the face and it PROPER hurt!...there's more than enough power there to drop a bunny, even without an arrow!

Originally posted by fred3110
have you thought about using a dart point for the end of the arrows? I bet you could skewer bugz bunny no problem using one and it shouldnt get stuck in like normal arrows

My first arrow-tip attempt used the finger-barrel of a stainless-steel parker-pen that fit snugly over the arrow shaft, I found anything like that (or a dart head&sleeve assembly) was just too heavy and made the arrow nose-heavy requiring a real steep arc to the trajectory at range...ready-made archery arrows should be perfect as they come ready-balanced for flight, are screw-thread tipped to take a variety of points and aluminiuim/fibreglass arrows wont buckle and warp like my wooden dowel arrow-shafts did

Originally posted by WatchRider
how is it the rest ties into the catapult/slingshot? Are you just gaffertaping it on or using screws/bolts?...Is it an assembly on the site job or a permanent fixture?

The first 'arrow rest'I made was just sculpted from plastic card and a pile o' blutac so ant improvement such as the brush-rest has got to be a bonus to accuracy with arrows...i've found that just for experimenting, gaffa tape works just fine if you cant find a way to clamp the arrow-rest onto a limb of the slingshot

Originally posted by WatchRider
Good effort Citizen of the arrow!

where are the rest of the merry men, eh?

I didn't find any rich merchants on my bike travels but I did see plenty of rabbit-runs...maid marrion get the dinner on!

*twang*

do these lincoln-green tights make my bum look big???

reply to post by citizen smith


Get a real, full-sized bow. A single well placed arrow can take down a bear. I don't agree with destroying the various fluffy monsters, but if a single arrow can take down a bear just imagine what it can do to a man. Humans do sometimes need to be destroyed in extreme circumstances, no matter how spiritually enlightened the destroyer may be.

Good thread and good ideas. I have a notion that you might end up with a more powerful and accurate tool if you shorten the shaft by at least half, and use larger, flexible fletching. You know what makes excellent fletching? Duct tape. Yah. It takes a bit of practice to alight three strips of duct tape to an arrow shaft and have them be properly placed:

First, you look at the shaft, and draw three lines along the shaft equidistance apart. I've experimented with four "feathers" and that didn't work as well. THen, take your three strips of duct tape, all the same length, and draw a line on the sticky side perfectly in the middle of the tape. Press this line on the tape to the line on the arrow shaft. Now bend that tape back, so it is bowed, and attach the next piece of tape. Press them together at the shaft, and work upwards. Attach the third piece of tape. Then, it's a matter of using shears to shape the fletching. I use a template made out of a thin nylon cutting board, and cut the fletching.

Another thing you might want to experiment with is an atlatl. These are easy to make, a surprisingly easy to learn how to use. Now, they usually require a longer, more flexible shaft, and often these have to be cut from living trees and cured. Check out Atlatl Bob's website at: www.atlatl.com...

p.s. You might want also to experiment with cutting broadheads from pieces of tin. If you give them a twist, you can fabricate a broadhead that spirals into a taget, creating nearly twice the area of wound damage, particularly if the edges are honed sharply. I think for survival purposes, most of us should look into a recurve bow. A compound is, of course, easier to pull, and more importantly, easier to hold once pulled, but it also involves mechanical parts that can eventually fail. A good recurve with extra bowstrings, nocks, etc. can carry your hunting skills a long time. Often a person's first bow ...... they will choose a bow that they are capable of pulling, but is really heavier of a pull than they should have. Salespeople will sometimes play upon machismo and get men to buy the heavier fiberglass composites with all the bells and whistles. The K.I.S.S. principle should prevail. I'm a 240 lb. 6'2" man, and can pull a large bow and hold it, even at 50 years old. If I had to choose one bow to carry us, I'd probably select a shorter recurve with a 50-lb. pull.

Last thing....... it's been my experience that sometimes there is no substitute for a good hunk of rawhide. It's good for binding things, repairs. Rawhide can be rolled up into a small area, dried out. It can be made flexible again by soaking in water, a piece cut, and when the binding rawhide dries, it shrinks, binding things tightly, particularly archery-related things.

I'm trying to hunt 'under the radar'....it's illegal to hunt with bow or x-box in most places in the UK, and hunting with air-weapons without permission of the land-owner will in all likelihood earn a shotgun barrel of bacon-rind or rock-salt to the back of the legs from an irate farmer...slingshots and slingshot archery seems to be 'outside' those legislations so get practicing those 20mtr bulls-eye's 'cos it's rabbit-season!

nom! nom! nom!

reply to post by argentus


I don't have a proper means of testing the draw on my slingshot, but I estimate it to be between 40-50lbs draw at full stretch...I'm 6'2" and have a fairly long 'reach' and at full draw have real problems holding the shot from wobbling all over the place off-aim...you'd be surprised at the amount of kinetic power the standard magnum-bands can generate!

Originally posted by citizen smith
I'm trying to hunt 'under the radar'....it's illegal to hunt with bow or x-box in most places in the UK, and hunting with air-weapons without permission of the land-owner will in all likelihood earn a shotgun barrel of bacon-rind or rock-salt to the back of the legs from an irate farmer...slingshots and slingshot archery seems to be 'outside' those legislations so get practicing those 20mtr bulls-eye's 'cos it's rabbit-season!

nom! nom! nom!

You are doomed. One day the rabbits will take control. Then they will have their revenge. You will see.

Observe this in full. The badgers are already winning, but wombles are obviously very silly.

A doom.

reply to post by Cadbury


Amen to that...Armand Iaunnici should be crowned 'king of the badgers'!

now...back to hurting little fluffy bunnies with big pointy arrows...

Originally posted by citizen smith
reply to post by Cadbury

 

Amen to that...Armand Iaunnici should be crowned 'king of the badgers'!

now...back to hurting little fluffy bunnies with big pointy arrows...

Do what you will. But what purpose do you have in destroying rabbits? Do you take them away and eat them or do you just cain them with improvised weaponry for the fun of it?