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 I used to carry a .22 S&W handgun but It's been replaced by a slingshot.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]

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...