Westy76 546 Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Best advice I can give you gnasher is get out with someone who shoots as an hour with them will get you going with all the basics quickly then it's all down to practice. Kranky would've been been your best bet as he's local but he ain't on here no more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnipper 5,944 Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Buy a bag of marbles and shoot at something with a safe backdrop, preferably something to catch your marbles and just try all ways until you find a comfortable hold and stance then practice till you get better. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,570 Posted February 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) Thankyou very much chaps .....not knowing a good catapult from a bad one i have nothing to compare to but this one i was using had double theraband gold whatever that is...all the realtree camo finish etc.....cant say as it felt altogether comfotable in my hand but again not having anything to compare to.... how comfortable should it feel ???.....hence i thought id buy one and see whats what..... I dont think the chap who was showing me how to do it had much more of an idea than i did he just happened to have one thats all !........As ridiculous as this will sound....the biggest problem i had was deciding what hand to hold it in would a right handed person draw the bands back with the right hand or left ? ........I tried both and there was good and bad points to both but i couldnt help thinking there must be a correct way to do this !.........Brookie you said about over stretching and i think that might of been a mistake i was making trying to give it the old powerful caveman act .....because ive got decent grip strength i found myself squeezing the life out of it but then when i let go of the pouch i couldnt seem to let go of it straight......i tried bringing it back to my eyeline,my ear,chin...........holding it horizontal,vertical.......just couldnt get the hang of it...............that was when i thought f**k it i,ll come back to this when ive got some advice how to do it !! Maybe as Bpr says its just a case of experimenting until i find a way i can get accurate......just seems a long way off at the moment .........just out of interest what is classed as good going ?.....like what sort of size target from what sort of distance would you expect to be succesful more often than not ? fit the whole fork into your hand gnash dont bend your wrist forward or backward its all one action you can hold it sideways anyways you want to if your right handed hold the forks in your right hand pull the lastic back with pouch in your left hand till base of your thumb touches outside of your lip corner it should line up with your left eye then mate .always aim for the head especially if your shooting roosters in the dark .if you miss you can always have another shot .if you hit in the breast they usually fly of bawling theyre heads of and getting others birds to leave the roost making hell of a noise .its surprising cos once you do get the feel of your forks and get your eye in you will get quite accurate /great buzz i still get even now when im dropping a few and il wind my lads up as well .i was driving home thru some lanes not long ago and a bird was running up side of hedge and i jumped out of the car and hit smack in the head from about twenty yards .shots like that still give me a buzz or a rabbit bolting out of a hedge and you drop it .( like big kids lol ) im not into lead shot etc i cant get on with it .to me you wont beat round pebbles about inch in diameter from a river bed or the beach .they seem to fly very accurate and true and weighted just right .if you get to like a mooch with a catty gnash .il send you a proper old school catty made with forks ive got over 20 yrs old with proper bull nose lastic .shoot very true and drop a bullock Great stuff.......im looking forward to getting this now ....i said to the mrs " im getting a catapult ".....the look of contempt was priceless ...." aint it about time you grew up " she says A roosters head in the dark jesus that sounds a tough task me ol mince pies aint what they used to be i,ll struggle to even see it !..............I bet its an impressive sight watching someone whos handy with one of these.....im the sort of idiot who will persist until i can do it.......so watch this space Edited February 13, 2014 by gnasher16 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marshman 7,756 Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Some good advice there lads I'm enjoying this part of the forum lately more than others. Once the digging season finished it'll be my summer project of making one and shooting it with some sort of accuracy . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Accip74 7,112 Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 I got my first catapult after reading this section too..........my wife was also a little bemused, but once I said it 'might' put some food on the table one day, she warmed to the idea...... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B.P.R 2,798 Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Catty sect is decent lads... Lets keep it that way ... Good that its helped guys get their first slingshot... or get back into them ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
youcanthide...BANG 1,051 Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Its a greast section of the forum, think theres only been 1 locked topic lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Longers7 720 Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 I've only got into making and shooting catties after stumbling across this section of the forum..... Making a catty gives you something to do in the garage whilst the weather is so shite!! Defo a great section of the forum Quote Link to post Share on other sites
whipbed 42 Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 just read this gnasher if you can,t decide which hand to hold the catty in then go for which feels the most natural. if both hands feel the same then its best to take advantage of your dominant eye. by this i mean if you are right eye dominant hold the catty in your left hand and vice versa for left eye dominant. just incase you don,t know which eye is your dominant one , do this ; with both eyes open point at some thing small , then close one eye if your finger is still pointing at the same spot then the eye you have open is the dominant one. don,t worry if you like to hold the catty with the hand that doesn,t correspond with your dominant eye , but you will be best to use the instinctive style of shooting rather than aiming. hope this helps and good luck 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,570 Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Cheers Whipbed......all seems to make sense on paper,think its just going to be a case of trial and error though that was my original question is there a right and wrong way......so much appreciated i,ll keep all that in mind when i get going Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RossM 7,979 Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Cheers Whipbed......all seems to make sense on paper,think its just going to be a case of trial and error though that was my original question is there a right and wrong way......so much appreciated i,ll keep all that in mind when i get going See if I concentrate, take time to aim, point of aim anchor points etc............Absolute murder!! Whereas if I just go with it load ammo and just quickly fire I'm actually not that bad! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B.P.R 2,798 Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Cheers Whipbed......all seems to make sense on paper,think its just going to be a case of trial and error though that was my original question is there a right and wrong way......so much appreciated i,ll keep all that in mind when i get going See if I concentrate, take time to aim, point of aim anchor points etc............Absolute murder!! Whereas if I just go with it load ammo and just quickly fire I'm actually not that bad! Not that bad as in... you can hit your back fence and not the house behind it ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RossM 7,979 Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Cheers Whipbed......all seems to make sense on paper,think its just going to be a case of trial and error though that was my original question is there a right and wrong way......so much appreciated i,ll keep all that in mind when i get going See if I concentrate, take time to aim, point of aim anchor points etc............Absolute murder!! Whereas if I just go with it load ammo and just quickly fire I'm actually not that bad! Not that bad as in... you can hit your back fence and not the house behind it ... At least my missus is less likely to leave me.......... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
whipbed 42 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 joking aside lads , there is a point where if i take too long and overthink the shot i miss.[as i,ve demonstated all too often ,eh lee!] also sometimes when just messing about and quick firing i produce better shots than i should ,so there is a balance to be had . 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
baw 4,360 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Good thread this, very informative, learned loads. I'm like gnash, got a catapult (black widow) last summer and can't hit nowt. I too thought f**k this but in all honesty I never gave it a chance. I'll need to but bearings and get cracking with it. Without high jacking gnashers thread too much lol, I used to make walking sticks in a previous life or so it seems it was that long ago. But I have a few thumb stick blanks that I think I could make into a catapult. I'll need to dig them out so don't know what wood they are. Does it matter, will they be strong enough? Also I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I don't like the look of the way the bands are tied on, looks bulky, is there any other way? Maybe I should start a different thread Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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