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Even Slingshot can be Safe

2K views 21 replies 15 participants last post by  303tom 
#1 ·
#4 ·
Dang!

The results weren’t quite as dramatic and painful the time I did something as stupid as that, but they could have been. I wanted to check the shot pattern of some .44 Mag shot shells I’d loaded using those CCI shot shell capsules. So I tacked a sheet of newspaper to the trunk of a large pine tree, stepped back about 15 feet, and fired.

It’s a good thing I was wearing safety glasses because there were several dings in the lenses that showed I would have lost at least one of my eyes if I hadn’t been wearing them. None of the #8 shot pellets actually penetrated the skin on the finger of my right hand, my forehead, or my left cheek, but they left tiny little bruises wherever they hit.

I felt pretty darned stupid. But you know, there’s a bright side. When I pulled that stunt it was back in the days long before anyone had ever heard of the internet. But nowadays I can participate in guns and shooting internet message forums and warn others – Don’t Do That! Don’t shoot at hard surfaces if you’re close enough to get hit by the bounce back. And #8 shot from a handgun will bounce back from a surface no harder than a pine tree.:eek:
 
#5 ·
Face shields are your friend. Might be a good idea to use one while testing such things. that's a ;esson that finally sank in 20 years ago.

I was working at a local factory that made peanut butter, ketchup, salad dressings, those kind of things, when i was given a choice. take the week off on a lay off, or come in for peanut line oven cleanup.

I chose oven cleanup.

On the third night that week, after working the roof end of the chimney the first two nights, in zero degree weather, i was asked to work the oven cleanup on second shift, so i took the chance to do so. I picked up a cutoof tool with a spiked stripper on it, grabed the safety classes, crawled in, and hooked up to the air line. Here's what I didn't know, that happened right before the last guy to use it went off shift.

As he was coming down the ladder, siad tool fell out of his pocket, and fell 30 feet to the factory floor, cracking a couple of those spines. A fact I found out about an hour intom my shift, when I fired it up, after using the scrapper to get the loose material off the walls first.

I powered it up, felt the wobble, and as I released the trigger, two of those spines flew off, one hit the wall, the other sank into my left cheek. I felt my face go numb, unplugger the air line, and exited the machine to head to the head, and check myself in the mirror, thinking I maybe had a bruise.

instead i had about 4 inches of hardened steel sticking out of my face, about halfway down it's shaft. i pulled it out, stuck it in my shirt pocket, and walked over to the foreman's office to fill out a report. One of the things asked on said report was how can this incident never be repeated again, to which I put down "using a face shield instead of a pair of glasses or goggles."

I found out two weeks later what had happened as the guy came down the ladder, and which temp he was, then went to have a word with him about the incident. I was told to do something physically impossible, so I reacted by beating the everlovin' ______ out of him.

his lack of reporting said incident to maintenence could have cost me an eye, so i6t was justified IMHO, once he told me to go ____ myself.
 
#8 ·
It looks like Mr. Rick O'shay opened a can of whoop-*** on his head. You just can't trust the Irish. If is had been a little lower his new name would have been Cyclops.

If I did something like that, I will be damned if the video would hit the web.
 
#11 ·
I don’t know. It seemed like a pretty elastic collision to me.

And, he probably should have been taken to the ER. Blunt force trauma to the head that breaks the skin, are frequently associated with concussions.
He seemed unresponsive at the end. I’m pretty sure he cracked his skull. An emergency room was in order, for sure.
 
#15 ·
I used to go to a private saw mill that was run by a good ole boy from N. Georgia, who happened to be a PHd. agricultural researcher. I knew him for quite a while before I found out what his day job was. He built traditional sling shots, and he could bring a squirrel out of the top of a pecan tree with one before you could say, "don't do it."
 
#16 · (Edited)
Old Hundreek took some azz woopin , Yo .....:eek: How powerful was that crazy thing , sheeee. !
I was not expecting anything like that . Ninja stuff going on there now ....:cool:

I don't understand what point he used to aim with ....?

I had to watch that twice . Looks like he's had practice , the pre-blood stained T-shirt is a dead give away . That is a heavy piece of steel so what the heck kind of power does that thing have ? Wow
 
#18 ·
Going by the size of the band he was using, I would say he cranked it up to 11, and ripped the knob off.

I use 1/4 surgical tubing\bands on mine instead of the commercial "Hunting\competition" bands, and have gotten results north of 6 inches penetration into ballistics gel blocks, using CV joint bearings at 25 feet. And that is without having to stretch it back past my ear, so i still have room to pull further back.

As to aiming it, you use the forks, and a set place on your cheek or jaw, as one does with a bow without a sight added to it. As with any form of sight, on any platform, with enough practice, you can nail pretty much anything.

I was at a friend's place close to 20 years ago, and when they broke out the paintball guns, and started shooting a car that was getting hauled out for scrap the following Monday, I decided to get my slingshot from behind the seat of my truck, and see how well I could shoot paintballs from it. Took me about 5 shots to dial it in, before my frineds started calling targets. Friend with the PB gun would take a shot, and I had to match it.

One called the antenna, friends with the guns all tried and missed. I nailed it 3 times, just to shut the "Pure luck." crowd up.

Needless to say, they still check me for a sling shot when we hunt each other with paintball guns. I also carry it with when camping, fishing, and hunting, as I have nailed my fair share of small game animals with one since I was in my early 20s (Never had one growing up, and bought the one I have now at a yard sale back in 1998.)

Now, what I'm wondering is, was it how hard the bottle was in that last shot, hitting it in the wrong spot, or both that got him perforated? We may never know.
 
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