I have some rubber balls that are 3cm diameter,  but they bounce like crazy.  Thought golf balls...  Tennis balls seem to big can't load up with ammo with out having to bend down.

I wish I could find 3-4cm long footballs.  I really like throwing with spheroid shape ammo.

At a loss...

Hi Shakli!

Here's a magical fairy wand! :D It picks up tennis balls  and hangs onto my shorts when I'm not using it.  I used to love slinging tennis balls at parks and I can't wait to try my new wand soon haha. Let us know what ammo you end up liking the best :)

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I don't understand your problem with tennis balls. They are great safe ammo, don't fly too far either for retrieval.

Tennis balls are probably the most “publicly” accepted ammunition. Golf balls are not recommended in public

Anything you wouldn’t want to be hit by is probably not great ammo for parks. I’ve had a couple close calls in my younger, more foolish days and it’s just not worth it. Tennis balls are also great because you can practice at a tennis court and the fence will keep everything in.

I prefer the tennis balls made for dogs which are smaller and denser yet look like tennis balls.  If bending over is an issue there are all sorts of cheap devices that you can use to gather tennis balls without throwing your back out.

I agree. Tennis balls are the way to go.  If you want spheroids, you may have to build yourself a mold and make your own. There are a lot of prop-making urethane foams that would work.  Or you can do something like this:

http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1572045361/5#5

I prefer the tennis ball's less popular cousin, the street hockey ball.  The weight is very close, a street hockey ball usually weighs a few grams less.  They don't have any fuzz, so if they get dirty cleanup is easier.  And they are designed to be low bounce.  If you drop a tennis ball and a street hockey ball from the same height, the tennis ball bounces 2-3 times higher.  No precise measurements for that, just eyeballing it.

Although if one of your issues with a tennis ball is the size, this won't be of much help because that is pretty much the same.

Tennis balls are best for this. What you need is a good ammo pouch. There are some good suggestions here:

http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1496762002/0

Since you seem adept at making your own ammo and prefer non-spherical shapes, perhaps you could make some rusty balls, but change out the sand for something more lightweight, like foam beads?

As I recall rusty balls are heavyweight balloons with the tube bit cut off and about 10 or so stretched over an interior material like sand (dry sand). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQQk8meHXE

Rusty balls are great sling ammo, but they hit real hard.

Hence the suggestion to change the sand to foam beads.

IronGoober wrote on May 20^th, 2020 at 1:27pm:

Since you seem adept at making your own ammo and prefer non-spherical shapes, perhaps you could make some rusty balls, but change out the sand for something more lightweight, like foam beads? As I recall rusty balls are heavyweight balloons with the tube bit cut off and about 10 or so stretched over an interior material like sand (dry sand).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQQk8meHXE

ooh this could work well just have to find some really small balloons.  Thanks so much  :)

   These are balls from a New Zealand game called GolfCross.  I've never tried them but they look like they'd be awesome sling projectiles... though not necessarily for a public park.

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Wow!  More than $40 for 6 golfcross balls?  No wonder it hasn’t become more popular!

IronGoober wrote on May 20^th, 2020 at 1:27pm:

Since you seem adept at making your own ammo and prefer non-spherical shapes, perhaps you could make some rusty balls, but change out the sand for something more lightweight, like foam beads? As I recall rusty balls are heavyweight balloons with the tube bit cut off and about 10 or so stretched over an interior material like sand (dry sand).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQQk8meHXE

I may have to look into this as well. Seems like an excellent safe-ish ammo. At least as safe as tennis balls. And I also don’t care for spherical ammo when I can avoid it so this might be the best of both worlds. Thanks IG.

Hmm.  I am going to try and crochet biconical ammo soon and see how it turns out. :D  Polyester fiber stuffing weighs quite a bit when stuffed and compacted into small amigurumi pieces.  If i don't stuff it too tight, and make it large enough to find easily, I might be able to make safe, retrievable ammo.  I'll let you know how it turns out. ;)

Wooohooo!

It worked up really nicely in about an hour. Weighs about 60 grams and feels sorta like a water balloon.  It should be safer than a tennis ball. I'll post another thread about how to make it Shakli.  :D

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That looks nice! I like the background.

StarLight wrote on May 22^nd, 2020 at 12:41pm:

Wooohooo! I'll post another thread about how to make it Shakli.  :D

I love it!

Ok done!  :) Got my outdoor ammo.

Weight 35g  flower warped in 5 balloons.  Slung them against a wall as hard as I could over and over.  They don't bounce they just warp out of shape and with a quick squish they go back into shape.

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Don't need to make a new sling as they fit in the one I already have.

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Yay!

I'm glad you found something!  I like your sling and ammo  :D  Your sling is very cute and looks like it cradles your ammo perfectly.  ;)

I keep consistently forgetting to buy balloons every time I go to the shops. I really need to.

I wish I had a good range and backstop. I miss constant ammo

The flour rusty balls might be a good solution for easy indoor slinging. Might have to steal that idea.

I have used balloons filled with sand as my main projectile for over 2 years, they are the only viable projectile our backyard because they don't richochet.
I do make mine a bit smaller than Jeagoors and I make them oval instead of round. I only use 3 balloons for each one. They last a long time and they're very cheap to make.
They're a very good alternative to rocks for practice and accuracy, because you can make them really perfect in weight, size and shape.

I actually can't believe this. I literally was at the shops today and was thinking I should buy balloons and forgot AGAIN. This is ridiculous.