I was just making one of these and decided to take a few pics for a mini-tutorial.

This design is very simple to make and creates a cupped pouch that holds ammo securely.

Start with a rectangular strip of leather that is slightly narrower than your chosen ammo and long enough to wrap half way around it with enough to spare for attaching.

Cut the pouch from each end towards the center. Leave about a third of the length uncut in the center. Use a leather punch to make the holes. The hole in the centre allows stretching and adds a lot to the final roundness of the shape.

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The attachment ends of the cords have a noose formed by folding the end back and tying a double overhand knot around the main length of the cord.

The finger loop is done with a perfection knot and the release knot is Ashleys stopper knot.

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Push the attachment loop through the overlapped ends of the pouch from the outside right up to the knot.

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Bend the loop back and thread the cord through it.

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Pull the loop back to below the knot and pull tight.

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Some views of the finished pouch

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Its nicely cupped.

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The outside

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Holding a stone

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Not bad for a flat rectangle of leather  8-)

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Nice tutorial. Thanks

I have an old backpack which will need to be replaced soon, the bottom of it has a good amount of leather.
This one looks like a fine destination for the leather.

I measured it and it's a 32X15cm piece of good, but somewhat thin, leather. Folding it seems like a good idea.

The design isnt my own of course, everything about it comes from this forum.

I know it was C_A that got me into the noose attachment and I think I got the pouch from a photo of Dork's ages ago.

another "why didnt i think of that!" moment!!

Nice sling man

good tutorial.  How do you stop the cords from coming loose at the pouch?  Once you have looped them they seem like without tension they would loosen up.  Or did I miss a step in your tutorial?

Jae

"Pull the loop back to below the knot and pull tight."  I guess it helps to read the instructions!

Jae

nice pouch - almost exactly like the little putter pouch you nicked all the other ideas from or a slightly cut down version of the six holer lol

But I'll forgive ya - nice tutorial :-)

Even though  I prefer woven pouches I too have found this to be very efective style for leather. Its fast easy to make and very effective.

Curious Aardvark wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2009 at 10:18am:

nice pouch - almost exactly like the little putter pouch you nicked all the other ideas from or a slightly cut down version of the six holer lol But I'll forgive ya - nice tutorial :-)

I knew you'd be all over me for that, you ratbugger. You're getting predictable in your old age  :P

I made my first one in September of last year, the main difference since then is its now attached with nooses.

http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1222631941/17#17

well given that my putter was invented september 07 (pics on the forum somewhere) - I still win lol

I saw this today and thought I would throw one together.  Very simple to make and it worked well with both rocks and tennis balls.  I see there is some dispute over who came up with the idea, LOL.  I hope no one minds if I pass the idea on to others and just tell them I saw it first on slinging.org.

Thanks

justgeorge wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2009 at 9:02pm:

I see there is some dispute over who came up with the idea, LOL.

Well I know I didnt  ;D  There are several different examples in the early pages of the picture thread.

I just made one of the David design and just got back from a first try out.  ¡It rocks!  I like it a lot.  I make the end loops a little differently than a double overhand - I don't have a name for it - but it serves the same purpose and I can't imagine it makes a difference.  Question: this pouch is very wrap-around - more so than any design I've seen.  Makes an almost full pocket for smaller ammo.  Any reason to think that would be a problem?  Any efforts to reduce the amount of contact between pouch and ammo?  

I like to keep the ends of the pouch short to minimise the weight that has to be shifted out of the way before the ammo is flying freely. I find long pouches release later and this knackers my aim. Having high sides to a pouch hasnt affected my aim.

Very good idea and tutorial, CA and DM! Thanks a lot!

I built one. It's probably the best (functional) sling I own. Used black paracord for the retention and release cord. I rounded the edges and made the holes for the cords a little closer to the middle cut so it wouldn't cup quite so much.


walter

very nice, lets see how it compares to an aussie style sling

WORD OF CAUTION  I was out with my sling of this design the other day.  Had the good fortune to spend a little time on a lonely stretch of California beach, with an abundance of stones and nobody else around.  Well, all was well and fine until I reached for an irregular-shaped stone (meaning not round).  I just about yanked my finger off at the retention loop, as an edge of the stone caught the cupping of the pouch, right by the looped knot.  Lesson learned: if your sling is as cupped as mine, be sure to use round projectiles and nothing that could catch that "fold" of the pouch.

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I have to say that the performance of this sling design has been outstanding, and I love the versatility of being able to fit anything from tennis balls down to peanuts.  To fix the potential danger, I have simply re-tied the knots in such a way that there is no such edge.  See below.  

Will give an update on the performance after I try it out.

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I think this kind of pouch is one of the most PRACTICAL.  This is my newest distance sling, with whipped cords for the most smootly possible transition to the pouch.
timann

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Very nice! I gotta make one now.
A question for David and 4accord- What type of leather is that? I need some softer leather, as the stuff I have is thick and as soft as nail. (bad simile)

I've been using a suede that is 2mm thick and very soft.  That's what you see in these pictures.  It has served me very well on many slings.  I have also used a thicker and stiffer leather but can't recommend it as well, unless in a three-strap design with the straps being about an inch wide.  I got a good supply of the suede quite cheaply in a single bag of remnants at Hobby Lobby, which is a US chain of stores.

How does it hold up?

Very well.  No problem at all, provided there is no great stress at the cord holes.  Doubling the leather at the hole gives a lot of extra strength, as does the loop method of the Morningstar design.

Its not my design! I nicked it all! I just took some pics of it :)

David Morningstar wrote on Apr 26^th, 2009 at 10:45am:

Its not my design! I nicked it all! I just took some pics of it :)

A bit reluctant to take any credit? At least you put some pictures up. ;D

What's the dimensions of the individual leather pieces?

How big you make it depends on the size of ammo you want to throw. If you are unsure, you can make a paper version first and see how well that fits, then use it as a template when its right.

Start with a rectangular strip of leather that is slightly narrower than your chosen ammo and long enough to wrap half way around it with enough to spare for attaching.

Cut the pouch from each end towards the center. Leave about a third of the length uncut in the center.

Thanks

I found a small local leather goods manufacturer where you can walk in, rummage around, and buy usedful scraps of leather in various thicknesses and colours.

Thats a bit of luck. Maybe you can trade some of it?

I'm not really a fan of the leather pouches, but this one changed my mind. VERY nice. :)

Over the year since we started this discussion, I have developed what is now my standard.  I attach pictures.  I don't tie knots but just use a self-strangling threading of the cords, which has turned out to be very secure.  I also punch my holes a little off center towards the inside so the cupping is not too dramatic. For tennis balls, I am doing well with a 7 inch by 2.5, 2-inch cuts, and an overall length (folded) of 33".  For rocks, I'd make the pouch closer to 5.5 x 2.25.

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Here is the knot that I have been using with good results.

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Here's an example of the leather blank that I use.

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That's exactly what I did for a tennis ball one, except I made three "tails" and made it out of duct tape.

I have been making leather sling like this for a time now and they work well for all ammo but i do tie my knot diffrent

Is there an advantage to this type of sling over the other methods of construction in terms of sling performance?  These are very easy to make, but are they more accurate or is it easier to get the spin on the projectile that you want?  I'm specifically thinking about the rockman sling with the split pouch.  I just bought the material to use for a rockman, and have a shaped pouch sling that I've been using.  I just got the football spin down yesterday using figure 8 and snow balls.  Does this style of construction offer advantages over the others, besides ease of construction?

Its an easy way to make a cupped pouch out of leather, if leather is what you have. I think they have low drag compared to the thicker braided designs, and I like the way you can swap the cords easily to experiment with different lengths or release beads, crackers, wrist loops, grip toggles etc.

I much prefer the slings that I make.  One piece pouch---look in the photo gallery    Captain Paul

Regarding advantages...there are so many sling designs, and they are all good.  The question is what works best for you personally.  It may be worth bearing in mind that many of the classic designs (braided types) have been around for millenia!  There must be something to them.  But I like these cupped leather and paracord designs because I get my best results with them, and they are easy to make and it's easy to change lengths.

I could not get the spin for biconical bullets to work with my cloth sling, but the new leather one works as long as my technique is right.  I could see the spiral almost as clear as in David's video with the painted clay bullet.  Can the spiral be developed using other styles besides leather and figure 8?  They just seem to go so straight and hit very hard.

I like this, I think I might try to scrounge up some old leather and give it a shot... if I can't I'll triple up some denim and see what happens.

Kerugma wrote on May 1^st, 2010 at 11:04pm:

I like this, I think I might try to scrounge up some old leather and give it a shot... if I can't I'll triple up some denim and see what happens.

You may want to give the seatbelt sling a tryinstead of using denim. There's enough seatbelt material thrown away each year to make a sling for every man, woman and child in the US.

http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1243340828/0

4accord wrote on Feb 10^th, 2010 at 9:41pm:

Here is the knot that I have been using with good results.

Looks like a larkshead. I've used it on a couple of my slings. Easy to tie and just as easy to take off and they have never slipped.

walter