I've had my first few sessions of the year these past few days, and it's been great fun, so figure I would show my preferred practice place and setup rn. In the industrial area on the outskirts of town; very few people come through which is perfect. Already had to stop shooting to show some people as its not a regular hobby around these parts. Neither is juggling though so kind of used to that from before.

Cut up a chicken oven dish and attach it with a magnet (last session didn't work well due to HEAVY sidewinds so will be TWO magnets next time); despite being light it makes a decently satisfying sound upon hitting and is VERY quick to attach/detach. Need to get more tennis balls because rn, though that could do my fat ass good atm, it's a lot of running.

Also planning to get a lacrosse ball to see if it goes through the fence (recommended as ammo if anyone has tried it?). Wind is a constant issue so figure these, being heavier and solid, would be a possibly better option? The tennis balls squeeze their way through the fence at times so not shooting while the odd jogger/dog-walker goes by but it'd be MORE running to get the ammo. Maybe lacrosse balls are more prone to bouncing off rather than squeezing through though idk?

Distance I think varied about 30-50 meters, couple of lines in the grass to go by. Got pretty good and consistent with the mid length 4 strand round braids would say (but main one is already starting to wear near the holding part a few sessions/about 10 hours in; that normal or design/user error?). Within 1x1 m usually. Distance closer than 30 meters had pretty good spread of hits closer to within 50x50 cm which I understand would mean a hit on an "official" target.

But the two flat 6 strand tried were absolutely TERRIBLE. ALL shots with them went down hard into the ground and to the left. Dk what's wrong exactly, if anyone has ideas (?), but probably design-flaws on my part (OR general skill-issue. Might be that too but obv prefer to blame the slings ).

On that topic for how long does a REAL sling hold up generally (with proper care)? Shooting like this is fun enough for me to consider getting one.

Edit to show the state of the sling rn. FEELS like a lot of wear for just a few sessions? Probably less than 10 hours/1000 throws in total (with balearic style mostly so not much hitting the ground). Advice? Have gotten better at making these, so replacing is not a big issue, but low on material atm and it still takes a good half-full hour + finger fatigue.

Paracord has some very real advantages but everyone has different "needs".
Perhaps, have a look at other materials and styles to see how they feel ?

😁👍

dying to know what sort of sling weave patterns yall have come up with for dyneema cordages. i could do something slick like what erricrice recently posted in cotton if i had some instruction. i dig the tapered releases cord and hadn't thought to do that. i am planning on buying a spool of some zing-it (unless theres a better/cheaper dyneema suggestion) and have woven several simple slings myself but they're never anything to write home about. now im set on doing a tapered one. appreciate any response

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Mar 25^th, 2025 at 8:52am:



Ha, nice! How is the accuracy with no spin? I imagine short distances it is the same or maybe even a bit better, but longer-distance would obviously suffer without the rifle spin to stabilize it.

They are referring to separate features of the material. The high modulus is just referring to the high amount of force required to stretch the material. High molecular weight is just referring to the long polymer chain that makes the material. Long polymer chains make it so the material has a high 'crystallinity' or ordered portions of the material that give it the high modulus (i.e. spring constant). Low density PE has short chains and is very disordered which also makes it have a lower modulus.

A thing of beauty.
😁👍

Stunning! They appear to be quite flat given their width, how many strands did use?
I've tried braiding with seven strands, but I found it difficult to get as even results as with five strands.