Sir Missalot
Descens
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almost always miss, occasionally by a mile
Posts: 179
Midlands, South Kakalaki
Gender:
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Aaaanyhooo... Here are my observations:
Color: Hermione Teal with a hint of grass stains.
Assembly: More intricate than a 3 or 5 strand sheepshank sling but much less time consuming than a mersa or pj. Getting it knotted together takes about 5 minutes, but then you have to fiddle around with the loops to get the proportions right and the loops all even. Then you tighten everything by pressing a ball HARD into the pouch. Then fiddle a little more.
Ammo retention: My main complaint about the naked (unwoven) sheepshank slings is that spherical ammo either slips through the center or rolls off the side of the pouch. This is definitely a quick and easy solution for using slippery spherical ammo like golf balls or tennis balls. I agree with MikeG that rocks with any kind of rough surface or irregularities of shape could be counterproductive or downright disastrous if you get a nasty snag in the netting.
Release: I made mine pretty flat and not to pouchy. I like the way it releases early like a pj or a seatbelt sling. I'm using unweighted tennis balls. Also, the pouch is very light so it has less of a pop and overswing like a pj, mersa, or cliff's woven paracord sling which are rather pouch-heavy. Also, the light pouch offers more sensitivity for lightweight projectiles like unweighted tennis balls.
Actual use: Fitting a tennis ball into the netted pouch took a little getting used to. I found that if you seat it hard into the center of the pouch as you load it, the net conforms to the ball and seats well. After several throws, though, the net wants to elongate and skew diagonally, so I had to spread the outer loops a bit and massage it into place.
Durability: I'm using tennis balls, so no wear. BUT, because paracord is so slippery, I found that I had to tweak and adjust the knots and loops a lot after not so very many throws. Also, I accidentally left it in the rain and figured I could try it wet. I figured one good hard seating and everything would line back up nicely. I also figured that pulling the knots tight while the paracord was wet would set the knotting more tightly. I was wrong. Slippy sliding all over the place. Can't recommend using it wet. I would imagine the wandering knots would also happen if you carried it in your pocket for very long.
Suggested improvements: I'd like to try it again with another kind of synthetic braided cord that isn't as slippery as paracord. I'd rather try that first rather than going to something like a heavy jute twine, because I want to be able to untie it and use the cord for something else. With jute, once you set the knots, they're pretty much permanent.
Suggested niche: Finding yourself with a friend who has a ball and 12 feet of paracord and saying, "Hey, want to see something cool?" Or maybe if you have some rotten fruit or potatoes you need to disavow in a hurry and return the paracord quickly to its natural state. It's not a collector's item, or even a keeper, but it lets you reuse the paracord for other purposes later, and it's more stable, especially for spheres, than the multi-strand sheepshank slings.
I'd say make one, play with it, and get the knowledge of another design under your belt.
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