SSW001 ProShot Cats.indd 18 20/07/2018 16:22 S S 1 6 : 2 2 SS 16:22 018 SlingshotWorld I travelled North from The Smoke of Old London Town to the City of Metals - Sheffield. A PPMG in unborn fresh cast form Only new aluminium ingots used to feed the dragon COMPANY PROFILE FiveDragons&TheRiversofMoltenMetal: PROSHOTCATAPULTS I went in the hope of learning how the fourth successive son of the line of Hogan came to inherit mastery of the fire-breathing dragons. For Dragonmaster Pete has five in his foundry, enslaved for ever to work for the good of mankind, melting metal with fire. Way back in the smoke of his fathers, before the Time Of Technology, Peter’s ancestors learned the secrets of metallurgy and they are held safe to this day, by the fourth generation; Sir Peter Hogan of the Order of the Foundry. With his dragons chained, Peter can melt metal and cause it to flow to his whim. He has his team of champions to fettle and work the rivers of molten metal, to create things. Wondrous things. Things I wanted to see… OK, enough already, but truly, that is not too much of a leap of the imagination. Because this article is about ProShot Catapults, the world’s finest cast metal catapult makers, who are a piece of Hogan & Sons, a worldwide important player in high end cast metal, from Sheffield. And I mean, worldwide. I was blown away. I had no real idea about ProShot Catapults, apart from meeting Peter and the lads at a good few shoots. I had eyed up their table of wares and really wanted one of those shiny frames. Last Christmas but one, my wife got me a gleaming bronze beauty. A Pocket Poacher Mega Grip or PPMG. A design by Gamekeeper John. A seriously weighty item, it is the forty-second of its line, engraved under the pommel of the handle. I treasure it and had Mr. Mick French make me a moulded leather sheath for it to nestle in. And today, I was going to have my very own personal HOW ITS MADE show, live, SSW001 ProShot Cats.indd 18 20/07/2018 16:22