SSW001 Ammo.indd 53 20/07/2018 15:15 S S 1 5 : 1 5 SS 15:15 AMMUNITION 053 053 Cast Your Own Lead Balls. OTHERKINDSOFAMMO WASPPracticeBalls Major effort has gone into these injection moulded balls. They come in seven kinds; six 10mm and one .5cal. They start with a 0.53g smooth ball of ABS in orange or black, then it’s Acetal at 0.67g, followed by the golf-ball-dimpled Hyper Flight version, also 0.67g. The best seller though, is the 0.83g weight-loaded Hyper Flight heavy weight 10mm ball with 40% mass-filling. The half inch balls also have the dimples and are a bit of a whumper! Great for careful catch box use indoors and easier to find outdoors. Wooden‘PracticeAmmo’,DriedPeas,Acorns Found once on a Canadian holiday, light wooden balls. They looked and felt a bit unsatisfying. Not seen in the UK. Dried peas are pointless and will make the shooter feel stupid as they just fly in silly directions. Acorns are nature’s practice ammo. Pick small ones. But mostly, just don’t. All those things are like crayons for kids Simple-ShotExplodingAmmo&Plastics SimpleShot’s 10mm ABS ammo weigh 9 grains (0.58g) each and they come in bags of 100 and are orange. They also sell exploding practice balls that look great fun. They are .68cal and are filled with talcum powder and burst most satisfyingly upon impact. In 100’s or serious bulk packs. Darts Yes, in China they sell fishing reels that mount on your wrist - and ruddy huge steel darts to harpoon fish from your slingshot. Not legal in British inland waters but you can buy the tiny .22 or .177 fluffy- ended airgun darts by Milbro still. I shoot them at dartboards and they go point-first in only a few feet. Shoot them with the furry bit hanging out the bottom of your pouch and beware hand hits! ArmexBarragenickelplated precisionsteels Unlike our bulk purchase commodity steel balls, which are technically UHC for UnHardened Carbon steel, the Amex folks have for some time sold their top end BARRAGE slingshot ammunition. These are Nickel plated steel and are rolled to a much higher level of spherical precision. Sold at 50 x 3/8in/55 Grains, 200 x 1/4in/16.25 Grains and 30 x 1/2in/130 Grains. Ticket price is £3.25 per pack but you may find them for less. These are like the difference between Marksman .22 airgun plinker pellets at £7.50 a tin and the Air Arms sealed cans of £16.99 posh target wadcutters. These just look more perfectly round and if there is any deviation to be had from a catapult shot steel ball, these will do it less. A choice for obsessive target marksmen. Two levels of this: A saucepan on a camping stove and an iron ladle with heavy clamp-together aluminium moulds, with a large ‘sprue’ part to slice off afterwards - that is the cheaper and more effort/lower quality result. Then you have the legendary Lee Production Pot from Henry Krank with a Lee musket ball mould or better yet, the BRAND NEW latest lead ball moulds from ProShot, seen here for the first time anywhere. It is an electric crucible and needs a stout mains extension to the shed-with-the-door-open or just outdoors, as really good ventilation is vital for both. You can pour the melted lead with great control. Sold for £77.70 here; https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/lee-reloading/ bullet-casting/lee-production-pot-iv-220-v.htm ProShot lead ball moulds are created to make a LOT of balls, without becoming absurdly fatiguing. Muskets may get fired a few times but sling shooters go through ammo at a rate. So ProShot developed prototypes until their moulds locked easily and could be used without Hulk-Grip and hurting you to use after a few dozen. These are not cheap but you pay for the fact you can make a hundred in a sitting and still shoot the next day! Cunningly made, and available here: https://proshotcatapults.com/ammunition-moulds SSW001 Ammo.indd 53 20/07/2018 15:15