Catapult elastic

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by the poacher

catapults,this is getting old hat,now then,pea shooters,just honing me old skills,gives a nasty sting with the right size dried pea,next step,telescopic sites,just got to give up the fags.

I've got 1.5 meters of 10mm bore aluminium tube with a mouthpiece moulded on. With a good lungful I can fire a plasticine ball a good 20 meters or so, when it will flatten to a hemisphere it it hits something hard. It'll sting but not injure a cat through it's fur, but I've not seen one since I made it! .

Jim

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

I've got 1.5 meters of 10mm bore aluminium tube with a mouthpiece moulded on. With a good lungful I can fire a plasticine ball a good 20 meters or so, when it will flatten to a hemisphere it it hits something hard. It'll sting but not injure a cat through it's fur, but I've not seen one since I made it! .

Jim

We started off innocently with small bore plastic pipe and paper ball ammo, and ended up with same pipe but heavy darning needles with paper cones. They were scary, deeply embedding in any wood. I am happy to report we only used them against each other in the office, but it could be scary to get splinters of wood coming off your desk close to your hand when working.

I have just written that, it is true (about 30 years ago), it seems rather daft now (especially those who went to nails sharpened on the grinder), how would health and safety cover that? You had to have a robust sense of humour.

Blinking flip, I have done some daft things (but never used bad language on WAB).

[bigdave60dog]

Originally Posted by Southcoasters

Catapult forks made by us lads in the olden days were usually from Privet, and strips of car or lorry inner-tube (When it was real stretchy rubber).
During those catapult days my school Headmaster was told that I was shooting at Swifts on the nearby spoil-heap. But I had noticed, if a very small pebble was shot high amongst the Swifts they investigate thinking it might be a flying beetle or something, though they do soon learn and take no notice. Will it work today, could be worth a try, for a camera shot this time.
Pine cones are the only ammo I ever use in a catapult these days, mostly to scare pigeons now that Grey Squirrels have been eradicated locally.

That brings back memories long forgotten. At one time some Bubble Gum came with a little catty in the pack. The forkett was made with wire, the elastic was two elastic bands and it had little leathery plastic sling. We use to shoot tiny pebbles at swifts with the same result. We also made forketts from three pieces of Mechano. The elastic was few "office" type elastic bands strung together, No sling the ammo was small wire staples.
We were so good (or bad) with them that the local Ironmonger spoke to our Headmaster concerned about the trouble that we were causing The result was that he refused to sell these staples to anyone from The Village School.
No wonder that with decent stone I can still hit the cross on our Clothes Post at twenty yards.
Dave

[the poacher]

wot to do eh ,what starts off as a bit of fun can lead to who knows what.
cats can be a problem round the bird table to be sure and us bird watchers will be looking for a solution for many years to come,no harm intended to all domesticated pets who wander into our gardens, but,be sure,there is a man out there with a bowler hat and his clipboard ,the day will come when cat lovers everywhere will have to respond to the fact that domesticated cats do a lot of harm to our environment, and whilst they seem to be growing,our wild birds be declining

[thegnome]

I agree completely, I do not hate cats in fact I like cats but they won't take no for an answer will they and the harder you make it for them the more determined they get!

I have a friend who has resorted to a little electric fence around his bird table!

[bigdave60dog]

According to a Mammal Society study, Cats are the main predators in much of the developed world and have been for a great number of years. They are just one pressure that birds have to live with. It is likely that there are other pressures on the bird population other than cats that are depressing the bird population and not just in suburban areas.That is not to say that cats do no harm. They do catch a lot of birds. However cats have been with us since Roman days at least and our ecology will have developed to accommodate both cats and birds.
Something else is happening to make the normal pressures on bird populations intolerable. Maybe with the decline of good feeding sites in the countryside more birds are dependent on bird feeders which leave them open to cat attacks in a way which ahs never been before.#
Dave

[Red Robin]

My bird table is very high and so much more out of the reach of cats.

My catapult is called a catapult for a reason!