After looking in vain on the 'net for an actual Wrist Rocket, just like the ones me and Baby Brother had back in the day, after searching high and low for months and years, I finally snagged one on eBay when everything else failed me.
And it's in great shape, and could've been the one that sat on my dresser for years growing up, before someone threw it out when I left for college (mumble grumble).
{And, True Fact, Mom played the dreaded "You'll shoot your eye out!" card for years to deny us anything like a ferocious Daisy Red Ryder, but didn't bat an eye at purchasing us both Wrist Rockets, which diligent use proved the pair of us ten times the neighborhood petty terrorists of which she had no clue*, but which she was certain were far less dangerous because "every kid" in her Depression-era neighborhood had possessed an inner-tube powered slingshot in Mayberry when she was a child.}
This is the model than which no other lesser model will suffice, because all the other lame-ass attempts since the Wham-O classic, from the same people who brought America the Frisbee and the Hula-hoop, have been naught but 24K shite and half-assery crapola non pareil. (I'm looking at all you second-rate imitators who screwed that pooch, over and over again.)
So "Yay for me!", I finally got my hands on the genuine article.
And now, I find this:
My vintage model cost me less than that, but I'ma buy 4-10 of the new ones, because
1) nobody else for decades had the balls to do it right;
2) nothing works as well as the original type, which it seems these folks followed to the letter, and besides being fun, it's actually one of the most practical survival items you could tote;
3) if I don't buy ridiculous numbers of them now, the sonsofbitches will go belly up before I do, and it'll be another 50 years before there's another correct one, and I ain't gonna live to be that old.
4) Free shipping for 4 or more.
*(The statute of limitations having expired, the details of which will be blogfodder in days to come. Watch this space.)
46 comments:
I use lead musket balls for hunting with my slingshot, and then their equivalent size in clay ammo for target practice. I can hit something at 75ft, but realistically, the killbox is less than 35ft.
Not sure if the wrist rocket is for me but it looks cool :)
A wrist rocket WILL put a 50/100 of an inch lead sphere completely through a human head at 25yds - don't ask me how I know, I just do.
Good gear; loved 'em then, love 'em now
BG
The one I had was wooden by Wham-O, I believe. It had "surgical tubing" for power and came with a bag of steel ball bearings. I promptly shot out the street light. Power company found the steeley. Dad had to pay. My backside had to pay.
Great toys, and weapons.
Good score. Unfortunately the surgical tubing ages rapidly and will break under tension. I've tried replacing it with the "exercise" bands and other tubular springy stuff... if you get a nick or a crack, it will break.
I'm just saying that it's difficult to stockpile them due to the bands aging. IDK if the formulation has changed, or if the commonly available stuff just isn't the same as the old stuff, but I've had no luck.
They also make a variety of 'ball' launcher slingshots that look like giant wrist rockets, and they can be used for lofting antenna wire into trees, but they age out and break too.
Unless someone knows a protective treatment? Or a source for long lasting tubing?
n
That's the one! My dad had one of them back in the '70s.
I've had a hybrid with 3 tubes on each side for several years, it has a laser for aiming and a metal magnetic tray for quick reload. As a kid I still had the wooden Y with bicycle tube cord.
This one is very accurate, I bought a couple of thousand of the clay pellets to use for target practice, but also have several thousand real bearings. You could tear somebody up out to about 100 ft. Or hit small game, It would be hard to inflict a mortal wound on a person, but you could certainly make them extremely uncomfortable without marking your position.
In our neck of the woods, I use mine to shoo off large chicken eating birds. It's illegal to shoot 'em with the .22
Barnett Cobra slingshot $20
I've had 2 of them for years, I think Walmart still carries the replacement rubbers too (Daisy Powerline). Keep some silicone handy for occasional relube, or Mr. Murphy will show in no time. Rubber rots.
$29 ???
WOW. I can remember when they were $6.99, $5.99 on special, and I thought that was high.
That was 1970-something......
What a great suggestion for prep additions. Haven't used one of these for years. Time to relearn an old skill. Besides, I remember these as a lot of fun.
Yer wearing proper eye pro when slinging, yes? A high speed surgical tubing segment into one's eyeball is a bad thing.
I have a wrist rocket in storage, somewhere...
My pawpaw’s Wrist Rocket threw walnuts fast and far. Pecans didn’t go as far, but they had an impressive hook to the left mid-flight.
I remember using modeling clay, rolled into 1/2 balls to have our local Wristrocket battles.. after action included analysis of the recovered loads to examine the expansion of the round.
Sure would make a welt if you caught one on the inner thigh.
Ah, the good old days.
I have a Daisy version that ain't too bad. I bought it to set lines in trees. It didn't work out. I kept it around because it does work. Not as well as a pellet gun, but pretty good and it'll launch something bigger than a BB.
I had one in High School, won't go into what I did with it, but I now have another original. Very fine piece of equipment.
I have a Daisy model where the wrist pocket folds forward, making a smaller package for your pack. Uses the same bands and pocket. Love these!!! And yup, will drop a rabbit or squirrel if you do your part right.
Think of how far you can launch a cherry bomb. Or an M-80.
I never did that, you can't prove it, and the statute of limitations has run out...
I have not used mine in years but it is part of my inventory.
search for: wrist slingshot arrows
You can also mount an archery brush arrow rest to also shoot arrows, if so inclined.
I got pretty good with mine (it was an SR-7, but the metal tubes were silver). The variable of different-sized rocks added to the accuracy challenge. I wore out the elastic on mine the first summer . . .
Funny, no ballistics on a rock . . .
Back in the dark ages we used to shoot legit m80s and silver salutes at various and sundry inspecting innocents and structures.
My parents wouldn't let 10 year old me have a paintball gun, but a slingshot was completely fine. This lead to me and the boys all getting wrist rockets and a case of paintballs from Kmart. We got really talented at lobbing those things at each other. Dad got really annoyed with all the yellow and pink splotches on our barns and equipment.
Good times.
Lol. I checked out the shipping restrictions and guess what country bans them? Australia!
Capitol of Clown World indeed.
MF
I have the folding falcon. Packs up nice.
303 Rubber Seal Protectant
Those shouldn't be too hard to manufacture, provided one could get steel bar stock of appropriate diameter. Build a jig, and you could crank them out pretty quick with a torch. 3d print the handle, and presto, low budget locally manufactured tool.
Oh, happy memories Aesop! And great score!
I am partial to marbles...
These and bb/pellet guns are how we learned the difference between cover and concealment when were young lads hunting each other in the nearby creeks....
indians vs cowboys...paratroopers vs Wehrmacht....grunts vs vc....
Thats what happens when the sons of wwii, korea and vietnam vets go out to play....
skills/lessons once learned do not automagically become unlearned years later...
add in .mil training and experience, well, Squad Rules apply....
ymmv..
\\NNNN
Actual commercial-grade M-80s, bought from the trunk of a car on a construction site, can be launched from a wrist-rocket to air-burst 100 yards down range all around a neighborhood. It takes 2 mad lads, the launcher, and the lighter. You pull the M-80 back to full-draw, mad lad #2 lights it, and #1 immediately lets fly at a high angle. BOOM! several houses away, in the sky. (I imagined this in a dream.)
I have heard tell they are effective at putting out street lights as well.
I remember having the Wham-o shot. What a piece of junk that was. So bad I never had the inclination to try anything else in that realm -- ever.
Marbles make great ammo for the wrist rockets.
I am heartily encouraged at how many of you already know the upcoming material on wrist rocketry, so that anything published will be a refresher course, rather than new material.
Pennies and nickels are right out. They are great for about the first 10 feet of flight, then gnu only knows where they will hook off too.
And for non-lethal, one day during a mock battle, I learned that a small pink rectangle of Bazooka Joe to the sternum at a range of <10ft knocked me back on my ass.... left a nice welt too. (don't know how much of that was surprise, probably a lot of it, but that mass packed a wallop.) And it's coming right for your head, says the lizard brain.
n
And the next step up is the classic shepherd's sling, historically an extremely effective battlefield weapon with an effective range in excess of 75 yards. A skilled slinger using double conical lead projectiles can deliver 10 hits a minute at ranges out to 100 yards on human targets. For even more range, the staff sling can be considered, too. Lead sling projectiles would penetrate Roman shields and armor at close range, and slingers could outrun heavily armored Legionnaires.
Pro:
-Almost totally silent excepting a slight whistle from the lanyard/pouch;
-Can use a variety of field expedient ammo ranging from stones to golf balls to large steel ball bearings to lead projectiles, among others;
- extremely cheap and easy to make;
-folds into a lightweight compact bundle that fits into a pants pocket- passes through metal detectors with ease.
- Long lasting- modern materials will last decades.
Cons- Rather like a longbow, requires extensive practice to get good.
I bought one a few years ago for the squirrels. One squirrel zagged, instead of zigging, and met it's end. I could barely hit the side of a building, and my accuracy was about as bad as it gets, so it was just a bad day at the feeder. His buddies continued coming daily to honor his demise, and I continued wasting ball bearings.
Buy some 1/4 inch I'd surgical neoprene rubber tubing on a roll put the roll in a sealable container with an oxygen scavenger or under nitrogen gas it will keep for years.
Wrist Rocket, M-80s, Antifa protest....
What a party.....
Large chicken eating birds. It's illegal to shoot 'em with the .22
Barnett Cobra slingshot $20
Anshutz model 64 Target...priceless.
Rust rockets are cool and all but annoying.hard to conceal.
The standard y shape slingshot when small enough, can easily fit in a pocket.
I use a regular slingshot made out of steel. I use bands made of surgical rubber (type used by nurses around the arm getting an injection.) Of different strengths. You can get a whole bag of bands with pouches already installed on Amazon. (Might as well equip ones self cheaply)
I also bought ammo made from clay.. better it breaks up when hitting a wall than leave them evidence to use.
As a kid in the 70's, my wrist rocket had a fixed aluminum support arm with round foam to reduce pain on wrist. I was too young to fully draw it all the way to the rear, and my accuracy was awful. The handle was a plastic sleeve form fitted to eh dual arms, not a pistol grip as shown on above unit. I wish I knew what happened to it. Kid stuff black hole swallowed it up apparently.
Thanks for the above content - certainly a handy tool to have, just needs plenty of practice to use well.
jrg
Wow, lots of comments on this one! In Dallas we used chinaberries in ours. They hurt! Also hunted American black crows in the trees behind my grandfather's beer joint.
As many here have said try the Barnett brand
I have/had used Trumark ( the original wrist rocket manufacturer) for 50 years. They developed the tapered band that worked the very best. My last conversation with them, the gentleman that owned/ created the company said they could no longer make the due to prohibitve insurance cost. Another fine American company out of business.
Try armorall on the bands to protect them.
I had one of these as a young lad. Many grand adventures and many shot out street lights. I lived on the campus of a private college and high school. My best friend lived in the form, and he was my usual comrade for mischief. We were walking up the road to my house one day, and my best friend had the wrist rocket sticking out of his back pocket. The college president drove past and said " what have you got there?" My friend replied "something that's costing you a lot of money." Good times! (We launched M-80's when we could get them, but preferred taping them to an arrow. One time with a frog.)
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