Just bought a catapult

[Vince Green]

Years ago I know a bloke who was a bargee on a canal barge. He was absolutely deadly with his catapult through having a lifetime of practice knocking over ducks, rabbits etc along the canal.

In the right hands they can be very effective

[Minky]

9 hours ago, Penelope said:

You needed a crossover handle for the catty.

Or an offset foresight. Like a Swan neck crossover stock.

Back when I was a kid all the catles were homemade.  It wasn't until those horrible aluminium Milbro caties became available that you could buy one..... that I  know of.  They were horrible. The amount of times that my thumb clobbered by either the stone or the leather. The lads would comb the woods for suitable forks to cut for suitable ( strods) to make a world class catties.  The Strod had to be strong enough to take the stress of the pull under loaded tension and the horns had to be thick enough to take a hole large enough to take the catty lastic without becoming weak. Then some people had a preference for a wide space across the horns whereas others liked to have a narrow set.  The local bike shop sold 3/16  @1/4 sq lastic which was sold by the yard. The next thing was all the lads kept an eye out for those round stones.  I never knew of anyone using Steel ball bearings. But some people were very accurate with selected stones.  I did know a bloke who had a party trick of setting up 3 Swan vestas matches like a goal out of the top of the matchbox and shooting out the crossbar which ignited all 3 match heads with the burning crossbar flying through the air. A magic trick from about 20 paces.

Ps.. the holes for the lastic to go through were burnt through with a rod hot meat skewer and rounded so that the wood didn't split and the lastic didn't get chaffed or cut on sharp edges.

Edited November 22, 2023 by Minky

[derbyduck]

just  two of many . 

[oneshotkiller]

Quite fond of using a catapult myself