What is the BEST rubber? Latex rubber elastic is our life! LOTS of science has been done in the past and it is really difficult to work out any absolute facts apart from that tapered bands snap faster than the same amount of elastic in a straight band.
The only way to apply science is to use real scientific methods. THE RUBBER BOUTIQUE in issue five, Slingshot World magazine, goes more in depth than any that has gone before. Remove as many variables as possible and what is left is the detail.
Bands all the same cut from expert band maker RICHARD ROGERS.
Bands all the same thickness.
Draw length identical using a fixed trigger rifle
Browning digital angling scales to measure draw weight
Chrony to measure FPS
All done with 9.5mm steel
Incredible but true, these people are actually more obsessed with rubber than us! Aeromodellers, with indoor planes…..
And did you know you can fit flat bands to a Milbro?
Not a spoiler to admit that the results have been staggering. ALL the NINE kinds I tried (actually eleven, if you count the two ‘dodgy’ ones…) were so variable in pull for the ‘same’ nominal band sets that I was dumbfounded. The strongest pull weight was all but DOUBLE that of the weediest pull weight! I have so far done all the draw weight testing. Fascinating to watch the draw reduce over the first few seconds of holding it. Around four to five ounces of tension simply eases away as the elastic sits, stretched. The final equal-terms thing was the short delay before firing each time to measure on the Chrony F1.
