OK, it’s a childish name but once thought up, it wouldn’t go away! (TLDR? BUY HERE! https://slingshot-world.ecwid.com/)
It started for me with Brian from Las Vegas – the man who uses more crazy rubber than any of us lot as he is a spear fisherman in Lake Mead, Nevada with his 9th Island Spearfishing club. Striped Bass are what they eat.. and carp are just a ‘trash fish’ or invasive species. The bands on his harpoon are epic. The USA Hitman Slingshots site, (here https://hitmanslingshots.com/) has the Pinch Pouch and we imported and sold some. They are made of heavily skived (shaved) Kangaroo hide, so are very thin and light and weigh all but nothing. They feel as if they are flimsy but are not. Kangaroos are tough cobbers, so even their very outer hide layer that Hitman Slingshots use for their pouches, is amazingly durable. I have worn out a few, mind. Here is the link but shipping in small amounts from the USA will make them absurdly expensive.
Before the shipment arrived, I decided to try making my own, using some top quality leather I had swiped from a company that uses Connolly hides to re-upholster Ferraris and Rolls Royces for millionaires. Although crude, once fixed onto a bandset and tied to a Uniphoxx, it was deadly.
Thing is, I am bitter as a gourd about it, but my bones are arthritic. It is depressing hearing a doctor marvel over your x-rays and say quietly to himself, “Oh my, you are bone-on-bone there…” about places where the joints are ruined but it also means I cannot lift my rear elbow correctly. My ‘stance’ is dropped-back-elbow and I have always had epic issues with consistency of shot release. A big thick leather pouch and stones bigger than 20mm as a lad, somehow meant this wasn’t a thing I recall happening. And I would shoot airgun darts in my dad’s garage with the DeadShot and could bullseye a dartboard, knocking it out of the cheap board, it hit with such force.
So my release was rubbish, trip after trip, miss after miss, my mooching mate would return with pheasants, and I would fail, until I tried this no-hold style of pouch.
There is no speed bump. There is no uneven band length error grip. There is no slight twist to send you on a flier.
All this is obviated by the pouch that wraps around the ammo to hold it, while a tab of folded pouch material behind it is what you hold on to. You can even pop a hole through this and use a professional archery release. Although they are not allowed in competitions with the England Slingshot Federation.
I made them in two sizes as each is pretty forgiving and will hold balls a millimetre or two up and down. So the ‘For Smaller Balls’ version will hold 7, 8 and 9.5mm balls, the ‘For Bigger Balls’ version will hold 8, 9.5 and 10mm balls. The stitching is with Hungarian made polyester sewing thread and done with a proper arrow tip leather needle.
Don’t expect machine precision, but rather the ‘charm of hand made’ yet make no mistake, you really will be able to see fat improvements from shot one, if there are any issues with your release.
Yes, they are expensive but it is all cut and sewn by hand, with love in each one, and punched and cut with steel hammer-tools from China.
Here is the link to buy them, as well as magazines. https://slingshot-world.ecwid.com/ They are not a bulk item and I only have a few, although I do have the time and materials to make more.
