Catapulting for big boys
Tom Sykes rekindles his adolescent passion for catapulting while passing the time during lockdown
Like most of us, Charlie and I had wonderful plans for 2020 that have been thwarted by the coronavirus crisis. This unprecedented lockdown has, however, given us an opportunity to find alternative ways to pass the time. As I am unable to go shooting, this has meant a rediscovery of the joys of catapulting.
As an adolescent full of mischief, I enjoyed playing with a catapult and testing my skills. My friends and I used to play our own version of paintballing, with grapes being the ideal projectile. We could certainly bag a running human target at range with a grape (my adult self does not, of course, condone such behaviour), as well as being proficient tin-can hunters, with a pocket full of the smoothest pebbles you could scavenge. Despite having a love for the primitive tool, my catapult gathered dust for a long time in the attic and began to fade from memory.
Earlier this year, I was in the process of purchasing a pair of waders online when I was presented with the offer to add to my basket to become eligible for free postage. After I had a browse of the website, I discovered that the company sold basic tube-band catapults. I thought that a trip down Memory Lane would be well worth the investment to gain free postage.
My delivery soon landed and it didn’t take long plinking at targets before I got my eye back in and I decided to investigate the sport further. After joining catapult Facebook groups, researching the internet and scouring through hours of YouTube footage, I discovered that the way to increase accuracy and achieve a high enough standard to hunt, I would need to invest in better equipment. This meant starting with a catapult with flat bands as opposed to tubes. It is fair to say that I did not realise just
how large and interchangeable the catapult sport could be. There were a large number of different catapult frames, bands, pouches, ammunition and shooting styles to navigate through to find the set-up that suited me.
Research
After doing my research I kept finding myself heading back to a company called Catty Shack, run by Wayne Martin. He has produced numerous videos on the sport as well as featuring on Fieldsports Britain, providing informative segments. I decided to settle on the Catty Shack Goblet EVO, which is cast in stainless steel and so it’ll be incredibly durable. After speaking to Wayne, he soon had my catapult sent out with a few sets of bands, ammunition and other accessories to get me started.
Set-up
I started out with the Goblet EVO with a set of pre-made light bands to help me master the technique. The bands were 0.65mm thickness, with a 5mm taper, 21/15; this means the band is 21mm wide at the catapult and tapers down to 15mm at the pouch. The taper increases the speed of the projectile and also means that the band is more likely to wear and thus snap at the pouch end first, preventing the band from snapping back towards your face. The pre-made bands need to be cut down to suit the individual. In my case, I cut the bands down to 20cm in length from the pouch, allowing 20mm to tie the band onto the frame with the use of band ribbon. This gave me roughly an 81cm draw, ideal for my height (6ft 1in) and length of draw. I used 9.5mm steel ball bearings (BBs), which are great target practice ammunition. A more common hunting set-up would be 11mm steel with a thicker band, such as 0.8mm, creating adequate stopping power when placed correctly for small quarry such as rabbits, squirrels and pigeon.
I saw a massive improvement in my performance moving from the tube bands and cheap frame to the Goblet EVO. Drawing the flat bands is a lot smoother and creates less stress on the arms, meaning that it is far easier to remain steady when at full draw allowing a more consistent frame hold and anchor point. The frame hold is the angle and rotation of the catapult hand and the anchor point is the where you hold the pouch hand at full draw. The best way to get a consistent anchor and thus increase accuracy is to have a point of reference on your face if you are following the short draw
technique. My anchor
point is just above the corner of my mouth, which helps me to replicate each shot as consistently as possible. Frame hold and anchor points ensure that the projectile flies in a straight line. You then have a point of reference on the catapult frame, which you can use as a sight. This technique forms the basis of all catapult and archery shooting. As ever, repetition is the best way to create muscle memory and ensure good technique becomes second nature.
Catapulting is a fantastic hobby for the garden, especially during lockdown, but you need to have a safe shooting range. When setting a target in the garden you must ensure that it has a suitable backstop to prevent shots or ricochets breaching your boundaries. Initially, I created a rustic garden shooting range with a backstop of towels and other fabrics, which was ideal. I strung leather spinners and paper targets up with paracord in front of the backstop and laid a tarp down to make it easier to spot the majority of the shots on the floor. I also set up guy ropes on the backstop to help funnel the BBs into a bucket, which speeded up the gathering time. My magnetic cartridge picker became a handy tool for gathering the steel balls without breaking my back every time I needed to root them out of the grass. There are shot catchers designed for the job but I was unable to get my hands on one initially due to disrupted business.
Paper targets are great for helping to establish groupings but they soon need replacing once you can shoot tight groups consistently. Commonly I use a set of leather spinner targets that vary in size to help increase the difficulty of the range without the need to move back from the target if room is limited. Leather spinners are great as they can be hit time after time without the need to replace them, unlike a paper target that soon needs replacing. I found this to be the perfect method to work on my muscle memory and master accuracy as you can fire a large quantity of ammo at the same target without having to move.
Now my competence has increased with each practice session, I am working towards
“We could bag a human target at range with a grape”
being able to hunt with a catapult. However, I must stress that you need to be shooting to a high level of accuracy consistently before contemplating going hunting.
Catapulting is a difficult skill to learn and should be treated with respect. That said, I cannot recommend the sport enough; there is something for everyone, be it hitting targets in the garden with family or trying to bag some food for the table. It has definitely got me hooked during these unprecedented times and I am committed to exploring the sport further. Happy plinking.