Wow!! Crazy cool stuff!! To see the skill some of those dudes had years ago and how popular it was with a large cross section of the population. Nice job digging this up C M!!
It's so interesting to think about. Some people would say that we have only obtained excellent accuracy within the past 4 years or so. How wrong they are... these old timers have been kicking ass long before any of us were around!! They are the ones who have truly paved the way for us.
I like what you said Clever, It is true the old timers were kicking ass long before the silly trends of thera-bands, thin tubes and all the new stuff, the old timers did it with their own home built weapons and simple tools and readily available elastic and made their own pouches from boots, shoes or belts etc. usually only rocks or at best marbles for the top ammo.
I wonder if a local Librarian might be able to assist. They love digging into old newspapers and periodicals. You might first need to fortify her with some of your homemade squirrel stew. A happy Librarian is a helpful Librarian.
This is the movie that convinced me that I my naturals were no good and I HAD to have a wrist rocket. LOL
Yes that was it kept wanting to say death hunt but that was bronsons movie that they should do a remake on.
Robb White, the book is still available on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Deathwatch-Ro...TF8&qid=1406066712&sr=8-1&keywords=deathwatch
To my friend @Toddy, and all my other UK friends. I worked hard at digging up this info... and let me tell you, it was well worth the read (at least it was to me). I'm fairly certain many have not read this info... This is posted with respect for my friends, and I have provided a link to download here and I will also update the first post of the thread above for download. This information comes from a newspaper article from the London Standard May 3rd, 1898. Please read the second column entitled "Catapults Poaching". You can zoom in as necessary to read. Read online: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-xZ1bJ-VomOcEx6SHZrUXdBUW8/edit?usp=sharing NOTE: If you want to download: Once you go to the link, click File, then Download. Cheers, Clever Moniker
Another snippet from UK slingshot history about a boy taking a Muskrat with a Catapult! This one comes from the Gloucestershire Echo - June , 1933 Here is the snippet. To see the whole newspaper article, see here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-xZ1bJ-VomONGVhUlEzSlhYVUk/edit?usp=sharing Cheers, Clever Moniker
@Clever Moniker, that was superb reading thank you very much. I have long said there is nothing new with catapults and that first post from the Standard went a long way to proving that.
Wow! Excellent Find, Mr CM! The article also says... J. G Millais devoted a page to Catapult Shooting in The Encyclopaedia of Sport (Vol. I, 1897). You can read it online or view it in other formats. HERE it is. If you move the little finger at the bottom of the page, you can scroll over to page 182 (or whatever page you wish to read. Really cool stuff! I love stuff like this! Also another fun read... New Zealand article: The Press, Volume IV, Issue 1006, Thursday, June 16, 1898 “Topics of the Day” The catapult, or shanghai, as it is more frequently called out here, is not often honored with so much notice as was lately given to it by the London “Standard,” which discussed its various uses in great detail. Of late, it seems, the catapult has come into some prominence owing to the killing powers it possesses in skillful hands. As the boy’s plaything, used for shooting on the sly at stray sparrows and blackbirds, and nastily pocketed on the approach of strangers, its capabilities are not fully seen. Mr J. G. Millais, the African traveller, who devotes a whole page to the catapult in the “Encyclopaedia of Sport,” characterizes the ordinary boy’s catapult as a coarse weapon used in hurling small stones, “combining economy and inaccuracy,” but he thinks highly of it a a means of acquiring the art of aiming and skill in judging distances on a small scale. Furthermore he acknowledges…