Slingshot Ammo: What to Shoot and What Never to Shoot

Steel, clay, rubber, BBs

Steel

The standard, and SimpleShot's recommendation across the board, including for hunting. Precision ball bearings, uniform in weight and shape, so every shot leaves the pouch the same way. Round ammo flies true; out-of-round ammo doesn't. The economy is in the reuse: shoot it into a catch box, scoop it up, drop it back in the bottle. A single bottle lasts a very long time. (Steel is sold in North America only; the weight makes overseas shipping impractical.)

Clay

Biodegradable, made from natural clay. Flies downrange, lands with a thunk, and when it hits something hard it goes to pieces in a satisfying little burst instead of bouncing back. Leave it behind and the weather erases the evidence. Perfect for the backyard, the field, the woods, and for new shooters who'd rather not crawl around collecting steel. Clay varies a little in size and shape, so for tight repeatable accuracy, steel wins. The 9 mm (3/8") is the standard size.

Rubber training ammo

10 mm soft rubber, bright white so you can follow it in flight and find it in the grass. Lands soft, shoots on the lightest bands, reusable. The easiest way to hand someone a slingshot and watch them fall for it, and the usual indoor practice round.

BBs and AirSoft BBs

Same thing, and one of the best training tools there is. A BB is so small and light that your release has to be perfect for it to fly true; every flaw shows up immediately. Cheap, quiet, and easy on a catch box. You need a small pouch and light bands (Lite 1/4") to shoot them well. Pick them up; don't litter.

Plastic training ammo

Similar role to rubber, lighter, and it doesn't bounce the same way. Indoor-friendly.

Steel sizes, decoded

SimpleShot sells steel in five sizes. Each has a job, and each has a bandset built for it. Bigger is not better in the abstract; bigger is better when the job calls for it.

For target shooting, size barely matters, and competition is trending toward 9.5 mm (3/8") and under. For hunting the math flips: a heavier ball carries more mass and delivers more energy, at the cost of a more pronounced arc. Larger ammo is also easier to see in flight and feel in the pouch. Match the ammo to the use and the band to the ammo.

What to buy

The everyday round

SimpleShot 3/8" Steel Slingshot Ammo

from $4.99★ 5.0 (47 reviews at simple-shot.com)

• The everyday standard
• About 345 rounds per bottle
• Reusable poly bottle
• North America only

Our verdict. The round most slingshot shooters trust, and the one SimpleShot recommends. Precision steel, uniform weight and shape, which is exactly what accuracy needs. New to it? This is the size to start with.

Ships in a reusable poly bottle: a sample of about 85 rounds to try it, or a full bottle of about 345. Fire it into a catch box and the same rounds load right back up.

Remarkably accurate and consistent. Night and day compared to clay shot.

Perfectly round unlike the other ammo that I've bought in the past. All of their ammo had flat spots but SimpleShot's ammo is perfectly round.

See it at SimpleShot →

Leave-it-behind plinking

SimpleShot Clay Slingshot Ammo

from $9.99★ 4.8 (534 reviews at simple-shot.com)

• Biodegradable
• 9 mm (3/8") standard
• Leave-it-behind plinking
• 500 and larger counts

Our verdict. An afternoon of shooting that asks nothing of you afterward. Flies, lands, bursts on a hard hit, and the rain cleans up. The 9 mm is the standard; it's the size to buy.

Non-toxic natural clay. Expect a little variation in size and color from piece to piece; it's a natural product. For tight accuracy, reach for steel. For relaxed shooting you can walk away from, nothing beats it.

They work great, accurate and fun to shoot. Love the fact they are biodegradable so I can plink targets without worry of leaving shot everywhere.

Love it. This has exponentially increased the number of shots taken thus increasing my skill… and enjoy its powder puff disintegration when hitting steel and hard targets.

See it at SimpleShot →

First lessons and indoors

SimpleShot Rubber Training Ammo

from $4.99★ 4.9 (95 reviews at simple-shot.com)

• 10 mm soft rubber
• White, easy to see in flight
• Reusable
• Indoor and first-lesson friendly

Our verdict. Soft, light, white, reusable. The ammo for first lessons, indoor ranges, and anyone you're introducing to the sport. Watch the hits start landing, then gather them up and go again.

100 rounds of 10 mm soft rubber per pack. Shoots on the lightest bands.

Great product to work on technique. As a beginner I took the course and am now able to hit a can from 30 feet… Easy to see it fly, easy to find in the grass, light, and inexpensive.

See it at SimpleShot →

Hunting

SimpleShot 7/16" Steel Slingshot Ammo

from $4.99★ 5.0 (20 reviews at simple-shot.com)

• Where slingshots start to hunt
• About 215 rounds per bottle
• Pair with Heavy Duty bands

Our verdict. Heavy enough to hunt. Behind Heavy Duty bands, 7/16" carries real energy downrange: enough to take small game cleanly and hammer reactive targets.

About 215 rounds per bottle. Pair with Heavy Duty 7/16" bands and read the hunting guide before you go.

See it at SimpleShot →

What never to shoot

Rocks and stones

No. Not "yes, but." Rocks aren't round and aren't consistent in size, so they don't sit centered in a pouch built for round ammo. At full draw that means one band stretched more than the other and a projectile leaving off-axis, which is how the shot goes somewhere you didn't aim and how a jagged stone wrecks a bandset. Shoot steel or clay. Every SimpleShot bandset says it on the package: built for round ammo, not rocks or stones.

Glass marbles

Not recommended. They break, and broken glass is a sharp-shard hazard around a target. Steel does everything a marble does without the mess.

Lead

Lead has real ballistic advantages for hunting: denser, so smaller at the same weight, and it deforms instead of ricocheting. SimpleShot doesn't sell it and doesn't recommend it, for environmental and safety reasons, and lead is restricted in many places. Build hunting energy with heavy steel and powerful bands instead.

Anything not round

Out-of-round ammo flies erratically. It's physics, not preference. Round ball is the requirement for accurate flight.

And a note on where the ammo goes: steel ricochets off hard surfaces. Shoot into a catch box or a soft backstop, know what's behind the target, and keep hard-surface targets like cast iron to clay only.