Barnett Black Widow Slingshot

Very good product for the money. Son wanted it and I ask around and everyone suggested this one. Was not disappointed

The band broke after a few pulls, and I did not over-extend it. I think it was dry-rotted already when I received it. I trimmed the ends, put it back on, and broke again right away. I was out of the return period, so that was that, I have since updated to the better red bands.While installing the replacement band, I noticed the handle was cracked. I only shot this thing like 5 times before the band broke, and I did not abuse it, and did not pull back on bands too hard, so I think it was a defect in the crappy plastic they use.My bigger issue with this slingshot, and company in general is that I went to their support site and twice submitted questions about this asking for help, and never received any response.And one thing I don't like about this slingshot is how narrow the posts are - I think it is more narrow than other slingshots. I think it would be easier to shoot if they were wider.I strongly recommend buying a better slingshot.*** Update ***Customer support finally got back with me after a couple months, and shipped me a replacement. I guess better late than never. So I will give them more stars for addressing the customer-support issue, even if it did take awhile.

Works great

I bought one of these a few years ago, and stashed it away. I came across it the other day, still in the package. Took it out, and found that the bands had deteriorated. I think it's the climate here on the big island of Hawaii. I had a spare set of bands with pouch from another company which I then installed on my Black Widow. At first, I didn't like the wrist support, so I removed that and shot it that way. After shooting this, and another slingshot I have, I decided to put that wrist support back on and give it another chance.I'm right handed with right dominant eye, so I shoot a slingshot holding it with my left hand. I had watched a few videos on shooting these, and many use the so called "gangsta" hold. So, I held the Black Widow with the handle pointing 90 degrees to my left. As someone suggested, I then used the tip of the left support, where the band attaches, and set that tip dead center on my target. One has to have an "anchor point" as far as where you position the hand holding the pouch, and do it the same every time.Your stance, anchor point, the way you hold and release the pouch have to be done exactly the same each shot. I put an empty milk carton about 21 feet away, and found that, using the gangsta hold and the left tip of the support yoke for sighting, that I was hitting the carton at least 8 times out of 10. This would be too easy for a good, experienced shooter, but I'm not one of those.If you get one of these, order yourself some spare sets of bands. These come with a leather pouch already installed. The bands are super easy to replace. To get the old ones off, I started rolling the old band where they attach to the frame, like I was rolling up a pant leg. Once you roll it up like that, you can pull them off. Then, get some rubbing alchohol, and dip the end of the first band about an inch or a bit more into alchohol. That makes it easy to slip the band onto the round frame. I push it a little past where the fold is in the frame. Make sure you orient that band so that the pouch is correctly oriented also. Then do the same thing with the other band, making sure you push it exactly as far onto the frame as you did with the first band, and that there are no twists in it, so the pouch is positioned correctly. The alchohol evaporates quickly, so get her done before then. Leave it dry for maybe 10 minutes before you shoot it just for safety. Fire away. It takes way longer to explain the process than it does to replace the bands. Keep a few extra sets of bands on hand, and reorder as needed. You can use small rocks as ammo, also some people use dried beans, marbles, or the steel balls Amazon sells for slingshot ammo. Also they sell dried clay balls as ammo.I may never be able to split playing cards with my slingshot, but I bet I'll get more accurate and have lots of fun shooting. I will make a target box with maybe a towel there to stop the ammo so I can reuse it over and over. Maybe hang an empty tin can from a string as a target.