The Pocket Shot
ThePocketShot.com/store

In the survival world some products are in a class by themselves. I decided that this would be the case with a new discovery I made last week called “The Pocket Shot.” Originally I had intended to cover slingshots and slingshot arrow shooting contraptions, and in my travels I discovered The Pocket Shot, but when it got here I quickly realized that it deserved its own space. The Pocket Shot is really just a thick rubber balloon, held by a plastic ring. But this simple device is not a toy, and a serious weapon. It fires standard slingshot balls, and there is a full arrow kit. As something that you can slip into a bugout bag, where nobody would even suspect that it is a weapon, I don’t think that The Pocket Shot has an equal.

I would never advocate that anyone bring any kind of slingshot to a gunfight of course, but there are good reasons that you should have a backup weapon in your pack. And in this case, I mean something that fires a projectile. I’m not a big advocate of “bugging out,” because you can only carry so much food, and the road is a dangerous place. But there are circumstances where staying put is not an option. I have explained many times that there will most likely be issues with radiation from abandoned nuke plants after “the big reveal” happens. So short of a foot of concrete over your head, you’ll have to get out if you are in a hot zone.

You also could just run out of food in your location, and if you have no ability to raid other food stores, and there is not enough game to live on (there rarely is), you are going to have to move.

A backup projectile weapon, especially if you can carry an arrow, is a great way to score some small game on the road. And because you aren’t “wasting ammo,” by practicing with a slingshot, there is no reason why you couldn’t get good with it and expect to be able to hit what you aim at. Nothing is perfect, but something is better than nothing, always. That goes double for self defense. I strongly urge you to keep a sword or spear as part of your bugout kit (yes I’m hoping to get to spears), and I wouldn’t consider the slingshot ball option of the Pocket Shot a good deterrent weapon. But with the arrow, I don’t think anyone would keep coming once they see that point staring at them under draw.

What makes The Pocket Shot stand alone is that it doesn’t look like a weapon. If anything it looks like a waterproof case, and I think could put some documents or something inside it to disguise it’s purpose, and nobody would even question it. This is really important if in your travels you end up in some kind of temporary housing or refugee settlement. Anything like that will have a no weapons policy, and they’ll probably take your weapons. Then what happens if/when you leave? Your weapons are gone.

My brief field tests with The Pocket Shot are in the video. If you have some arm strength, I suggest that if you are going to buy extra pouches, you get the blue “Pro” version. It is hard to show on a video the power that those steel balls impart, and the blue pouch was noticeably stronger. I am going to see how lead roundballs work as well. There is no doubt that you could roll a squirrel or possum with one, and I think you could break through a turtle shell as well. That’s all good road food, and food that is difficult to catch without a projectile weapon.

I had two problems with the product. One was that if you watch the video, I had to jam my fingers in there pretty good to be able to remove the ring after it was hand tightened. That scraped the side of my finger up pretty good, and any injury in a survival situation is not good. I will be more careful in the future, and ideally wear gloves to seat and remove the ring.

The other problem is in the video. I initially was not careful to put the nock cover on the different arrows I tried with The Pocket Shot, and I ripped one of the orange bags. So I went back and tested, and over more than 20 shots, using the nock cover, I did not experience another rip in a fresh bag. Therefore, use the nock covers. But besides that, the company obviously makes buying extra bags cheap, 8 for $25, for a reason. The bags eventually break. If you are shooting rocks for sure you’ll break some bags, so beware of that as well.

Hopefully I’ll have time at some point to come back and show you the other arrow slingshots that I found. I just ordered some arrow fish barbs, so most likely we’ll test them in the light of bow/arrow fishing. The Pocket Shot I think will hold its own against even the most expensive and sturdy slingshot product. If you live in the extreme dogooder fool states, real slingshots, and especially wrist rockets, may not even be legal. I’d like them to try to write legislation that outlaws The Pocket Shot. Think about all the unintended pregnancies LMAO.