Saw an earlier post about Atlatls from outbackarcher and I thought I'd share some pics of mine which I sourced from a bloke called Atlatl Bob in the US. I went with a two piece take-down model (apparently made from Easton shafts) to try out as a survival hunting tool, as when dismantled the dart shaft pieces are pretty much similar weight and length to two aluminium arrows.
The Atlatl itself I bought from a mob called Thunderbird Atlatl. It's the far simpler part of the system as essentially it's just a stick with a dart riser and hook on it. As a bare-bones survival choice you could ditch it and just take the dart pieces; I reckon a basic one could be made from a branch in half an hour.
I haven't had a chance to take this out to the range yet and estimate an equivalent "poundage" to a bow; its variable unlike a bow is the man or woman behind it and their efficiency in throwing. Also at 163cm or just over five feet it's not going to have the raw kinetic potential energy of some of the big darts (up to seven feet) which I'm assured by the OS sites have been used to hunt bear and deer.
I think it's a real shame there's not (to my knowledge) a local Atlatal or Woomera manufacturer as I'd like to explore this long-neglected grand-daddy to the bow and support local artisans if I could. If anyone could suggest where I could get the "raw" shafts in either aluminium or wood as an alternative that would be great as I don't think the construction would be too full on.
Anyway my first post on this forum and glad to be here
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon/smile.gif)
Cheers, Nick
![Image](http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac103/Golgotha1138/396d433fbc4da57cba4fb327e2dc80e2.jpg)
Atlatl dart seated into the Atlatl hook
![Image](http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac103/Golgotha1138/684dfb3ab6e0e70eb1c4882f46c7d23e.jpg)
5 darts and Atlatl
![Image](http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac103/Golgotha1138/fc29d723d181c3e79e7823db6de8a406.jpg)
These are standard screw-in field points and the darts will accept broadheads
![Image](http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac103/Golgotha1138/4f33ea06197a171ab2a41c8b1a2caefa.jpg)
Close-up of the attachment system for the two dart sections
![Image](http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac103/Golgotha1138/e44ee31f894212a3fab7ca69d15b4690.jpg)
The Atlatl hook doesn't require any special socketing, the shaft hollow is sufficient
![Image](http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac103/Golgotha1138/9b11e69627d715710ac853626045767e.jpg)
The fitment is very snug and I have every confidence in it being almost the same performance as a one-piece unit