[BJC]

What are you saying no to, everything I said was true. You will not accelerate a ball to the shooter wheel's speed with a single point of contact. That is not to say that it won't work. Just that it won't be traveling through the air as fast as 1/2 the surface speed of the wheel.

Your experience is interesting. There are many reasons why the ball might not have gone as far. (too much or too little pinch comes most readily to mind) However, as a rule takes about 1/4-1/3 of the wheel curcumference to get the ball up to full speed (1/2 shooter speed) all the way up. So yes it will spin faster, however this is the result of the ball rotating faster as it travels faster. I can draw a diagram quickly if you want but basically with a single shooter the outside of the ball travels the shooter wheel's surface speed while the middle of the ball (what you care about) travels 1/2 the shooter wheel's surface speed.