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Ulysses,

Gun is closed barrel with circular bands. In the end on my 117cm gun I replaced the 152cm shaft with a 140cm one. I tested it this weekend, and the gun "feels" a lot better: balance has improved, its easier to wield. In terms of ballistics I haven't been able to test penetration, but I paid a lot of attention to the articles that Spaghetti pointed out, and spent most of my weekend testing bands stretch vs. load and going through the calculations. I then selected the "appropriate" band material and length to suit the spear weight, and in shooting the shaft acceleration is much smoother and the spear has a flatter trajectory.

The aiming issue which you pointed out: True, the shorter the shaft, the more impeded you are with sighting down the spear tip. It is noticeable with the 140cm shaft. However I don't ever really consciously aim that way. I normally just point the gun at the target, without traditionally sighting it as one would at a target, so I feel that in my case I won't notice the difference in practice.

Cheers,

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