aftermarket rail/track on hybrids

[holdown]

caveat-I love wong guns and feel there is no immediate need to modify. That said (ha!) on the hybrids does the shaft sit above the tube. If so would it help at all to alleviate whip by sticking a jbl or other track on the tube. I understand that the distance between the wooden portion of the gun and the muzzle is minimal enough to prevent this-if so this question is moot. but i don't know never having seen a hybrid merely my shiny new mesmerizing ono. Lastly, Bill (who I hope is out there to respond if so inclined) a while back you commented that the riffe island shot much straighter with wings though mobility was greatly compromised. Is proper weighting as in an ono, etc. enough to get around this issue as the ballast is present but there is no projections off the side of the gun to prevent the upward kick and the subsequent shaft drop. All input appreciated.

[Bill McIntyre]

The Wong hybrids have a plastic track on the titanium or carbon fiber tube, so the shaft is fully supported all the way out to the muzzle. I think he orginally used a JBL track, but then came up with one of his own.

Yes, the ballasting of the Ono gun is sufficient to prevent recoil and therefore exterior wings or muzzle thingies are not needed. That is the whole idea of sufficient internal ballasting- you don't need extra stuff on the outside of the gun. I recall weighing my Island and my 60" ono gun for comparison, but unfortunately I don't seem to be able to find the results. But the ono gun was a lot heavier. You can use four 5/8" bands in it, while the Riffe had a hell of a kick even with three bands.

The Mahi gun is the same way. Its beefy wood and has internal lead. It comes with three 5/8" bands, but a friend tells me he uses four bands with no loss of accuracy.

Of course any gun can be screwed up by changing shafts or power bands. I know one guy who got the track of his ono gun cut out to 3/8" so that he could use a bunch of spare 3/8" shafts. He bitched that he couldn't hit anything until he reduced the power by using longer bands. The gun was built for a 5/16" shaft, and the 3/8" was too much.

The same principle goes for the hybrids. The standard hybrids don't have lead ballast, and they are shipped with 9/32" shafts and three 9/16" bands (or at least mine were). I wouldn't want to put a 5/16" shaft or 5/8" bands in them. But the magnum hybrids have internal lead in the butt, and some extra teak to float the lead, and they can use 5/16" shafts and 5/8" bands.

[Bill McIntyre]

Elaborating on the difference in ballast that allows magnum hybrids to thicker shafts and bands, these photos show a standard hybrid next to a magnum. Notice how much thicker and longer the wood is on the magnum, and then it has the internal lead. Also, the magnum has an enclosed track on the wood butt, while the standard hybrid has an open track.

[icarus pacific]

One of the things I'm thinking of incorporating on my smaller Hybrids Holdown, is a small shaft guide up towards the end of the barrel, or muzzle. As I dive with a reel on my Hybrids, I leave the shooting line a tad slack and when I turn the gun sideways or upside down, as in holes, the shaft wants to fall from the track.

Yeah, I know I could fix the problem by cranking up the static tension on the reel and tightening the drag so it all stays put, but on the rare occasions that I get to use these guns and see any WSB, as in my upcoming June trip to Cortez Banks, (read that backside of Rosa) I like to let the line run as free as I can. I picked up a Magnum last month and was hoping to have the viz last week in Baja, but no such luck. I do know that the weight difference witha magnum versus a regular Hybrid is impressive. My pool shots with the Magnum were a real treat- with 3-5/8" bands and a 5/16" shaft with a Mori tip, it has a very soft recoil and is as quick to get rid of the shaft as my Hybrids.

When I was using an Island, I added the wings not so much to add bouyancy to offset the ballast I added, as I was using 4-5/8" bands, but to raise the bands up closer in line with the shaft. I got fed up with the way I had to nurse that thing and made money by offing it on ebay and turning on my tablesaw.

[holdown]

Thanks Bill and Icarus for your input. The magnum is a beauty indeed- and the post shop track is superfluous to boot. Now I just gotta rally the cash. thanks again and Happy hunting.