Muzzle stabilizer on a custom gun...Whadaya think?

[Bad Fugu]

Cheers everyone....

I'm just about to put the finish on a couple of Alexander/Kitto type guns I've made. (laminated teak,mid handle, delrin inserts, enclosed tracks, the whole deal)
They're 57" long, shooting 5/16" shafts, and I'll be using four 5/8" bands....They'll be multi purpose, but mostly for WSB.
I have some more teak laying around, and I'm trying to decide if I want to put front stabilizers on them now, before I start finishing.
I've never shot anything this big and juicy, so I'm not sure.

Opinions?

[rigdvr]

sounds to me like that type of gun should be ballasted, which ought to eliminate the need for stabalizers

[Iyadiver]

Try in a pool first with 2, 3 and 4 bands. You will probably see ur shaft hitting much lower between using 3 or 4 bands, that's when u need the muzzle stabilizer...if u see that marked difference in the shot placement.

You will need a fix target for reference.

As long as 3 or more bands does not shoot erratic, u are ok. If the shots goes left, right, up or down, probably you need to upgrade to 3/8 shaft to cancel the shaft whip effect but with enclosed track, I guess no shaft whip for you. If it is still erratic shooting probably you have too much shaft over hang at the muzzle or spearhead/slip tip weight too much.

Well this are just the possibilities. Me no experience with EC track guns yet.......

[ivan]

hi

Yet eh Iya. Wait till he gets his hands on an Alexander the testing will never stop

cheers

[rigdvr]

Anyone ever shot a Scott Merlo gun? Ran across one recently and it was the most gorgeous gun I have ever seen..Made by Mr. Merlo out in Cali...he only makes one or two a month.

[Iyadiver]

Gee... that's sound new to me. If anyone has a photo of it to post, I will be most grateful.

[w3ac]

Heard about those Merlo guns, beautiful. As far as putting muzzle stabilizers on, be careful. One of my dive partners has a 65" Riffe Islander, 5/16 shaft, Alexander slip tip, four 5/8 hi mod bands and he hates the way it tracks! It is dead on accurate but is a pain to track on moving targets. This thing has huge wings in the upper 1/3 of the gun and I have personally handled it and agree that when it comes to tracking, it sucks. Feels like you got a canoe paddle held sideways underwater. Any swell, or movement throws the gun off and it takes a whole lot of effort to swing it back. He has fired it without the wings and says that it kicks like a mule. Don't know if it is balasted but even if it is, I'm not sure how much that will help. My 66" custom blue water gun is a beefed up Wong Ono gun. Big, bad and deadly accurate, but it too kicks pretty damn hard. I got used to the recoil but the gun maker, also my room mate and dive partner, said that if I wanted to cut down recoil while still maintaining its manueverability he could add on thin full length wings. They would start near the muzzle and initially be very thin up front maybe 1 inch wide. As they extend towards the rear, they would gradually become wider maybe four inches max. The gun is already balasted so the wings would need just a touch of lead to keep it balanced. If you want, PM me and I could give you my room mates email and get his input. BTW he makes awesome guns. Top quality and deadly.

Brad