articulated wishbones question

[Andrew the fish]

how much the added weight will affect shaft acceleration, if I swap dyneema for metal? Somehow, on my other gun with 16mm bands I felt there is a lot of force to overpower the extra weight. But with 14mm bands, will the speed loss be noticeable?

 

[Mr. X]

I've almost always used Dyneema wishbones, as I started with a Rob Allen railgun and thought they worked well. Light, simple, quiet, can be cheap, and less likely to damage your hands. Dyneema wishbones can last years but the outer sheath can sometimes become damaged.

However, I suspect that spearguns equipped by the manufacturer with articulated wishbones (like my Omer XXVs) are likely to be more accurate with the original articulated wishbones. They also last very well. I think accuracy is usually more important than mass (I have 2 superlight spearguns but mass wasn't the only or even main consideration when I switched them from metal articulated wishbones to Dyneema - but it was a consideration and nice to have ).

BTW I'm not a fan of screw-on bands, due to cost and limited availability (different manufacturers also use different threads). But there are articulated wishbones designed for use with bulk rubber loops - the ones I'm thinking of have a rod with a ball at each end; the ball goes inside the rubber, like a wishbone bead.

For 14mm bands, I think Dyneema might be the better option. Also, I would probably try using knots rather than beads. Metal beads are heavy and most beads are too big for 14mm rubbers - they often fit but bulge the rubber out too much I think. That said, some manufacturers equip their 2x14mm spearguns with hefty 7mm spears, so perhaps not that critical.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I seriously doubt that it really matters but I've only used articulated wishbones a couple of times, and then I only used them on one of three bands. As you can see in the photo, the first two bands lay next to each other without obscuring the view down the shaft. But the third band stacked up when I used a dyneema wishbone so I installed the articulated wishbone to spread that third band out of the way. If it slowed down the shaft at all, it was an acceptable tradeoff for me.

Those are 14.5 mm bands, and I'm using the Mako stainless inserts in the other two bands.

Q8 Stainless Steel Wishbone Inserts | MAKO Spearguns

These stainless steel wishbone inserts for small 1/16

www.makospearguns.com

 

[DivingNomad]

From my own experience and the experience of several of my spearo friends, no more metal wishbones. They break and/or potentially cause injury to hands and fingers. I only use now dyneema wishbones and open muzzles with shark-fin spear shafts. No metal wishbones or closed muzzles at all. I haven't noticed any performance difference and it is OK even if there was any.

 

[Pato22]

Agree with all the above. I used articulated for years when I started many years ago... then I had my first gun using Dyneema wishbones. From that time one always wondered why the additional complexity of articulated metal wishbones if simple knots do the job perfectly. It is interesting to see how much time is dedicated to technical details - one more stroke with the fins and all theory is irrelevant as we got closer to fish
Still, I’m a geek too and spend some time reading about material as you see hhhhh

 

[sharkey]

Here we go again.
Articulated bridals have their place on some guns. They can provide a very clear line of sight down the spear which makes aiming much faster with the brain having to make slightly fewer guesses.
Same gun with dyneema bridals & articulated ones, please make your own decisions about which will be faster & more accurate. Also just a few variations of some of the articulated bridals in my kit.
Yes I mainly use dyneema bridals, but on some guns they aren’t the best choice,

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I agree with Sharkey. They definelty have their place, and its nice to see down the top of the shaft. And they are not all fragile. Here are some wire wishbones on a Wong I used years ago. These are thick stainless and I've never heard of one breaking. I had to quit using them when later generation Wong guns had enclosed tracks. The shark fins didn't stick up high enough out of the tracks and the wishbones dragged down the top of the gun and ruined the finish.

 

[Kodama]

I have experience with both and prefer metal wishbones most of the time. People keep saying that they break but in my experience this is only true with the wire wishbones.
If I want to maximize bandstretch especially on short guns i use the mvd/meandros wishbones because you can tie them super short.

On my reef gun i use the Sigalsub titanium wishbones and really love them.

The wire wishbone on the picture above has since been replaced because i had another similar one breaking on me because of metal fatigue. Got lucky with just a minor scratch but these things can cause serious havoc when they decide to fail.

 

[Andrew the fish]

thank you guys for nice informative feedback.