Biller Caribbean

[peskydor]

The purpose of this thread is to
introduce the Biller Limited and
describe the modifications which
I found useful when cruising the
sand flats and reefs of the Florida
Keys and points south. I
found this gun to be useful in
taking medium size fish such
as snapper, grouper, mackeral
and hogfish. I hope that you
will too.

 

[peskydor]

This particular gun is the old style Limited without line release. Many years ago, Biller acquired the last of these antique grips from Australian sources. A couple years ago Fred finally decided it was time to upgrade the grip and current mods are similar to the other guns with identical type line release. However, the line release was never a strong suit and occasionally causes friction with the trigger. The method of line release shown here was suggested to me by Wally Potts in 1990. His design was tending toward something fancier than this. However, I have found my 'sharkfin' line release to be 100% reliable. Moreover, the sweet smoothness of touching off the Sea Hornet trigger is unimpaired.

 

[peskydor]

Looking closely at the wishbone notches, one might notice that they look different somehow. They are. They have been opened up. File the flat a small amount, just enough to allow insertion of a carbide saw. This saw is a wire with carburundum particles welded to it. It fits into a standard hacksaw. Normally, this saw is used to cut ceramic tile. However, it is also veryi useful for routing out and smoothing the wishbone groove. Finish up with abrasive cloth.

 

[peskydor]

The shooting line is 500# kevlar. This stuff is nice to handle, easy to string, has low resistance (small dia), and is very tough around coral and against shark skin. Seal the ends with glue, the material will not burn or melt.

The reel is lightweight and holds just enough tuna line to take the pressure off when fighting a fish. The teak gun, when discharged, will float well with this reel attached. It is a crucial piece of equipment.

 

[peskydor]

Tahitian spear

Notice the slide ring and stop ring.
Unseen is the soft foam pad glued
to the underside of the wing. This
setup will toggle with 100% reliability.

 

[peskydor]

When hunting, the wing is captured underneath the slide ring. It springs out under accelleration. Ordinarily, the laminar flow over the wing would cause the shaft to nose downward. That does not happen . The stop ring, placed close to the wing, causes turbulence which cancels the flow off the wing. The wing will deploy and hold even if the spear tip lodges inside the fish. It is better all around if the spear penetrates through. Then, for example, the slide ring can be used to capture the wing and release the spear. There are undoubtedly theoretical objections to the extra resistance imposed by the stop ring. In practice, this is irrelevant. When designing equipment of this kind it is important to consider reasonable design compromises which will further your objective of catching fish. This is an example of such reasoning.

 

[peskydor]

Rubber bands

Two custom rubber bands are used.
These are made of Riffe 5/8 rubber and home made wire cable wishbones. Each has a traction of approx 150 pounds. Time to replace these.

 

[retrosub]

Riffe 5/8" bands with 150 pounds of pull? Time to replace your scale.

 

[peskydor]

The bands are Riffe "gorilla" rubber. These have the same modulus as Mori black. Cut to 24 inches, and quite stiff. I could check the scale but elect not to. I am a weight lifter and once placed high in statewide bodybuilding contests. I am a former Mr Maryland. An exercise I do twice weekly is the rowing machine. I normally do 8 reps X 3 sets with the weight pin set to 160 pounds. I do this specifically so I can pull the bands on guns like the Caribbean.

You seem like a passionate young man, fascinated with spearguns. Thanks for the contribution.

 

[Erik]

You seem like a passionate young man, fascinated with spearguns. Thanks for the contribution.

rofl
Zing!
Erik Y.

 

[sickbugs]

nice gun, looks like a fun hunting tool