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Building my first Speargun, design help

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Jun 3, 2017
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I'm building my first Speargun, and I can't decide on what exactly to build. This gun will primarily be used in the Pacific Northwest, and to be honest, it will most likely be used on carp in fresh water, as I live about 3 hours from the Salt water. I have never had a Speargun before, so everything about spearfishing is new to me.
Currently I have a laminated blank made from padauk, it's 120cm long with 6- 3/8" laminations on the vertical plane, with a 1/2 thick horizontal lamination for the bottom plane. West 105 epoxy resin with filler and 206 slow harder were used.
Currently waiting for any warping to happen before I true it up and start having to make the real decisions about design.
My current thinking is to build a 100 or a 110cm gun with an inverted roller, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm sure 99% of the good people on this board have more experience and will sete in the right direction.
I'll try to post some pictures of my blank if I can figure out how to do that, I have been lurking on this board for months, this is my first post. Please go easy on me.
 
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I straightened the blank today, going to wait and see if it holds true for a bit
I think it looks cool, at least to my untrained eye. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, looking at the reef or tuna mech, haven't pulled the trigger get on ordering parts, instead I bought my wife a new back inflate buoyancy compensator. She wants to dive with me..... She's certified, so it's just a matter of new gear for her.
 
Hello Steve, Welcome to the forum.
It sounds like you'll be spearing on scuba, is that permitted where you are?

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
 
Looks good so far, there are a few of my home builds in my signature link ... My Guns.. they might help you or you can ask specific questions.
 
Hello Steve, Welcome to the forum.
It sounds like you'll be spearing on scuba, is that permitted where you are?

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

As far as I can tell from the fishing regs, spearing on scuba is fine in Washington state, but if anyone knows differently, please give me a heads up.
I plan to shoot carp in fresh water for practice, the Ling cod season in Washington is only 3 weeks long, and that's about the only thing in the Salt water that's worth shooting, with the viz this year of about 3 feet in puget sound, and the average water temp of 55 degrees F, I'll be diving dry, which I don't think you can do on free diveing.
My end game is actually to spearfish on a rebreather, but I know some people that will frown on that as unsportsmanlike.
 
Looks good so far, there are a few of my home builds in my signature link ... My Guns.. they might help you or you can ask specific questions.

I'll take a look at your guns, and see if I can get a better idea what to build,
Honestly I don't know what I don't know yet. Any thoughts on if it's a bad idea to try an inverted roller in a 90 or a 100 size for my first build (first Spear gun period)
 
There are some issues with roller guns like stream lining and balance that will have to addressed.
A standard twin band gun is a lot simpler to build.
In my mind a well balanced gun that just 'hovers' in the water (with the spear in) is a lot more important than any other feature.
I am not a fan of block built guns (square edge parallel stock) I prefer a nice tapered muzzle design.
 
So, I have spent some time doing the reading on how to do carbon fiber, and my intent is to carbon fiber the gun when I'm closer to done. If I run a twin band what thickness of bands do you recommed? I'm thinking of a 9/32 Spear, but I haven't decided on the length.
Should I do a remote trigger? And what's a decent set of dimensions for the barrel to end up with? I have had a heck of a time trying to find any dimensions so I'm guessing a lot on my blank. Here in Eastern Washington no one has spearguns for me to even look at. The only ones I ever see in the dive stores, even on the west side, are either pipe guns of pneumatic.
To be honest, everything about this gun is just my best guess from what I can find out from this forum and lots of looking at pictures of wood guns all over the net.
I really like the look of some of seals guns, with the cuttlefish design, but at the moment I know that's out of my league.
Is there any benefit to using a UHMW track vs a graphite and epoxy track?
Is a remote trigger a good or bad idea for a gun this size? Should I use furrels or make the holes large enough to put the band through? How much overhang should I have on the Spear? Euro vs American shafts? How deep should the track be? Should it be an enclosed track or a deep v or a shallow v or?
I was thinking I could get a set of pullys and make in inverted roller gun about as easy as trying to mill out the band slot.
 
What size fish are you planning on shooting & what distance are you going to be shooting them at? Once you know this then you can choose the spear length & diameter needed & build the gun around this. If you are shooting in 3 ft vis then even a 90cm gun will be too long & you won't need carbon fibre or other high tech advantages with guns this small. You really wont start having problems tuning or balancing guns till you start going longer than 120 cm barrel with a 150 cm X 7mm spear. The longer the spears & guns are, the less stiff they become relative to thier diameter, so carbon then becomes important, short guns are very simple to balance & get to shoot straight, just dont expect to match the range & power that is avaliable from longer & heavier spears & guns. So first think fish size, then range needed, then the the spear needed & lastly the gun needed to launch this spear.
 
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I'd say the average visibility in the fresh water where I live is about 8-15 feet, the visibility on the salt water is supposed to average about 15 feet. I know there is no do-it-all gun, but I'm having to start somewhere, I'd like to be able to use this gun for long cod next season, the carp thing is just for practice, and to get underwater.
Ling cod (according to the regs,) get up to about 5 feet, but I understand the big ones are female, and I'd rather shoot a smaller one and not get a female.
I'm trying to design this gun for 12-15 foot viz. I know if the viz is 3' I'm not going to even try to find anything.
 
So again what size fish? One kilo or twenty kilos? We now know you are talking about some type of "ling" so they arent hard fighters or armour plated. A 120 cm x 7 mm spear from a 90/ 100 cm gun with one 16mm rubber would probably enough & as you are on scuba you can make it a sinker & as heavy as you like unlike the need for floating speargunf for free divers.
 
I'm guessing on everything, but I doubt I'd consider shooting anything more then about 8 kilos, so I can basically design anything I want and it will work? I'm thinking a 100 or a 90 would be sufficient in 15 foot Viz, should I make it a single 16 band or a double 16 in the event I need it at some point or could I get away with a double 14 on a 120mm 7mm Spear?
Should I go with American or Euro mech?
I have to admit I like the idea of the American spears a bit more.
I'm beginning to think I should have just bought a Mako or a Pathos laser and had all the decisions made for me....
This for me is more about the fun of building the thing, if it's a decent gun when I'm done is a major plus though. My ultimate goal is to hunt using my rebreather, but I have a suspicion many will see that as cheating.
 
American or Euro? Makes me smile, as all your "american" mechs are blatent copies of the good ole Aussie Undersea mech. Again the choice of trigger comes down to the spear you decide to use. Start with the spear you need & build the gun up from there. If the heaviest spear you ever use is only 7.5 mm then a European notched spear & suitable trigger may be fine, if you want a heavier spear then a "square notch" spear & trigger may be best?
 
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I
American or Euro? Makes me smile, as all your "american" mechs are blatent copies of the good ole Aussie Undersea mech. Again the choice of trigger comes down to the spear you decide to use. Start with the spear you need & build the gun up from there. If the heaviest spear you ever use is only 7.5 mm then a European notched spear & suitable trigger may be fine, if you want a heavier spear then a "square notch" spear & trigger may be best?

Sharkey, I appreciate your help, I'll pick out a spear and I'll post back for more help. For what it's worth, I have always wanted to visit Australia, it's on my bucket list, but I think this year the wife and I are headed to to either Tahiti or Thailand, it's kind of up to her.
As for who came up with what, I don't know enough to have an opinion on that, I was more trying to decide on the notched vs the carved shape, and mechanically I like the idea of the notch a bit better.
Yankee out ;-p
 
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I would suggest you build a twin band 100cm gun, mid handles are great but a rear handle is the easy option & will put your spear tip a little closer to the target.
The more wood you use the higher the overall mass will be, the more mass results in less recoil & will make the gun more stable in the water.
However by far the most popular speargun design is a 30mm tube with a rear handle, a basic Euro style gun like that will kill virtually anything you come across. They are easy to handle, simple in design, cheap to buy and work really well.

I am a fan of high mass guns though, I like the smooth firing cycle & perfect balance that can be achieved with carful planning.
I have built a few roller guns, they add bulk at the muzzle & can be difficult to load.
High mass roller guns are a good choice for open water boat dives but I prefer the more elegant muzzle designs & the simplicity of a more standard set up.
I built this one a few year ago using an American mid handle design & using American components.

 
I would suggest you build a twin band 100cm gun, mid handles are great but a rear handle is the easy option & will put your spear tip a little closer to the target.
The more wood you use the higher the overall mass will be, the more mass results in less recoil & will make the gun more stable in the water.
However by far the most popular speargun design is a 30mm tube with a rear handle, a basic Euro style gun like that will kill virtually anything you come across. They are easy to handle, simple in design, cheap to buy and work really well.

I am a fan of high mass guns though, I like the smooth firing cycle & perfect balance that can be achieved with carful planning.
I have built a few roller guns, they add bulk at the muzzle & can be difficult to load.
High mass roller guns are a good choice for open water boat dives but I prefer the more elegant muzzle designs & the simplicity of a more standard set up.
I built this one a few year ago using an American mid handle design & using American components.



Foxfish, that is a beautiful gun. What did you use for the muzzle end? Is that plastic? Is there any benefit to doing that over just shaping it out of the wood?
 
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It is a nylon muzzle, just a shop bought one.
If you look at my sig link you can see I have built many different designs....
 
I just wanted to pop on and let you guys know this thread isn't dead, I'm letting the blank sit.
I was in a fatality car wreck on 6-30, so I pit the gun on hold, I have a lot of healing to do. I had to cancel my trip to Fiji, which is where I planned on doing my first spearfishing.
It's a bummer all round, as now I can't even dive for a few months, and I haven't even talked to the surgeon yet.
I'll be back on here asking more questions when I'm back upright, and going on the gun again.
 
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