Waylayed away from decent conditions in the south-east in the UK, I've been drooling thinking about coming home to the California coast for Christmas. Naturally, when I'm not reading, studying, eating or drinking, my mind floats off to my other obsession: modifying/making spearfishing equipment.
I just dropped mad cash on a Mares "mini mini" Sten. The range is supposed to be 10+ feet, which is great for a 16.5 inch gun. But that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I've been thinking about this for a bit now. Why not get a small bit of latex tubing, with as large of a wall size and outer diameter as possible (maybe 2 or 3 inches OD, small ID), retrofit it onto a JBL mini-carbine or something along those lines, and wreak havoc with that? I anticipate many objections.
1. Small ID is tough to work with, may not be optimal. Make it a bigger ID then.
2. A small shaft is NOT going to go that far in the water, no matter how much power you put behind it - the principle of diminishing returns (that's economics, not physics, but oh well). Point taken. But the penetrating power is likely to be better with a bigger, stronger band, as is shaft speed, so I still think it could be worth tinkering with.
3. The increase in power will make it difficult to fit/clip/harness the band in a way such that it is not always dangerously at risk of snapping. That's a problem that can be remedied by careful, cautious knot tying and using the right sorts of materials, plus stress testing before harnessing your band-rig on the gun.
4. The increase in power may decrease accuracy: small guns can't handle it. That's a problem I don't have an answer to; maybe add a wrist harness of sorts, ala the old Wrist-Rocket, to remedy this problem.
Imagine a mini (under 20") that you could take monster fish with from good distances (20 feet +). This, my friends, is the holy grail of spearfishing. Or is don quixote getting the best of me?
The same principle, I think, could apply with full size guns. Why have 3 or 4 smaller bands - making your gun a royal pain in the ass to cock - when you can have one oversized band? For some this may make the gun impossible to cock. For people with good upper body strength, though, this seems to me a better option. I'm imagining a gun with a foot-stirrup and a lever-mechanism attached to the band that would make cocking easier, a gun that would have the added advantage of being able to launch grooveless freeshafts.
Thoughts?
I just dropped mad cash on a Mares "mini mini" Sten. The range is supposed to be 10+ feet, which is great for a 16.5 inch gun. But that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I've been thinking about this for a bit now. Why not get a small bit of latex tubing, with as large of a wall size and outer diameter as possible (maybe 2 or 3 inches OD, small ID), retrofit it onto a JBL mini-carbine or something along those lines, and wreak havoc with that? I anticipate many objections.
1. Small ID is tough to work with, may not be optimal. Make it a bigger ID then.
2. A small shaft is NOT going to go that far in the water, no matter how much power you put behind it - the principle of diminishing returns (that's economics, not physics, but oh well). Point taken. But the penetrating power is likely to be better with a bigger, stronger band, as is shaft speed, so I still think it could be worth tinkering with.
3. The increase in power will make it difficult to fit/clip/harness the band in a way such that it is not always dangerously at risk of snapping. That's a problem that can be remedied by careful, cautious knot tying and using the right sorts of materials, plus stress testing before harnessing your band-rig on the gun.
4. The increase in power may decrease accuracy: small guns can't handle it. That's a problem I don't have an answer to; maybe add a wrist harness of sorts, ala the old Wrist-Rocket, to remedy this problem.
Imagine a mini (under 20") that you could take monster fish with from good distances (20 feet +). This, my friends, is the holy grail of spearfishing. Or is don quixote getting the best of me?
The same principle, I think, could apply with full size guns. Why have 3 or 4 smaller bands - making your gun a royal pain in the ass to cock - when you can have one oversized band? For some this may make the gun impossible to cock. For people with good upper body strength, though, this seems to me a better option. I'm imagining a gun with a foot-stirrup and a lever-mechanism attached to the band that would make cocking easier, a gun that would have the added advantage of being able to launch grooveless freeshafts.
Thoughts?
