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Rob Allen 110cm roller railgun: alloy v. carbon, notch/sharkfins/pin, slip barb v. regular RA barb?
- Thread starterMr. X
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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These are a combo, carbon barrel with mahogany shaped side pods, all bonded with epoxy. The plan is to custom cut each wood stock to match the requirement to each gun length and specific set up. All will be slightly buoyant, then lead is added where needed to balance the gun and make it just slightly negative with the spear in and loaded. All will float easily without the spear.
A while back I had purchased the RA drop barb shaft with the intent of using it for bluewater hunting in my pipe gun setup. I think the design of the drop barb is pretty slick. The main issue I had was the shaft did not fit in my mechanism (MVD) with my 400 lb mono line, since the line goes through the butt end of the shaft. Of course, I tried drilling the shaft and that was frustrating. I spoke with Rob shortly after and due to the heat treatment it makes it very difficult. I could see that this drop barb shaft does have its place, but yes, mainly for large game hunting where reloading fast isn't a bother. I would love to give this shaft another shot, but perhaps create one in a wired shark fin version. This might be a large ask though given the amount of variations Rob already makes for his other shafts. Rob's wire shark fins are the only one I really trust of the wired.
My personal opinion is that if the gun is ballasted properly, held with a firm inline grip, and has a higher set handle, you have a greater chance of the gun being accurate regardless of the barrel composition. More-so with a roller design since the recoil is less. I run inverts on my reef and BW setup and the recoil is even less, which makes ballasting a little easier and it's less crucial to have a firm grip.
As a thought, going with cuttled barrel may also have a benefit of reducing upward recoil of the muzzle. While I believe this, I don't think it's made me any more accurate with a cuttled barrel for my invert roller setup. I honestly have the cuttled barrel for looks than anything.
I'd actually be pretty excited if Rob developed an invert since he does place a lot of time and development into his products. Although that's more money into something he may not see much more value in since he's shown his guns are already accurate. But, pros and cons.
My personal opinion is that if the gun is ballasted properly, held with a firm inline grip, and has a higher set handle, you have a greater chance of the gun being accurate regardless of the barrel composition. More-so with a roller design since the recoil is less. I run inverts on my reef and BW setup and the recoil is even less, which makes ballasting a little easier and it's less crucial to have a firm grip.
As a thought, going with cuttled barrel may also have a benefit of reducing upward recoil of the muzzle. While I believe this, I don't think it's made me any more accurate with a cuttled barrel for my invert roller setup. I honestly have the cuttled barrel for looks than anything.
I'd actually be pretty excited if Rob developed an invert since he does place a lot of time and development into his products. Although that's more money into something he may not see much more value in since he's shown his guns are already accurate. But, pros and cons.
You can tie a small dyneema loop at the butt end of the shaft and then, your 400 lb mono to it. I've seen many europeans doing that.
I, personally rig all my shafts with stiff dyneema. Never had a problem since I do it.
Looks wonderful Rob 
Is that an enclosed track or a rail? I'm surprised you that didn't go all wood or all carbon though (or PU foam sleeve over carbon or aluminium tube), what is the thinking behind this hybrid approach - isn't it more expensive to do it that way?
No reverse trigger mech. or loading butt, I expect the loading butt will be an option and a reverse trigger mech perhaps an aftermarket option from third parties.
Is that an enclosed track or a rail? I'm surprised you that didn't go all wood or all carbon though (or PU foam sleeve over carbon or aluminium tube), what is the thinking behind this hybrid approach - isn't it more expensive to do it that way? No reverse trigger mech. or loading butt, I expect the loading butt will be an option and a reverse trigger mech perhaps an aftermarket option from third parties.
No, not an enclosed track. This is our same carbon, pull-truded barrel with the wood side pods epoxied onto the raw carbon.
We have been testing this option for nearly 2 years. We could not get the strength we wanted from a full, cuttlefish shaped lay-up within the dimensions we wanted. Our pull-truded carbon is way stronger than hand laid up carbon so why re-invent the wheel?
Regarding full wood, we have seen many horror stories of the timber warping, therefore we stay away from it.
We did initially make a few molds for carbon pods but, for every variation you would need a new mold. This is why we started looking at CNC cutting custom timber pieces out of mahogany. We now feel that this is the best option because we can make infinite variations. Every barrel length and or set up can have a different shaped timber side pods, specific for that guns set up. These are then wet tested and balanced with lead to make them just negative and to sink pretty much level.
Loading butts are optional, reverse triggers.... still not a fan of. If an aftermarket part is used, or a different set up is used, the gun will need to be re balanced to keep the same performance.
Yes, this is much more expensive to do but…..
We have been testing this option for nearly 2 years. We could not get the strength we wanted from a full, cuttlefish shaped lay-up within the dimensions we wanted. Our pull-truded carbon is way stronger than hand laid up carbon so why re-invent the wheel?
Regarding full wood, we have seen many horror stories of the timber warping, therefore we stay away from it.
We did initially make a few molds for carbon pods but, for every variation you would need a new mold. This is why we started looking at CNC cutting custom timber pieces out of mahogany. We now feel that this is the best option because we can make infinite variations. Every barrel length and or set up can have a different shaped timber side pods, specific for that guns set up. These are then wet tested and balanced with lead to make them just negative and to sink pretty much level.
Loading butts are optional, reverse triggers.... still not a fan of. If an aftermarket part is used, or a different set up is used, the gun will need to be re balanced to keep the same performance.
Yes, this is much more expensive to do but…..
For me the smoothness of a reverse mech has been the best thing since. However, the newer RA ones are close in that, and the reliability is second to none. I have one of the very early generation mechs, already received it second hand, super beat up, converted the gun recently to a roller, overpowered the bands, and only now is it showing shadows of fatigue. Hard to beat.