Originally posted by drkebs
To answer the original Q; I don't believe that accuracy, or range would improve with a shorter shaft. It would make the gun swing better, but thats all I could see it doing.
As to how much of ones accuracy or range would be lost with a shorter shaft.....I don't really know. It, most likely, wouldn't be a whole lot, and in all reality it's relative to how much shorter the shaft is made.
You should give it a whirl as I imagine I'm not the only person who'd like to hear about the results.
I hope this helps....
Good Hunting,
Justin
I've gone through this in my tinkering several times.
Here are my personal observations:
Shorter shafts:
Harder to sight down shaft
Faster lateral tracking
Quicker shots
Less prone to bending
Longer shafts:
More accurate (easier to aim for me)
More penetration at range
Tracking slightly hindered
Shafts have higher propensity to bend
Seems smoother (opinion)
Longer shafts are more hydrodynamic & travel through the water better, also carrying more intertia. A fantastic spearo Abri who used to frequent here mentioned that he uses the shortest shafts he can on his railguns. This makes a deal of sense since the less overhang, the easier it is to track & the straighter the shaft will be at rest since the weight of the overhang causes a slight arc to it.
Personally, a longer shaft helps me aim well & I prefer thinner shafts. I'd rather have a 140cm 6.5mm shaft (910*pi) or a 130cm 6.75mm shaft(877.5*pi) than a shorter 120cm 7mm shaft(840*pi). As you can see, the mass of the slightly longer shafts more than makes up for the thickness & the longer length helps hydrodynamics.
Some Picasso guns like the Fibertek come with 140cm shafts on 90cm guns. This is how they explain that rationale(from PicassoAmerica.com FAQ's):
Why is the Picasso Century 90 equipped with a 140 cm and not a 130cm spear?
The reason why we equip our spearguns with a spear that is 10cm (4") longer than the other brands is that because you can aim better with both eyes open, like with a shotgun (think "skeet"), by aligning the pin on the muzzle to the tip of the spear. It is a lot easier and more accurate to aim at the fish with both eyes open and the speargun placed below your face, so that you can track your prey at all times, no matter how it moves, even if it suddenly goes down, below your aiming line. If you aim with one eye shut and straight, fitting the "aiming" pin on the muzzle inside the groove on the top of the gun's handle (like aiming a riffle on a small and distant target), then should the fish move down, it will disappear from you field of vision and you will have to move the gun away from your face to track it which may be too late.
For Bluewater guns, it's a whole new ball game... you want the weight & thickness of the shaft to help carry it & provide punching power. If you take a 9/32 shaft, at the extent of the range, you can hit a fish, but the shaft may not go all the way through. With a 5/16" or bigger shaft - if you hit the fish, the inertia of the mass will push the shaft through.
In the end, it's all about hunting styles & what you're using your gun for. If I'm playing around shooting tiny fish(I like frying some of the small 6-10" reef fish in Hawaii up crispy), I'll use a small gun with a short thin shaft & 1 14mm band. For other small/medium fish, I prefer thinner shafts either 40-50cm longer than barrel length. For bigger fish, I prefer thicker shafts as I no longer think of them as sniper rifles, but more as canons :hmm: It's all relative.
I've been through so many configurations with my guns that in the end, I've realized that whatever you get used to & are comfortable with, is the best configuration. There's a point where you have to stop making the gun fit your style & learn how to effectively use your gun the way it is.
Happy hunting!