Which gun for my needs??

[AlanMc]

Yes this is the same person. The shaft is a 6.5mm shaft and I mainly use one band as using both bands make the gun more inaccurate. I went diving on Sunday with three guys who were using 90cm and 75cm guns with some realllly short 16mm single bands, and they were getting much better range than me. I mean, these guys were shooting fish as far as 10 feet away with deadly accuracy, while using what appears to be 6mm or thinner Buechat shaft. All this while my spear was shooting about 6 feets and dropping like a rock on a 10 feet shockline . Do I need to get a shorter band and a thinner shaft or what? It burns me that I have a bigger gun with thicker bands, and I have NO range or power.

Diesel, you may need to change the bands you have on the gun and use a shorter single band or an inexpensive way is to borrow a friends band (from a similar length gun) just to compare distance because there is no way your spear should be dropping so fast.

Also when you are using the two bands it may be causing the shaft to wobble making it inaccurate.

 

[James T]

Is your shooting line flowing free? I have had shots come up short and the spear 'drop like a stone' because my shooting line got caught in my bands before. Do you get a jolt on the gun when the spear reaches the end of its travel?

It was mentioned above aswell but I assume you are capturing the spear at the front of the open muzzle with the shooting line passing under the tabs on either side and over the top of the spear shaft to hold it in place. Not that it should create tangles just help to stabilise your spear and also stop it falling off the rail at the muzzle when the gun is inverted or held upside down.

 

[teamdiesel]

I will purchase the shorter band today and try it out on sunday.

 

[teamdiesel]

I am seriously considering selling this gun and buying either a JBL Woodly Elite sawed off magnum, or a Hammerhead Evolution gun. What do you guys think about my choices for reef fishing and 40-60 ft dives?

 

[azapa]

the gun you have now is better that all but the last, which I would say it is about equal to.

do you have a spearo shop there on Antigua?

 

[teamdiesel]

It's more of a fishing store that only sells Beuchat shafts, bands, and triggers. I thought the JBL Elite woody sawed magnum was a very good gun with is Tahitian style shaft with shark fin tabs, open muzzle, and dyneema style bands. The features along would surely outclass the Marlin Competition. Almost broke my damn finger last week with thos metal wishbones .

 

[James T]

OK so I knew I had seen a good article on the dyneema wishbone assembly. This is it courtesy of medfish:
Medfish Magazine - How to tie Bands with dyneema wishbone?

 

[azapa]

team: i would take the time to fix up your gun. Its a great learning experience and you already have a great base gun. Spearing has so much DIY in it, you will be a better spearo and have more feel for your gun too at the end of the process.

Best of luck.

 

[AlanMc]

team: i would take the time to fix up your gun. Its a great learning experience and you already have a great base gun. Spearing has so much DIY in it, you will be a better spearo and have more feel for your gun too at the end of the process.

Best of luck.

Diesel, I agree with azapa. You have a good gun, just improve on it and it will do well for you.

 

[Mark Lamont]

After reading many of the responses, I think the best advice you already have.........Get your gun into a pool and stabilize it so that it is unmoveable and pointed at a target of measured distance. Line up the shot visually and shoot and record which is shot 1 and so forth lengthing the distance a foot at a time. This can also be done in a pool or quiet water by measuring the distance at the front and rear of the shaft from the surface of the water. If you start with a short shot and lengthen your shots then you will develop a good OBJECTIVE idea of your gun's traits and performance ability. What ever you do, do it the same way everytime.
In a pool situation, it will help if you have a friend that will watch the gun/shaft and shot from the surface.
The thinner the shaft the more flexible and hence the more subject to it being overpowered by bands on a sling gun. This is something that can be overcome by changing your shaft diameter size, or strength of material or both or properly tuning your slings to your gun. Manufacturers do a lot of work to insure that you buy a properly outfitted gun. Not always the case but I'll stick my neck out on that advice.
Slings made of surgical type rubber are also subject time, heat and light deterioration. And if that is not enough....they also decay during loading (they weaken when loaded). They also have the disadvantage of not spanning the entire gun length giving a lot of short distance power to the trailing end of a spearshaft. There are fixes to all of these problems but not commercially that I see. Are slings packed in dark plastic bags? Are they time dated on the package or on the gun if sold together? Is the rubber type (and there are many) disclosed? Even the manufacturers don't record the batch and rubber data.
So, I think for all the most important way to properly know what one has in their arsenal is to ojectively test each weapon. Once you have some data then you can modify and retest to know if the change you make is an improvement or not. All rifles are subject to this type of testing to "zero in the sights". Why wouldn't we do the same?
Subjective data often in error.
Mark

 

[teamdiesel]

I also have a Buechat "old school" 1977 51" Canon, which I got outfitted with two 14mm bands and an 8mm shaft with double floppers, when I bought the marlin. All this was under recommendation from a reputable shop in Florida, who shipped the goods down here for me. That setup was even worse than the Marlin setup . I just went to my local shop and bought a Buechat 6.5mm Tahitian shaft and a single 20" 16mm band. Let's just say that this setup now looks wicked . I can't wait to try it out on Sunday, and park the Marlin at home until I figure out what is the best band combo to go with.

 

[Huan]

That braided shooting line and wonky crimp will slow your gear up big time.
You need monofilament line and a proper streamlined crimp, try to get an aluminium or double sleeve copper crimp that will sit inline not skewed.
Also you can make the loop on the end of the spear smaller so the crimp doesn't sit right by the notch.
A question, when you have the spear loaded (not the rubbers)and you pull the shaft out of the cassette does it pull easily or does it take a lot of force?

 

[teamdiesel]

That braided shooting line and wonky crimp will slow your gear up big time.
You need monofilament line and a proper streamlined crimp, try to get an aluminium or double sleeve copper crimp that will sit inline not skewed.
Also you can make the loop on the end of the spear smaller so the crimp doesn't sit right by the notch.
A question, when you have the spear loaded (not the rubbers)and you pull the shaft out of the cassette does it pull easily or does it take a lot of force?

If it is loaded without the rubbers and I pull the shaft after I press the trigger, it comes out as smooth as butter. Will a regular mono fishing line work? What pound test?

 

[azapa]

Yes it is regular mono fishing line, i forget the test but measure the diameter, about 1.5 to 1.8mm is ideal for that size gun.

 

[Huan]

I think 200-250lb would be fine for that gun, I would try and get the line crimped properly, is there any big-game fishing shops there? they could crimp it for you with proper aluminium sleeves.
I think that the wishbone you have is not great, an articulated one would be much better and less likely to fatigue and break.
Dyneema is good but you will need to make the edges of your spear notch much smoother or it will be shortlived.
Hard to know what exactly is causing the lack of speed, it should be a process of elimination.
But definately the mono shooting line is a good start.
If you can't get black mono line, use fabric dye to colour the clear stuff.
You need to dissolve the dye in boiling water and leave the coil of mono in the dye overnight until it cools. It is safer to be able to see the line.

 

[teamdiesel]

Well I went hunting yesterday with both the Marlin and the Canon. Let me say that the single 20" 16mm band on the Canon outperformed and out classed the Dual 20mm bands on the larger Marlin, in every way possible. The smaller Canon had almost double the range and speed as the larger Marlin. I shot a giant Trigger fish from about 10 feet away, and the spear went straight through the thick hide of the fish :O. I will try and put some smaller length bands on the marlin to see if that helps, as I am very disappointed of it as is.

 

[AlanMc]

Well I went hunting yesterday with both the Marlin and the Canon. Let me say that the single 20" 16mm band on the Canon outperformed and out classed the Dual 20mm bands on the larger Marlin, in every way possible. The smaller Canon had almost double the range and speed as the larger Marlin. I shot a giant Trigger fish from about 10 feet away, and the spear went straight through the thick hide of the fish :O. I will try and put some smaller length bands on the marlin to see if that helps, as I am very disappointed of it as is.

You should have tried the band you put on the cannon on the marlin and see if it made a difference.
The new marlins come with a single 16mm band so maybe the problem is the band on the older one.

 

[teamdiesel]

The marlin has a closed style muzzle for the bands and the Canon uses an open style. The band I got for the canon is a closed wishbone style.

 

[AlanMc]

The marlin has a closed style muzzle for the bands and the Canon uses an open style. The band I got for the canon is a closed wishbone style.

ok, well change the band and see how it works out, would be a shame to put down such a new gun for somthing that may be a simple fix.

oh also take off the cord that attaches to the spear and just try to shoot to open water to see if the cord may have been holding back the spear.

once you eliminate that the cord is not a problem then you need to try a new band.

 

[Mark Lamont]

Line wishbones are so nice that if you're not familar with them you should at least give them a try. Daryl Wong has a You Tube video on tying them that is very explanitory. It seems like your wishbones may be hanging up in the spear knotches on exit. I note that your present wishbones are machined flat to set into the machined slot on the shaft. Is that possible? There is no force on the bands when the wishbone has traveled that far down the gun. The wishbone is just riding in the knotch. The plastic rubber end piece that captivates the sling may be acting to torque the wishbone at a down angle and hence hanging up in the shaft.
Your crimp should be 90 degrees to your present crimp squeezing the two crimp tubes together. With a good crimping tool and some heavy mono you'll increase your pull out tension.
Off the shelf 17-4 precipitating hardening stainless is ok for rock/reef hunting. The ultimate would be high nickel content mar-aging steel. It is amazing and the stiffness is unsurpassed so you may be able to increase your band loads and still have the arrow fly true. Yours sounds like a different problem but food for thought.