JBL Reaper speargun

  • Description for the Reaper speargun from JBL website

    Quote

    Welcome to the all new Reaper series. The first ever Rail Gun built in America from start to finish. With cutting edge features that push the limits of Spearfishing, it's as lethal as it looks.

    I saw the new JBL Reaper speargun and took pics. The bands come with very long wishbones and a long taper on the rubber. A lot of band stretch can be reclaimed changing the stock bands.



    I was curious about the distinct looking honeycomb textured handle. I didn't find it improved grip, the plastic felt slippery. In general the handle doesn't have enough rake for my taste, this amounts to less leverage over the gun when tracking a fish. Not a big deal for shorter guns but a PITA with a 120cm.
    The track of the aluminum tube is 1mm higher than than the track of the handle. Probably won't have any bearing on spear flight just attention to detail, and corrosion is already apparent at that spot.



    I wanted to have a look at the trigger mechanism because it's not often I see a bottom line release on a pipe gun, so I proceeded to knock out the trigger pin with a punch. If you ever need to do this support the side of the JBL Reaper speargun handle directly against a surface, I didn't and the pressure on the loading butt broke it off at the pin.



    When I took the mechanism out it looked familiar, so I fished out a Rob Allen mech. The Rob Allen has the stainless steel line release.




    The Rob Allen trigger mechanism in the JBL Reaper handle.


  • I would fill the honey comb holes with white 3 m 5200, then sprinkle with sand.;)


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

  • Wow, Reaper, hardcore gun - it should go gun to gun with the Predathor;-).
    Joke aside, in reg. to the Reaper, I guess it must be cutting edge to buck the reverse mech trend and combined with those horrendous wishbones and band ties, they are def pushing for the lowest possible efficient band stretch. They messed up on the muzzle, though - those bands look nicely stacked and way too forward;-)


    I agree with Don Paul, first thing I thought of was how nice a base that handle is for filling it with some putty:-)


    "Nice" to see a good old American company getting properly "inspired" for a change...:-)
    Happy Holidays from Shanghai:reddevil:

  • "Made in California" may mean screwed together and assembled in California with parts either imported or locally sourced. The same was said of a new gun here some years ago that arrived with great fanfare, then gradually disappeared as it began to have problems with its dipping sear tooth trigger mechanism. The same is not likely to happen with the "Reaper" as it appears to have stayed away from that type of mechanism and it is possible that JBL purchased the tooling for the more familiar looking molded parts. The gun handle outer is probably made locally as well in order to avoid a virtually identical clone of the gun appearing elsewhere wearing new name stickers. JBL certainly has a manufacturing capability, especially with spears and tips and has injection molding facilities for its gun components that are plastic. Plastic parts are used in some "Magnum" and all of the "Woody" models which use the great "M8" trigger mechanism perfected by Bill Kitto. I guess that the "M8" was too big to go in a eurogun, so they had to use the Rob Allen type of trigger mechanism.

  • I'm not seeing anything calling out to me. The handle looks like they couldn't give half a shit. The muzzle just isn't doing it for me. Maybe if I saw it in person or a different angle. Maybe with the bands pulled back... the flashlight, on the other hand, I'd go for.

  • I like that it has a switch instead of a twist. Twisting a light on is a pain in the ass. I don't understand why so many (dare I say majority) of those lights are twist on/off. I'm going to need to snag one. Sorry for the derail.

  • I like that it has a switch instead of a twist. Twisting a light on is a pain in the ass. I don't understand why so many (dare I say majority) of those lights are twist on/off. I'm going to need to snag one. Sorry for the derail.


    I agree fully. Slider or button, anything that works one-handed. Sliders do the most, the easiest and I am not surprised Dan identified that.
    But the big brands are slowly getting it as I see a few more like these in various catalogues. Took a while though:rolleyes1:

  • This is for all who are interested in how the bands lay up. The muzzle is my favourite part of the gun as you can see it lines the bands up nicely.




    As for design of the gun I am very pleased, I guess that is in large part due to its similarity to a Rob Allen. I don't find much problem with the handle rake, in hindsight that might be due to my shooting style. I keep the gun under my profile until I see a fish, then I extend my arm into the shot. If anyone has anything to say on why I shouldn't do this please do, I just feel that it's easier to pinpoint a shot with some forward momentum instead of just using my wrist muscles and moving my arm at full extension in the water.



    The quality of the gun's fit and finish is a little more concerning to me. First off, the shaft guide does not line up perfectly with the trigger mech, it is a little offset (rotated to the left). It does not seem to affect the accuracy greatly but as a perfectionist it is worse than death. The protective coating on the barrel does not do well when you drop the gun in the driveway, I'm not sure if it only prevents low impact scratches in the water but the gun came with a rubber buffer on the shooting line to stop that from scratching the finish so JBL realises this. You can see where I've replaced that part with my own matching rubber.




    I also changed the shooting line to a stainless steel coated one and have one wrap on the gun, it comes with two wraps and some people say it can shoot further than a single wrap. At full extension the range is 20.5 feet with one wrap. This includes the length of my arm (2.5 feet) and shaft (50 in). This length is greater than most effective ranges in the Gulf so one wrap is all I do.


    Please let me know if you are interested in anything else. My final thoughts are it is very sufficient for my first gun, but we will see if it remains so in the future. At the price point JBL has these guns at, you can tell they are trying to push Rob Allen out of the American market.

  • I really appreciated all the advice it was invaluable, thanks Dan. My decision to go for a coated steel shooting line was because there weren't any drawbacks that were apparent to me. Of course I do not know any better. I have not shot into any wrecks yet and only experience coral reef on the Ft. Lauderdale coast but it's mainly soft coral. I guess there is no real justification yet but I thought why not as I don't know what my future requirements might be.

  • Being "caught in the bight" with stainless cable will produce some heart pounding moments, so you need to be careful how much is deployed out into the water. I have a spool of the stuff, but that is where it is staying after trying it out and realizing woven cords were so much easier and safer. I am not a fan of mono as the underwater terrain I dive in soon ruins it. As for the "Reaper" the plus side is local availability of spare parts. I have just had to order from the far side of the planet some small spare parts which represent one third of the cost, the rest is for the shipping. Plus a long wait for it to arrive, just as well that I have other guns to fall back on.

  • I just looked at the JBL website to view the description of the "Reaper".


    "Product Description
    Say hello to the newest member of our Speargun Family. Made right. Made here at the Oceanside California factory. The Reaper looks as deadly as it shoots. The carbon infused polymer handle is designed to feel like a natural extension of your arm, if you can point, you can shoot fish. The aerospace aluminum extruded barrel with integral rail delivers unmatched stiffness, taming the two 5/8” band power source. Its streamlined muzzle transfers energy in perfect parallel alignment with the shaft for precision shot placement. Trigger Sear is made from .25” 304 stainless and shafts are 17-4 spring stainless, heat treated for maximum hardness, virtually eliminating shaft flex."


    The sear lever looks thick enough, I wonder why they used plastic for the other levers unless they were concerned about how the gun floated. A trigger can be slimmed down away from the load bearing areas if it is cast rather than cut from plate. Any photos of the levers outside of the mechanism cassette?


    As "made in America" is stressed a number of times it should be right as the ultimate embarrassment is "your company's gun" wearing different name stickers appearing half a world away if you have a manufacturing plant and not just a warehouse distribution center.

  • do you need more pictures or the trigger mech than Dan already posted? Because I can't deconstruct it more than that myself. I assume that's what the cassette is but if I'm misunderstanding you just let me know, I'm not used to the terminology.

  • Well it would be nice to see the levers free of the cassette (or sear box) which will involve knocking out the pivot pins. A way to do this is to sit the cassette on something like a wooden cotton reel with each pivot pin lined up over the central hole and push the pin out with an awl or a drift. Then move onto the next one. Another support method is to use a piece of wood with holes drilled in it.


    As periodic inspection of the levers is often worth doing, dismantling the trigger mechanism is a necessity as it is the only way to see all parts of each of the levers and springs.

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