Mako guns question

i jsut got the predator pro 120 open muzzle two bands. (used it about 5 times now) It came with whatever band length is standard.
Its an all around good gun in my opinion, well built, comfortable handle, nice design, decent muzzle.
130 might be a little big, but i dont know your conditions. I think the 120s perfect for me, (110 might even been better).. its not to big for hog snappers and the like,, and its plenty big for mackeral and other muscley fish with both bands pulled. if your going with anything over a 100 id say dont do the 20mm band unless ur a beast. good luck and pay the extra 20 bucks or whatever for the blue camo its pretty sick lookin,, not that it will catch u any extra fish. when i went to order i tryed to order the iconic (the other model) and they said theyd be out of the barrels for those until like november so that might help ur decision

i have heard good things about thier guns and great things about the customer service they back them up with

I have a 130 predator. It's decent gun especially for the price. All internals are stainless steel which is a big improvement over the pastics parts that so many railguns seem to have. I am not really a pipe gun guy, but I needed a gun quickly and didn't want to spend a bunch of money, after losing one on my custom wood guns.

As for the handles, I don't really care for either of them, but the Predator handle is much more comfortable in my opinion. I also don't care for either of the muzzles that are available. The closed muzzle blocks the end of the shaft from sight, making it difficult to reference the tip of the shaft when lining up a shot. This bad for trying to make a fast shot. I am almost forced to sight down the barrel and line the muzzle up the sight that is integrated into the loading pad.

Jeff (tinman) was kind enough to make a muzzle that will fit the Mako barrel for me. I have also removed the loading pad from the handle. The barrel and muzzle are on their way back to me from Jeff. I am hoping to put this gun to use in the next few weeks. Looks like the forecast for this weekend will have me looking for alternative activities...:angry5:

The 2 band set-up is sweet with the 7.5mm shaft.

Bummer the weather won't cooperate for a test. I think you're going to like the way it turned out. I incorporated Hau's earlier suggestion, and made the line wrap pin just a hair longer, and at a lower angle to help hold the line more securely.

Hey Jeff, any pics?:)

Sorry, I forgot to take any. Maybe John can provide a few?

Quote from Tin Man

Bummer the weather won't cooperate for a test. I think you're going to like the way it turned out. I incorporated Hau's earlier suggestion, and made the line wrap pin just a hair longer, and at a lower angle to help hold the line more securely.

Very nice!:thumbsup2:

I will certainly provide some pics when I get the gun put back together.

I got the gun back yesterday evening. As always, Jeff's work is just incredible!

This muzzle is the same one he had made for the RA retrofit. The RA version didn't quite line up with the Mako integrated rail. The Mako rail is a bit higher and the ID of the mako tube is slightly smaller than the RA tube.

Thanks again Jeff! I think I am going to be very happy with this modified Mako gun. Though, I don't think the "mahi" will share my enthusiasm:D

Muzzle looks great! Is there enough material to make the holes close to the rail for a more parallel/inline band pull? Did Mako's come with a screw to hold the muzzle in?

Glad you're happy with it John. Bad day to be a fish.

I put the holes on the tube centerline because I thought that they looked better that way. But there is enough room to raise them slightly. These are 9/16" holes for 5/8" bands, so if you went with 1/2" holes, then they could be raised even a little more.

The screws were provided by Jeff, but the set-up is the same for the mako muzzle.

I just put on my thinking cap after Chuck's response...

My big idea would be to run a bolt all the way through the muzzle and tube, that would act as a band elevator. I think this would also be added security against the muzzle breaking off at the screws and pulling out of the barrel, if a big enough fish were shot and the gun was rigged in-line, as I currently have it set-up.

What do you think Jeff?

I am heading out on some errands. I will stop by the hardware store and see what I can find.

I don't see any issues with it. I think that the muzzle extends 1-3/8" into the barrel, in case you intended to put the bolt somewhere other than through the existing holes.

Here's a thought, to keep everything especially clean. The Delrin gets a really good grip on press fit pieces if you drill the hole about 1/64" undersized. If you drill a 15/64" hole all the way through the barrel and muzzle, and then drill out just the barrel to 1/4", you could hammer a 1/4" stainless rod all the way through and it should really stay put. That way, you wouldn't need any nuts or other fasteners on the outside to keep the band elevator in place.

I think the bolt idea would be fine if you obviously smoothed it out or bet yet could get more elaborate and had it spin like a bearing so there would be no friction on the band itself. I use the plastic dowels to connect my handles and muzzles all the way through. Crappy pic but its all I have right now.

Quote from Tin Man

I don't see any issues with it. I think that the muzzle extends 1-3/8" into the barrel, in case you intended to put the bolt somewhere other than through the existing holes.

Here's a thought, to keep everything especially clean. The Delrin gets a really good grip on press fit pieces if you drill the hole about 1/64" undersized. If you drill a 15/64" hole all the way through the barrel and muzzle, and then drill out just the barrel to 1/4", you could hammer a 1/4" stainless rod all the way through and it should really stay put. That way, you wouldn't need any nuts or other fasteners on the outside to keep the band elevator in place.

I like it!

The only problem I can foresee, would be the weight. It might be a tad too heavy on the front end with the shark spike.

I don't have the anti-gravity ray done yet. In the meantime, you could always use a titanium rod.

John Hanson-----IMO band elevators will not be needed ONCE the Tin Man Enclosed Track CF barrels become available :rolleyes1:
Something else I have recently learned after starting using Tin Mans new muzzle/spike is that the target sight picture is very much IMPROVED when the bands ARE NOT elevated. Again just my opinion based on more than 40hours+ of actual use.

Quote from hau

John Hanson-----IMO band elevators will not be needed ONCE the Tin Man Enclosed Track CF barrels become available :rolleyes1:
Something else I have recently learned after starting using Tin Mans new muzzle/spike is that the target sight picture is very much IMPROVED when the bands ARE NOT elevated. Again just my opinion based on more than 40hours+ of actual use.

Hau, you're right. It's just fun to think aloud sometimes

A few years back when I was in "pipe gun phase":rolleyes1: I had hammerhead muzzles on my guns. I never needed to elevate the bands and yes, the sight picture was vastly improved, as it is on this gun now.

To make matters worse on the stock mako, the loading pad is also set up above the rail, This also obscures the view down the barrel. I have removed it and the sight picture is now wide open.

Now if I could just get the predator handle scaled down a bit...:rolleyes1:

Here's a few more pics of the gun:

Very clean look.