"You built those handles yourself? whoever built them I think they are genius and why is this not the standard DIY handles in the gun world?
Yes I built them, they are not my idea though. I think the first place I saw them was at neptonics. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> They are standard in some spear gun building worlds, at least mine.
MN
Yes I built them, they are not my idea though. I think the first place I saw them was at neptonics. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> They are standard in some spear gun building worlds.
MN
the first place couldnt have been at at neptonics the only uhmw handles he has ever sold were mine, my guess would be in rich's shop .( they were never on josh's site ,and he only ever had a couple ) . i think scott merlo was first to use uhmw for handles and enclosed tracks
phil
Well, where ever I saw them, thank you. 
MN
. i think scott merlo was first to use uhmw for handles and enclosed tracks
phil
Terry Mass and I were doing muzzles and capture guides (sectioned ET) in UHMW for a long time. I never used it for a handle, but Terry Tuna had one before switching to Steve A's handles later in the late eights. Mass used to use black marker to kill the white color, I would dye mine. Some of the Ti comp guns I built for Ernst in 85 used the material well. When did Scott first build guns in the US?... love his work.
Cheers, Don
We should start a new thread. Best handle design!!!!
A pinned handle in a pocket has a big advantage.... NO SCREWS!
I was working on this Pinned Aluminum handle receiver, when I finished one and found of that several others had already been making pinned handles.
@Phil, do you get credit as the first to make a pinned handle?
Hey Everyone, My name is John and I am the owner/builder of KOAH spearguns. First off let me say I really like the forum, seems to have more contribution with minimal drama. Sad to say I didn't know it existed until George pointed it out to me, and I would like to contribute with fish posts, gun builds, sponsorship and whatever else I can if that works for everyone else.
Now as for the guns, to make a long story short, I never really intended to sell spearguns years ago. I own a dive/spearfishing charter and I constantly experimented with gun builds for years and when I finally got one the way that I wanted it, I used it for some time. Well, one person on a charter would use it and would ask me to build him one and over time another and so on. Eventually I gave it a website, went to a few expos and sold a few. I will be the first to admit the first series were not pretty, and over time they evolved in shape, performance,ballasting, coatings ext. to the gun they are today. But two things all series of Koah guns accomplished was tracking and accuracy. They look better today and I do recess the wood for the length of the handle mainly to utilize the auto-return on Josh's mechs while keeping a thinner profile (pic). I also like how the lines run with the gun on a side profile.I started doing this 60-70 guns ago, but I have to admit I really like some of the DIY uhmw handles posted on this thread. My only question is how do they work on a standard rear handle where the mech sits above the handle and a push rod isn't used, while keeping the integrity of the handle strength? I just need to know if the mech is cut into the handle or are they strictly built for remote trigger applications.
The good news is only one handle out of many guns has come close to sheering off and this was due to the user shooting a grouper with three bands at a range of about 3 feet in a hole, with nothing but rock behind the grouper. I did use #8 screws for some time in both 3/4 and 1in, but as of late I have moved to #10 1in, with both alexander and neptonics handles. As for linghunts gun, it was before i did any countersinking and it is regrettable. I would be happy to rout out and countersink the handle (either style seeing as its not an auto-return mech) while upgrading the screws if he can get the gun in my hands for no charge. As for the saftey, Josh has refined his euro style saftey and I think he has it looking pretty good. I plan on offering it as an option starting with the next mech order, which will be in a couple months. I'm open to any questions/opinions and I look forward to putting fish reports ext. on the board.
Terry Mass and I were doing muzzles and capture guides (sectioned ET) in UHMW for a long time. I never used it for a handle, but Terry Tuna had one before switching to Steve A's handles later in the late eights. Mass used to use black marker to kill the white color, I would dye mine. Some of the Ti comp guns I built for Ernst in 85 used the material well. When did Scott first build guns in the US?... love his work.
Cheers, Don
i will ask when i see him this weekend , scott is a California boy , he has been between sf and socal most or all of his life . hopefully he starts doing guns again when his kids get a older .
phil
We should start a new thread. Best handle design!!!!
A pinned handle in a pocket has a big advantage.... NO SCREWS!
I was working on this Pinned Aluminum handle receiver, when I finished one and found of that several others had already been making pinned handles.
@Phil, do you get credit as the first to make a pinned handle?
]
no way i would claim i was first , i remember when i would bring guns to the club when i first joined and i thought i had something new and scott merlo and joe tobin would tell me the history of who used to do it that way( my handle was one of them i had never seen scotts guns and didnt even own a computer back then ) . one of my first handles i made myself in high school metal shop looked just like yours , i stole the ar grip off my tippman SLl-68 paintball gun .
phil
Doesn't matter who did it first. If I know I came up with something on my own, and later find out it's been done, in no way it lessens my sense of accomplishment or right to the idea. And it happens from time to time, what we do necessitates a certain design. It's only natural that a few creative people will come to the same conclusion. To make it viable on a large scale, takes another skill set.
Hey Everyone, My name is John and I am the owner/builder of KOAH spearguns. First off let me say I really like the forum, seems to have more contribution with minimal drama. Sad to say I didn't know it existed until George pointed it out to me, and I would like to contribute with fish posts, gun builds, sponsorship and whatever else I can if that works for everyone else.
Now as for the guns, to make a long story short, I never really intended to sell spearguns years ago. I own a dive/spearfishing charter and I constantly experimented with gun builds for years and when I finally got one the way that I wanted it, I used it for some time. Well, one person on a charter would use it and would ask me to build him one and over time another and so on. Eventually I gave it a website, went to a few expos and sold a few. I will be the first to admit the first series were not pretty, and over time they evolved in shape, performance,ballasting, coatings ext. to the gun they are today. But two things all series of Koah guns accomplished was tracking and accuracy. They look better today and I do recess the wood for the length of the handle mainly to utilize the auto-return on Josh's mechs while keeping a thinner profile (pic). I also like how the lines run with the gun on a side profile.I started doing this 60-70 guns ago, but I have to admit I really like some of the DIY uhmw handles posted on this thread. My only question is how do they work on a standard rear handle where the mech sits above the handle and a push rod isn't used, while keeping the integrity of the handle strength? I just need to know if the mech is cut into the handle or are they strictly built for remote trigger applications.
The good news is only one handle out of many guns has come close to sheering off and this was due to the user shooting a grouper with three bands at a range of about 3 feet in a hole, with nothing but rock behind the grouper. I did use #8 screws for some time in both 3/4 and 1in, but as of late I have moved to #10 1in, with both alexander and neptonics handles. As for linghunts gun, it was before i did any countersinking and it is regrettable. I would be happy to rout out and countersink the handle (either style seeing as its not an auto-return mech) while upgrading the screws if he can get the gun in my hands for no charge. As for the saftey, Josh has refined his euro style saftey and I think he has it looking pretty good. I plan on offering it as an option starting with the next mech order, which will be in a couple months. I'm open to any questions/opinions and I look forward to putting fish reports ext. on the board.
the uhmw mortised in handle is only really suited for midhandles way too much would have to be gutted out on thin gun like yours . on rear handles i use a through bolted stainless frame handle with a cast grip .
I like Euro (woodden) handles more than this framed Americans. It might be a personal prefference, but this ones look lot sexier and better designed than all I have seen here (IMHO)...
This one has vulcanic sand for better grip:
And this one with white sand 
Take a look at this post: [url=http://www.pescasub.com/foros/index.php/topic,33151.0.html]Tercer y cuarto leño autoconstruídos. Predarile´s time.[/url]
Beautiful craftmanship!
PS: Welcome Koah! 
Nice Marco
Welcome grouper reeper
Well I finally made it into the Blue 22 miles offshore hunting Wahoo with my virgin Koah 65 rigged with four bands this weekend.
Lets start with looks, the gun is pleasing to the eye in shape and the craftsmanship is great, only thing that was not stellar was the epoxy finish, dont misunderstand me it is nice enough.
So lets get to it, in the water the gun was superbly balanced and tracked decently. This is the biggest gun I have owned and it is a lot of gun to slide side to side but I was pleasantly surprised how well I could track with it considering its size, I think the decent tracking could be attributed to its slim design compared to other blue water guns I have seen this size. The handle was an Elite handle and I found it bulky to grip but thats a preference thing.
Loading it was an adventure, I first tried the one hand on band and pushing butt forward to load on chest, PAIN IN THE ASS! then said whatever and hip loaded, it was easy!! Rubbers were easy to load from the hip for me in no small part due to the sweet loading pad on the butt of the gun.
The gun went down 40 feet into the blue with me tracking a chum line effortlessly and staying just below my teaser, sadly there was nothing to shoot at other than a medium sized annoying barracuda(mumble mumble mumble). I spared his life but decided to test the gun out and scare the crap out of this fearless toothy fish, I pulled the gun from my body and extended my arm, it felt just fine with very little effort, aimed about a foot in front of the barries head and had a smooth trigger pull, gun has a kick! glad I had braced for a kick was not 2 bad, it is a four band blue water gun after all and is slim and sleek(less mass more kick)...But it was not bad enough to say it was an issue for me personally. Spear went exactly where I aimed it so had a smile on my face even if my new gun still has no blood on it. Gun floated with spear gone so another star in my book for the gun.
All in all I am a happy customer and glad I went with a Koah for my Blue Water spearfishing.
I think it was funny that my thread on spear board was quoted and brought up on this site. I chose the Koah becuause I was needing a larger gun and didn't want to be like the rest of the world and buy a riffe. For less then 100 bucks more then a e130 I got a custom gun, built exactly as I wanted. and best of all, I felt a sense of individualism with it. I'm more then happy with my decision and I know that won't change.
Tony I wanted a custom blue water gun and did not want to pay what I saw other custom guns costing. After researching what owners had to say about their Koahs plus the new designs that John had going on I was sold on giving it a chance, happy I did after firing my gun and will make my reef gun a Koah when that time comes for a new one after my experience dealing with John at Koah and of course firing a Koah . Many say they are bubble blowers guns but I free dive and the gun is superbly balanced underwater I found.
Your write up and others helped in my research and I would think being quoted on a public forum from another public forum in the pursuit of information on our sport IS the point of being on public forums?? Learning and objectively sharing info is why I am here.
I think it was funny that my thread on spear board was quoted and brought up on this site. I chose the Koah becuause I was needing a larger gun and didn't want to be like the rest of the world and buy a riffe. For less then 100 bucks more then a e130 I got a custom gun, built exactly as I wanted. and best of all, I felt a sense of individualism with it. I'm more then happy with my decision and I know that won't change.
You misunderstood me, I wasn't upset or irritated by any means, given the history of spear board and this site, I was slightly amused there was a link up. However, since it was a post about a gun and not the usual SB nonsense I can understand why it was left up.
I Freedive with m yKoah and i also think it's perfectly balanced. I have a nice Wong and a modded Mares Sten that I use regularly also, so it doesn't get used as much as I like. I let my buddy Mark use this a the P-tower in the keys a little while ago and he shot this AJ and stoned it.
. 
Some clarification.. Links to SB or any other spearfishing forum/site have never been removed. Speardiver forum policy is to not interfere with posting of any information beneficial or of interest to the community. Only advertising is controlled as outlined here http://spearfishing.world/info…09-advertising-forum.html.
It is my personal feeling that members are the backbone of the forum, and should be here because they so prefer, not because they're kept in the dark about other options.
Sorry for the derail, please continue with the Koah discussion.
Probably a bit late with the post but I'v been using my koah for about 2 years now and I would buy another gun from John on his integrity and customer service alone. His prices for custom guns are very hard to beat. When I bought my gun I was very new to spearing John answered all my questions picks up the phone when ever I call with a strange issue and has the kind of customer service that is rarely seen these days. His guns are always evolving and improving over time as he always seems to wana make these guns better and better. I would like to see him do some open track guns though. I hate pulling the trigger on a holed up grouper wondering if this is gonna be the time I blow my track out. I love the wooden euro guns and would like to see a FL builder start making something like that.
Dude george, did you purposely ask for the trigger mech to be placed directly on top of the handle for easier hip loading or is that how they're made? Does John make a true midhandle gun with the trigger mech located at the very back of the gun?
I wanted it built without a pushrod and I was used to "tail" on my gun so custom for me.
John does do a mid-handle and rear handle plus, as I have only used my own Koah I cant comment but everyone I talk to seams pretty happy
KOAH Spearguns - Products and Service
Dude george, did you purposely ask for the trigger mech to be placed directly on top of the handle for easier hip loading or is that how they're made? Does John make a true midhandle gun with the trigger mech located at the very back of the gun?
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