New gun partially enclosed track

    It does matter. It has to do not only with the shape that is cutting through the water but the trailing shape as well. If the shape is not hydrodynamic such as in the case where there are sharp angles there will be turbulence created behind the moving object which will retard the movement. I remember doing this experiment in school where we dragged different shapes through a long tank of water with constant force by connecting them to the same weight and letting it drop to the ground. The most hydrodynamic shapes covered the distance faster. Same idea as the bicycle helmet.


    I would tend to agree, so why aren't all spearguns round? At least for the forward part that must swing through the water. I'm not suggesting that it has to be small diameter (like a hybrid), as I am trying to think about this without regard for size or appropriate ballast.


    Cost? - More wood gets wasted on a round shape
    Strength? - A square shape is stiffer than a round one of equal height
    Harder to fabricate? - Certainly would be more difficult for home builders without square edges to serve as a reference.

    I'm not looking at it from the perspective of why they're not "made" round. Manufacturers have their own reasons for making guns the way they do and the rest just follow suit. I wouldn't make a round gun for the same reason I don't like the Riffe euro. To be stiff enough the diameter of the round gun would have to be fairly big, at least bigger in diameter than your conventional pipe gun. When you stretch the bands on that you'll get an off shape that is hard to grip and carry through the water, over time this does become a factor. This same effect is seen in the Riffe euro; the stock is wider than it is tall in the first place and when the bands are stretched and you have to grip the whole thing the effect is exaggerated to the point of being uncomfortable for me to carry. When you have a stock that is taller than it is wide and the bands are stretched it sort of becomes round as far as how it is to grip.

    I don't know how to do the quote function, so I'll just copy/paste this from seaweeds thread:


    Thats what I've been wanting for years!!!!
    1. Never made sense to me to try to hold a 5-6ft long pistol steady in the water with one hand to hit a fish.
    I even went so far as to talk to Ray Odor about their old/old guns with stalks years ago..
    3. Wood doweling for the barrel of similar diameter to the RA with an enclosed track could have a SG[specific gravity] of less than the current RA, =float better than the current RA. Different woods have different SG. If other woods are used, the new epoxy gun finishes being used by many builders now would prevent delamination problems.
    4. Matt888 and Griswold use a CF tube with an enclosed track on their hybred guns now and another famous gun maker is experimenting with an enclosed track AL barrel. Matt888 and Griswold both have working muzzle designs on round/dowel barrels now, as does RA of course. These new round CF and AL barrels have high floatation material inside the barrels so that water intrusion is not an issue as it is in other hollow barrel guns.
    5. I think I know of a manufacture of TI rods/tubing for the sliding wire stalk.
    6. Mori manufacutres a low profile trigger mechanizem for his 'reef' model guns and the RA assembly is very light weight[and cheap] and would have one of the lowest profiles in an enclosed track gun. The Riffe Euro/Euro X trigger assembly is low profile and has a side release [monster slayer]
    7. If you are going to design a gun for reel use, I might suggest a side line release instead of a bottom line release.
    8. Sooo,= take a 1 1/2in teak laminated dowel, use a ball cutter for the enclosed track, route out a corrisponding trigger pocket for a Riffe Euro or RA trigger assembly, shape the muzzle band slot, make a grip to match and attach a sliding Ti wire stalk.[ Oh, and paint it black epoxy if you wanted [seaweed ]. Then it might even look like a pneumatic with bands [greekdiver]]
    Tin Man may have some good ideas and he can manufacture/produce anything.

    Sphere seems to have the least drag and is a realistic shape for a speargun as opposed to a streamlined body.


    Davie Peguero

    Maybe I'm the only one around here that doesn't like Riffes.... :rolleyes1:


    But for the ones who do, it is for sure an improoved version.


    Riffe Competitor Reloaded! :thumbsup2:

    Marco Melis

    A bad day fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work.

    Quote from Marco

    Riffe Competitor Reloaded! :thumbsup2:

    :laughing:


    You have to feel how it is to grip that handle and track that gun, it makes all the difference. The guys that have held my previous guns which have the same handle will vouch for that. Riffe competitor would be a very nice gun if it wasn't for the Riffe handle. They had a chance to put a nice handle on a gun with the Riffe euro but messed it up even more.

    Love Riffes, even with the odd shaped handle. What makes me think that yours is a great speargun indeed. When it comes to performance, Riffes can hold a candle against any speargun around for sure, i guess they still can be improved as demonstrated by this thread... :)

    I'm a Speardiver, not a freediver

    What makes me think that a solid design could be improved upon, to some extent, then maybe the improvements become suplements and not complements to a flawless piece of work. I guess we are reaching the point in which spearguns are at its very best in design and functionality.

    I'm a Speardiver, not a freediver

    Aaack! :@ Blasphemy! :D


    If a device with no moving parts whose sole purpose is to sit on a rubber belt and be heavy can be improved, then so can anything else. There is an often repeated story (which may or may not be true) that there once was a commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office who publicly proclaimed that everthing worthwhile had already been invented. He supposedly made that statement in 1894.


    I do think, however, that many of the best "improvements" are the ones that allow simplification, rather than added complexity.

    Quote from Tin Man

    If a device with no moving parts whose sole purpose is to sit on a rubber belt and be heavy can be improved, then so can anything else.

    Are you talking about those separators they have in supermarkets that you put between yours and other people's groceries? Did you find a way to improve them? :D And don't come back and tell me that's all my new gun is good for!

    Quote from pargo

    Are you talking about those separators they have in supermarkets that you put between yours and other people's groceries? Did you find a way to improve them?


    Hah! Heavens no, those are the peak of design achievement . . . :D


    I think that some of the coolest potential ideas would be in new materials. I don't think that any of these exist, but what if:


    There were a synthetic stock material that were cheap and could replace the use of old growth teak, with all the same desirable properties?


    Or bands that could stretch to 10 times their relaxed length, allowing band stretch over the entire length of the gun?


    Or shafts made of steel with a "memory"? They get bent, and you just apply a little heat and they go back to their original straight shape? (there are metals like this now, just not suitable for shafts).

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