Posts by Dan

  • Speargun Dynamics

    Not if you're using an enclosed track gun.


    I don't like tricut, the tip bends too easily and requires constant filing. I find myself hesitating too much when taking shots that could hit the reef bottom. I think it may even affect trajectory the same way a flopper with its lip sticking out does. Getting similar penetration for my purposes from a pencil point is just a matter of sharpening it. The kind of extra penetration provided by a tri cut I think is only necessary with very big fish?

  • Ear oil???????

    But reverse squeeze has to do with what's on the other side of the ear drum, your eustachian tubes are getting clogged. I don't believe putting oil in your ear will do anything to help that.

  • Speargun Dynamics

    Quote from Don Paul

    Gun are a little like religion, many different beliefs to the chosen path.

    :)


    Very good vid Greek, thanks.


    This is one of the reasons I insist on 13" of spear overhang. By the time the muzzle kicks up the spear there's already quite a bit of spear past that point traveling straight, there's a better possibility that the rear of the shaft which has been moved out of position will eventually join the front on the same plane.


    LB, I was so focused on what the shaft was doing that I missed the fish bit until I read your post. It is an amazing thing! But then I've shot fish before where I could see them esquive the spear in the last moment and I'd see one scale stuck on the spear point afterward. I've also seen a fish turn so fast that the spear penetrated it twice, near the head and near the tail. I've heard it said before that you can shoot a fish facing you like that and it will always turn presenting a target for the shaft. But I've never had the confidence to do it, rather I'd wait for the fish to turn, sometimes this was too late. I considered whether it will make a difference if the fish will turned right or left, I concluded that it doesn't make a difference. I will try this kind of shot in the future because of what I saw in this vid. One caveat though is that I think it only applies to fish of certain size, a big fish will be slower to turn and will take the shaft in forehead.

  • Speargun Dynamics

    I saw a speargun fired in a tank in a slow motion video, but I can't find the video. The shaft did behave like one of those arrows bending like hell, except on a vertical plane. The muzzle of the gun would kick up about 6" by the time the shaft was half way out creating an amazing bend in the shaft. The shaft would then continue and slide over top of the kicked up muzzle, amazingly returning to its original plane. Having once before seen a slow motion video of an arrow being shot also behaving in a similar manner, I thought this will always be the case. However watch this series of different arrows being shot, some of them bend a lot and others very little, so I think it does depend on the bow or speargun.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI_17jgEdAI


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVonIjirG8


    And a speargun although not in very detailed slow motion.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gCJjoZVXXI

  • Slot shape and band alignment

    If we're talking about the one slot angled up and the other down, yes I believe it will work. The only reason it didn't work the way I did it is because of the order of loading the bands.

  • New gun partially enclosed track

    The other modifications.


    I made a mistake and put the handle further away from the trigger than where it was comfortable for me to reach it. The only way to bring the trigger closer was to change its shape. I made a cut in the trigger and bend it backwards a little bit at at time until it was in perfect position. Then I had it welded at a metal fabrication shop to close the gap. I then filed and sanded it back to clean shape.







    I like to load both bands on one tab. I also like it when there's only one tab and then I can load by touch almost without looking. I made this shaft out of a two tabbed euro shaft by cutting off the back including the second tab and shaping a square notch. Obviously the shooting line would connect to the one tab which already had a hole for it. I found that because the shooting line loop and crimp were squeezed down right under the loaded bands, on firing the bands would push the crimp into the track and the crimp would damage the top part of the track gouging out wood and creating splinters. Rather than buy another shaft I opted for adding a dog house, I've used this system before and it works fine. All I had to do was bend some SS wire and drill two holes through the shaft. Then have each point on the bottom of the shaft welded at the metal fabrication shop. The welding on the trigger and the doghouse cost me $20 and took 10 minutes for the welder to do.





  • New gun partially enclosed track

    I made some modifications to this gun, this one I already posted about in its own thread.


    Over a year ago I had an idea about shaping the band slot of a wood gun in such a way that it would allow control of how the bands run when the gun is loaded. The idea was hatched the due to the perceived necessity to elevate the bands as close as possible to the level of the spear, so as to reduce muzzle kick. Back then I still thought it was an issue with a wood gun with two bands. The idea was that the band fills the conventional hole when not stretched but when stretched it is forced into the smaller hole thereby raising it.





    Many builders opt for cutting channels/contours into the stock to control band alignment. I've never owned nor loaded such a gun, but I did make up my mind about two things. 1. These contours make the gun stock more bulky. 2. Sometimes for the bands to make use of the contours care must be taken when loading them so that they occupy their respective places, this takes more time and loading effort. I've always maintained the shape that best combines minimum necessary mass and hydrodynamic movement is a straight stick that is taller than it is wide. The addition of the stretched bands on such a gun makes the gun body round. Whereas on a Riffe Euro where the stock is wider than it is tall in the first place, the stretched bands compound the width making it IMO very inconvenient to hold.


    Anyhow I forgot about all this because muzzle kick was no longer an issue. But since I started using a new gun, and I like to load both bands on one tab, a new issue came up. The bands were running/stacking over each other when loaded instead of running in a compact manner from the band slot to the tab. This is very important to me as it makes carrying the gun when loaded inconvenient, I carry it by the stock. If the bands stack one on top of the other it increases dramatically the profile of the gun body and it's hard to close your hand around it. Since this gun already has a bigger all around stock than what I normally prefer to use, the stacking bands increased the inconvenience to the point that I almost concluded I will not be using the gun. So in an effort to salvage it and make the gun more streamlined I remembered this old idea and came back to it.


    This is what it looks like.




    My original thought was to leave each band in its hole so I shaped one hole angling up and one angling down. I though it through carefully before cutting but I f**ked it up, I did it it the opposite way, due to the nature of which band gets loaded first, and the bands stacked even worse than before :dumb: I thought I messed up the gun for good. Then I decided to try one more thing, put both bands in the first hole.


    It worked beautifully, just as planned except well :) I used it all day yesterday. The first band that is loaded occupies the small space. The second band runs right under it without any special loading effort. When both bands are loaded the gun is as tight and compact as can be, I'm very satisfied. And in the end there's room for a third band which I wanted anyways as an option, since the stock on this gun has enough mass to support it. It remains to be seen how this third band will run. But the main point is that for two band guns this type of slot is the shit IMHO! Getting two bands through that little hole required putting one band through the hole and loading it thereby creating space for the second band, and then lubing the second band with dish detergent. However there is no reason not to make the slot extend a little more towards the muzzle, it will not change the alignment effect.








  • 10/03/2009 Fort Pierce

    I'll tell you something, considering how much I hate poor vis, the kind of diving we did on Sat was surprisingly enjoyable to me. I think what made the difference was #1 no current as you said, and #2 that every dive put me on a nice concentration of fish, even if not many were shootable. For me what kills it is diving dead zones which happens much more diving in Miami.

  • Can fish recognize a speargun?

    Have you guys seen fish, usually smaller reef fish, that will swim within gun range in front of you, but turn their bodies so that the top of their back is pointed at you thus providing a very small target. They will swim normally and do this as soon as you start to aim the gun.