Hi Spearfishing world,
So since I last posted my wife and I moved to Green Valley, Arizona. I joined the FB group Arizona Spearfishing and they are a great bunch of guys. We hunt mostly at Lake Pleasant for Striped Bass, and target practice on carp. We will be doing some Sea of Cortez trips also, which is a few hours drive away.
I mounted all my guns on the way in my den, so here is a pic. Also one from Lake Pleasant this week. Beautiful place!
I've seen lots of them in use. Appear to be a great platform for beach diving or even off a boat. Mako does get a bad rap, but I own one of their wetsuits and other items and have no issues.
Thanks Dan!
Here is a pic of the gun rigged less the band.
Finished up the roller gun today, less rigging, which I will work on tomorrow. Weather is crap and the ocean is chocolate milk so what better way to spend the day?
The gun came out perfect! Length is 103cm with 82cm back under the gun. I installed 3 tabs on the back side for load assist and reef fish shooting. It will be a reel-only setup and should be ideal for a variety of conditions. Enjoy the pics!
So made significant progress on the roller gun today. Three major cuts: Handle base, mechanism and trigger channels. Next will be to drill and pin the mechanism mounts then cut the shaft channel. After that, cut in the line release window and drill/pin the base (temporary pin only). Then on to the muzzle, which will be the biggest challenge (I think).
Hi Spearfishing World,
I hope I'm not boring all of you with my gun builds! I build and race motorcycles and have always been 60% about the bike and 40% about the race. Guess I'm that way about spearfishing too!
So the roller journey continues. If you look at the pic with the pine mock up on top of the stock you may notice that the wood is very thin at the muzzle, almost infringing on the 3/8" shaft channel. I found this unacceptable so decided to switch gears. You may also notice that the stock, with its beautiful grain is now planed down to the final dimensions of 1 3/8" wide and 1 3/4" tall. The length may change with the build. I am thinking more of 100 cm instead of 95 cm, but we'll see....
I will now widen the muzzle area, but in order to do so I must go from the polished axles and plain bearing rollers to threaded axles and real stainless steel bearings for the rollers. This way I can make the muzzle area as wide as I like. Which I will do!
I am now in full build mode!
Hi Peripatetic,
I bought one of the stock grips and also one of the rubberized grips. the rubberized grip feels much better. Of course it costs 5X more as well, but worth it I think. I'll leave the stock grip on the one gun then swap out for the rubber one that will be on the roller when I take it in the water.
Hi Spearfishing world,
Taking a break from the roller build due to some design changes I am incorporating, so decided to modify my Yellowfin 140CM gun from the handle I built 20 years ago, to the Neptonics AR-15 handle I am also using on the 95 CM roller gun.
I became really impressed with this take-down handle when I first saw it at the Neptonics shop in Long Beach. It is made by Charlie Sturgill's company so I know it must be of good quality. The build was pretty straight forward as you can see. Spent most of the day on it, but now the gun can fit into a fairly slender tube for traveling, and is likely much stronger as well. Plus, I can try out a variety of grips and swap them between guns.
I will be modifying the White Seabass gun next, all while working on the roller build, which I will be working on this week.
Hi Spearfishing World,
Here is an update of my 95cm roller gun build.
Today I cut up a piece of soft pine to the same dimensions (width and height, not length) as the actual gun stock. After laying everything out I used a 5/8" straight router bit to carve out the mounting positions for the handle base and Reef trigger mechanism housing. I then came back with a 5/16" straight bit to cut the channel for the trigger itself. After drilling and pinning both I made several passed with a 3/8" round box bit to cut the shaft channel to the proper depth. Satisfied, I can now embark on transferring these details to the real stock once I plane it down to size. My next update will cover that. Stay tuned.....
Looks like an old musket!
Hi Peripatetic,
Even the cheap plastic grip is nice, but the rubberized grips feel phenomenal! This is my first build with these grips, but being able to break it down like that makes transporting a gun so much easier. My next entry to the story will be showing how to take a mock up piece of soft wood to set up the router so all mistakes (and router set-up) can be made ahead of time on a test piece. When I worked on it last night I assumed the width of the handle base and mechanism was 1/2", turns out it is 5/8" and I don't have a straight bit that size, so off to Home Depot to pick one up!
It just takes patience and GOOD TOOLS!
Hi Spearfishing World Members,
I am embarking upon my first roller gun build and would like to share my progress as the project progresses.
After much research I decided upon building the gun to 95cm, which should be a great all-around gun for my purposes. It will use 2-stage loading to make it easier to load the band onto the tab. I will employ Chris Coates' data as much as possible for this build (14mm band, not 16mm and a 52" 9/32" shaft) as he has done all the research and I don't want to invent any new mistakes!
I will be using mostly Neptonics components, including the AR15 handle (which is removable from the base to facilitate travel, or just to change out grips) and Reef mechanism. For the roller I am going with the Meandros single roller system. I like the system because it can be upgraded to steel or ceramic roller bearings and is well built.
The stock is a 4-way teak laminate made from repurposed boards using the West System epoxy to hold it all together. I ripped it to a basic size and the wood has now aged for a couple of months, now ready for final planning to the finished dimensions of 1 3/8" wide by 1 3/4" deep.
In the pics I am also showing my router bit set. For this build I will be mostly using the 1/2" plunge bit for the handle and mechanism, the 1/4" plunge bit for the line release and the 3/8" round box bit for the open channel.
Once my buddy gets back from the Phillipines I will visit his shop to get the wood down to the proper dimensions and proceed with the build.
Stay tuned....!
Thank you Don Paul and thank you Popgun Pete! Popgun, your vision is spot on! A really good read is anything from Chris Coates from Ultimate Spearfishing magazine. I have studied his data on roller guns, which is why I chose that route for my next project. I will post where I am at in the build tonight and will update as I go. This is all very exciting!
Hi Spearfishing World members,
As I mentioned in my introduction I would do a small piece on my current speargun quiver, all of which I made myself.
I started freediving spearfishing back in 1986 while on a scuba trip to one of the local islands off Southern California. As a result I ended up joining the LA Fathomiers, which was a great move for me. Talking with Bob Sellers (one of the Fathers of the club) at my first meeting I asked him which gun I should "buy" as a first real hunting tool (I had a really small AB Biller at the time). He told me to make my own as I would appreciate my catch more than taking the easy route.
I then called up Jay Riffe, who at the time was working out of his garage. He sold me a mechanism, handle and a shaft and I went on my way. After several failed attempts at cutting up teak boards and having them warp on me I was about to give up. I went to Jay's house and told him to sell me his "standard", as he called it, as I was done. Jay's advice was to keep on trying. Back then Jay did not laminate any of his guns. His brother would cut up the stocks and cure them and the straight ones made it into Jay's shop. At the next Fathomiers meeting Bob Sellers told me I have to laminate the stock to get a straight one. So I bought another teak board, ripped it in half, opposed the cuts and to my surprise I ended up with my first straight blank! From that blank I made my first gun (81cm) and I named it the "Calico" as I shot an 11lber at Catalina Island with it. That gun is still with me and I have shot everything from Halibut to White Seabass with it.
Next up was my first mid-handle gun with a stock, handle, pushrod, trigger and line release I made myself. I called it the "White Seabass gun (117cm) as I built it to hunt WSB in poor vis conditions at Palos Verdes. That is the gun with the old Riffe reel attached. Although fairly crude I have shot a LOT of big fish with that gun over the years. I made everything but the mechanism and shaft for that gun. I made a few other guns with that crude handle including the large "Yellowfin" mid-handle gun (140cm) I designed and built for a Bluefin Tuna trip to Cortez Banks back in 1992. I called it the Yellowfin because I wanted to leave room for an even bigger gun in case the need arose! And also the "Scramble Meet" gun (86cm) that I designed for competition diving. That gun is a 4 teak laminated gun in a square pattern.
My favorite gun of all time as next and I named it the "Yellowtail". It is a 108cm rear handle gun with a handle I am actually proud of! It is beautiful and my wife burned a picture of a Yellowtail right on it. This gun has a name for a reason! My first trip out with the gun was on the Westerly on a scuba trip to San Clemente Island back in 1993. Wanting to just test out the balance in the water I jumped in with no trail line or float attached. Swimming down to 25ft once away from the scuba divers I came across a school of large yellowtail. As the largest one swam about 10ft from the end of the shaft I had a decision to make: take the shot and make it a perfect one, or risk losing the gun, or just pass on the shot all together. I aimed right above the eye and stoned it dead. The captain could not believe it when I boated the 35lb yellowtail without a reel or float!
The last gun I built (which I just finished a week ago) remains nameless (86cm) as it hasn't been in the water yet. It is a dual Honduras mahogany laminate with the handle and loading pad dovetailed into the stock. The mother of pearl inlay was hand routered into the handle and glued in place. It is probably my most beautiful gun to date. So as you can tell my wood working skills improved with almost every gun I made. As will yours with practice.
So if you are wanting to build your own guns don't worry! You have way better materials and information today than I had back then. And you will definitely get a different sensation when you shoot a fish with a gun you toiled on for hours.
At the moment I am building a 95cm single roller gun that I will be writing about right after I finish this article. I hope you enjoyed my small story and maybe it will inspire you to build a gun too! You will need (or at least access to) a table saw, router with table and bits, drill press and a power box planer, as well as a flat table and clamps to do your laminating on. I use the West Systems epoxy, but there are others that work as well. And don't bother putting a nice, shiny finish on that teak gun. Oil it with a good teak oil and re-oil after a few dives and it will look like new forever. If you decide to use Mahogany you will need to apply several coats of a good spar varnish as Mahogany does not have natural water resistance like teak. But it is an easier wood to work with and some folks have luck without the need for laminating. The cool part is that you don't need a mechanism for every gun. You can swap one around to save cost (of course the mid-handle guns will need one with a cut down trigger).
Good luck!!!
Hi Spearfishing World,
I started freediving/spearfishing in 1986 at the suggestion of a dive boat captain and have been hooked ever since. I am a member of the Los Angeles Fathomiers, a competitive freediving spearfishing club that has been around since the mid-1950s. I mostly enjoy bluewater hunting for white seabass and yellowtail, but hunting inshore for calicos and halibut are just as much fun.
I build all my own guns, a trade I learned from Bob Sellers, a lifetime member of the Fathomiers. Once you build your own gun and actually spear a fish with it you will be hooked. I will do a story under that thread in a week or so. I built most all my guns back in the 80s and 90s before the enclosed track guns were catching on so all my guns are open track guns, and some of my older guns even have a loop over the muzzle to keep the shaft from flopping off. All my latest guns, though, use the shooting line over the shaft method of securing the shaft to the track.
Now that I am moving to Arizona I have hooked up with an Arizona spearfishing group on Facebook. I will be doing a lot of diving at Lake Pleasant for Stripped Bass and making the short drive south of the border to Rocky Point and San Carlos Mexico.
Glad to be part of your awesome group!
Roland
Hi Spearfishing World,
I am a new member to the group, but have been a member of the L.A. Fathomiers since 1987. I build all my own guns and will do a post on the ones I built for myself very soon. Just adding to the woodburning thread here. I name all my spearguns after fish and asked my wife to wood burn the images on my guns. She did two to date, so she has a ways to go. It is s simple way to add to your guns for sure and I like the way it turns out. The Yellowfin is a bit faded as that gun has seen a lot of action. Need her to go over that image, and then work on the rest of my quiver!
