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Old 01-17-2018, 12:14 PM   #1
fr0sty
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Nose heavy roller

I just converted a standard aluminum gun into a roller by swapping out the muzzle. Shoots great, but would like to tune it a bit because aiming isn't as easy/fluid because the nose of the gun is heavy.

Anything I can do to make the nose lighter and make the gun more balanced? Does adding foam in the barrel help?
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Old 01-17-2018, 12:24 PM   #2
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Re: Nose heavy roller

adding foam to the barrel probably does not add any buoyancy. The only way you could add foam is if the barrel is hollow, and foam will be denser than air. You could figure out how much lift you need.. take some foam and tape it to the barrel and see how much makes it float to get a rough idea. You could wrap some Neoprene or you could fashion something like the Pathos slip on.
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Old 01-17-2018, 12:26 PM   #3
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Re: Nose heavy roller

Adding foam in a sealed barrel won't help. You can use a thinner spear or shorter spear. You can also check to make sure there is no added weight to the barrel by the plug to the front that can be removed. If there is a space infront of the barrel plug, you can put foam there. If there is any hollow area in the roller muzzle, you can put foam.
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Old 01-17-2018, 12:27 PM   #4
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Re: Nose heavy roller

Quote:
Originally Posted by Behslayer View Post
adding foam to the barrel probably does not add any buoyancy. The only way you could add foam is if the barrel is hollow, and foam will be denser than air. You could figure out how much lift you need.. take some foam and tape it to the barrel and see how much makes it float to get a rough idea. You could wrap some Neoprene or you could fashion something like the Pathos slip on.
Some thick Neoprene might be a great stick on idea.
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Old 01-17-2018, 12:54 PM   #5
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Re: Nose heavy roller

Are you sure that the problem that it is nose heavy? If what you're feeling is resistance when you swing it then that could be due to resistance from the bands that are now stretched underneath the gun.
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Old 01-17-2018, 02:22 PM   #6
fr0sty
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Re: Nose heavy roller

Thanks, there's a tiny little space on the muzzle that I might try to seal up or put some foam in. I'll also see if I can find some neoprene to stick onto it.

It's definitely nose heavy. I compared it with my other roller and it takes a lot more wrist effort to keep the tip up. For reference, it's probably because the barrel is 70cm so there's not as much air space in the barrel to balance it out.
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Old 01-17-2018, 08:49 PM   #7
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Re: Nose heavy roller

How buoyant is the gun without the shaft? If it's buoyant enough, you can consider adding weight to the
butt to offset the nose heavy muzzle.
What does the muzzle look like? any pics of it?
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Old 01-18-2018, 04:29 PM   #8
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Re: Nose heavy roller

If you are testing in pool your gun will be more buoyant in Saltwater, so maybe it is just right in the salt? Just a thought.
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Old 01-19-2018, 01:45 PM   #9
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Re: Nose heavy roller

In the old days we had to reinforce our pipe guns to keep them from bending under load. We would use a teak dowel. we would also swap out the pin thin shafts the guns came with and use a proper diameter. this would make the gun heavy. to offset we would wrap the barrel with Neoprene. wasn't a Perfect solution.. but it worked well enough. can use a double wrap in places if neccesary. Sometimes looked surprisingly nice.. (obviously you don't wrap the track portion..)
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Old 01-20-2018, 08:56 PM   #10
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Re: Nose heavy roller

When I last used it in the ocean,I don't recall exactly how buoyant it was (did float without shaft in it), but I wouldn't want to add any more weight to the handle/butt.

In-between the rollers, there's some space that I was thinking it'd be possible to seal up or put foam to add buoyancy. What do you guys think?

Album with muzzle and whole gun: https://imgur.com/a/RmZ4k
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Old 01-21-2018, 12:46 PM   #11
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Re: Nose heavy roller

Why do you have such a long bungie for your line? Not sure if you shorten it that it will take off any weight on the front.
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Old 01-21-2018, 01:00 PM   #12
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Re: Nose heavy roller

haha, that's because I didn't want to run a reel or floatline. So I compensated by having a slightly longer bungie to go with a double wrap.
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Old 01-21-2018, 01:04 PM   #13
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Re: Nose heavy roller

How big of fish are you hunting? And how clear of water are you hunting in? The reason I'm asking is i just built a 90cm roller. Im planning on getting it in water this week. I put three wraps on it cause i will be shooting in clear water so i need the distance. The fish are spooky.
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Old 01-21-2018, 01:13 PM   #14
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Re: Nose heavy roller

I'm in the Northeast, so tautog (~4lbs), scup (~1lb), stripers (~10-20lbs) are the main targets. When viz is good, it can get up to 15-20ft. Average I would say is ~10ft.
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Old 02-03-2018, 10:20 PM   #15
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Re: Nose heavy roller

I had an old Wong hybrid that was super muzzle heavy. Really light gun that felt really heavy in the water. I cut a piece of PVC 3/4" pipe the length of the barrel and cut out a little more than a 1/2" of the barrel lengthwise. I then cut and glued fishing rod foam to the PVC pipe and shaped it a little. This section of PVC with the foam attached could then be "snapped" onto the barrel. The net result was a slightly heavier gun that had less recoil and felt light water. It turned a gun that I was ready to sell into one of my favorite guns. Its a cheap fix and well worth trying.
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