34" ish carp-killer

[diekmann]

so here's the thread for the gun i mentioned i'm making earlier, pics will come later. it's basically for carp but i'm thinking i'm going to get hooked and have to take it places to find better fish and end up making a bigger gun. anyways, building it for woodworking.... yea here's the stuff in it.

5/16" 42" shaft, the shark fin cool looking kind
neptonics trigger mech, tried to figure my own out. that's now abandoned...
two 5/8" bands 16" long, spectra wb
just using the straightest mahogany wood i could find when i was at menards.
not sure on the finish/seal, any ideas that i can find locally, (think rural mn here) or make a run to home depot or lowes or some store to get?

thanks for checking it out, comments concerns appreciated
Diekmann

[Lee Slikkers]

Looking forward to the build...newb spearo on this end, live in MI so Carp, Drum, Catfish & Suckers are all we got so I'll be following your thread closely as I'd love to make my own Carp gun.

[Samik]

sounds good! my Riffe #B (38") is my favorite carp gun. Later in the summer when the water is clear I step up top a 90cm euro though. a 45" midhandle woody will replace it soon..

good luck on your build!

One tip, those JBL tips with the wing retaining ring work great for getting a big fatty off the shaft in a hurry. I can never reload fast enough when I get in a good patch of rubber lips.

Question: are you planning on making the stock 34" for a 42" shaft?
I ask because I just finished my gun and ended up making it with very little overhang (50 in threaded shaft for a 50in gun) It worked out awesome. More wood=less recoil, less overhang = more wood.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[diekmann]

there's the pics, pretty rough i know, and as far as it not being one solid piece, it's the wood i could find. the thicker part is for the band holes, i'm thinkin 2 separate holes with little slots to get the bands in there. Those i'll drill tomorrow. Progress will be slow, i can only work on it 1 hour per day because it's my woodworking project. Small school, that's why i'm getting away with making a spear gun

34" ish stock for a 42" shaft is how it should turn out to be, i'll cut the stock and place the mech about as far back as i can pull the bands. then i'll leave a little room behind the handle to brace with and put a foam pad and wait for the ice to go away. maybe shoot some geese while i'm waiting

[diekmann]

here's the progress for today, tomorrow should be rounding the band holes and then just waiting for my reef mech to get here so i can cut a hole and drop that in. can anybody think of any readily available waterproof sealer that's cheap?

[manoa matt]

Did you route a 1/2 round in each side, then glue it together? Or was it glued, then you routed the track?

I used the first process to make a hybrid gun as I didn't have the bit to route it once it was all glued up. Either way good job,

Originally Posted by diekmann

here's the progress for today, tomorrow should be rounding the band holes and then just waiting for my reef mech to get here so i can cut a hole and drop that in. can anybody think of any readily available waterproof sealer that's cheap?

I know a guy (impailer?) that made a sweet gun out of a 2x4 (no lams or nothing, straight from the construction site) and used clear polyurethane for sealer. He's had it for a while now (2 years?) and hasn't warped or cracked. He set it up so that the mech can come out, so he can just route out another 2x4 and drop the mech in (he's told me he's had the same mech in 2 other guns). Its not the prettiest gun, but kills fish for sure.

[thereefgeek]

Wow, you cut the track without having the mech in hand?

That's pretty bold.....

[diekmann]

thereefgeek
did i do it wrong? i was planning on using a (mortise i think) square bit and then drilling the space for the mech as far back as i want it, a bit deeper than needed, then put the mech in, put the shaft in the mech, line it up, then drill holes for the pins. i'll be attempting this tomorrow

iamasalmon
that's pretty sweet, this gun is for sure not a looker, like the 2x4 one, more so a gun to get my feet wet in spearfishing. and sort of to see what i could do. i've never held or put my eyes upon any spear gun except for youtube. greenhorn diy

manoa matt
yea man, 3/8th inch cove bit to make a half track on each side, use what you got!

[thereefgeek]

Usually I cut the trigger pocket first. That way I know where to stop cutting the track.....

I think the bigger problem is having the mech centered in the track. If they are both cut from the same setup, they'll be on center every time. I wonder what the tolerance is... That is, how far off center can you be before the mech jams or sticks. My guess is would be that you have to be within 1/64th" of center, and maybe you can leave the mech pocket a lil loose (width) so it has some room to find its center but that's just a guess

[ryddragyn]

Some sort of epoxy is ideal, but a few coats of Helmsman spar polyurethane with UV blockers will work in a pinch, though it won't have the scratch resistance, and it will smell funky for a long while afterwards. Carp smells worse though! Make sure you blow all the sawdust off with a can of compressed air.

I have cut the track first plenty of times, though that was on open track guns. It should work fine - in fact I prefer doing it that way. But as iamasalmon said, the alignment width-wise is the challenge now, since the fence setting on the router won't be exactly identical now.

When you drill the mech hole pins have some scrap wood on the other side - that's made a couple projects of mine turn out ugly when the bit bursts through the other time and makes splinters.

Also, these smaller guns often require more careful balancing and ballasting than you think they will, especially with the more buoyant woods like mahogany. For up close shots it won't make a huge difference of course, but it's inevitable that you will take a slightly longer range shot than the gun was intended for, and it's then that you'll find out if it has muzzle jump. There's not a lot of real estate for hiding lead on a smaller gun, so keep that mind when you choose your line anchor. For my 35" black locust hole gun, I drilled two holes under the neptonics line anchor and inserted 4 cylindrical tungsten plugs that I got for a few bucks on Amazon. Tungsten is denser than lead, so that saves on wood you need to drill out, as well as labor melting or shaping lead to fit.

Hope that helps.

[diekmann]

thereefgeek
i realize the wisdom in that. the shop has some putty to fill it or maybe i'll get a diff color wood to put in there so it looks like i tried to do it

iamasalmon
got the trigger mech in there today, the side to side must not be an issue or maybe it's because i got just the square mech instead of getting the jbl mech. had to mod my shaft a bit. my bad. so it works tho. really snug and conviently the mech is just flush with the top of the wood. my guess was perfect with how deep to make the track.

ryddragyn
i know what you mean with the splintering out. the mortice did that in one spot, oh well i made it look better with the chisel. and this gun is an eyesore as it is. i should look into the balasting too. will it cause a huge problem as far as accuracy goes if i don't do anything to it? i'll be diving only like 20' deep at the most and the wood will not be as boyant in fresh water if that matters at all.

[ryddragyn]

Ive never really felt or seen salt or freshwater make a big difference in how ballasting and balancing affects accuracy. In theory yes it does but I dont notice it make a practical difference.

With the extra wood you have added to the muzzle the bigger concern might be floaty muzzle syndrome, which will make controlling and maneuvering the gun a little more difficult. I had floaty muzzle with a stock that was far more rectangular and regular and I wound up adding lots of weight.