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All About Guns What's your weapon of choice, and why? Discuss the beloved speargun here! |
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08-07-2018, 01:27 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 6
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Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
I finished making this iroko striped gun earlier and have been using it for most of this season.
It has 95cm of band stretch. 120cm / 6.5mm Hunt Carbon Tech shaft. Cressi Pure Bworn 14mm twin bands at 310%. Ermes sub double roll trigger. Ermes sub colibri reel. I like it! It works well for local conditions and I can stalk in less than a metre of water or use it on aspetto in 12m. I mostly use it for aspettos. I liked the band hollows that Gladiator Spearguns used to use but I cut mine a bit deep. I'll make them shallower on the next gun. I hadn't used iroko before and would probably stick to utile next time. The stripes are maple and walnut. It's finished with two-pack marine poly varnish. I liked the Abellan metal noses so made my own. I got the curve perfect the first time but it had a slight twist... ended up persuading it with a hammer and got dents in the stainless and then didn't have a counter punch so the drill bit drifted. Least happy with the metal work but hey it catches fish. We have fish in the range of 2lb to 10lbs locally. Alot of tide and current. Visibility ranges from 2m to 8m. Water is 12C to 19C. Anyway, like the trigger and the bands alot and the shaft is good. Like the reel too. I like all of it but would make the nose a few mm wider to catch the bands a bit better and make the band hollows less deep. The next gun will be based on a 130cm / 7mm spear I think - more like the Abellan Robalo 90 (never see photos of that gun - always the Denton). Thanks, Ed |
08-07-2018, 06:36 PM | #2 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: West Virginia
Age: 78
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Very nice!
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08-07-2018, 07:51 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Santa Clarita
Age: 65
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Good looking gun!
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08-08-2018, 03:57 AM | #4 |
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: NZ
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Handle looks mint too — lots of great work there, looking forward to seeing you next project
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08-08-2018, 09:41 AM | #5 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: North Miami, Florida
Age: 58
Posts: 2,868
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Sexy!
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08-09-2018, 01:23 AM | #6 |
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Very well planned out and looks like it would shoot very well. I think a lot of people do not realize how much of a performance boost if a few small things are done in a gun design. In my testing I actually found that I could get much more power out of a properly designed 90cm speargun with 2 x 14mm bands than a big heavy low handled gun with 3 bands and say 120 band stretch. Not only do you get higher performance, but you also get much more comfortable shooting in a smaller footprint with much less recoil and dramatically improved accuracy ... and it is also much easier to load.
With regards to your setup, I find that the Cressi Brown bands are stiffer and less elastic than regular Primeline bands. Although they are also made by Primeline, the inner core of the Cressi bands is made of a much harder rubber. That gives more resistance to damage by some of the sharp metal wishbones used, but I find that is not necessary and the loss in performance is not worth it. You will get better shaft velocity with regular Primeline small ID bands. Another thing is where you tie your line, tying the line inside the mech gives less accuracy than tying the line on the rest tab. Tying your line on the rest tab acts like a stabilizer and keeps the shaft flying straight. Of course if you shoot fish in holes a lot, the loss in accuracy might be worth it as tying to the back is easier to retrieve a shaft from a hole, but I find that even then, you can twist the line around the back of the shaft and you can pull the shaft out almost as easily. One last tweak might be to change out the line loop inserts. If you are using those, I would dip them in plasti dip or epoxy to prevent water from siphoning into the bands. Better yet would be to use plastic or metal inserts (they totally prevent water inside bands). |
08-09-2018, 02:20 AM | #7 | |
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Bilbao (Spain)
Posts: 445
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Ed,
Beautiful gun!!! And I like it twice as much because it is euro style AND looks like what I understand a propper wooden gun (for our kind of fishing, which I understand is pretty much the same) should look like. A few thoughts after reading your post. Let me quote your writting: Tie them hotter. Much hotter. Like 360-370. And use shorter inserts and much shorter wishbones. You are loosing stretch right there! Try epoxy top coat next time. Meant for clear coating pieces, it is totally self leveling and provides a thicker coat than varnish. You will also benefit from a rottisiere system to avoid runs of the product. You can make one using a rottisiere 220 motor from Aliexpress (they sell them for barbeques). Quote:
Keep on it!!! you are doing great! |
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08-09-2018, 02:21 AM | #8 |
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Bilbao (Spain)
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
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08-10-2018, 01:06 AM | #9 |
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,292
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
I am not sure about that. Actually most band material is made by Primeline or Kent ... and while many think Primeline is made in the USA, they are actually made in Mexico. One of the largest spearfishing retailers in Italy told me that Sigalsub and Hunt and many other companies that sell rubber is band material made by Primeline to their specifications. Some of those companies have custom colors that are exclusive to those companies and cannot be ordered by anyone else. Cressi used to have a different supplier for bands and I remember the Cressi scarlet bands (super soft and very elastic) which I used to like. Then one year they stopped production of all their bands ... when I contacted Cressi they told me that they had quality control problems and were switching supplier. For a long time you couldn't order new bands from Cressi, but then they came out with their new small ID bands. I was told that those bands were made to Cressi specs by Primeline. They were a little different than normal Primeline small ID bands in that the initial inner diameter band material (which holds the wishbone) was made of a harder shore black rubber so that they would get less damage from wishbones. I have a bunch of those bands and tested them heavily ... but IMHO the normal Primeline small ID bands give better velocities and are easier to load. Of course the information I got could be wrong and Cressi could be making their bands in Spain.
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08-10-2018, 03:08 AM | #10 |
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 6
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
Thanks guys.
Bands: Yes - I started at 310% with the aim of going 'hotter'. Up to 360% slowly. The shaft is a 120 / 6.5mm so I think I could go up to 340%. With a 120 / 7mm shaft I'd be happier up to 360%. I will try the metal/plastic inserts. Is any particular brand or type better? I tied the bands with the constrictor at 16mm from the end. I thought that you tie them the same as the diamter. I guess I could tie them at 12mm? Rubber.... I'm in europe and mostly use the subprof store or planetmultistore. These stores sell Cressi small ID or sigalsub. I'm helping a friend build a gun (based on a 130cm / 7mm Hunt shaft ) and he has gone for sigalsub reactive 14mm. Are there better choices from these stores? Or another store in europe where you can easily/cheaply buy the Primeline? Finish: Yeah I've used epoxy as a finish on a few other guns (this is #4 that I've made). I just tried 2pack as a friend offered it to me. He uses about 8 coats all rubbed down in between and he has a glassy finish. This gun is more for aspetto so doesn't get banged about too much. The last gun I made with an epoxy finish lasted 12 years before a recoat so we will see with the 2pack - I'm in it for the long term! Handle: Just alot of hand shaping with rifflers. I like the Auriou ones but my wallet doesn't - I bought them years ago but am eying up some more... I masked off part of the handle, added a thin coat of 2pack and then sprinkled on some lapping grit from Veritas (180). It works really really well - I think I could get away with using it over a smaller area as the grip is phenominal - either with gloves or bare hands. Love it - good tip from @spearq8 Accuracy: Yes, it is very good. I have been out target shooting a couple of times and the target has rings at 0 / 3cm and 5cm. I can group within the 5cm ring with all shots and within the 3cm ring with most of the shots. This is at 5m from the tip of the gun (spear 'just' goes through target / max distance). Trigger to flopper is 7m 20cm (double wrap). Tip to flopper is 6m 20cm Tip to spear hole is 5m 10cm. Spear: Yes will try tying it to the rest tab - have seen that on the Abellan site and have that on another gun. Metal work: Yes - I am usually careful but too much coffee and strangely impatient that day! The gun I am helping a friend make will be with an Abellan nose and handle (my friend's choice) so it will be interesting to see those parts. He's also using an Ermes sub Avant video mount at the back of the handle so again.. food for thought. I'm helping him but will end up making a similar (but better ) gun for myself over the winter. Each gun teaches you something. We are seeing many more bream (gilthead / Couche's / white) over the last few years so I might try one of the Ermes fish cog noise maker things (richiamo - https://www.ermes-sub.net/richiamo-call-fish.html) Thanks, Ed |
08-10-2018, 05:01 AM | #11 | |||
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Bilbao (Spain)
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Re: Iroko stripe 95cm euro gun
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Mikel |
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