This is a quick post about some common mistakes that can occur if you aren't careful when laying out a muzzle on a wood rollergun. Ask me how I know! Depending on the hardware you decide to use some of what I will talk about here may not apply so keep that in mind. To date I have built two double rollers five single rollers three roller hole guns and one inverted rollergun. Of those eleven guns the ones that performed the best all had open tracks. I'm not sure why but the open track guns all shot more predictably with better accuracy and with a flatter shaft trajectory. These guns all had a "deep open track." Parts I use at the...
Backstory Late this past Spring at the start of the dive season I was asked by one of our local charter captains if I'd like to put a gun on his boat for guys to try out. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get one of my guns into the hands of potential buyers and a great form of advertising. Captain Dave Hochman runs Spearit Charters and holds the world record for striped bass caught with a speargun AND on a polespear. He's an accomplished spearo and charter captain who is known for putting more divers on 50+ pound bass than anyone else in the area. I wanted to make a gun that he would personally use....
The Plan: Every Winter when the water is frigid I retreat to my basement shop where I build my spearguns. I like to try something new each Winter and this year I decided it would be an all-wood double roller rear handled gun with a "cuttlefish shape." It was during the previous Summer I decided this would be my Winter project/goal. Late summer, early Fall I started acquiring images of this style gun from various sources and gun builders whose guns I had been admiring. Antony Bullock (Ace Spearguns), Peter Kedzo (Petar Pan), Sniper Sub and of course Alemani were just a few of the different builders whose guns I poured over before starting this build. I also researched the...
Last Winter I started planning to build my first two hybrid spearguns (pictured below). I wanted these guns to be similar to a Daryl Wong hybrid only I wanted to use roller heads rather than standard muzzles. Having never built a hybrid I scoured through the spearfishing forums to research the topic until I had enough information to feel confident at taking a shot at it. After building 18 or so wood spearguns I was up for another challenge and looked forward to seeing it come together. After completing the guns I did some pool testing and had to adjust the bands several times before finding the happy medium between ease of loading and power. The guns work great and a few people...
