Point comparison and tuning

After being unhappy with my tahitian point a few weeks back I ordered several different points and a new shaft so I'd have more options to pick from.  I took photos of them side/side so that folks could judge them against eachother.  These were acquired from spearfishinggear.com except the JBL which came from a dive shop some time ago.

Here's the lineup:

JBL 874 6mm                                              7mm Australian Long Barb                        7mm Aruba Tip

The JBL and aruba tip both have 2 3/4 wingspan, while the long barb has 3 3/8 wingspan.  The long barb claimed to have 2" floppers, but they came out to more like 1 3/4. 



Since the long barb has a short tip in front of the floppers, it and the aruba both only have to penetrate 2 1/2" to engage the floppers.  The JBL came in at 2 3/4".   Total lengths came in at 4", 3 3/16" and 2 15/16" respectively (presumably the last two are metric).

Of course then I had to tune the points to lock open for me. I hadn't tuned a double flopper before but I guessed right on my first try.  The following photo tells you where to pinch the floppers to grip eachother when they open up.  Ideally they should be loose until almost fully open, at which point they pinch eachother and stick.  The JBL floppers use a different geometry (see above photo) and it doesn't seem like they can be properly tuned (I've heard others say it's pretty much impossible too).  The floppers fit together much better on the long barb point than they do on the aruba tip, and didn't take as much to tune, the long barb is also considerably sturdier than the aruba - it's sides were milled flat to fit the floppers while the aruba was spun down.  The JBL is beefier than both.



The tahitian tip is much easier to tune, see below:

i used rockpoints / spinner and fixed types with the jbls i have but since i switched to the euro guns i use a tahitian and usually with an additional flopper, i guess its called a stinger shaft from riffe. if it does not have a second flopper i'll drill and put one on. usually smaller then the first one.

i had problems each time i was bumping rocks with the threaded tips breaking off at the threads. down in mexico i had to get some tips welded back on. they seem to be pretty fragile on some shafts. riffe may be better quality for threaded shafts. i took some shots near rocks and when the tip glanced off the rock it snapped the tip off clean.

i still use threaded for my wood guns though. my euroguns just have the tahitian.

my friend alain uses screw on tips for the euroshafts and also tahitian style.

i use a pair of pliers to tune the floppers if needed. usually i have them loose and out of 2 one usually toggles. if i tune it and its snug when open sometimes when sand gets in it stays shut once closed. thats why i have them loose.

i tried the hammer tuning bethod but im not an expert so i had to go with one i could undo. once the rive it hammered the shape cannot be undone. sometimes you can turn it a little for results too but i dont like having to start over with a new rivet. if i do change the rivet or flopper i use a dremel and grind just enough of the rivet to pull it through.

i like tahitians because of simplicity and less weight on the tip of the shaft. i use two bands per eurogun. i only loat one for rockfish usually. that way when shooting around reefs i dont hammer the tip too much on impact.

arent guns fun? i lost my 75 cm 3 years ago and recently i sawed my 90 and shortened the shaft to make it a 75 cm gun.

i have a 100 cm sporasub sniper but i think i'll keep the length for so cal or channel islands. i dont remember having used it here since i put it together out of a bunch of random parts. i have a sporasub viper muzzle on a sporasub sniper barrel, 2 shaft guides from 2 sporasub aspics and home tied bands with a riffe stinger shaft.

the only fish i have gotten with that gun was a halibut 2 years ago when i got it from david at wallins. it was one of his old guns. the muzzle was pretty weak and broke the first time i used it. came with a riffe shaft though and that is still good.

sporasub has the new instinct out but i have not used it. looks pretty nice to me but the gun looks a lot more complicated compared to the plain jane guns sporasub made. the trigger guard is also a safety switch.

here is ap ic of the riffe shaft and the sharpened second flopper.