HANDLE DESIGN
Handle with Line Release Components
Cocked Handle Fired
Handle
Most wood gun manufacturers use a generic gripped handle that is wood screwed into the stock. Their line releases operate from the side of the trigger mechanism at the very rear of the gun or by spring/pin release as the shaft exits the arrow track. My handles, by contrast, have the following characteristics and advantages:
1. The handle is inset into the gun's stock and pinned in place exactly like the trigger mechanism. Advantages include:
A. There are fewer dissimilar gun parts to lose.
B. The handle is more intimately mated to the stock.
C. There are no wood screw holes to cross thread or wood rot.
D. Disassembly/reassembly of the handle for travel packing and rare maintenance is much faster (see video clip 1).
2. The line release is an integrated part of the handle. Advantages include:
A. The line is kept away from the bands on the bottom of the gun preventing entanglements. Virtually everyone I know who has a gun with a side line release has had the experience of the shaft being abruptly halted just after leaving the gun as the line becomes entangled in a band. I have never experienced this complication with my line release.
B. My handle is engineered to release the line just prior to the shaft's departure rather than after the shaft leaves the trigger mechanism or arrow track as on other builders' release mechanisms (see video clip 2). By releasing slightly earlier, the chance of a line related impedance to the shaft's flight is reduced.
Video Clip 2 Shooting Line Release
C. Reloading is faster, as I don't have to replace the shaft to re-set the line release. My line release operates against the trigger slide like a door latch against a strike plate to reset as I re-wrap the line. While resting on the surface with the shaft/line hanging directly beneath me, I simply reel in the line by performing the line wraps and finish by inserting the shaft (see video clip 3). This technique also eliminates the frustration of coils of line floating around the diver and becoming entangled on fish stringers, weight belts and fins during re-loading.
D.Because the line release exerts a few ounces of pressure on the trigger pull when properly tensioned, the chance of a "hair-trigger" inadvertantly firing the shaft is reduced. Care must be taken, however, not to over tension the line wraps or the trigger pull may become too heavy.
3. My grip shape is modeled loosely after the "Pachmyr" version of the "S&W model 38" which is a very comfortable fit for most large hands in dive gloves. I shave the grip width to fit small or medium sized hands for a more comfortable, tailored fit.
Innovations | Handles | Arrow Tracks | Band Elevators | Shaping
Copyright 2003 Merlo Spearguns