ab biller 32, lack of power?

[liberte]

i've been spearing for about a year now, have been successful with a jbl gun, i think the D7. two bands, a 6mm shaft. i like using a single flopper on a sharpened point. its worked well, but its not a very pretty gun. so i got an ab biller 32 sea hornet. it has to 9/16 bands, i think i 30" shaft. i love the wood, it looks great. it came with a rotating rock point tip with twin floppers.
finally got to go diving after a bad cold and being super busy. had a great dive in monterey, except i was a bit disapointed with the gun's performance. the jbl never had a problem going right though large lingcod shot in the head from 8'. the biller seemed to have trouble getting both floppers through a rockfish at 5'. the fish were so stunned that i was able to hold them onto the end of the spear and put them on the stringer. i just thought it odd that the spear didn't fully penetrate enough for the floppers to fall. i am already checking out getting the bigger 5/8 bands, and already planned to tone it down to a single flopper sharpened tip.
any info on ab biller 32 sea hornets and how they have performed for others would be great.

[Pastor]

Welcome to DB dude

You're on the right track there but I would suggest that you change the shaft for a 9/32 one without a screw on tip, they have less drag. That will translate into a faster shaft so along with the 5/8 bands should do the trick

[liberte]

thanks
any info on where to purchase a shaft like that to fit in a biller trigger

[alexrom1207]

Pastor I have a 48 biller with the same shaft and flopper that liberte is talking about...so I'm just curious. How much does that slow down the shaft, even if you have powerful rubbers on it?

[Pastor]

I haven't used a Biller but I have used a bulky screw on tip, I can't remember exactly, the set up resulted in constant misses so it didn't last long but it was noticeably slower than a Tahitian or Hawaiian shaft

[OceanObsessed]

The fat profile of the bulky tips also makes it more difficult to penetrate the fish... especially when shooting into the bony head when going for a kill shot. This may not be noticeable on a high powered gun but it becomes very obvious if you were to put a bulky double flopper on a pole spear. It becomes blatantly obvious because you are dealing with much less punch using a pole spear. Many years ago I tried one of these big spearheads on a pole spear and then quickly realized that I could no longer get a kill shot on larger fish. When I switched back to my lower profile tip the problem was solved

[minimate15]

get a 9/32nd inch hawaiian shaft and switch to twin 5/8 rubbers. try to get some the same length as the stock rubbers, then (assuming you know how to tie bands) shorten them until you feel the power is where you like it, but remember to much power = inaccuracy and excessive kick

[slingshaft]

Hey, when you ramp up the power on any sling gun , you also increase the effort needed to load the band, but it is worth it! Just the act of cocking the gun makes you stronger, but unless you hunt at least every few days, these muscles atrophy. So here is a very cheap, effective, piece of equipment. You can use it standing up,(wrap it around any vertical pole) or sit down and with your knees bent throw it over your feet. The rowing action really does simulate cocking agun.

[liberte]

went diving earlier this week, the gun worked great with the bigger bands. shot much flatter and quicker, no problem with penetration. found a place to buy a slightly longer shaft, the one my gun came with is 32", but i might try a 36" floridian shaft that is a little thinner in diameter. anyone see any problems with adding 4" to the shaft?