dilwad wrote:
I reckon if it's a rail gun then it doesn't matter where the rubbers are aligned but if it's a pipe gun the extra eccentricity of not having the rubber and spear aligned could mean the spear might not fire straight.
I agree about the tube guns, but for rail guns I prefer the angled rubbers. The small angle would impose a small downwards force near the rear of the spear. Because the notch is located partway in from the rear of the spear (not the extreme rear) then the entire length of the spear would be held against the speargun, reducing the chance of the spear to rise off the rail. This would be good for railguns but, as you mentioned dilwad, maybe not so good for tube guns. The only negative of angled rubbers might be reduced power and increased friction between shaft and tube, but I think these would be negligible.
The inline rubbers may experience some "bounce" between the rubber / shaft / tube because we don't live in an ideal world where theory = reality (ie. straight shaft, straight rubber, straight tube does not equal straight shot). That's why angled rubbers might be a good idea.
The idea of having the closed or winged muzzle with huge clearances above the shaft, in terms of accuracy, doesn't make much sense. It must be there to allow for thicker shafts, because ideally the opening should be smaller.
The open head looks good (no room for movement of shaft), but it's hard to tell how long the line would stay tight against the shaft after being fired.
The magnitude to which these concepts impact the speed and accuracy of the fired spear is unknown to me. Anyone got a super slow-mo camera?
So that's my chop at the concepts. They're only theoretical. As for experience with and the feel / handling of the guns ask the pros because I'm a spearo noob. As you guys have said, if you can hit a target consistently, then who cares!