Help ! Spear gun restoration

[Sam Miller III]

The gun he gave me was just some POS that he picked up, but I doubt he used it competitively. It would be good for shooting lots small fish at distance like blue rock fish in the mid water column. Joe Gonsalves was quite a force it the competitive spear fishing tournaments in the 1970’s. He holds several national and international titles. Fortunately he gave me this gun before the Sonoma County wildfires because a few months later his house was right in the path of the most violent area if the firestorm and he lost everything including an entire collection of his finest and very rare collectible hand made solid teak spear guns built by some of the sports most celebrated luminaries from back in the day (which he was personal friends with all if them).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why don't you be a friend and ask Joe if he would like the last remaining gun he owned returned ?
If it was my collection of spear guns that were destroyed I would certainly appreciate the last surviving gun as a reminder of events and victories of days of the past

sdm

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The gun he gave me was just some POS that he picked up, but I doubt he used it competitively. It would be good for shooting lots small fish at distance like blue rock fish in the mid water column. Joe Gonsalves was quite a force it the competitive spear fishing tournaments in the 1970’s. He holds several national and international titles. Fortunately he gave me this gun before the Sonoma County wildfires because a few months later his house was right in the path of the most violent area if the firestorm and he lost everything including an entire collection of his finest and very rare collectible hand made solid teak spear guns built by some of the sports most celebrated luminaries from back in the day (which he was personal friends with all if them).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why don't you be a friend and ask Joe if he would like the last remaining gun he owned returned ?
If it was my collection of spear guns that were destroyed I would certainly appreciate the last surviving gun as a reminder of events and victories of days of the past

sdm

Yeah, your right, I should do that.
However, you have to know Joe. Right after the fire I couldn't get ahold of him for days. I feared the worst and his phone just went to voice mail via some automated box at some unknown location. They finally opened the road to get to his house so I took a drive. Every property in that area was flattened, his house included. I couldn't get up to his house because his bridge burned up. Finally he called me. He went on and on about losing everything he ever worked for and how his life seemed over. The first thing I asked him was if everybody was OK. Oh, yeah that, Yes everybody was OK and they all got out, his wife, son, and two dogs, and him are all OK. I feel really bad for Joe that he lost all his stuff, but it’s only stuff. He got really weird about life since that fire, and not in a rational way. He got really hostile. My sister also lost everything but her attitude was completely different.

Joe was well insured and likes all the best stuff. He will be back better than ever with all the best gear that is available today.
If Joe had any feelings for that gun or saw any value in it whatsoever he would not have given it away. He knew the spear guide on the end was broken off and he also knew that finding a new one would be close to impossible. The gun was worthless to him. It would almost feel weird for me to ask him. I’m afraid It would almost come off as I would be mocking him somehow.
I’m probably better off just letting it go.
Do you want it?

 

[Sam Miller III]

As you recall my daughter was also in the fire-- Her property was also destroyed.
The gun is very historical first successful tube rubber powered produced in 1940.
I knew Rene and is daughter Carol, who ran the company
I am very busy and little time to respond If you would like more Information PM your telephone number and we can chat
SDM

 

[Sam Miller III]

Now back to

Spear gun restoration - Part ??
The gun is finally free of all masking tape and is ?was looking good. The gun is now composed of five (5) parts:
The handle/trigger housing which was a 1950s Swimaster prototype and is uncoated metal.
The barrel from a French Arbalete and the only original part
The muzzle which was an original Sturgil
The shaft (arrow) which was a 3/8 X 5/16s threads X 3/4 length SS custom made by Sturgil
The point which was a Bill Barada designed Arbalete adapted "Pile driver" which was duplicated in SS and threaded for US 5/16 NF by Sturgil

The shooting line and slings had rotted off many years previously.

I reside in a small community on a hill in CenCal with only a few homes, but it seems each had or has a particular life calling. Terry my go to guru owned and operated a machine shop until retirement. So at 8:30 I was at his door-- "Houston, I got a problem "

Terry first checked the swelling and cracking of the area where the handle and the barrel joined. We agreed that it needed "attention." He removed the two SS screws attaching the barrel and the handle and attempted to separate them, but they were impossible to separate

We agreed this was not good. So out came the pipe cutter and in a flash the barrel was separated from the handle- my gun , out of necessity and future safety became 2 inches shorter The first time the handle /barrel had been separated in over 50 years when the gun was assembled in Charlies garage. It was not a pretty sight ! The handle had corroded its self to the barrel as a single unit

When I retired the gun so many years ago I placed it in the corner of my dive locker on its handle therefore all the salt water drained to the bottom, slowly evaporated and corroding the handle and the barrel into a solid unit.

Stay tuned tomorrow for "One mans spear gun adventure"

SDM

 

[The Chairman]

Pictures, Sam! Pictures!!! I'm dying to see this gun. Do I have to fly out there???

 

[Popgun Pete]

Here is an old Spearfisherman Magnum by Swimaster fully wrapped in black tape. Unfortunately I had to remove the tape to check out the trigger mechanism, there seemed to be yards of it and I had a job as to where to start. The tape was thick stuff with a tapered edge and was ideal for wrapping. I kept the black tape for a long time which was very sticky even though it was old, but never got around to rewrapping the gun and eventually threw the tape out.
The gun clearly had seen action when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

This is a catalogue page for the gun. This gun was Swimaster's attempt at replicating Jack Prodanovich's gun after he gave them a handle to copy. Unfortunately they blew it and stuffed it up according to Jack.

 

[Popgun Pete]

Here the unwrapped gun lies between its predecessor and successor. Similar stylistic elements can readily be seen if you compare handle butt shapes, trigger finger guards and the sear box humps.

 

[Popgun Pete]

What went wrong with the "Spearfisherman Magnum" was the trigger and transverse safety pin that moves behind the trigger were put in the wrong places so that the pin actually came through the middle of the trigger! With the gun cocked to shoot the safety pushes on the side of the trigger and making an even larger hole to fix it would have cut the trigger in half.