JBL Gulf Magnum XHD

[AggieDad]

I have a chance to buy two of these guns for $200 each, ScubaToys sells this one for $274.
These guns (2) have been in the water less than six times. Brand new to spear fishing. I plan on mainly doing Texas lakes for carp and Gulf of Mexico rigs. For my son and myself.

What do you experienced folks think of this gun?

 

[deadend]

That will be a good gun for you especially for rig diving. Probably the most popular gun on the rigs and a tanker full of big fish have been taken with them.

 

[Chad Carney]

I don't know crap about carp in lakes, but but I'll second that they will do fine on the rigs.

I prefer 5/16" spears to their 3/8", but you will need additional spears anyway. The Woody magnum comes with 5/16".

Check to see that the bands and shock cord are fresh. Replacing them soon would eat up a good bit of the good deal.

Chad

 

[AggieDad]

Chad,
Thanks for the reply. My son looked at these and he said that one of them required the trigger to be jiggled to hold and that the line was tangled and frayed. Obviously not as good a deal as we thought. We are passing and going to learn more about what we really need. I figure if we can go with someone that teaches then we can make the right choices.
Dan

I don't know crap about carp in lakes, but but I'll second that they will do fine on the rigs.

I prefer 5/16" spears to their 3/8", but you will need additional spears anyway. The Woody magnum comes with 5/16".

Check to see that the bands and shock cord are fresh. Replacing them soon would eat up a good bit of the good deal.

Chad

 

[FredT]

Chad,
Thanks for the reply. My son looked at these and he said that one of them required the trigger to be jiggled to hold and that the line was tangled and frayed. Obviously not as good a deal as we thought. We are passing and going to learn more about what we really need. I figure if we can go with someone that teaches then we can make the right choices.
Dan

The trigger may simply need to be cleaned and lubed, but it may also be trash. JBL triggers generally fail by NOT firing when the bands are heavily loaded. They don't ususally fail by not catching during loading.

The line issue is a red herring. If diving rigs you'll be replacing that soft line with a stainless steel cable riding rig, either on this gun or your next when an AJ or cobia takes this one away from you. See Spearboard.com and search for "riding rig" for full details of that system.

For rigs JBLs have the advantage of being disposable $ wise. Other guns common on the rigs are riffes and Sea Hornet guns. There are several "high tech" guns out there that are quite nice, but the $s match the added features. For Carp you'll need a different gun. Something along the line of a JBL 38 special or other ~3' long gun. Reduced vis in lakes means you need a shorter gun so the gun tip does not spook the fish before you can see it.

BTW the cardinal rule is to NEVER tie or clip the gun to YOU. This causes many deaths on the rigs.

FT