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Larry Heinrich et. al. (including Gerald Lim) are very skilled freedivers/hunters and they wanted to develop the ultimate big game gun for shooting and landing very large Tuna. They experimented by attaching a scale with memory to the shooting line attached to a shaft then shooting the shaft in a swimming pool and observing how much power was transmitted to the shaft when it reached the end of the shooting line.

They started with 3 power bands, then 4, etc, but they found there was a limit where they lost all accuracy and even power. Adding ballast to the speargun allowed them to add more power but then they hit another limit when shaft whip came into play. They went to an enclosed track and found they could keep adding powerbands as long as the speargun had sufficient ballast and the power would be transmitted to the shaft at the end of the shooting line.

Heinrich designed a 65" long ballasted, enclosed track Tuna gun that is owned by only a few privileged freedivers. It shoots a 65" by 3/8" shaft. The gun featured large sidestocks ballasted with lead and the enclosed track was done by adding a base of graphite epoxy to an open track, then 6" strips of Delrin were attached to the top of the track with screws making an enclosed track. He left the tip open to allow for easy reloading.

Heinrich is a finish carpenter by trade and while searching for a more durable finish, he discovered the penetrating epoxy finish with a high gloss top finish. These spearguns look like fine furniture yet they are excellent for spearing big game as well.

Before I made my first speargun, I inquired about buying one of Heinrich's guns but was told he only made a handful of these spearguns and only for friends and they cost over several thousand dollars and he was longer making them. They were quite labor intensive and the hours of quality workmanship showed, so I can understand why one might tire of making them - even for $2000 each. One diver who owns one said his Heinrich speargun is his most prized posession. That's quite a compliment. I've since heard it may be possible to convince Heinrich to make you one.