Big Shot modifications

[Winchman]

I've really enjoyed using my Big Shot line launcher after making some modifications. I wasn't strong enough to hold tension and aim very well at the same time, so I made a 2:1 pulley arrangement with a prussik on the end of both legs. In order to get enough tension for long shots, I had to shorten the strap on the cup. I added a trigger using an inexpensive panic snap usually used for dog leashes.

I've been using it like this for several months with no problems.

To cock it, I hold the pole vertically between my elbow and side of my body. I push the lower prussik all the way down, and the second one far enough to get the required tension for the shot. I'm always careful to keep both hands below the trigger while aiming and releasing the shot.

 

[ghostice]

Another trigger option/ setup:
https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm7mKglOKL8
Been using mine now with pulleys, for years - works like a darn and improved my accuracy leaps and bounds too.
Cheers

 

[Burrapeg]

Another trigger option/ setup:
https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm7mKglOKL8
Been using mine now with pulleys, for years - works like a darn and improved my accuracy leaps and bounds too.
Cheers

Me too. I installed two pulleys for MA and a quick release trigger as soon as I bought mine two years ago, and also lengthened the poles up to 9 feet with some sections that are easily removable for carrying. Found a perfect zipper bag for it at the local recycle, that originally had some kind of big tent poles in it.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Butt stock-saves getting black and blue shoulder...DAMHIKT

Eye bolt replaces ferrule rivet

Self-tending slack tender trigger..setup is 2:1...pull on right leg to set

REALLY BIG shot

 

[ghostice]

Tom Happy New Year - enjoyed your Educated Climber segment.
Never thought about a butt stock - maybe something in Walnut? Some band saw time a comin!
The big big big shot would also make a good squirrel relocator for my buddies raiding the birdfeeders continually . . .

 

[Tom Dunlap]

HNY! The interview was fun

The butt stock is cut from a piece of Ethafoam leftover from making bulkheads for my touring kayak. I wouldn't use walnut.


after a couple of days of shooting lines into very tall trees I looked in the mirror after showering and saw that my shoulder was black and blue. Many dark spots surrounded by discoloration. By the time I was dried off and dressed I figured out it was from the Big Shot. Not healthy so I went out to the shop to make up the buttstock.

 

[ghostice]

Tom was thinkin’ something like a shotgun stock - machined at one end so the pole fits in - maybe a padded rubber end piece? Where’s that old Berlinetta stock?
I too, during a wrestling session in a bunch of brush top spruces had a Big Shot fire fest over and over. But in the process, I had knelt down and fired a couple of times with the big shot pole end on my leg - seemed to work till the next time it slipped! Owww. Big dark bruise where a guy never wants to see a bruise! Both the lads looked up at me in the shower that night with the look of how we all were really lucky . . . checked that box! Just when you think there can’t be anything new anymore.

 

[Burrapeg]

I have been shooting with the end of the pole braced on the ground and of course it is hard to crouch down and aim the thing when doing that. Somewhere in my attic, I have an old 90 degree telescope eyepiece which is actually a small scope itself, with crosshairs, for aiming a bigger telescope it is mounted on. If I can find the damn thing, I want to try affixing it to the pole somehow so that I can aim standing up with the pole on the ground.

 

[ghostice]

Did put a red dot scope on my apta but I’d be worried about the bag and cord or the rubber hitting stuff on the way skyward. Be interested in how this’d be set up. I know I don’t want eyes or face anywhere near it when shooting. I find all the potential energy in it kinda scary actually.

 

[Burrapeg]

. . . but I’d be worried about the bag and cord or the rubber hitting stuff on the way skyward. Be interested in how this’d be set up. . . .

Yeah, the scope would have to be below the point where the trigger is pulled back the furthest. My Big Shot is modded with non-standard poles. I bought just the head and used some second hand pruning saw poles that were the right size. I have four separate sections about 2-1/2 feet long each, so that the whole thing is easily broken down and carried. The whole rig is about ten feet tall if I use all four sections. So maybe the 90 degree scope can be fitted down near the lower sections so I could aim sitting on a camp stool or something like that, with the lower pulley and trigger above that. The scope would be mounted on my side and the Big Shot rubber, trigger, etc. on the back side away from me. Now if I can just find the damn scope!

 

[DSMc]

A lazer doesn't require you to get your face close for sighting. Works great for bracing off the hip or ground. It is what I have on my APTA, no doubt there is someplace it would fit on a bigshot.

 

[Burrapeg]

A lazer doesn't require you to get your face close for sighting. Works great for bracing off the hip or ground. It is what I have on my APTA, no doubt there is someplace it would fit on a bigshot.

How do you see the laser dot high up in a cluttered canopy? Are they that easy to spot?

 

[DSMc]

Yes! All you need is a green firearms lazer with adjustable targeting turrets. It still has setup, adjustment time and a learning curve, but once you get it dialed in it is sweet.

 

[B Dietrich]

I have four separate sections about 2-1/2 feet long each, so that the whole thing is easily broken down and carried. The whole rig is about ten feet tall if I use all four sections.

I'm interested in doing this, too. How do you couple up the sections?

 

[Burrapeg]

I found that ordinary 3/4 inch NPT pipe slid smoothly into the fibreglas pole sections and I had a 3 foot piece of aluminium 3/4 inch pipe in the shop. So, I cut some one foot sections of it and epoxied them halfway into one end of each of the pole sections. Works great. I will try to get a photo tomorrow if it is not raining too bad.

 

[Reach]

I'm interested in doing this, too. How do you couple up the sections?

You can also buy replacement ends for the poles, Gap Arborist Supply carries them for $10-15 each; we buy a couple a year because guys seem to manage to damage them...

 

[rico]

A lazer doesn't require you to get your face close for sighting. Works great for bracing off the hip or ground. It is what I have on my APTA, no doubt there is someplace it would fit on a bigshot.

Picture of your APTA/lazer setup please?

 

[DSMc]

I did this as as temporary test mount, figured I'd drill and tap some screw holes for the pictinny rail, but it has not moved. Two-sided tape is under the rail.

 

[rico]

Thanks DSMc.. Looks really nice and I love the idea of not having the eye sight the APTA and fire it from my shoulder.....If you dont mind me asking what lazer are you using, the cost, and where you found it.....

 

[ghostice]

This laser idea is a great idea me thinks . . . I found some on Amazon for ~ thirty bucks (and that was thirty highly devalued Canadian almost-a-dollars). Seems like it's even better than optical sight because you don't have anything near your face, APTA included. Must investigate - thanks for the Montana inventiveness!

(More power is better and you may be able to get this in the US but up here they get their knickers in a knot if you go over 5mW lasers or something like that.)

Pinty Hunting Rifle Green Laser Sight Dot Scope Adjustable with Mounts, Sights - Amazon Canada

Pinty Hunting Rifle Green Laser Sight Dot Scope Adjustable with Mounts in Sights.

www.amazon.ca