Johnson Double Submarine Gun Item No.E02

Origin:	USA, N.America	Collection:	?
Year:	~1968	Description by:	Online Spearfishing Museum
Maker:	Tapmatic Corporation, Costa Mesa, California	Info and Photo by:	Joel
Do you have more info about this item?		Last updated:	19.04.2006.

 

 

 

Description

This vintage speargun uses a 22 caliber cartridges to fire a harpoon. It measures ~90cm (36") long.

Complete gun with spear

Characteristic body has two handles, suggesting requirement for a strong grip for firing.Front handle has a built in reel with 50 feet of string, and a string retrieving handle.

Gun body detail

Body is probably made out of plastic, with barrel out of steel. From the photos it is visible that there are few levers and buttons on gun's body. One is above trigger, one button is above handle and one is on top of body. We are not sure what exactly they are for but one is most probably for safety break, and others are probably for recharging and cartridge retrieval. If somebody knows for sure, please contact us by clicking on above link.

Gun body detail - other side

There are quite a few warnings on this gun suggesting it was quite dangerous weapon, not to be used by amateurs.

Handle detail - other side

Smaller red sticker has writing: "Caution, String free line before firing. Do not fire with line attached directly from safety reel to spear." Therefore it is clear that reel doesn't have a mechanism which supports quick release of string upon firing. Instead, as caution sign suggests, string had to be taken out manually before firing. We wonder how practical was this in practice.

Insert for explosive cartridges

Here it can be seen how relatively easily explosive cartridges can be replaced.

22 cal cartridges

Above picture shows how 22 cal cartridges look like. They are probably the same for a single, double and quad barell gun.

Big thanks goes to Joel for submitting these photos and some basic info about this gun. Photos © Joel Description © Online Spearfishing Museum Additions 05.04.2009. Thanks to Mr.Reinhard who informed us regarding estimate of the spergun's year.

Do you have more info about this item?