Retro Gun Quick Facts
…Lost Retro Gun quick facts
| Brand / shaper | …Lost Surfboards, Matt “Mayhem” Biolos |
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| Based on | Matt Biolos’s original personal guns from the late 1980s, revamped and modernized with 30 years of knowledge while keeping the ’80s design ethos: flat deck, steep full rails with more edge and lower rockers with continuous vee, from the era when high volume was high performance |
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| Model history | The first modern Retro Guns were built for journalist Lewis Samuels for the big, cold, open-ocean surf of Ocean Beach, San Francisco; after seeing them in action, …Lost’s young “A” team (Kolohe Andino, Ian Crane and most notably Luke Davis) adopted them on trips up north and now hold full quivers for waves like Sunset Beach |
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| Board type | Gun / big-wave step-up; “a working man’s gun… loved by the Pros, but really meant for the Bros” |
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| Best waves | Big, unruly surf, even in challenging, imperfect conditions: it cuts cleanly through big, bumpy chop or stiff offshore conditions and stays in control at high speed in powerful surf |
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| Built for | The surfer who spends most of their time on higher-volume hybrid and fish designs in daily surf but struggles to find a board that suits them when the waves get solid; it replaces a standard gun or large step-up with less length and more thickness, without sacrificing control |
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| Tail | Round pin |
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| Design | Low entry rocker with rolled vee and lots of forward volume, plus a classic beak nose; the vee lessens through the center and increases again into an accelerated tail rocker with deep double concave cutting through the tail curve, so the high-volume board sits lower in the water and engages the rail. Built standard with a strong yet flexible 4-ply redwood stringer, solid resin tints with stronger 6 oz and 4 oz glassing, and a model-specific minimalist logo package |
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| Fins | 5-fin: ride as a thruster or quad (FCS II or Futures boxes). Best template: raked, drive-oriented (FCS Carver family; Futures Rake). Try the FCS II Mayhem Driver Tri, with the Driver quad rears for a quad, or the Futures Mayhem 3.0 5-Fin. |
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| Stock sizes | 6’6 to 8’0 (34.50 L to 53.00 L) |
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| Sizing | Longer and thicker than your everyday shortboard, like any gun or step-up, but …Lost says it can be done with less length and more thickness than a standard gun; pick the length for the size of waves you are chasing |
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| Constructions we stock | Always: PU (poly), Light Speed II and Black Sheep Built. All constructions are available for custom order |
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| Custom orders | Yes, through our …Lost 3D board builder |
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Retro Gun Q&A
What size Retro Gun should I get?
Like any gun or step-up, ride the Retro Gun longer and with more volume than your everyday shortboard, but …Lost says it can replace a standard gun or large step-up with less length and more thickness without sacrificing control, because the continuous vee lets a high-volume board sit lower in the water and engage the rail. Pick the length for the waves you are chasing: the shorter end for solid overhead days, the longer end for the biggest, most open-ocean surf. For example, if you ride a 5’11 shortboard around 28.50 L, the 6’6 (19.00" x 2.63", 34.50 L) is already a sizable step up at 6 liters more, and the 7’0 (19.75" x 2.85", 42.00 L) is a proper gun. Stock sizes run from 6’6 (19.00" x 2.63", 34.50 L) to 8’0 (20.50" x 3.03", 53.00 L). If you don’t know your volume, use the Volume calculator at the top of our …Lost 3D board builder: enter your height, weight, skill, fitness and the waves you surf, and it recommends a volume by board type, from shortboard to fish, hybrid and mid-length. Our shop staff can help you pick a size.
What fins does the Retro Gun use?
The Retro Gun has five fin boxes (FCS II or Futures), so you can ride it as a thruster or a quad. …Lost builds it thruster/quad convertible. Neither FCS nor Futures lists this model in its …Lost guide, and for a gun built for hold and long, drawn-out turns in powerful surf, the raked template both brands pair with …Lost’s performance shortboards is the right family. The template to look for is a raked, drive-oriented fin: on FCS II the Mayhem Driver Tri (Small, Medium, Large), with the Mayhem Driver quad rears (Medium, Large) for a quad. FCS classes the Mayhem Driver as a Carver-family fin: an elongated template with more sweep (rake), built for hold and longer, drawn-out turns. FCS sizes these fins by weight: Small 120–155 lbs, Medium 145–175 lbs, Large 165–200 lbs. On Futures, the Mayhem 3.0 5-Fin (Medium, Large) gives you the same rake template in a thruster-plus-quad set, or use the R-series Blackstix (R4, R6, R8) as a thruster. Futures sizes its fins as Small 95–135 lbs, Medium 125–175 lbs and Large 165 lbs and up.
What is the Retro Gun based on?
It is loosely based on Matt Biolos’s original personal guns from the late 1980s, recently revamped and modernized with 30 years of knowledge while retaining the ’80s design ethos. Before the deep concaves and hyper rockers of the 1990s, flat decks, steep full rails with more edge and lower rockers with continuous vee were the status quo, and …Lost points out that those ’80s boards were more user friendly: high volume was high performance.
Who is the Retro Gun for?
…Lost calls it a working man’s gun: loved by the Pros, but really meant for the Bros. It is an excellent tool for the surfer who spends most of their time on higher-volume hybrid and fish designs in daily surf but struggles to find a board that suits them when the waves get solid, boosting confidence and control in a raucous line-up. It also found its way into the quivers of Kolohe Andino, Ian Crane and Luke Davis for waves like Ocean Beach and Sunset Beach.
What waves and conditions is the Retro Gun for?
Big, unruly waves, even in challenging, imperfect conditions. The continuous vee bottom cuts cleanly through big, bumpy chop or stiff offshore conditions, allows smooth, controlled rail-to-rail surfing and keeps the board in control at high speeds in powerful surf. Its first modern versions were built for the big, cold, open-ocean surf of Ocean Beach, San Francisco.
What constructions does the Retro Gun come in?
We always stock the Retro Gun in PU (poly), Light Speed II and Black Sheep Built. Each in-stock board on this page lists its construction. All constructions are available for custom order through our …Lost 3D board builder.
Can I custom order a Retro Gun?
Yes. Use the Custom Order Retro Gun button on this page, or open the …Lost 3D board builder directly, to design one: you choose the dims, construction, fin boxes, colors and art.
From …Lost
The RETRO_GUN features low entry rocker with Rolled Vee (and lots of forward volume) and a classic “Beak” nose. The Vee lessens through the center and increases again into an accelerated tail rocker, with deep double concave cutting through the tail curve. The continuous Vee bottom enables a high-volume board to surf lower in the water and engage the rail. It cleanly cuts through big, bumpy, chop or stiff offshore condition and allows for smooth, controlled, rail to rail surfing. It easily remains in control at high speeds, in powerful surf.
Built standard with…
- Strong (yet flexible) 4ply Redwood stringer
- Thruster/Quad convertible fin set up.
- Solid resin tinted 6oz and 4oz stronger glassing, for a beautiful board that lasts. – All new, model specific, minimalist logo package.
(Post Modern) RETRO GUN is loosely based off my original, personal guns from the late 1980’s. Now recently revamped and modernized with 30 years of knowledge, yet still retaining the original ’80’s design ethos. Flat deck, steep full rails (with more edge) lower rockers with continuous vee, were the status quo. Before the introduction of deep concaves cutting through hyper rocker minimalistic slippers of the 1990’s, the surfboards of the ’80’s were more user friendly.
High volume was high performance.
Our first modern “Retro Guns” were built a few years back, at the request of a friend (journalist, Lewis Samuels) up in Ocean Beach San Francisco. He was looking for an advantage in negotiating OBs big, cold, open ocean landscapes. Ironically, after seeing LS in action, on early Retros, it was quickly requested, and adopted by our “A” team of young hot shots like Kolohe, Ian Crane and (most notably) Luke Davis, while on road trips up north. They now hold full quiver of Retro Guns, for attacking the same types of waves, and places like Sunset Beach, Hi.
More importantly, for the surfer used to spending most their time on higher volume, hybrid/fish designs in daily surf (but struggle to find a board that suits them when the waves get solid) the RETRO_GUN is an excellent tool to boost confidence and control in a raucous line up. It easily replaces a standard gun, or large step up, but can be done with less length and more thickness without sacrificing control.
Over all, the Retro Gun, while loved by Pros, is really meant for the Bros. It’s a working man’s gun. A great tool for taming big unruly beasts, even in challenging, imperfect conditions.
