Loading: I spear in swimming trunks, but I use gloves. To load, I slip one glove over the handle of the gun and load it against my bare chest. You have to use good loading technique though (and learn to enjoy some pain

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Safety: remove it. We shouldn't rely on it anyway. Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction at all times (or unloaded while on the boat as the wise say...) that' s the only real safety.
Cheers,
Stef