Need advice on gun.

[ILDiver]

From what I read on here a good inexpensive float line it clothes line. I'll see if I can find the thread.

[Smartpart]

My friend got his gun just like mine today very impressed. Looks and feels very well made. I dont think its too loud but ive never seen a band gun.

[azapa]

it has been said 100x here. One more: don't be tempted to load and fire out of the water. PLEASE.

I never knew why, tried, and almost killed my 3 year old son on the spears rebound. SHUDDER....

[Smartpart]

We shot it in a pool

[ILDiver]

http://forums.deeperblue.net/spearo-...ifference.html <--People talk about color and types in there.

[Fondueset]

A word about Pneumatics - I used to use the old Nemrod and Mares pneumos back in the day. It is true they were loud. However some of the newer guns are not loud, and have VERY good range for their size - much more than band guns. The Mares Cyrano comes to mind. The 970 is smaller than a 75cm euro gun and shoots further than a 90 - and that is out of the box. With the nylon piston it is also much quieter than the old pneumatics. With a mamba kit I'm sure it would match or exceed a 110 eurogun.
It used to be that pneumatics - in fact pretty much all guns in the states - came with really heavy shafts. Pneumatics were considered good short range guns for rocky areas and poor vis etc. There has, however, been a change in the way these guns are regarded and made. Guns like the Cyrano employ a smaller diameter piston made from lighter materials and with less resistance against the water - they shoot smallerdiameter , faster shafts for greater distances.

[Smartpart]

^^ Awesome

I'm very impressed with mine. I think i made a pretty good choice, just htinking I should have gotten a 70. But o well.

[Smartpart]

Ok w/e a floatline is sounds like something i should have had. A friend of mine oops and dropped my gun into the lake. I didnt have the chance to try to get it. It was about 18 feet down but in about 10ft of moss then like 3 ft of heavy weeds. Its gone. Was a fun trip. Horrible visibility.(4ft)

Very comical trip actually. We might drive down to the gulf in a few weekends. Needless to say I still want to do it.

So umm should i get a band gun?

[ILDiver]

If you get a band gun I would say get a 75cm - 90cm. If you plan to take it out to the saltwater I would think it would work out better. Lower vis of freash water might be better with the 75cm?? Not only should you have a float line, but float is a STRONG recommendation. There are many reasons for the float. The big reason is safety so boats see you (hopefully). But also you clip your gun to the float line, the floatline to the float and you don't lose your gun Also You can put a stringer on the float. Keeps you a little more free and is saltwater it keeps the bait away from you

I like my Omer Cayman HF 90cm, but it's ~$360 - $400. The Omer Excalibur is fairly inexpensive. I'm not sure who has them in stock, we (Do Dive In in Illinois) would have to order them. They come in 50cm, 60cm, 75cm, 82cm, 90cm, 100cm and 110cm. They would range from somewhere around $135 to $175. I'm an Omer fan though, so...

[Smartpart]

so a floatline clips to your gun and to a float?

[ILDiver]

Yes. It does not have to tie to a float, but that is common. It is not advisable to clip the line to yourself. The reason is if you shoot a big fish or your spear gets stuck underwater, your stuck. The one exception I've seen to that is people clipping it to their weight belt, since the belt can be dropped.

There is a wide range on price and styles of floats. But one fairly cheap version is a boogie board. So a boogie board and a clothes line could get you by. You probably want a flag too??

18ft to the gun huh? A shame. How did it shoot? Were you able to get any fish?

[Smartpart]

no fish, too suckish visibility. 18ft yes. We dove for it for about 20 min just like scraping the bottom with our hands. Its just under the moss it was like weeds. It shot great. Yall said pneumatics suck but IMO it shot good. IDK I was planning on getting a new wetsuit this week but now i gotta buy another gun. Plus i need to find somewhere with better vis.

Im indifferent right now to spearfishing seeing how that first trip went.

[ILDiver]

If you can get into some fish, you'll enjoy it. Finding a good fishing spot is the same underwater as it is above

[Smartpart]

4ft vis is hard to see anything though.

[ILDiver]

Yeah, it is. But once you find a nice place or places to dive and are able to really fish, you will enjoy it. Finding a person or two near you that spear helps, but not always possible.