Newbie Rob Allen Tuna 90cm review

[tackleberry]

Hey everyone,

I recently got back into spearfishing. When I lived in Wa state, I used a JBL 38 spcl. I know that genre is more of a scuba-gun, so I went for the euro style.

After MUCH research and deciding, I finally went and bought a Rob Allen Tuna 90cm from Bodega Bay Pro Dive in Bodega Bay, Ca. I wanted a gun that I could shoot small to medium sized fish. I have a friend that lives in Santa Barbara, so I wanted the gun to be able to work down there as well. As most people know, it is impossible to get an "all around gun". I was trying to do my best to get as close as I could.

I picked an RA rail gun because of it's reputation, band setup (not screw-in) and design.


Build:

Upon inspection, the gun is VERY well built. The shaft works very well in the handle, the weapon floats after the shaft is fired, and the gun's rigging setup is very easy to use and reload. The safety needs a little "persuading" every now and then, but once you get the hang of it, it is no big deal. It comes with a sturdy clip attached to the pistol grip which works perfectly for float lines and floats.

In the water:

On dry land, the weapon is VERY muzzle heavy. Once it is in the water, it swings almost effortlessly, and it's balance is superb. Trigger pull is crisp and moderately weighted. I use firearms frequently, so this is the BIGGEST place of concern for me. I understand how much a bad trigger can affect performance. The trigger is "just right" for me. Not too light, not too heavy. The most I have shot with it so far are blue rockfish and some blue striped perch. Not trophies to be sure, but good tests for the weapon's ease of movement, accuracy, and noise level. The first fish I shot was a blue striped perch @ approximately 7ft. It was swimming from left to right presenting a right side broadside aspect. I held just behind it's eye and squeezed....THWAP! The spear (only 1 band loaded) shot right through it's right eye, and went out of it's mouth. Just at the last moment, the perch turned it's body away from me. It amazed me that the spear hit EXACTLY where I was aiming. I figured it was too good to be true, but I went out another time for rock fish and had the same results. Out of 8 fish I shot (2 perch, 6 rock's), 6 were headshots at mid-long range (for the weapon). The 2 others I shot through the side because of poor angle of approach.

I now keep 1 band under the gun and only load 1 as it does quite well. If I go for ling cod or cabezon, I will load up the second band. I have "threaded" every fish so far. Not too amazing since I am shooting fish no bigger than 5 lbs, but my old JBL couldn't do that, and it had 2 bands loaded.

Rigging:

How I rig my gun:

Boat fender from walmartw/ a rope grommet attached to 50' float line via a heavy caribiner, attached to gun w/ brass snap clip. I also have an light caribiner attached to the rope grommet/float that is handy to clip to the gun when I need my hands free. I could just drop the speargun, but sometimes I'd rather not.

This set up works pretty good. If I am back tracking under kelp a lot it does get pretty messed up, but if I am careful, it doesn't.

My "safety device" is a "Spongebob-squarepants" tennis ball stabbed on the end .

The only add-ons I will put on this weapon is the Rob Allen "breakaway" kit for when I go down to Socal. Also, it comes with a steel line release, which is very nice.

I will put pictures up later.

[capetownguy]

hey, 'shot' for the review! sounds like youre happy!
happy and safe hunting!

[Mr. X]

Good review Tackleberry & welcome.

Yes, even with a single 16mm band they seem to be be plenty powerful. I have the Sparid model, which comes with a single 16mm band & a smaller 6.6mm spear (which is plenty tough -- hit rocks numerous times) & plastic line release - it is a good set-up. It has a double muzzle & double-notched spear, so it could be fitted with double bands later -- never found the need though.

I recently fitted a 20mm band but it seems over-the-top power-wise to me. The spear easily goes all the way through fish (it often did with the 16mm band too) -- unfortunately speared mullet have a habit of spiralling madly around, which makes a mess of your spear-line (at least it put a kink in my temporary strimmer line spear line which is softer than regular RA Mako spear line) - and increases the chance of the fish tearing off the line, the spearline having a much smaller diameter than the spear. It is also significantly less forgiving to load: I now have to load high on my sternum, above my Elios loading pad -- otherwise it tends to slip off & bruise me. My abs are black & blue after 4 consecutive days of spearing last week. Also I broke a new Dyneema wishbone (perhaps because the ends of the bands were not even -- I have adjust them now, which is also harder with a 20mm band). As you may have discerned, I am missing the old 16mm band .

RE. balance/barrel-weight, I noticed the barrel of mine seemed a little too muzzle heavy in the water this season (even before I changed the rubbers), causing unnecessary strain on the firing arm. I had not noticed this last year, so perhaps something changed (e.g. water entered the hollow bands)? I squeezed half a cork into the second rubber hole of my double-muzzle & blackened it to blend in with the gun. Appears to have done the trick.

BTW We discussed safety catches a while back. Most folk don't seem to use them, as the only real safe state is loose bands. On other brands, folks often remove them. I reckon the RA safety catch may be there more for marketing purposes or perhaps some competition rules somewhere or other -- it would be a pain to have to use all the time (stiff, low profile, hard to move & not obvious when on/off). Maybe not a bad feature option to have available for occasional use; somebody mentioned using their safety when picking up a crab/scallop/lobster -- less safe than an unloaded gun but safer than leaving the gun loaded & the safety off.

Re. your "Sponge Bob safety device" I use silicone tube tied off with some cord or some plastic tube (I found 2 washed up on the beach that are a good fit). I noticed the Guernsey boys had used corks in their recent spearo-wedding pictures.

Let us know how you get on with the breakaway kit.

[capetownguy]

i was wondering how your strimmer line was doing!.....still havnt found strong mono?

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by capetownguy

i was wondering how your strimmer line was doing!.....still havnt found strong mono?

I have found Mako line, it is a painfully slow process getting it though - like walking through treacle. The strimmer line is working well enough though - and is effectively free for me, as I have enough to last a lifetime.

(Any insights on 20mm loading or balance issue mentioned?)

[capetownguy]

hey, i would've thought it was the water entering the bands like you said...cant think of anything else that would make it heavier without u seeing any difference....
as for the loading....ive got double 16mm bands on my rabitech...ive never tried loading a 20mm band. i tend rest the gun slightly lower than my loading pad when i load..so i suppose its different for each person..

[covert]

I use 18mm bands on my 1.2 rabi stealth, and find them easy to load ??? No issues just a bit of technique and a result of eating all my serial when i was just a puppy.

[tackleberry]

Originally Posted by capetownguy

hey, i would've thought it was the water entering the bands like you said...cant think of anything else that would make it heavier without u seeing any difference....

could it be water entering the barrel?

[deep thinker]

Originally Posted by tackleberry

could it be water entering the barrel?

I also thought it could be this, did you perhaps remove the barrel end, the part that holds the rubbers at some time?
If so I suggest you do this again and let the barrel dry out for a bit as the front end is normally sealed in some way or another, the inside of most barrels are filled with some kind of foam or something to keep them balanced. If the barrel is dry spray the barrel end with some silicone oil or something and slip it back in, once in place treat the connection with some sealant, marine grade silicone, that should stop any water prenetation

[miles]

Hiya

Checking for water in the barrel is simple. Just turn the gun upside down and listen!! If there is water in the barrel, you'll HEAR it sloshing around!! Having a barrel leak is not such a common occurance. Most manufacturers have good products, but small mistakes can and do happen. Sometimes a inferiorly fitted barrel plug will work fine until one day you dive very deep and the pressure then makes it leak!! Any barrel that leaks will be fixed under warranty.

MrX, try RA's NEW 6.0mm spear with a single 16mm or 18mm band!! GREAT for smaller, fast moving fish!!

Regards
miles

[Mr. X]

Well...when I changed the bands, I was surprised to find that there was a some water inside them (is that normal?) but it hardly seemed enough to make such a difference. Although the additional weight of the 20mm bands might be about the same.

I did try shaking the gun before but could hear no slosh. To be sure, I just tried again and ... a piece of grit came out of the trigger mech & there is darn big piece /small rock/pebble stuck behind my trigger. Had one causing loading problems on hols. (sometimes spear wouldn't go in or wouldn't engage, sometimes line release stuck inside) - thought I had managed to get that out mid-dive maybe, maybe not. Another piece of grit just came out. The big one doesn't want to come out. Got it! Well that should help (surprised it could work at all with that little lot inside!). No slosh though.

Interesting Miles. Is 6mm strong enough? I actually, tried to order a 6.3mm spear (as I notice that is an option on the Scorpia model in the UK 6.3 or 6.6) -- although I was a little concerned that it might not be tough enough. I suspect I will end up with a 6.6mm, probably the more common choice here. I notice the competition spearos like UKSpearo & spearoMatt favour slim spears - presumably faster.

Although I whined about the 20mm bands (& had grit in my mech)- I was unusually successful with them last week [see: South Devon 2007 thread]. I reckon that was mainly the good weather & time of season, but you never know!

Image below: 20mm loading technique reminders! (This was after 4 days of spearing & 2 days of rest -- speared for another 2 days after this. Bruises blackened later but are fading fast now!). Probably at least partially due to not ensuring both ends of the band were the same length ... even'm up after a couple of days, just tweaked them again to get them perfectly even.

[covert]

thats one ugly chest mate

[covert]

oh and the bruises are ugly too

[getawayFK]

With 20mm bands set on long guns, a smart idea would be to cut an old flipflop base (or some heavy duty thick sponge) and superglue it to the butt of the gun and that should work well and keep those bruises away...

[covert]

or if you bruise easily like in mrX's case get a mouse pad and glue it on the inside of your wetsuit comfy not noticeable and makes one hell of a difference