Riffe Spearguns

[heebes]

i am wondering if a Riffe gun is worth the money? i am looking at the Standard #3 as a universal gun until i get into the sport a bit more. but i need the gun to handle everything from spadefish to amberjack, with the chance at an occasional tuna. thanks. greg.

[Iyadiver]

Riffe is NOT worth the money, no, no.
Don't even think of Standard #3, take Standard #2 for example :

01. It is too accurate

02. It swing to easy.

03. With the options of muzzle reinforcement, you can take 4 bands and it is too powerful. In murky water of 12 feet, you may end up shooting 2 spadefish in one go when you only aim for one.

04. With Ice Pick spearhead on the 5/16" shaft, you can't hunt the reef fishes, you must hunt the pelagics, too much a hassle.
This tip grip is so deadly, you get roller coaster ride from it if you do not have a float or a reel, too much fun...no good.

05. With 9/32" Hawaiian shaft and only 2 bands, you will have a stringer of reef fish so fast you get bored shooting it.

06. With the your name printed on it, it look too cool, your girlfriend might get jelous.

07. If you use th 500 lbs coated ss cable and three wraps of shooting line at 4 bands, you can pull a fish around rocky area or in wrecks without fear of breaking the line and you end up not giving any business to the gun store. They will hate you for it.



I have at least 15 friends using #2 fully rigged and they all hate it so much cause now the cooler box weight a lot more when they bring it home.

IYA

[icarus pacific]

heh, heh... very smooth Iya.

Yes, heebes. a Riffe is definitely worth it. (Not that I'm an avid advocate of Riffe gear )


sven

[Jay Styron]

IMHO, go for a 120-130 Euro gun. I'm down here in Wilmington and hunt some of the same conditions you do. Lets be honest, the spades, togs, flounder, stripers and AJ's are going to get more steel thrown at them than the occasional tuna. W/ the vis and species you'll probably encounter the most, a euro will be a better value (sorry all you riffes). The euros are light, track fast and are accurate. I shoot a 110cm gun and have taken everything from snapper in Fl to a 70# AJ here. Just change your shaft size for the different conditions. You could add an extra band for the big guys if needed. It's hard to get one gun that does it all. Besides who would want to, you can NEVER have too many guns Take care and safe diving.
Jay

[Skindiver]

I typically shoot Kingfish, King Mackeral, Queen mackeral, Queenfish, Wahoo with a 1.4 RA barrelled Beuchat reel gun.
I use a shorter 1.15 variant behind the surf in the rocks.

I do have a weakness for more toys though.

I really like the idea of the big Blue water but the wings put me off immensely. Whilst i need not be convinced of its effectiveness, it looks bulky and ugly. Tuna are not common in my water so I can do with a more all round gun. Having said this i will never let anything swim past me even if it leaves with my entire rig.

I like the look of the Standard and the Competition series as they are more like the rear handle guns i use now. As for the loading extension for hip loading on the standard series, i chest load anyhow, so its of no great benefit to me as such.

There does not seem to be too much to choose between a Standard Baja 4 and a Competitor 4xs (rc-0017). Whats the benefit of the Baja in this comparison ?

I want one... Now. Just cos i do.

Skin.

[Abriapnea]

Aarghh ...
Now the rot is setting in back home .

You are killing me ,Skin . Buy a new wetsuit , whatever . Don't do this , man . We have to stand together to fight this insidious influence !
Oh well ,if you get a @#$% gun guess it's always good as emergency firewood

[Murat]

Things never changes here...

Heebes,

To be honest,110 120 cm euro gun will do the job.Good quality OMER guns such an Master Competiton and Alluminium almost expensive as Riffe Competitor.If you are planning to hunt, tautog,spagefish etc 6.5 mm and 20mm power band is ok.If you will do a bit bluewater, 7mm shaft and twin 16 mm power band is smoth as sven.The thing is when your euro's need new band you must pay 35-40 dollars.This will make high dollar OMERs even harder to afford.I asked Mark Labocetta which one was better OMER Master Competiton or Alluminum? He answered they are both top line guns but i preffer Alluminum.I do so.I am not sure if Master Competition body can resist twin 16 in long period of time without any bent.I think Alluminum is more durable especially 120 and 130 coz they have thicler carbon barell wall.For RA i dunno anything but it must be good since some good speros using it here.I remmeber in the power band test article RA bands seems really.So you may want to change the bands with another brand.Anyway OMER Alluminum with twin 16mm and 7mm shaft will cost you as same as Riffe Competitor or even more.


On the other hand, if you can afford Riffe standart series wait a little put some extra coins and then buy two Riffe Competitor gun.#C1 with three 9/16 bands 9/32 shaft and two wraps of line.I remmeber someone mentioned accuracy of C1, 10 shoot 10 fish? Was he Jay or Andrs?Anyway they can tell you more about it.For more bluwater fishing buy #C3.

There are still another options such as Wong Hybrid.I THINK they are better than both Riffes and Euros for your situation.But the problem is 55 inch corbon barell gun has a price of 500+ shipping....OUCH..But if you can afford it you may get the tracking better than euros and strength of Lumber...

I know my comments about guns make someones angry or whatever, so let me tell you i am not very experianced as others, i only used OMER MB and some other euro guns (but this will change soon).

Note: What is the difference between Riffe Competitor with 9/32 shaft, twin 16 mm power band and same cofig. Euro? They should perform same but you know its QUALITY....

Choice is your's.....


Its sad to see Abri loosing his allies
One trusty euro user here to support Abri!!! (till get my new gun)

[Skindiver]

Im with My man Abri here till the bitter end. I just want to see ( maybe ) what all the fuss is about

Skin.

Staunch Euro shooter.

[bluewater]

I just purchased a riffe metal tech #3 and all I will say is that I'm very happy. If it turns out you think the conditions you're in could use that kind of a gun, the purchase will be well worth it. Mine feels, looks, and shoot tough and is nearly silent(and I do mean silent I've actually let fish go that I used to shoot before simply because now it wouldn't be sporting! Of course, I also have a small albeit crappy gun to use when the vis is really poor.

[Iyadiver]

SKIN,

What is the difference between C4 and Baja #4............
The answer is just the thicker stock, now that Competitor series has "X" and "XS" model for extra long butt, it is just the basically the teak stock/barrel size. Competitor series is designed to be slim and fast.

The thicker #4 Baja stock allows the muzzle to accept 4 x 16mm bands, you can't do that in C4. Riffe is quite a genius, he knows that moron like IYA will put as many bands as possible but C4 is light cause the teak stock is mini size, thus recoil is unkind if the gun is light. #4 Baja teak stock is much thicker, so much so, shooting 3/8 shaft with 3 x 16mm rubber is so sweet, to my crude hand I consider it minimum recoil. With practice one can shoot 4 x 16mm on it with a single hand, like Moi for instance. I get one free left hand to grab or hold on to something.

I personaly think C4 (144cm ) and C4XS ( 152cm ) are just too long. I rather use my 4 banded Standard #2 at 124 cm. Shorter shooting range of 1 meter but hell a lot faster to track. If C4 is that long for power purpose, might as well get #4 Baja and go all out. I am a believer that more bands is a better solution than longer barrel size.



HEEBES,

With all respect to other guns, if power is what you look for (assuming every brand is just as accurate as the other ), the logic is simple. Good powerbands are readily available, from the amount of stretch and rubber diameter we can tell the output power. All you need is the shaft diameter and weight to do final calculation on how powerful the shaft can hit the fish.

The difference is the construction and the level of power the gun itself can handle. Just like a car, powerband & shaft is the engine and the stock/barrel & muzzle and trigger is the chassis and transmission. Now take a look at Benz 600S. The engine option is 3.2, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 (correct me if I am a bit behind time ). Not all cars can handle this kind of power options unless the chassis is good. Later is up to you to decide for urself, which suit ur budget.
However, you can always ease on the throttle of a fast car to make it slow but never expect to kick the throttle to make a slower car any faster. One most important difference in all the gun brands you mentioned is the trigger. Riffe is the strongest and sweet release like you won't believe, even when loaded with many many bands.

As a new spearo, just buy what you want now. You will grow to choose what you like in the long run and just like babes...........oooppss I mean beer , the more the better.

As with all hunting gear, in the end it will come down to ur personal preference and the hunting ground. If you see the logic of economics, expensive stuff which can sell worldwide only means one thing. It is as good as the dollars you put in. Speargun is not Versace or Luis Vitton, we use them to hunt and to land fishes, we don't go to parties with it. So if a speargun which seems expensive like a Riffe and has world wide audience, the only answer is.......... it works.

Go to any website of any speargun manufacturers that specificaly sell spearguns, see the number of the dealers. This alone tells you that how many buyers world wide is willing to pay money for that brand. This forum only represent a grain of sand of the worldwide spearos, many are very dedicated to the sport but a choice we brought up is not a world wide choice. It is our own preference.

One more little advice, you do not need long guns to get good range. We can compensate that with more rubbers and thicker shaft...........as long as you can live with the recoil.

As for which guns take biggest fishes, it is not entirely the success of the gun. Some spearos are exceptionaly good in stalking and breath hold. The other thing is to see where they hunt, heavenly location produce top fishes. Don't expect to find Tuna in a pond, right ? One last factor is luck. With all ur guns, skills and if there is no fish, zero fish is what you will get. If you hunt a place as barren as where Murat hunts, all the guns in the world won't help you.


BLUEWATER,
Congrats on your MT3. Take any other aluminum/carbon gun of the same price and tell me the quality difference. If you tell me American cars are as good as Riffe-s I won't buy that, but if you tell me American made Riffe is one hell of an engineering beauty, you have my vote. Ok Ok, the American cars are better now than the last 10 years but they still got a lot of catching to
do.

[unirdna]

Originally posted by Iyadiver
SKIN,

I get one free left hand to grab or hold on to something.

Even a Riffe won't help you if you go blind?

[Murat]

Originally posted by Iyadiver


hunt a place as barren as where Murat hunts, all the guns in the world won't help you.

They can run but can not hide.At the end i will find few heavy duty to nail.

[Iyadiver]

heh, heh... very smooth Iya.

Like Uncle like Nephew..........he he he he



UNI....is that you Uni, ( supposedly I am blind hit by the gun butt )....my gun is auto aim..... he he he

[IBGuy]

Heebes and Jay,

You guys are in Va. and Carolinas respectively, your posts mention the taking of the occasional tuna. I spoke with a person at NOAA last spring who assured me that the taking of tuna by speargun on the east coast of the USA is prohibited. Would one or both of you mind enlightening me on this subject?

Thanks in Advance, Guy

[Jay Styron]

I think I said the "opportunity". I haven't shot a tuna here but the opportunity is there. I don't think Heebes specified the location for taking the tuna he just said it would be another possible species his gun would be able to handle. Also I'm not sure but I think that rule is for the bluefin fishery. We have several other species here such as yellowfin, bonito, and albacore that I think are legal, but if not I stand corrected. But to set your mind at ease I haven't attempted to take a tuna but I am ck'ing w/ the local NMFS people to see if I can get a permit to take a tune and if not, why.
Jay