Rabitech Stealth

[Mattedhead]

All Riffe devotees out there, please don't read any further...he he he.

I have had the Riffe Competitor 2 for nearly three years now and it has served me very well. It has been the perfect starter gun as it has taken a beating a not once failed in any respect. It has been extremely versatile. However, I am looking at getting a 70-75cm gun for inshore low vis work, and a 120-130 for larger game. I have decided on my smaller gun, but I am still open for suggestions on the larger gun. I have been seriously considering the Rabitechs as the price and construction look spot on. I have seen some old threads where the Rabitechs were briefly discussed, but there wasn't a whole lot of info. I will primarily be using it on our offshore wrecks for grouper, snapper, etc and some lighter bluewater use. For those of you that have experience with these guns, how have they performed, and how have they held up? Has anyone used them with a pair of bands? How does this affect range/accuracy? Any info that could be passed along would be great. Thanks.

matt

[fijifreediver]

Bula Matt,

There have been some good posts on the info you requested
on the www.spearfishing.com.au There is a new railgun which
has just been released from www.geocities.com/superfrog/home.
html . Also of interest, Rob Allen,himself, has been answering
questions on the spearfishing forum above.
Let me know what you decide as I'm thinking of getting a smaller
railgun myself. I have an Alexander and Collins bluewater now.
Unfortunately, I'm not able to go to a shop and see the product
in person.




----------------------

Jim

[ivan]

hi Matt

In the Wabitech range of spear guns I have used a 1.2m carbon, 1.3 alluminium and 1.4m alluminium. They are very nice guns and as most who have used them will tell you that they have a comfortable handle better than the Ra's. The only other difference is that they have the plastic rail which is supposed to make less noise when firing and scare less fish.

I personally use a 1.1, 1.5m Rob allen and to be honest the rail thing about noise is hardly noticable to me, accuracy and range is exactly the same depends what spears and thickness mono you get. Get the one with the best price.

As for size on the 1.2 and 1.3 we had single 20mm rubbers, and on the 1.4 twin 16mms all were rigged with 7mm spears. Accuracy was spot on maybe the 1.4 was a little less accurate but then its a more longer powerful gun. For the fish that you mentioned Grouper snapper etc the 1.2 carbon would be perfect sorry havent used 1.2 alloy but would probably be similar. The 1.2 was used to shoot Coral trout etc Reef species over here. I also plugged the odd 30lb spanish mackeral which the gun could take easily even from a good range relatively speaking, not sure what bluewater fish you have there.

I swap guns all the time out there between my 1.1ra to dads 1.3stealth to my 1.5Ra. Any of these guns will get you the fish. I have shot my biggest fish with my 1.1 and a single band ?
For me I have owned Rob allen from the start so dont really see the need to change to stealth as they are so the same.

The guns that Jim mentioned are either what we call the edge railgun or the Torrelli railgun. They are made by Tony heughs down south and come in Alloy and carbon I think the only difference between these and normal railguns is that when you tilt these guns on the side the spear doesnt fall out of the track like ra and stealth.

Any of these guns will do the job just choose between a 1.2 or 1.3. And if your after some cool range get a 1.4 -1.5 yes Iya im talking Railgun range not Riffe range


cheers

[Iyadiver]

[Iyadiver]

If Rabitech or RA has a local dealer here in my town.... I WILL BUY THEM TODAY !!!! Serious...

I heard all the good stuff on these guns.....

Why am I living in a country where buying an imported speargun is 10x more difficult than picking up babes at the bar ?

My friend bought a speargun from Aussie and it was confiscated at my airport last month......... He didn't say what brand but it is wood. I suppose UnderSea ?? I told him don't bother to get the special permit, th gun cost won't justify.

Everytime I ask friends to buy me a speargun from abroad, all they say is : , Hell No Way !!

[Jay Styron]

Hey Matt,
Ck w/ Anderson and Aquiles. They have Rabitechs. When I went spearing w/ Aquiles last fall abunch of his friends were shooting RA's also. They would be a good source of info.
Jay

[Mattedhead]

Thanks for the info guys...The spearfishing.com/au site had a ton of info. Everyone down there seems pretty high on the Rabitechs, sooo I might have to heed there advice and give one a shot. They are about 1/2 the price of the comparable carbon euro guns, and have several nice features. I like the use of the bulk rubbers as opposed to the screw-in type, and the handle and trigger mech(sears) seem to be pretty sturdy. Now I just have to decide on a 120 or 130... Any advice Jay? This will be my gun for offshore here and for some intro bluewater work this summer. I will probably use the single 20mm band for the wrecks and put 2x16mm on for bluewater.

Thanks again,
Matt

[andrsn]

Matt,

Somehow I missed this thread... sorry. Anyways, Aquiles has the 120 and I have the 130. Both are aluminum and both of us are using the single 20mm bands. The range is great and very accurate. The 130 is a tad too big for tracking fish on the reef, we had schools of mackeral swimming around us back in december and I couldn't get a shot off because they were moving too much left to right and not enough away or towards me. But, I'd imagine for bigger kings or wahoo out in the open, the 130 would be sweet. I just made 2 16mm bands for it and will keep it on hand for the open/deep water stuff in the future. I'm going back to my 116cm OMER master/reel setup for the reef.

Cheers,
Anderson

[Shadowkiller]

Matt,
Give Dogmatrix a PM or wait till he finds this thread, cause he has a Rabitech so he can tell you a bit more. He really likes his, even managed a Dogtooth tuna with!

I use my 130RA for Bluewater and the 110 for reef fishing.

If you have a look in the QLD section of the gallery at www.spearfishing.com.au you will see some monster Trevally that have been shot with a 110 Rabitech!

[ivan]

hi

Now who is shooting giant trevally

Andrsn if you think your 130 with single band is bad for tracking you wouldnt even waste your time on my twin band 150

cheers

[Jay Styron]

Matt,
I'd go for the 120, that should be plenty of punch for the fish around here and w/ two bands it should handle B/W stuff too.
Jay

[Shadowkiller]

Originally posted by ivan

Now who is shooting giant trevally

lots of people? Its not illegal and the ignobilis is a major gamefish in South Africa, not to mention Australia and Hawaii

[Dogmatrix]

Actually I am using an Edge railgun (1.3M). In my humble opinion I would throw my 20mm rubber away until RA brings out their new trigger which should handle 2 * 20mm rubbers. when this Happens I will be using an RA trigger and will try the double 20mm. i found the single 20mm lacked the velocity and "punch" of the double 16mm bands. In fact to be blunt I was hugely dissapointed with the single 20. I have found I am not bothered by the double 16mm when tracking fish and I must admit I had no pad on my wetsuit which was worn rather thin... so I found the 20mm just gave me some pretty coloured bruises while the double 16mm gave me no bruising and I had more confidence in it. I was using a 7mm shaft, and found more often then not the shaft punches through a fish toggling it on the spear line, not exactly ideal, but better then running out of punch or even worse having to give a tuna to much lead... as it was I was flat out trying to pick a tuna and made a really horrible shot on a mac tuna due to not giving enough lead. Also caught a small yellow fin on a penn eggbeater, was a good little fighter... but at around 3Kg it wasn't worth keeping. Riccard aslo got some nice coral trout and Jacks!

Attached is the little mac tuna... shame about the shot, lucky it didn't get away! and a few coral trout.

[Iyadiver]

YUMMY x 3.......

[ivan]

hi

Yeah I know its not illegal to shoot them, but I choose not to simply cos there are MUCH better edible fish out there. Ie Spanish macks, Job fish. However I guess lots of people shoot big fish to get tow or good fight from it. Yep Im spoilt here ive grown to know that GTs arnt great eating so I just watch them swim past

cheers