New to seac-sub asso: tips please

[azapa]

Hi, just bought my first new gun in 20 years! Seac-sub asso 65. I have some really dumb questions, and the manual is terrible:
1. It is 65 Cm long. It is hard to load on land! Too short for the foot method, Too long for the weight belt or hip method. any tips to load in water?
2. What is the bolt for?? It seems to work in any position. I *think* that its the power reducer, Dummies question I know...
3. The supplied line seems very short. What would you replace it with and what length.
4. Where/how do you guys carry the plastic loader whilst in the water?

I will be hunting in 2 to 8 meters of water with mostly rock bottom, good vis, against 2 to 6Kg rock fish.

Thanks!

[metelin]

i have a 90 asso and i chest load it, i tied the loader with an elastic band and i keep it on my right wrist. the power adjuster is good for low power shots in caves and around rocks, i use it and in cases where i didn't i ended up bending tips and shafts.

steve

[azapa]

Thanks for the reply metelin. I guess I need a class or two here. I don't understand how you can chest load the gun. A 90Cm gun, with a 90Cm spear, is 180cm. Lets say the first half of the spear insertion ie easy, you still have to reach and force 135Cm..

Maybe its cause my gun is new (or I need to go to the Gym more...) but even the initial load is hard. I am trying to say, the force required to insert the spear is almost as hard during the whole lenght (it does not get much harder finaly engaging the spear in the trigger mechanism)..

Pointers much appreciated.

Cheers, Simon

[spaghetti]

For chest loading his 90cm airgun, I guess that Metelin uses a loader extender (a piece of string knotted to the plastic loader). Me I load the long ones with the gun butt on my foot, and the short ones on my hip, but I still think that a 65 like yours can be loaded on the foot. If it's too hard, maybe there's too much pressure in it. I wouldn't precharge a gun like that with more than 20 atmospheres. However, it's got to be hard to load. You just have to get used to it.
But also, I wouldn't load it outside the water and more than everything: don't shoot it ouside of the water, or the spear will bounce back to you due to the elastic effect of the line.
If you hunt rock fish, use the power reducer.
Line length: on my mares 70 I use two loops (4x the barrell length. with bungee).
Enjoy it

[azapa]

Thanks for the reply. I will depresurise the gun completly and re-charge to a lower level and see what happens. It was airshipped charged (!) so may have over pressure/under pressure. I can't think why scubastore would ship them that way... Good idea also on the loading extender, I may try to make one of those. Thanks again.

[spaghetti]

This picture shows my friend Martyn Foxfish loading his long Asso 115 properly. Watch his right hand holding the loader extender made with a loop of string. In order to prevent fingers pain, you can make a sort of handle to the extender, by simply coating the end of the string with rubber, a bar a metal, a piece of wood, sticky tape or whatever.
--

[josedesucre]

Of course its dangerous if the loader slips out of your hands, but it is unlikely that the shaft will hit you. However, it could hit somebody else if you are not careful. I used pneumatic for many years, but now I also prefer rubber guns.

[foxfish]

Spearheads, I have some advice for you - considering you are a upcoming young spearo who obviously has a great future in the sport - JOIN THE DARK SIDE - you will never look back!
No pain no gain!!!

[spearheads]

I have been thinking about the dark side for a while but the only thing that puts me of it is the speed of loading.

How long does it take you to load after firing ,with my Excalibur i can reload in around a minute how long does it take you?.

[azapa]

i can load mine in the garden just fine already it's semi-floating in 1 meter swells between urchin covered rocks that I think may be hard.... I'll report back - hopefully - on Tuesday after this weekends dunk....

PS: Pnuematic guns are awesome! really compact and powerfull, blows my *old* band gun away......

[josedesucre]

Yeah, if it were only for power, compactness and precision, I would still be using pneumatics. I still own one. But my rubber band gun give me enough power and precision, it is easier to cock, and once I shot it gives me an additional advantage: I can let go of the gun, or simply pass my left arm thru one of the rubbers, and then I can use both my hands to recover the fish as soon as possible. I can only do that with a pneumatic when I am hunting shallow over sandy bottom, which is rarely the case. On the other hand, I am thinking in using my pneumatic to attach a camera to the barrel. It is a lot easier than with a rubber band gun.

[azapa]

Hey Guys, thanks for all the help. I have solved the "impossible to load" problem. It was waaaayyy overpressurised.

When i managed to load it, shooting was incredible. Like, 20x the power i had ever felt from a band gun. The spear would have gone through a tree I swear.

But, I figured I would never be able to load it in the water.

As the gun had been delivered charged, I had my doubts as the manual says really clearly that it must be de-charged before air transport. I guess the factory overcharged it, and by luck, it survived the trip.

I depressurised completly (forgot to leave the muzzle down for some time to settle the oil, sh.t, lost a little oil) and re-charged with the pump following the manual. At 15Bar a 10 year old could load it in low power position! Thats how radical the change was. Even at the max 20Bar, loading on high power was so easy I could do it by holding the air chamber in one hand and the spear in the other. Firing was not as impressive as the overpressure before, but still was more powerfull than any band gun I have seen.

I have noticed on the scubastore website that the guns reviewers had noted that it was impossible to load.. must be a common problem.

Cheers, Simon

[spaghetti]

Happy ending. Just be sure that the oil lost was just a little. Oil matters.

[dave]

A pneumatic gun doesn't lose any pressure when you fire it. It works like a gas shock absorber on a car, the compressed air acts as a spring (same principle as the gas ram Theoben air rifles)
Pneumatics need no more maintenance than any other speargun
cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

[foxfish]

Spearheads try the search button for more info than you can shake a stick at! Here is a start http://forums.deeperblue.net/pnumati...-air-guns.html