A story of rubber

[Benjamin Lecler]

Hello everyone

I received my 90cm comanche speardun today. I'm pretty happy, but I don't know anything about how it works. I tried to load it, but, lacking of strength, I couldn't alone. Then I asked my brother to help me. We pulled on the slings, one for each of us, and we failed. We almost reached it though. I don't see how I could do that alone in the water... I thought that maybe it was tougher because it was new, or maybe our technique was bad. Anyways, I would like to know how to load a spear gun. :duh

 

[Cingene]

You can use one of two techniques to load the elastics onto that shaft. One way is to put the gun handle against your stomach (if you have a six pack like me) :hmm or against your chest ( if yours is like steel as mine is):yack then pull down until you :blackeye ...
Well here...http://www.roballen.co.za/home.html#... Go to "Click here for a gunloading tutoral"

I hope this helps.

Marcos

 

[Wishbone]

Hi Ben,

Unless you're really small you should be able to load a 90 cm gun without any problems - especially with the stock bands, which are probably 16 mm and long enough.

Some experience speaking here - your first lesson must be this one: you never 'dry' load a speargun (outside of the water). And trying to load it together with your brother is a pray for disaster. Never try to do that around people. If you read some more of this forum you'd find out that the trigger mechanisms of the spearguns are much more unreliable than the ones of the firearms.

I'd try loading the shaft and releasing it by pressing the trigger few times (gun unloaded) till you get it. It must be effortless. If there are any problems, don't load the gun till you fix it (it may be sand in the trigger or another problem).

Once you get in the water you can already load your gun. Before every loading you should check whether the shaft is placed properly in the trigger mechanism. Place the shaft util it clicks inside the trigger mechanism and try puling it out. You shouldn't be able to do that and you'd hear the shaft hitting the trigger. That's the case with almost all Euro triggers.
Place the butt of the gun on the lower part of the chest bone and while holding the tube (the barrel) stretch your hand to hold both of the bands right below the wishbones. By pressing the butt of the gun to the chest bone you'll be able to stretch the other hand too and hold the bands with both hands. If you can't reach for the bands, just place the butt of the gun a bit lower on your chest.

The grip on the bands is also important. The articulated wishbones cut like a knife if you lose the grip while loading. You can ask the missing pieces of my thumbs. Hold the bands like holding a golf stick - with your thumbs pointing towards the tip of the gun. At this moment you must be hanging on the surface in really awkward "bendover" pose with the butt of the gun pressed onto your chest bone and arms stretched ahead to hold the bands. Now you're ready to load your gun.

Flex your abdomenal muscules, the chest muscules and the diaphragm and pull the bands 'till the wishbones click into the thread of the shaft. Pull the bands parallel to the shaft. Do not spread your heands while pulling - it just makes it harder to load the gun. So that's basically it...

Now there are few tricks. If you load the gun without a wetsuit the pressure of the butt of the gun may cause you pain. If that's the case, you should think of some kind of loading pad. When I was a kid I used an old shoe sole to place it on my chest under the gun as an improvised pad, but you may think of a better way.

If you try that and still have problems you might consider going back to the dive shop with your gun and ask them what's the problem.

Cheers!

 

[Memo]

another tip from me

I use a 110cm comanche, and dont forget to spray a little WD40 on the trigger mechanism before your initial dive, this way the mechanism works more silent and effective.

 

[Murat]

Band powered guns can be load underwater very easily compare to the "dry" load. If you are able to pull the bands almost near the first notch on "dry", for sure you can load it second notch under water.. Hovewer loading spearguns "dry" is very dangerous and there is no logical point of doing it so....

For a loading tech... You will find that stomach loading is bit more comfortable for the beginners (generally). You can press the butt of the gun to your upper abdominal and pull the bands. After you placed the wishbone SLOWLY take your fingers away from the below of the rubbers...And yes wishbone is very sharp, can cut your fingers easily, even if you are waering gloves...

 

[SpearSlinger1]

The safety aspect of loading a speargun out of the water being fairly well covered, a lot of cocking bands is simply technique and practice. If you hip load, I do if I'm in a hurry, put the butt of the gun high in the hip joint, grab the first band with one hand on each side of the wishbone, now pull with your arms and use your abdominals to try to curl yourself into a ball at the same time. You'll find it much easier to pull the bands using your abs, when using only arms you may not be able to do it at all. I load my Riffe Competitor #3XS and #1's (11 yr. old son's) Comp #2S this way, three 9/16" bands. The Metal Tech #1 is short enough I can reach the bands with both hands with the butt of the gun on my chest, so I just chest load it.

 

[Wishbone]

Originally posted by Murat
And yes wishbone is very sharp...

Why thank you!

 

[Aquiles]

Originally posted by Memo
another tip from me

I use a 110cm comanche, and dont forget to spray a little WD40 on the trigger mechanism before your initial dive, this way the mechanism works more silent and effective.

WOAH! HIT THE BREAKS! DON'T DO IT. I just wanted to get your attention. I don't want to step on anyones toes but you may not want to put any lubricant on a mechanism like that.

Also as soon as you put the gun in the water WD 40 washes right off. Mechanisms especially the high powered ones have been known to slip when oiled. The water acts as a lubricant. That is why you should never use a speargun mech outside the water. Read the manufacturers instructions before oiling something as sensitive as a mechanism.

If you want to make a gun quiet there are other ways of doing it that are not as dangerous and are far more effective. Ask the sultan or Iyadiver for more details. They type faster than me.

Hope I don't offend anyone I just want you guys to be safe and spear fish for years to come. It only takes a second to make a mistake and skewer a friend, foe, or self.

Be Safe

Cheers


Aquiles
Aquiles

 

[Memo]

Aquiles, you're right about lubing high powered mechanism but I really get benefit from spraying the mechanism in my comanche. Before silicone spraying it, I had a really hard and loud operating trigger and all those problems went away

Maybe a single 20mm rubber on this gun is not enough to create trouble with oily trigger.

by the way I'm always interested to hear some undangerous ways of doing this

take care

 

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by Aquiles
The water acts as a lubricant. That is why you should never use a speargun mech outside the water. Read the manufacturers instructions. Be Safe
Aquiles

Bingo. Enough said.

 

[mgmax]

I just bought a RA sniper. the 20mm rubber was too much effort so the salesman put 2 16mm rubbers on for me. Even these are quite hard to load to the back notch.

Question is, will these rubbers stretch with time?
The Salesman also put stainless steel on instaead of the original cord. Is this better/worse/doesn't matter?

 

[Shadowkiller]

Originally posted by mgmax
The Salesman also put stainless steel on instaead of the original cord. Is this better/worse/doesn't matter?

I hope you get your technique right quickly, or the stainless steel bridle will scratch the coating off the shaft, meaning that the shaft will rust very quickly.

The cord (dynema) is a much better choice, lasts longer than the steel bridles too.

I've had the steel vs dynema argument with the Aussie distributor for RA, but no joy in making dynema standard...:hmm

Make sure you visit www.spearfishing.com.au for the AUF forum and assorted state buddy sections.

 

[ActiveMatrix]

EEK! reading this thread gives me the willies!
Don't mean to step on any of your toes, but I wanted to point a few safety issues out.

just be careful guys telling people to load a gun on the lower part of their "chest bone" or "upper abdomen" and warn them to stay away from the xyphoid (sp?) process, which is that little piece of bone hanging down between the bottom 2 ribs, and also the ribs themselves. The xyphoid process can easily be broken, and will then proceed to lacerate your liver and could very easily kill you, or put you in the hospital for a loooong time. Placing the gun on your ribs is a bad idea because they break easily and are attached to your sternum by cartilage which is also easily broken, and that causes a lot of pain and possibly a collapsed lung or worse.

 

[Wishbone]

You're probably right man... I'm not really good with the med terms especially in English. The ribs are out of question - that's for sure!
But where to load the gun if not on the chest bone?

 

[icarus pacific]

the hip.

 

[Russell]

Loading Guns ...

I chest load ... the difficult part of getting a gun loaded are those few frustrating inches where the rubber is just about in the first notch, but not quite. I have found that when I get it into this position, I focus not on pulling my arms back, but by puffing out my chest. Making my chest big by pushing it out. It actually uses your big back mussles and I find it easier to get those crucial two or three inces. But i guess its a personal issue.

ShadowKiller ... at Sumora, we are on the same page with you in terms of Dynama vs Stainless steel wishbones. All our guns come standard with Dynama .. we can send you a steel wishbone if you want but for some reason all our customers prefer dynama for the exact reasons you have described.

 

[ActiveMatrix]

yes, chest loading is totally safe and in fact I love it because it uses primarily your back muscles which I have a lot of you can do it on your sternum, which is the bone in the middle of your chest... just dont do it at the bottom of the sternum, which is the xyphoid process I mentioned before.

Cheers! :friday

 

[Wishbone]

Yeppers!

That's it!
Cause I'd never be able to load my 110 with 20mm bands on the hip! Besides, I wouldn't want the wishbones to cut off me nose if something goes wrong. And I carry scars on almost every finger proving things do go wrong sometimes. And I would prefer the scars off my face!
Besides, if you load a shorter 50-60-70 cm gun for holes hunting, you're risking much more with the tip pointing at your forehead, especially if you're taller. That's what I think - the hip is reserved for the pneumatics!

 

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by Wishbone
That's what I think - the hip is reserved for the pnuematics.

:girlie


And the more manly wooden barreled guns featuring real triggers and lotsa bands to fire real shafts. :king

 

[Murat]

because they are designed for real fish and real speros :t rofl