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Airbalete 110

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Just in case someone out there does anything silly :naughty:rcard like using pure oxygen. High pressure oxygen + oil = BOOM

Dave
 
Thanks Dave, if I would have posted this on any other Forum I would have
reminded them don't mess with pure oxygen, don't use a pail of gas to light
the BBQ, or use a burning match to check the water level in the car battery.

Will post a couple of sea trial images of Nitrobalete tonight after work. The accuracy on the small fast targets was more the I could have asked for. I found it to be just point and shoot.
Cheers, Don
 
Went out for some blue (Green) water tests,
Balance of the gun was very good with the 7mm shaft. The gun was at 30bar of Nitrogen. I was looking for some small top smelt to practice on when a pair of small bonita breezed past app 4 meters off the tip.
I aimed at the eye on the larger one, pulled the trigger, heard a slight metallic clink as the slide ring connected with the tail piece. The shaft pierced the gill plate and the flopper toggled under the eye.
Found out locking the wing down with the ring retainer was of little use to remove the shaft. One would have to slide it down and through the wound
path to the flopper side of the fish. (maybe I will add a very small spot of TIG weld to stop it closer to the flopper).

After stringing the fish, the larger bonita swam by to watch me reload.
He must not have known I like his kind for Sashimi. I waited till I thought he was barely in range and aimed again at the eye.The shaft zinged out and struck one inch below my target and out the gill plate.

I built a different reloader handle and will post pictures Wed.
The shaft stows nicely with the tail piece slid over the line on the reel and retained at the front by a Oring around the front barrel groove.
Cheers, Don Paul
 

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Reactions: foxfish

nice i love Bonita poke. did you go out with my friend?
phil
 
Me too Phil, I took my 10 year old boy Dillon, over to Bill's High Spot at O-Darkthirty, to say a prayer on the spot I lost a Great friend (Bill Kroll) to drowning years ago. My boy has gotten a little gung-ho with wanting to slay a '' Tuna like Mark Healey's) . So I wanted to see how he would do on being woken up at 2 AM and blasting 26miles across the channel in a open Grady White. The Story I told him at Bill's was the first time he realized even a highly skilled freediver, and policeman can die doing what they love.
After our prayer I took him down to where a WS ate my life guard can
at the East end Quarry. I told him another story.

Fishing with his ultra light, he caught his first calico bass after releasing 4 short ones.
After a fast,white capped, wet return to port, I found out I wasted 7 bucks on Bonny pills I bought for him, like his dad, salt runs through his veins. God... having a cool kid is the best thing in the world.

Cheers, Don
 
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And of course you told your boy how Italian technology is by far superior to everything...

Good report on the Aibalete, nice catch and most of all a very very good tutelage to the boy about safety at sea.

My dad was (and still is) a crazy maverick in every aspect of his life, but he took good care to teach us kids how to do things the safe way. None can do that better than a father.
 
Reactions: Don Paul

Thank you, I will try to always remember your words.

And.....Viva Italia !!
 
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So Don, how does the gun feel in the water.
I know you have given us some details but - what about recoil, is it smooth to fire, powerful, how does it compare to a band gun?
I would love your opinions
 
foxfish said:
So Don, how does the gun feel in the water.
I know you have given us some details but - what about recoil, is it smooth to fire, powerful, how does it compare to a band gun?
I would love your opinions
Click to expand...

Felt recoil... aside from the metallic snap of the slide ring, and the cavitation from the fish, as the shaft pierced the gill plate, I hardly thought the gun had fired.

The gun feels very smooth, even compared to a single band used some times on my light, 49'' 9/32 local gun.

Powerful...that is a hard question for me as I hunt with a gun that's shaft has punched through 70 lb wahoo 20 feet off the tip, and sends a 5/16 completely through a 30 lb yellow, wings and all.
But yes, I would say I had more than enough power even with 2 full wraps
the shot on the small bonita at 4 meters off the tip pulled app a 1/2 meter of line from the reel.

I will be very frank now, when I first unwrapped the Airbalete from the shipping foam, I thought it looked like a little toy compared to what I use.

Now after taking it apart, applying some fun camo, effortlessly shooting two fast moving small bonita within a inch of my aim spot, I am impressed with the Omer engineering group.

The only mod I did aside from the small wt from the Gflex epoxy, was to
remove the line release spring until I can form a lighter tension one.
I just run very soft springs on all my guns, and the mod may be completely unnecessary.
I also polished/debured the sharp edges on the slid ring.( holes may not have been OEM).
The Nitrogen is mainly because I have a tank of it.( and the cool chicks at the paintball shop).

I have some metal reel parts on the way from Omer to try, as I found the
stock plastic one having more compliance then I want when I target large
50# white sea bass. This may also be a unnecessary mod, I like to over
engineer.

The next test for the gun will be with the 9/32 shaft and slip tip I'm building and 300lb jinki mono shooting line.

Cheers, Don

Edit...just received a new 7mm shaft and the holes in the slide ring are nice and polished. I believe the PO of this gun may have drilled enlarged slide ring holes.
 
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The main reason is I have a large cyl of Nitrogen and it is dry.
I'm no chemist but a molecule of Argon has a MW of nearly 40 or 25% more than air. So I'm thinking the gas can hold 25% more heat than air.

Due to the low moisture of dry Nitrogen gas it will have a more consistent
rate of expansion and contraction.

And.... I like the tat'ed out chicks at the paint ball shop.:t

I know there must be a real chemist here lurking that will make me look like a horse's ass.

Cheers, Don
 
Great read Don! Thanks for the insights as I'm a noob getting into spearfishing! Just got the Airbalete 100 Camo 3D in the mail today, the custom camo job looks great (factory appears more blurred and brown)!!

I'll post some vids using the liquid image mask hopfully soon. I plan on making this coming weekend my first spearfishing attempt. I'm normally out of a kayak kinda adventurer but spearfishing looked all too tempting! I'll be after striped bass and tautogs here in RI, hopefully dive block island by mid june.

Some silly questions from a noob if you don't mind....?? 1) Can you post a pic of the rigging from mono to the braid? Is the line tied directly to the slip-ring? 2) Is 2 wraps plenty for 20atm? and how to perform those wraps... what shoud be thought process?? 3) Should one carry a spare spear? The gun came with a spear holder...

Any advice is much appreciated and I hope to share my first 50# fish with everyone soon... I have much reading to do before saturday!!

So sorry about the super long first post... Appears to be a great community hear at the deeperblue!!

cheers, matt
 
Thanks for the link Don, I didn't mean to hi-jack your thread and I definitely look forward to your future reviews and great pics! I'll start a review thread on my Airbalete 100 once I can get it in the water.

Good Luck Huntin'
Cheers, Matt
 
I saw an Airbalete 100 camo 3D just like Matt's at the local dive shop the other day. The 3D camo finish is very good looking. I'm just curious to know if the paint is strong enough to hold up to scratches and tear. This is one thing that Matt will have to keep us reported about...

Enjoy your first spearfishing experience Matt. I speared my first fish with a pneumatic back in 1988. It had a 5 pronger tip and a >30 bar charge. Geared up to a kill, he he he!

I still remember the loud POOM! sound of my first shot, with the body of the fish rising afloat and the head of the fish sinking to bottom...
Then I went bragging in town with the beheaded fish, met lads asking "where's the head?", and the story telling started...
 
Will do mate, and great story... Hope to have my own to share soon. Maybe with the liquid image mask I will be able to back it up

cheers Matt
Posted via Mobile Device
 
DeFishWhisperer said:
Thanks for the link Don, I didn't mean to hi-jack your thread and I definitely look forward to your future reviews and great pics! I'll start a review thread on my Airbalete 100 once I can get it in the water.

Good Luck Huntin'
Cheers, Matt
Click to expand...

Matt, no worries on any hijack concerns, it is about sharing info and first hand experiences. Can't wait to see images of your gun, I like the look of the camo Omer has. I made some more changes to mine that I will post tomorrow eve.
Cheers Don Paul
 
Some new stuff... story later.
 

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