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Another darned "which guns?" thread...

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.

Wavespin

New Member
May 31, 2004
7
0
0
First of all, hello. I'm just getting started shooting fish. I've done a lot of research and lurked here and on other spearfishing boards a lot. I'm pretty much down to choosing a gun or two.

If anyone is sick of this question, my apologies.

I live on the west coast of Puerto Rico. At this point I'll mostly be doing shore based freedives on reefs, none of really deep. So far it looks like the vis I'm finding is 25' at best but it could get much better. Sometimes it is pretty bad. I don't think I have much interest in trying to shoot in viz less than about 10'. Most of the fish I've seen so far haven't been huge. I've seen snapper up to probably 20 pounds. I doubt I'd regularly be into anything bigger than that. I have no interest in ciguatera either and I'm not after trophies, just dinner. On the other hand, I don't want to be undergunned if something a bit bigger looks interesting (permit? snook?) and I may like to be able to take a bit longer of a shot for shy fish(?).

For myself I've been thinking of the following guns:

OMER Excaliber or Dragon....or, spend more and get either...

RA or Rabitech in Aluminum
or
OMER T-20

The Questions:
for what I'll be doing, would the Excaliber be sufficient? Would the railguns be unnecessary (too much?) power for drilling fish around reefs? Would I pick up significant accuracy by spending a bit more?

Are there any other low-cost, yet still decent guns I should consider (picasso, beauchat,sporasub,etc)? I've seen the cheaper JBL guns and I'm not impressed.

Another thought...I'd like to be able to use circular bands instead of screw-ins (or would I?).

I'm also interested in getting a gun for my wife. She's 5'5", 115#, but very athletic. I need something that she won't struggle loading. Can anyone suggest a good gun for her? I was thinking that having a bit shorter gun for holes would be good anyway.

I'm on a budget (read unemployed) so I think Riffe, Wong, etc. will have to wait until I get a job. The highest priced guns I'm looking at are less than $300. I'd like to spend less than a total of $400 on both guns, less is better.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Dragon model is cheaply made, DON'T buy it if you are serious about spearfishing.

T20 and Excalibur is sufficient for your needs.

Early T20's had trigger mech problem, but the latest generation is very nice and you can have ergonomic handle too.. But still excalibur trigger is better than T20. They have same barell and muzle. If you are after 10kg+ fish and want to make long shoots you will need longer gun. But longer alluminium barell euro guns will be little heavy and barell may bent under the load too.You better to buy carbon barell for longer guns.OMER Alluminium is good choice (best serial production gun i ever used in omer family) but bit expensive, search for the second hand if you can find one you will not dissapoint. Another reminder, omer shafts are too soft, they bent easily on rock shoots and big fishes, when you buy the gun ask for shaft upgrade or simply buy another.

I used non "railed" omer guns and railed special made teak gun and honestly there is no accuracy difference(with stock setup, 18-20mm bands and 6.3-6.5mm shaft). I especially tested them for accuracy, the rail only makes you feel more confident thats all...
 
Originally posted by Wavespin
First of all, hello.

Another thought...I'd like to be able to use circular bands instead of screw-ins (or would I?).

I'm also interested in getting a gun for my wife. She's 5'5", 115#, but very athletic. I need something that she won't struggle loading. Can anyone suggest a good gun for her? I was thinking that having a bit shorter gun for holes would be good anyway.

I'm on a budget (read unemployed) so I think Riffe, Wong, etc. will have to wait until I get a job. The highest priced guns I'm looking at are less than $300. I'd like to spend less than a total of $400 on both guns, less is better.

Thanks,
Mike

Hello :)

More for your wife really, I use an Imersion/Esclapez Concept Pro 90cm with 16mm bands, I'm 5'6", pretty fit and I can load this OK but I couldnt with any longer a gun or thicker bands. They are not the most expensive gun in the world by any means and come with a reel as standard, so they can be used without worry straight out of the box. Also they have an adjustable spear guide so you can tune it to your own aiming style.
As you also want to use bulk rubber, these guns also come as standard with a facility for this as well as the screw in rubbers. Im not trying to say this is the best gun on the market by any means but its as good as the Excalibur
 
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