Band size question?

[lawstraljan16]

Hey guys, I'm new to these forums so if I'm posting in the wrong section please direct me to the correct place.

So, I've always been a fan of spearfishing and I've recently just got myself some new gear, not the best but the most I could afford for now.

I bought a Beuchat Marlin Elite 950 speargun and I wanted to increase the power of the gun, without effecting accuracy as much as possible.
Everything I have on the gun is what came with it from the factory, an 18.3mm Megatonne powerband (67cm), Tahitianwishbone and 6.7mm stainless steel Tahitian shaft.

The band was in the nearest slot to the trigger.

Can someone please help me get the best out of my gun? 2 bands? what size, length?

Thanks guy. Quick reply appreciated!

PS: This is a fish I've caught with the gun in it's factory state. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks

 

[rimimik]

yes u r ans is right

 

[lawstraljan16]

What?



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[lawstraljan16]

I've decided to change my band, it's just not packing enough punch, especially for longer shots.
I was given 2 tips, which are:

1. Shorten my current single 18mm band from 67mm to 58mm (300% stretch).

or

2. Use 2 16mm natural latex (red) bands with 300% stretch.

They've told me to measure from 1st notch to 1st eyelet, multiply by 2 and divide by 3. So that means 86cm x 2 / 3 = approx. 58cm

Is that good advice? And which should I do, 1 or 2?

Also changing my Tahitian wishbones to dyneema. Thanks

 

[foxfish]

As a general rule the factory set up for most guns is the best overall compromise of recoil, accuracy & power.
If you modify the band set up you will compromise one of the other factors!
Of course we all like to tinker & hope for better performance, so you will just have to experiment for your self.
I quite like twin bands because of the easy loading strength required but it takes longer & the bands are more prone to tangle with the line, 3 x stretch is fine some guys go for 3.5.
A wooden high mass gun is a much better base for twin bands & a dry barrel air gun will wipe the board on the power stakes...

 

[Wyatt]

As a general rule the factory set up for most guns is the best overall compromise of recoil, accuracy & power.
If you modify the band set up you will compromise one of the other factors!
Of course we all like to tinker & hope for better performance, so you will just have to experiment for your self.
I quite like twin bands because of the easy loading strength required but it takes longer & the bands are more prone to tangle with the line, 3 x stretch is fine some guys go for 3.5.
A wooden high mass gun is a much better base for twin bands & a dry barrel air gun will wipe the board on the power stakes...

I have to agree with foxfish here. I had an omer cayman hf and decided to put a 7.1 mm shaft in to accomodate more power, however being such a light gun the recoil caused me to shoot low as i was pushing the end of the shaft up as it was exithing.

From what i saw in that video however you are pretty bang on. Didnt look like the easiest of shots. Personally i do like dyneema bridles just because of noise, just make sure if you swap over the notches in your shaft are dulled down or you will just slice through the dyneema

 

[AlexbeeintheUK]

Hey guys, I'm new to these forums so if I'm posting in the wrong section please direct me to the correct place.

So, I've always been a fan of spearfishing and I've recently just got myself some new gear, not the best but the most I could afford for now.

I bought a Beuchat Marlin Elite 950 speargun and I wanted to increase the power of the gun, without effecting accuracy as much as possible.
Everything I have on the gun is what came with it from the factory, an 18.3mm Megatonne powerband (67cm), Tahitianwishbone and 6.7mm stainless steel Tahitian shaft.

The band was in the nearest slot to the trigger.

Can someone please help me get the best out of my gun? 2 bands? what size, length?

Thanks guy. Quick reply appreciated!

PS: This is a fish I've caught with the gun in it's factory state. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35kk4-IIFQk=hd&1

Hey man i feel your confusion! I have been trawling the interwebs trying to find some good answers and i am still unsure!

I have the Beuchat Marlin 95 with the same band and wishbone. Did you also get the spare piece of plastic which changes it from open sight to closed sight? A friend let me borrow his gun/bands while he was away and i played with adding one of his bands to my set up (a 15mm band 58cm long) on my last couple dives - he is back now so can no longer fiddle with that set up. Anyway, we went out the other day and i put the stock band on the farthest eye and cocked it on the farthest notch to get the biggest stretch and well, i was disappointed after using 2 bands.
A lot of guys are telling me by having the extra band i was over powering the gun and i see their point because the recoil/kick-back was quite impressive BUT it did carry the full power to the full length of mono tied to the spear.

Right now i am torn between either A) buying a 16mm band about 56cm as a secondary or B) buying a 18mm band about 52cm long - my current 18.3mm is 66cm long.

I am progressively moving towards option B as i figure in the future i will upgrade my gun to something like a 130/140cm and then i would sell my 95 with the shorter band and keep the original 18.3mm 66cm band to use as a secondary for a longer gun - hopefully a Wong or Usulub :martial HOWEVER, something in the back of my head is saying that even if i do buy the shorter 18mm band it wont be as powerful or as long range as having 2 bands.........as i said, im still unsure what to do.

Try reading some of these; Article 1, Article 2, Article 3 and Article 4

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Wyatt]

Hey man i feel your confusion! I have been trawling the interwebs trying to find some good answers and i am still unsure!

I have the Beuchat Marlin 95 with the same band and wishbone. Did you also get the spare piece of plastic which changes it from open sight to closed sight? A friend let me borrow his gun/bands while he was away and i played with adding one of his bands to my set up (a 15mm band 58cm long) on my last couple dives - he is back now so can no longer fiddle with that set up. Anyway, we went out the other day and i put the stock band on the farthest eye and cocked it on the farthest notch to get the biggest stretch and well, i was disappointed after using 2 bands.
A lot of guys are telling me by having the extra band i was over powering the gun and i see their point because the recoil/kick-back was quite impressive BUT it did carry the full power to the full length of mono tied to the spear.

Right now i am torn between either A) buying a 16mm band about 56cm as a secondary or B) buying a 18mm band about 52cm long - my current 18.3mm is 66cm long.

I am progressively moving towards option B as i figure in the future i will upgrade my gun to something like a 130/140cm and then i would sell my 95 with the shorter band and keep the original 18.3mm 66cm band to use as a secondary for a longer gun - hopefully a Wong or Usulub :martial HOWEVER, something in the back of my head is saying that even if i do buy the shorter 18mm band it wont be as powerful or as long range as having 2 bands.........as i said, im still unsure what to do.

Try reading some of these; Article 1, Article 2, Article 3 and Article 4

Let me know your thoughts.

my advise is leave it fairly stock. it sounds to me like you have the wrong gun for what you want to do and should look at something longer and with a considerable amount more mass like a riffe euro.
by putting that much power into the gun would make it inaccurate to the point that you would have to be closer to the fish to hit it due to inaccuracy than you would because of lack of power

 

[lawstraljan16]

Hey man i feel your confusion! I have been trawling the interwebs trying to find some good answers and i am still unsure!

I have the Beuchat Marlin 95 with the same band and wishbone. Did you also get the spare piece of plastic which changes it from open sight to closed sight? A friend let me borrow his gun/bands while he was away and i played with adding one of his bands to my set up (a 15mm band 58cm long) on my last couple dives - he is back now so can no longer fiddle with that set up. Anyway, we went out the other day and i put the stock band on the farthest eye and cocked it on the farthest notch to get the biggest stretch and well, i was disappointed after using 2 bands.
A lot of guys are telling me by having the extra band i was over powering the gun and i see their point because the recoil/kick-back was quite impressive BUT it did carry the full power to the full length of mono tied to the spear.

Right now i am torn between either A) buying a 16mm band about 56cm as a secondary or B) buying a 18mm band about 52cm long - my current 18.3mm is 66cm long.

I am progressively moving towards option B as i figure in the future i will upgrade my gun to something like a 130/140cm and then i would sell my 95 with the shorter band and keep the original 18.3mm 66cm band to use as a secondary for a longer gun - hopefully a Wong or Usulub :martial HOWEVER, something in the back of my head is saying that even if i do buy the shorter 18mm band it wont be as powerful or as long range as having 2 bands.........as i said, im still unsure what to do.

Try reading some of these; Article 1, Article 2, Article 3 and Article 4

Let me know your thoughts.

I've just rigged my Beuchat 95 Marlin Elite with two 16mm bands (dark red coated natural latex) at 60cm each, with the best quality band I could get (highly recommended by local professionals). I also opened the 'QRS' head so I remove all friction it's causing.

I'll be testing it tomorrow morning and will post results and also post some videos if I catch anything lol. I will also be testing the gun with just 1 band, then 2 bands.

But I advise you to get rid of the factory band. My 95cm Marlin Elite had a 67cm long 18.3mm band and I was very unhappy with it. When I cut it to shorten it, it very very hallow. But I already knew that because even the feel of the band was incredibly soft and hallow. So I just got rid of it once and for all. But I bought the Beuchat Pacific reel and obviously you wouldn't want too much power on the gun without a reel as it would most likely cut your mono line.

I spearfish in Malta. I'll post vids & results ASAP tomorrow.

Some pics of the setup.

You can check out my YouTube channel for now if you'd like even though there aren't many videos. Daniel Spiteri's channel - Spearfishing - YouTube

 

[lawstraljan16]

PS: Do not use a 52cm long 18mm band. It'll be incredibly hard to load and most likely overpower it by a mile lol.

 

[lawstraljan16]

I've tested it out today. It's pretty good, great accuracy, little recoil and good power. But I'll be shortening the bands from 61cm to 58cm because I know I can get better power from the 2 bands. Feels a lot better than a single 18mm band. Once I shorten the bands some more, I'll let you know again

Nothing special, but got a 23cm White Bream. Wasn't much in the ocean today!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAoLkFpJ9jc&hd=1]Malta spearfishing 2012 - White Bream (Sargu) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Mr. X]

My response might seem flippant - but I'm quite serious:

...I wanted to increase the power of the gun

Why? Folk always start off thinking they need more power - but why? I can tell from the specification that your speargun is already quite powerful.

...Can someone please help me get the best out of my gun?

Yes, leave it as it came from the factory.

 

[lawstraljan16]

Band is incredibly cheap and hollow, and not to mention only 250% stretch.
Got rid of the factory band and rigged it with 2 16mm natural latex (dark red coat) with approx 280% stretch and have
1. Better accuracy
2. More power
3. Less recoil
4. Less tangles

Im going to be shortening the bands a little more. I'm very impressed by the quality of these bands I got.


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[lawstraljan16]

AlexbeeintheUK I cut my 2 16mm bands to 58cm each and I'm loving the results. Got a lot more power and havn't lost any accuracy at all, in fact I feel like I've improved accuracy.

Make sure to buy decent bands though, there are a lot of types of bands but I was suggested by local pros to get red coated natural latex bands, which I did. It's quite expensive (25 euro per meter) but worth it.

Let me know what you decide

 

[landshark sa]

Band is incredibly cheap and hollow, and not to mention only 250% stretch.
Got rid of the factory band and rigged it with 2 16mm natural latex (dark red coat) with approx 280% stretch and have
1. Better accuracy
2. More power
3. Less recoil
4. Less tangles

Im going to be shortening the bands a little more. I'm very impressed by the quality of these bands I got.

Hi lawstraljan11,

There are a couple of things that's confusing me in this post, maybe you could clear them up for me.

1. Better accuracy
Do you have better accuracy on shorter shots too? As far as I know a gun that shoots harder will only have better accuracy on long shots, that is only if you do not overpower the gun.

2. More power
More bands = more power, for sure. But more power = more recoil (in my book anyway) and this will lead to more inaccurate shots.

3. Less recoil
I'm not sure how you can have less recoil with more power? Unless you made your gun heavier, usually more power = more recoil.

4. Less tangles
You had one band, now you have two, so now you have more stuff that can get tangled / snagged up.

One thing that does worry me a bit is, if you intend on shortening the bands then you may end up overpower the trigger mechanism which could lead to misfires. This is not good for hunting fish and even worse for any dive buddies that is in the line of gun that goes off accidentally.

 

[lawstraljan16]

Hi lawstraljan11,

There are a couple of things that's confusing me in this post, maybe you could clear them up for me.

1. Better accuracy
Do you have better accuracy on shorter shots too? As far as I know a gun that shoots harder will only have better accuracy on long shots, that is only if you do not overpower the gun.

2. More power
More bands = more power, for sure. But more power = more recoil (in my book anyway) and this will lead to more inaccurate shots.

3. Less recoil
I'm not sure how you can have less recoil with more power? Unless you made your gun heavier, usually more power = more recoil.

4. Less tangles
You had one band, now you have two, so now you have more stuff that can get tangled / snagged up.

One thing that does worry me a bit is, if you intend on shortening the bands then you may end up overpower the trigger mechanism which could lead to misfires. This is not good for hunting fish and even worse for any dive buddies that is in the line of gun that goes off accidentally.

1. Yes, better accuracy on both short and long shots
2. Don't know. All I know is that I have good power and good accuracy.
3. It has recoil, but it's handable. The gun itself isn't the lightest so maybe that's why?
4. This shocked me the most. Everyone kept saying that I have double the chance for tangles, but when I was with a single 18mm band I got tangles at least 3 in 5 shots (approx)... Since have 2 bands I maybe get 1 in 20. I think I've only had 1 or 2 tangles, and they weren't as bad a when I had single band.

Feel free to ask anymore questions. Loving the new setup!

 

[lawstraljan16]

Check out Daniel Spiteri's channel - Spearfishing - YouTube and you can see a few shots with single/ double bands. Haven't caught anything special but you can see the difference.

Either I might have gotten better, or the double bands make a huge difference.

 

[foxfish]

Interesting stuff!
Generally speaking a company who has spent a lot of time & money developing a gun would of experimented with lots of configurations to sell the product in its best format.
If you are happy with your new set up then great but - it is unusual!

 

[lawstraljan16]

Interesting stuff!
Generally speaking a company who has spent a lot of time & money developing a gun would of experimented with lots of configurations to sell the product in its best format.
If you are happy with your new set up then great but - it is unusual!

I'm sure companies know what the best set up is, but do you really think that any company would give you 100%? And Beuchat has a name of releasing bands longer than they should be.
Isn't it strange that a 95cm gun has a abnormally long 67cm, hollow, cheap band?

Even in my videos, you can see the spear having a slight drop with the factory band. I actually dont know anyone personally that has kept their factory band.

 

[foxfish]

Certainly not here to argue my friend - I am happy your have found a good set up for you gun