can of worms (speargun question)

[rigdvr]

ask miles how he feels about it frm a real world perspective...there are times when the bigger gun is necessary.

I never denied the euro guns ability to take WR's...

Erik, the real controversy had little to do with you, please dont feel the need to censor yourself. The problem was more with some not willing to admit just because something is best for them it is not best for everyone. I think we are on the same page on this issue.

I know its a fine line you are walking now that you are tied to a brand. I know its not going to always be an easy line to walk but from what I have seen from the way you handle yourself, Sumora picked an excellent person to represent them.

 

[miles]

Hiya

Here we go AGAIN!!! Nothing brings forth greater response than asking about ones preferance to their weapons!!!

Lets start of by saying that i LOVE my Rabitechs!!! They are VERY accurate, powerful enough and very well priced. Not forgeting that they're solidly built as well. They are what i use for 90% of my spearing, which is usually hunting yellowtail kingfish from 5-15kg's in water whose viz. varies between 3-8m. 10m viz is EXCEPTIONAL inshore. Here the Rabitech's work brilliantly. HOWEVER, my alluminuim RA is JUST as good. Just as accurate and also powerful enough. But wait, so is my 115cm C4 Monoscocca!! Now remember, the c4 does NOT posses a rail, yet is just as accurate!!! (granted that it's an EXTREMELY well made weapon!!!)

Now for the fun part!!! We recently started hunting YF Tuna in 20-40m viz. My 1.3m Carbon Apex and Stealth have accounted for YF's in excess of 70kg's. How-ever, here the mid-handled wooden gun came into its own!! We are shooting fish that comes in on chum. They don't swim in a straight line or any pattern, so you end up tracking the fish all over the place. In MY OPINION, the tracking of a mid-handled woodie is FAR superior to a rear handled gun (be it rail/euro or wood). Then we had certain days when the YF were just too shy to come close in. They'd wait for the chum to sink quite deep, then start feeding. This meant taking long shots. This is where my 1.3m Carbon Rabi's weaknesses became apparent. Logically, my 1.3m Carbon Apex with a 8mm spear and 2x16mm's CAN NOT shoot as far as my 63" Mid handled woodie with a 8mm spear and 4x16mm's!!!! Thats DOUBLE the amount of rubbers!! Considering that the 63" is about the same size as my 1.3m Rabi, i reckon i'm doing well by getting more power and manouverability from the same sized gun.

Ok, the downside to this is that my 63" isn't AS accurate as my 1.3m Rabitech. The Rabitech is more accurate, with-out a doubt, as the recoil of 2x16 are much less than 4x16's, even considering the wooden guns additional mass. Spear whip might also be present which also makes matters worse. HOWEVER, the wooden gun is STILL ACCURATE, like i said before, not AS accurate as the Rabi, but ACCURATE none-the-less. Its a trade-off one has to make. The extra range and power to penetrate at that range for a little accuracy. MY VIEW is that you're shooting 60-100kg fish. These are HUGE fish and offer a HUGE target. Since they're constantly moving, its VERY difficult to get a kill shot. So losing a bit of accuracy doesn't concern me too much!!!

That little bit of range could me the difference between coming home empty handed with hard luck stories of shy fish in clean water OR an AWESOME picture of you with the fish of your dreams!!!

I know which one i'd prefer...................

Regards
miles

 

[miles]

Hiya

One thing that really needs to be asked is why everyone seems to want to compare a euro or railgun to Blue Water Cannons.

Blue Water or Multiple Band guns are of no use to competitive divers. Here the emphases lies on speed. A single band gun is obviously quicker to load and WILL be more accurate. THATS why most competion spearos use euro or railguns.

Daryl Wong, Riffe, Merlo, Alexanader, etc have all been building and hunting with their weapons for quite a while. Maybe somebody should try and tell them that their theories are NOT CORRECT!!!! :duh :duh

I dive with a spearo called Tommy Botha. The man is a living legend when it comes to spearfishing. Read Blue Water Hunting by Terry Maas. Tommy is rated by Terry Maas as possibly ONE of the BEST SPEARO's of all time!!! Guess what he is now doing................building his own range of MID-HANDLED WOODEN GUNS specifically for Blue Water Hunting. His own 63" mid-handle has accounted for more than 30 YF Tuna ranging from 50-92kg's, in TWO months last year!!!I don't know of any spearo that has taken more YF than him, so i look and listen and learn!!

There is a place for all types of guns in ones arsenal. Like it has been said before, regardless of what type of weapon you choose to use, its the INDIAN and NOT the arrow!!!

Spearingfish or Rigdvr, if ever you want to sell one of your Wong Guns, please let me know, as they're just a bit TOO expensive for me right now!!! (recently married!!! need i say more!!) Would love to add a Wong to my collection!!

Regards
miles

 

[fuzz]

Miles, great perspective.
Rig, well spoken.
Eugene, take your prozac. :head
Erik, I'm sending the reel! :duh
Shadow, always the scholar. :t

All guns have their place & personal taste is as subjective as can be. Just be careful in what claims you pass off as a fact. As Shadow said, "If you take gun X (a euro), chuck a 20mm band on it, then take that same band and put it on Gun Y (a Riffe that weighs twice as much), then Gun Y will have less felt recoil. First year physics stuff..." He's a railgun user, but doesn't let that cloud his judgement for the sake of argument.

Erik, thanks for being professional about this whole ordeal. Eugene, go take a timeout. :rcard

 

[w3ac]

Some good stuf gang. Opinions (and excuses) are like cornholes, everyone has one. Well most of us do anyway. Adding to what Sven said, the bucket hath been kicketh and the contents hath hitteth the fan. BTW I use a euro on the reef and a mid handled woodie in the blue. I wouldn't swap one for the other in their respective applications. Just my cornhole, I mean opinion.

Brad

 

[EEZerik]

Erik, I'm sending the reel! :duh

It's not April 1st yet :thankyou



Erik Sun

 

[calispearo]

Great post Miles, and well said.

I"m starting to get a feel for this. This is a great forum and a great bunch of people. And part of the reason why i aske din here is there are so many skilled spearos, but what makes it even better is that you all have your own preferences and i get to hear each one and why and try to accomadate that to me and what will work best for me.

No problem Erik, your a professional. As i told Erik i used to be a Rep. I was a Rep for Burton snowboards in Canada for a while.

 

[Spinal Tap]

Anyway, keep shooting your hybrid. Fun sport turned sour by the likes of you and Billy Mac.

I'm a little late to this dance but what the heck.

I know Bill McIntyre and consider him a friend so I'm a little confused by this statement. The reason I'm confused is because Bill has been spearfishing for about 50 years, and he actually has pictures dated 1956 of him with a speargun in hand standing next to dead fish.. I don't know how long Mike's been in this sport. Eugene, you've said that you've been spearfishing for 20 years. So how did Bill sour a sport that he's been enjoying for over 30 years before you even started? That's kinda like Ron Artest telling Bill Russell that the old man really fucked up the NBA.

From Spearboard you wrote that you got your Rabitech guns on Nov. 22nd and Erik got his one maybe two weeks before you, then he became professionally involved. You've owned your gun now for exactly two months, in the dead of winter, but you've written some pretty spectacular claims about it's superiority over pretty much any other gun in existence. However, you haven't provided much in the way of supporting this claim (i.e fish killed, details of pool tests...etc).

 

[Fondueset]

Well, this is nowhere near as cool as the 'sexual arousal during contractions' thread over in freediving. But is oddly similar.
I hope to pick up a Riffe MT#1 or#0 and am just trolling for someone to pay for it

Great strong opinions guys. That forum Spearingfish pointed us to really makes me appreciate this one.