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Do pneumatic guns float?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Bill McIntyre

San Clemente, CA
Staff member
Forum Mentor
Jan 27, 2005
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I’ve never used one but I’m wondering if they float after the shaft is out?
 
Hey Bill. Good to see you here. I saw your post by coincidence as I normally roam in the pneumatic section of the forum (yep, we have our own playground). So, you can repost there or we can take it here.

Short answer is yes and no;-)

Longer answer is that if we take traditional guns like Sten, Asso, Cressi SL (40mm reservoir) they all have pretty much the same amount of parts and inner guts no matter their length. So, shorter guns are a challenge to get to float whereas longer ones are not - as the reservoir starts taking up proportionally more of its total volume and thus increasing buoyancy.

Guns without power regulators float better as it's just "dead weight" with the power regulator bulkhead inside the reservoir (adding weight but not increasing volume this lowering buoyancy).

11mm barrel guns float a bit easier given that they have less water in their barrels. Vac muzzled guns with no water in the barrel even more so.

Spear thickness plays a role, too of course as does how heavy the different manufacturers make e.g. their handles.

Generally, I'd say from 90cm up its fairly easy making an airgun float. Under that, you perhaps need to work a bit on it.

Ps. I'm talking floating/neutral with spear in, btw!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
So, yes - spear out, for sure they float;-).

At least the modern Italian ones from the past 30-40 years or so. Some older ones might not and perhaps neither some of the Russian/Ukrainian guns as they tend to have way more metal parts in them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
My Cressi SL Star float without spear and sinks when loaded. If yours doesn't float that shouldn't be an issue. Simple fix, I have seen pictures how people add buoyancy to their pneumatic guns by taping chunk of foam to the barrel.
 
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