• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Gunsmith Pneumatic Speargun from the Ukraine

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.

popgun pete

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2008
5,255
1,534
403
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-crafted-pneumatic-spear-gun-Ukrainian-master/163571228934?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

An early pneumatic from the Ukraine which I think may be a valve operated gun as the trigger controls a slide to the rear end of the gun. This is a speargun in the gunsmith tradition as exemplified by the pistol-like grip handle. The only drawback in this gun is the low handle position with respect to the spear propulsion axis as the gun is then more susceptible to muzzle flip. The absence of a hand pump and a rear inlet valve cap indicates that this is a gun that pumps up via the inner barrel which is quite common for releasing valve guns from that part of the world. With that solid looking handle the gun is most likely a sinker after the shot.
53771

53772

53773

53774

The gun seems to have no muzzle relief ports as the ring of machined cutouts are probably there to lighten the nose cone and allow a point of purchase to twist the nose cone during gun assembly. As releasing valve guns are usually held together by the outer tank the end bulkheads screw in to the tank ends via screw threads which would be consistent with the observed proportions of the gun.

If there are radially directed holes in the base of those nose cone cutouts then they are unusual to be placed there as more metal to drill through to reach the inner barrel. However relief ports need to be rearward of the anvil face, hence the length of the shock absorber anvil in the muzzle needs to be considered.
 
Last edited:
It’s too early to draw conclusions! This may be a mechanical hook for the piston. Need more detailed disassembly.
 
Conclusion drawn on no rear inlet valve cap. The gun appears to have been sold or withdrawn from the listing as on checking it has disappeared.
 
Last edited:
Pumping through the barrel can be in guns with a mechanical hook for the piston in the presence of a valve on the piston! In this gun there is a false receiver closed with a threaded nut and there may also be an inlet valve. The pump may simply be lost.
53776
 
Looks like unless the gun reappears we may not know as I was going to ask the seller. This same seller was offering the "Skat" speargun that also was withdrawn. This latest offering was USD 250, the titanium "Skat" was around USD 500 and that is before the additional cost of shipping.
53777

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage...h=item260f69859f:g:1NsAAOSwMflcLzBn:rk:8:pf:0

https://www.akvalang.com/forum/topic/15261-podvodnye-ruzhia-skat/

If I had not bought so many guns recently then I would have bought this one too, but at 700 Aussie dollars and maybe another 200 to ship and local import charges that would take it to a grand, and that is a lot of money! Still it would be a bargain compared to my associate spending 1300 bucks US on the Hurricane "Carabine" to deliver it here, which makes the titanium and steel "Skat" look an absolute steal as it is a thousand times better gun than the worthless in spearfishing terms "Carabine".
 
Last edited:
The ball on the spear tail indicates a more complicated piston nose. I own a number of guns that use these ball tails, but they are not interchangeable.
 
This appears to be the source of the spearguns selling from Ukraine, many are from the earlier period although they are much later than equivalent spearguns made in the West. It is surprising how many RPS-3 spearguns are still circulating, but their production may have gone on for longer than I originally had thought. There are also more versions of the lever operated spring gun (Kharkov Plant) which reminds me I should finish disassembling it.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Zahar
One interesting gun is the "Kopcap" or "Corsar" which we have seen before. This is a vacuum barrel gun which was awarded a prize in the Soviet Union for its inventiveness. Here is the photo of one of the special production versions in suitable splendour. A small gun by our standards, but one must bear in mind where it was used and the victims that were lined up with it. Hanter's website had a rundown on it, but I have not seen that for some time.
P.S. Hanter's fishgun website is no longer up and the domain name is for sale.
Kopcap.png

The basic gun.
Kopkap both views.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: Stamatis and Zahar
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-crafted-pneumatic-spear-gun-Ukrainian-master/163571228934?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

An early pneumatic from the Ukraine which I think may be a valve operated gun as the trigger controls a slide to the rear end of the gun. This is a speargun in the gunsmith tradition as exemplified by the pistol-like grip handle. The only drawback in this gun is the low handle position with respect to the spear propulsion axis as the gun is then more susceptible to muzzle flip. The absence of a hand pump and a rear inlet valve cap indicates that this is a gun that pumps up via the inner barrel which is quite common for releasing valve guns from that part of the world. With that solid looking handle the gun is most likely a sinker after the shot.
View attachment 53771
View attachment 53772
View attachment 53773
View attachment 53774
The gun seems to have no muzzle relief ports as the ring of machined cutouts are probably there to lighten the nose cone and allow a point of purchase to twist the nose cone during gun assembly. As releasing valve guns are usually held together by the outer tank the end bulkheads screw in to the tank ends via screw threads which would be consistent with the observed proportions of the gun.

If there are radially directed holes in the base of those nose cone cutouts then they are unusual to be placed there as more metal to drill through to reach the inner barrel. However relief ports need to be rearward of the anvil face, hence the length of the shock absorber anvil in the muzzle needs to be considered.
The general design reminds me of the inalex c1
 
The Inalex Alpha C1 is a releasing valve gun that in a sense fires the releasing valve rearwards which simultaneously frees up the rear line release lever allowing the shooting line wraps to pull free. The rear end of the gun floods and has ports in the rear of the revolving conical rear section that forms the power controlling device which varies the stroke of the releasing valve opening and when screwed right up (left hand thread) acts as a safety by imprisoning the releasing valve in the closed position, so pulling the trigger then has no effect. Pressing the conical section forwards resets the trigger mechanism, a reset method that is also used on the “Continent” guns except they use a small rear knob. This heavy looking black gun at the start of this thread shows no such features, in fact although it has a front line wrap hook I don’t see the rear one. It may have come off as a screw in the grip is missing on the left hand side which may have held a passive line clip. Unfortunately nothing more has been seen of it.
Alpha C1 throttle regulator.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Stamatis
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT