Hand Loaders

[popgun pete]

Here for interest is a selection of hand loaders that came with each gun, although some have been replaced as there are always losses when you least expect it. For example all my Nemrod loaders of the yellow plastic variety set course for parts unknown with the assistance of their cork doughnut float when I was otherwise distracted. A beach exit on a bumpy day when an unexpected wave sucked up and crashed into me and sent me sprawling after losing my footing accounted for one of the “Sten” loaders, another I lost when carelessly pushing it under my weight belt while cursing the fact that the elastic wrist strap had just broken after I feverishly reloaded to blast a victim that had torn off, but was limping away at best speed, yet not answering to the helm too well. After I got him I reached for the loader, but it was gone. Another I lost in the seagrass bed of the “seaweed jungle”, but to find it that day I would have had to have been “Doc Manhattan”. No doubt another diver picked it up in plain view the next day. Another loss was my home-made, alloy, double handed loader, something like the “Seabear” loader, but not as well made with a longer tube cap section and wider side handles. I hated carrying it and would sometimes park it on the bottom as I had to find somewhere to brace my feet onto and use my full bodyweight to haul the spear down. Very dangerous as if the spear ever escaped then it would travel straight up and kebab anyone unlucky who was underneath it on the return journey, including me, even though I had removed the spear tip to buy a little more reach. Only used when I was at my maximum stretch limit and the gun had been foolishly over-pressurized with tank gaps opening up where before there were none. All metal piston guns of course as my plastic ones were only used as a last resort until the older guns began to have problems. The old guns could always be fixed, but as I often needed a gun straight away on occasion then I took the more modern guns on the trip. Band guns were also carried (on the vehicle interstate road trip, not the dive) as they had breakaway systems or reels for whatever I was hunting for that had to be seized after an attempted escape, but then I only carried my holstered “Miniministen” as a back-up. Like all protuberances on a diver it had a magnetic attraction for loops of line that were allowed to gather around me in the water.

 

[tromic]

Pete, I suppose you not only have the loaders but also the spearguns? Must be impressive collection!

 

[popgun pete]

Pete, I suppose you not only have the loaders but also the spearguns? Must be impressive collection!

Not really, the hand loaders remain when guns have been either lost or stolen or damaged by shutting a boot lid on them or some other trauma usually carelessly inflicted by someone else. Then you get a comment like "the gun was no good" when it appears that a car was driven over it. Just as a hire car can be driven over any rough terrain with impunity, because you don't own it, so can a borrowed speargun. I gave up lending spare dive gear out when say a person arrived and said they wanted to dive, but unfortunately had no gear contrary to the impression given when invited. I mainly used the early "Sten" hand loader, then the "Mirage" "universal" loader and the "Titan" hand loader as that one gave extra reach. In fact I have used the "Mirage" hand loader to load virtually every gun including the "Taimen" as it was made in the days when quality was a reality and not a buzz word. I have hauled many spears down that bowed with the effort, yet not one crack or split in the "Mirage" loader. Once you get used to a loader you stick with it unless it jams on some spear tips. One tip that can jam is the Mares "rubbish tip" that has no real head on it as it can vanish up to the flopper pivots. I like a tip with a head and a neck on it, not some conical dunce's cap.

 

[popgun pete]

I was hoping that forum members would add their own loaders, such as extension loaders and whatever else they have created to load their guns by hand while in the water. Loaders, being easy to lose, must have inspired some home-made creations over the years. I even recall when someone used an empty tin can as a loader and at a certain point the speartip penetrated the thin metal with disastrous results.

 

[saltysunburns]

My dive buddy calls it 'the buttplug'. I have a weight stopper with a D-ring on my belt that I girth hitch it to, haven't lost it yet.

 

[popgun pete]

That looks something like the hand loader that came with the Technisub "Jaguar", you sometimes see it illustrated in old adverts for the gun.

 

[popgun pete]

Pelengas make a variety of hand loaders including the usual plastic type, but one of their best efforts is this tubing based one in titanium. It is especially handy when loading a longer “short” gun off your thigh such as the 70 cm 2/3rd handle position guns. With spear tail inserted in the muzzle opening it is a big stretch to put a loader over the spear tip, but with this T-shaped loader you gain a few extra centimetres of reach that allow you to hook the loader on and then pull the shaft down without too much difficulty. Pelengas make a similar tube loader in stainless steel, but the advantage with this one is the small hole in the end which stops the cup section damaging the pointed end of the tip. The offset crossbar seen here may have been the result of using the last piece of tubing for that particular loader which was a bit too long as most of the others I have seen were symmetrical.