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Hi everyboby

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.

Lance

New Member
May 11, 2006
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Im from South Africa and am an avid spearo , good to know there so many people out there that share the same sport as me:martial Quick question ive been shooting with euro type guns all my life what are the advantages or dis advantages of wooden guns?
 
Hiya

And WELCOME to the DB family!!!

Euro guns work very well for our type of hunting. They're cheap to purchase, very accuarate and very easy to use. How-ever, they have their limits. In lengths over 120cm, they tend to start suffering from barrel flex, especially the alluminuim guns. They can also be powered up to 2x16mm's. Some spearo's DO use 2x18's and even 2x20mm's, but most euro mechanisms WILL fail under than load.

With wooden guns, you can add more bands with-out fear of the barrel flexing. With the more bands you add, the more recoil you will have. To combat this, you need mass/weight. The wooden guns are therefor considerabily heavier than the euro type guns, yet still float with the shaft discharged. You also have the additional advantage of using thicker diameter spears on the wooden guns. We've fairly recently started using 8mm spears on our railguns (Rabitech and 7.5mm on RA's), where-as 3/8" (10mm) spears have been in use for ages already on our american friends wooden guns. The heavier spears are not only more difficult to bend, but also have more hitting power. Most Blue Water wooden guns are also mid-handled, which allows for much easier tracking/manouverability.

Bottom line is quite simple:
Euro guns/railguns will be more accurate.
Wooden guns will be more powerful and have greater EFFECTIVE range.

I've used my 130cm Carbon Rabitech and a 150cm Carbon RA on our tuna. How-ever, i now almost exclusively shoot my 67" mid-handle wooden gun with 4 or 5x16mm bands and a 10mm spear and my 63" mid-handle with 4x16mm bands and a 8mm spear for our YF tuna. The additional range oftens means the difference between having a bad day and shooting that fish of a life-time.

I've got Tommy Botha's 57", 63" and 67" mid-handle wooden guns and can HIGHLY recommend them!!!

Regards
miles
 

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