Acquiring interesting Russian production spearguns such as the "Taimen" and the "Vlanik" has not met with any success as their manufacturers either do not sell outside the country or appear very unwilling to do so.
I think I have now found out why, the Russian postal system is apparently completely unreliable due to opportunistic thieves who take goods with impunity. About 3 months ago I sent a spearfishing magazine with companion spearfishing DVD on the front cover in a heavy duty envelope to an address in Moscow, the address was written both in English and Russian on the envelope and was correct in every detail as it was taken directly off a website listed address given out for the purpose of receiving mailed communications in Moscow. Delivery time was estimated at 15 days at most by the post office here, but after a month it had simply disappeared without trace. After a couple of weeks had elapsed I tried again, this time with only the spearfishing DVD and not the magazine in a more compact cardboard mailer specifically for posting DVD/CD's. The exact same spearfishing DVD as before, just another copy of it. That too disappeared into the ether and over a month and a half has now passed! So assuming the same thief did not want two of them the second DVD was taken by someone else. Bear in mind I sent the same package to the USA and it arrived in about a week and had not been tampered with in any way, so the goods are not being stolen in Australia.
So if guys in the Russian postal system will steal a spearfishing DVD (twice) you can imagine what would happen with a speargun, there would be no hope of your receiving it and their manufacturers being realists, I assume that is why Russian spearguns do not come out of Russia unless as a bulk shipment organized by a formal business enterprise with the associated checks and balances. Examples of the latter would be the "Seabear" (Pirometr RP), the "Prizm" (RPB-1M) and the "Kobra" hydropneumatic which have been sold in some quantities in the West in recent years.
I think I have now found out why, the Russian postal system is apparently completely unreliable due to opportunistic thieves who take goods with impunity. About 3 months ago I sent a spearfishing magazine with companion spearfishing DVD on the front cover in a heavy duty envelope to an address in Moscow, the address was written both in English and Russian on the envelope and was correct in every detail as it was taken directly off a website listed address given out for the purpose of receiving mailed communications in Moscow. Delivery time was estimated at 15 days at most by the post office here, but after a month it had simply disappeared without trace. After a couple of weeks had elapsed I tried again, this time with only the spearfishing DVD and not the magazine in a more compact cardboard mailer specifically for posting DVD/CD's. The exact same spearfishing DVD as before, just another copy of it. That too disappeared into the ether and over a month and a half has now passed! So assuming the same thief did not want two of them the second DVD was taken by someone else. Bear in mind I sent the same package to the USA and it arrived in about a week and had not been tampered with in any way, so the goods are not being stolen in Australia.
So if guys in the Russian postal system will steal a spearfishing DVD (twice) you can imagine what would happen with a speargun, there would be no hope of your receiving it and their manufacturers being realists, I assume that is why Russian spearguns do not come out of Russia unless as a bulk shipment organized by a formal business enterprise with the associated checks and balances. Examples of the latter would be the "Seabear" (Pirometr RP), the "Prizm" (RPB-1M) and the "Kobra" hydropneumatic which have been sold in some quantities in the West in recent years.
