Just in case someone is interested https://www.ebay.com/itm/1557092700...41&osub=-1~1&crd=20230808062731&segname=12000
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For Sale Mares Bazooka, mint condition.
- Thread starterARL58
- Start date
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.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
These guns are heavy thanks to thick wall tanks, so they don't float. A handful to load as you have to stretch the length of spear and gun combined, although the mid-handle goes against your foot. Most have ended up wall hangers when the guns are not all that useful because they are just too big. A stretch of the original Titan, there were shorter versions with the same basic layout. The original Titan is shown below, notable for adding tank volume in front of the grip handle of what had been the classic pneumatic gun layout of narrow front barrel and big diameter rear tank.
Thanks Pete. I know all the story of those spearguns, I am italian and used both SL titans and the one portrayed that was the first one of the series. in the 70's, then moved to the Sten from Mini to 130. I also used jaguars by technisub , in the 3 available sizes, before the Mares. And yes, the Mares ones were the hardest to load, also because they could be brought to a higher tank pressure, compared to technisub ( 25/30 atm, vs 18/20 ) . As I explained I could not resist getting the Bazooka in my old age. It is really new and working. But realized I am not going to bring it in the water and if it finds non interest, I will happily keep it as a memento of times gone by. Although it also works as an harpoon gun, outside of the water..
Well the Sten when it arrived in 1967 pretty well changed everything as it floated after the shot and the 40 mm diameter tank meant that it had a low compression ratio so you could use a higher start pressure in it. The classic guns have a higher compression ratio so the start pressure has to be lower. The compression ratio thread on here explains it in more detail. The Technisub guns have smaller diameter tanks until the Conquest Booster, but the Sten was pretty well established by then as was the Cressi--Sub SL clone of the Sten. I bought a MiniTitan to try out, but was disappointed in it, although it looked great. The Titan family of guns have thicker tanks so if they head for the bottom they will not get too banged up. The rear handle guns with 40 mm tanks are going to stay off the bottom after the shot, so can have very thin tanks.
I have pulled all these guns apart so know how they are built. That brass cup in the back of the Titan guns made then sinkers, they are carried over from rear tank classic guns with a partitioned reservoir. I looked at a Bazooka, but realistically there was no way I could load one, at least not in a hurry. A local sports store had a Bazooka on the wall for many years, everyone looked at it, but it disappeared eventually. It had a metallized Bazooka sticker over the top of the Titan nameplate in the handle. Other examples have that sticker on the tank just behind the grip section.
I have pulled all these guns apart so know how they are built. That brass cup in the back of the Titan guns made then sinkers, they are carried over from rear tank classic guns with a partitioned reservoir. I looked at a Bazooka, but realistically there was no way I could load one, at least not in a hurry. A local sports store had a Bazooka on the wall for many years, everyone looked at it, but it disappeared eventually. It had a metallized Bazooka sticker over the top of the Titan nameplate in the handle. Other examples have that sticker on the tank just behind the grip section.
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Did you get the parts diagram with the gun? The only one I have seen was very beat up and scruffy, printed on a blue background as they all were originally. Here is a Titan parts list, Don Paul sent it to me. Early Mares guns have a bayonet connection on the hand pump.
The Bazooka has a heavy duty nose cone to stop a monster tearing it off after being shot and not giving up easily.
The Bazooka has a heavy duty nose cone to stop a monster tearing it off after being shot and not giving up easily.
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Well here is a slightly better one, unfortunately the files are not big enough to show all the text clearly. Not of the Bazooka though.
A comparison with the Titan nose cone which is shared with the Sten. Ignore the Cyrano parts, the Titan muzzle is in the removing tool.
Don Paul who has sadly passed on, wrote a lot about the Bazooka.
spearfishing.world
Mares Bazooka 140 cm - Spearfishing World forum
After twenty years of searching my 1969 Titian has a big brother thanks to a friend in Florida: the Mares Bazooka model 5301. A very heavy duty aluminum muzzle with coil spring snubber alowed the 10mm SS shaft to be fired out of the water like a…
spearfishing.world
Seems we have seen a few of these.
forums.deeperblue.com
forums.deeperblue.com
Mares Bazooka usage
I have an old mares, and would be thankful for some info. 1. I assume the little toggle switch is a safety...mine does not seem to be working. what position should be safe? Up towards top of gun, or down towards grip? 2. How many pump strokes for maximum power? Does this change as gun gets...
forums.deeperblue.com
Mares Bazooka 140cm
Hello, I have received a Mares Bazooka 140cm. I would be very grateful if you could provide me with information about this model. I will attach some photos.Best Regards, and thanks!
forums.deeperblue.com
A museum may be glad to have it as a pristine one is better than a beat up one. Actually having looked at it on eBay the system sent me an offer to buy it, but I am in Australia, so no point in responding as it says does not ship here. I document guns and their history and inner workings, but in the case of the Titan I had to take my Minititan apart using a suck it and see approach. The official diagram I did not have at the time, so drew my own one up, as can be seen here. Naturally once you have done it then someone sends you a diagram!
At the time although Australia had gone metric you could not buy a metric sized “O" ring anywhere, or a nut and screw for that matter with a metric thread. Once the local auto industry went metric then it all changed. I rebuilt the Minititan using imperial sizes because an “O" ring manufacturing company “Super-Seals" was only a few miles away and I had their sizes catalogue with hundreds of “O” rings made to different specification ranges with lots of overlap. Like many plants they closed up shop when specialist components flooded in from overseas, plus their rubber moulding dies had virtually worn out.
At the time although Australia had gone metric you could not buy a metric sized “O" ring anywhere, or a nut and screw for that matter with a metric thread. Once the local auto industry went metric then it all changed. I rebuilt the Minititan using imperial sizes because an “O" ring manufacturing company “Super-Seals" was only a few miles away and I had their sizes catalogue with hundreds of “O” rings made to different specification ranges with lots of overlap. Like many plants they closed up shop when specialist components flooded in from overseas, plus their rubber moulding dies had virtually worn out.
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I had excluded shipping to Australia and far away countries because of the very high costs. If you can get a decent fee for shipping I am available. I will probably remove the item from e bay in a few days. Anyway.
To get a shipping cost they need to weigh and dimension the item, the postal service here used to carry anything, but they put a size limitation on it and that handed the work over to couriers like DHL and Fed-Ex. A gun can take a couple of hundred to ship. The last gun I squeaked through under the old system was a Spearfisherman Magnum from 1962 that was an inch shorter than me and taller with its spear latched. The sender had the good sense to tape the spear alongside the gun as latched to shoot the gun was taller than me! DHL are funny about weapons, although I sent a couple of guns to the USA after fronting up at their despatch office and showing them what was inside. Fed-Ex seem OK with anything.
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I will take for it the deal offered if you can get the shipping sorted. I don’t need another gun, I have too many already, but it will be easy to photograph its innards as nothing will have jammed up. Many US divers don’t wash their gun and some are tough to pull apart because aluminium oxide welds the screws in place. I had an old Alcedo Hydra to pull apart and as spares are non-existent it took me six months to pull it apart without busting anything, but it took every trick in the book.
I'll check with fedex, then. size would be 145 cm length 15 x 10 sides weight around 7 kg
Once my diving days are over I am sending all my guns to the AUF Spearfishing Museum as otherwise they get trashed by careless owners who don't look after anything nowadays. Modern guns are so much better these days, but not all of them!