Found it in the basement and would like to put it to work. I am a little apprehensive however about squirting oil or wd 40 on it when I am not sure I should do that. I don’t know much about these but on reading the manual I see that you are supposed to pump it and then load the spear shaft down the muzzle. I tried that and the shaft didn’t seem to want to go. I didn’t want to try forcing it. I will try to load some pictures and hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks joe
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Mares snubnose at least 40 years old need help reviving it
- Thread startergouthro
- 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.
Your gun is the same as the Mares "Miniministen" and will be a single power gun. If the gun has no pressure after you have pumped it up then it must have a leak somewhere, either that or the pump is not working or leaking at where it attaches into the gun. That gun is relatively easy to disassemble and this thread will tell you how to do it. https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/pneumatic-dismantling-how-to-get-inside.90024/
To undo the rear inlet valve body requires a simple tool such as this one. https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/diy-tool-for-removing-rear-inlet-valve.93638/#post-870311
I would not use WD40 on it as the plastic pistons can be affected by it. You can spray the metal and black plastic parts as there are no problems doing that. When Mares restyled the "Sten" to a more angular shape in 1987 they renamed the previous "Sten" model as the "Reef", but it is still the same gun.
I would not use WD40 on it as the plastic pistons can be affected by it. You can spray the metal and black plastic parts as there are no problems doing that. When Mares restyled the "Sten" to a more angular shape in 1987 they renamed the previous "Sten" model as the "Reef", but it is still the same gun.
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The side mounted line release dates from 1980 when Mares filed for a patent on it. Previously it was mounted on the trigger centerline as a downwards projecting hook.
Thanks very much for the detailed response, Pete. I will have to look at it closely. I was hoping not to have to take it apart, as I am not really mechanical. I can probably do it, though,and I suppose that after forty years of sitting, i may have to anyway. I know nothing about spearguns and thus don’t know whether it has air in it or not. And if it does have air, I don’t know how to let it out. My original problem was that the spear would not seem to load. The piston, I suppose, would not go down. Maybe corroded? Or, would that be because there is no air in it?
By the way, I was curious about the name, “Sten”, and wondered if it was named after the British stengun of World War Two? I have fired one of these and there certainly are similarities in appearance.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Thanks joe
By the way, I was curious about the name, “Sten”, and wondered if it was named after the British stengun of World War Two? I have fired one of these and there certainly are similarities in appearance.
Sten - Wikipedia
To check the air pressure you depress the air inlet valve stem which is an inox ball at the rear of the gun with something like a wooden toothpick. Just a slight push and you will air hissing out as the ball moves. If no air comes out then the gun is out of pressure and needs to be pumped up. I bought a "Ministen" aka "Shortie" about a year ago of the same vintage and it held pressure, so the seals could still be OK in your gun.
I don't see it in your photos, but the spear should have a stop ring, shock absorber spring and a line slide on its rear end. The stop ring helps centralize the spear when you push it into the gun.
Download the Mares pneumatic gun manual from here which will tell you all the basic information. https://www.mares.com/shop/en-AU/do...uals/manual-pneumatic-guns-multilanguage.html
As for the Sten name I don't know, but possibly its grease gun looks made people think of the Sten machine gun of WWII.
The above gun's name derives from the names of its designers and was named the "Sten", after Shepherd, Turpin, and Enfield. Otherwise Sten is Scandinavian for stone, being a boy's name, same as Peter.
I don't see it in your photos, but the spear should have a stop ring, shock absorber spring and a line slide on its rear end. The stop ring helps centralize the spear when you push it into the gun.
Download the Mares pneumatic gun manual from here which will tell you all the basic information. https://www.mares.com/shop/en-AU/do...uals/manual-pneumatic-guns-multilanguage.html
As for the Sten name I don't know, but possibly its grease gun looks made people think of the Sten machine gun of WWII.
The above gun's name derives from the names of its designers and was named the "Sten", after Shepherd, Turpin, and Enfield. Otherwise Sten is Scandinavian for stone, being a boy's name, same as Peter.
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Hello @gouthro.
I wanted to say that you and your basement discovery are in the best of hands with Pete. Lots of examples in this corner of our forum of guns being resurrected or of people once uncomfortable taking pneumatics apart who now treat it like it's routine. I wouldn't be surprised if you can get your Mares back in the water with a little bit of guided effort.
These guns are, once you wrap your head around them, quite simple and we will all do our best to help you along.
I don't want be the bearer of bad news but I just wanted to give you a reality check. It's a very short gun and even though airguns are often more efficient than band guns and more powerful in smaller sizes, your "pistol" is quite short. Don't expect much range or knock down power from it. That said, I don't own a gun in that size but Pete does so he can give you a much better idea of what type of performance you can expect from it.
But back to fixing your gun - if the spear wont even go into the barrel more than just a few inches that would mean that the piston is indeed at the front. If it wont budge, it's either stuck mechanically or perhaps the gun is still pressurized - at high pressures you need quite a bit of force to move that piston. Pete's link will tell you how to get the air out.
If nothing major is broken or corroded, I think you can get the gun back to working order quite affordably. A set of replacement o-rings is USD 5-10, I think a new piston is less than USD 10 and perhaps you need a new spear.
Let us know if the inlet pump valve (the part at the back of the gun where you attach the pump) is a screw-in type with a female thread or a bayonet type and whether you have the pump or not? (When I say bayonet type, think of a modern camera lens mount where you insert a lens and just twist a quarter of a turn or so to marry the lens to the body). Reason being, the bayonet type is an older standard and whilst it should work just fine if you still have the pump, if you have lost the pump it is very hard to get a bayonet style pump so it would make a whole lot more sense to just get a new screw-in pump and upgrade the valve to the modern version. That part is less that USD 10, too though the pump might be double.
(I just reread your orginal post again and it seems like you do have the pump).
I wanted to say that you and your basement discovery are in the best of hands with Pete. Lots of examples in this corner of our forum of guns being resurrected or of people once uncomfortable taking pneumatics apart who now treat it like it's routine. I wouldn't be surprised if you can get your Mares back in the water with a little bit of guided effort.
These guns are, once you wrap your head around them, quite simple and we will all do our best to help you along.
I don't want be the bearer of bad news but I just wanted to give you a reality check. It's a very short gun and even though airguns are often more efficient than band guns and more powerful in smaller sizes, your "pistol" is quite short. Don't expect much range or knock down power from it. That said, I don't own a gun in that size but Pete does so he can give you a much better idea of what type of performance you can expect from it.
But back to fixing your gun - if the spear wont even go into the barrel more than just a few inches that would mean that the piston is indeed at the front. If it wont budge, it's either stuck mechanically or perhaps the gun is still pressurized - at high pressures you need quite a bit of force to move that piston. Pete's link will tell you how to get the air out.
If nothing major is broken or corroded, I think you can get the gun back to working order quite affordably. A set of replacement o-rings is USD 5-10, I think a new piston is less than USD 10 and perhaps you need a new spear.
Let us know if the inlet pump valve (the part at the back of the gun where you attach the pump) is a screw-in type with a female thread or a bayonet type and whether you have the pump or not? (When I say bayonet type, think of a modern camera lens mount where you insert a lens and just twist a quarter of a turn or so to marry the lens to the body). Reason being, the bayonet type is an older standard and whilst it should work just fine if you still have the pump, if you have lost the pump it is very hard to get a bayonet style pump so it would make a whole lot more sense to just get a new screw-in pump and upgrade the valve to the modern version. That part is less that USD 10, too though the pump might be double.
(I just reread your orginal post again and it seems like you do have the pump).
In order to check that the pump works OK just put your finger over the hole in the end of the pump with the handle already pulled back and then push the handle forwards. You will feel the pressure trying to push your finger away if the pump is working and it will blow the air out as you will not be able to hold back against it. Best to add some oil to the pump by putting some oil in a glass and use the pump’s suction stroke to pull oil into the pump, then squirt it out back into the glass. You can add oil to the gun by using this method, but I think it is best to unscrew the muzzle and pull the piston out and see what the oil inside is like in terms of being clean and uncontaminated. Milky looking oil has water in it and needs to be thrown out, but that is an unlikely situation unless the gun lost pressure in the ocean. I have had it happen twice, but that is over many decades of using the guns.
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Let us know how you get on. Those guns will shoot about 6 feet and I have bumped off plenty of bottom fish with mine, having owned two of them as I eventually wore the first "Miniministen" gun out. First was the original model and the replacement was a Sten 87 "Competition Line" model with the fluoro green over-handle cover (which was best left at home).
Thanks again for the comments. I have been a bit busy lately and haven’t had a chance to do much but I will be back to work on it soon. I did check a few of the things you mentioned. I tested the pump and it works fine. I released some air pressure from the back, as you mentioned. There is air in it. I tried briefly to load the shaft but still it didn’t seem to want to work and I didn’t want to force it, so I left it alone until I have more time to look at it closely.
One guy that I know suggests I should sell it and buy a pole spear. So it is encouraging, Pete, that you use yours. As I mentioned earlier I just do a little snorkeling these days and mostly only on holidays, so in a northern climate my time is limited. This just to say that A little gun may work for me. Will get back when I do a little more work on it. Joe
One guy that I know suggests I should sell it and buy a pole spear. So it is encouraging, Pete, that you use yours. As I mentioned earlier I just do a little snorkeling these days and mostly only on holidays, so in a northern climate my time is limited. This just to say that A little gun may work for me. Will get back when I do a little more work on it. Joe
The shaft needs a good push to load it because the compressed air acts like a spring, so it may be that you have not pushed hard enough. I suggest that you bleed all the air out of it and then see if you can push the shaft in as then it will be very easy. You need a hand loader if you do not have one, you can see the black plastic hand loaders in my photo with the pieces of black elastic cord attached. Don't latch the gun so that you can return the piston to the muzzle end when you pull the spear back out. Then put 20 pump strokes into it and see if you can load it as that will be relatively easy. The “Miniministen”/”Snub Nose” pumping table is shown below.
Thanks for all the help. I emptied the air, as you mentioned, did 20 pumps and it works fine. It must have been pumped beyond full and stayed that way for years. I will post a picture of the gun and i wonder if you might tell me whether I have all the equipment. And then how I should tie the chord to the shaft. Thanks once again for sharing your knowledge
Joe
Joe
Attachments
Congrats on the progress.
20 pumps will just get you to the point of checking that the piston does indeed move now, but it won't be sufficient for spearing. Not even close. I would start at around 15 bar for your first outing as you should be able to load that. According the table Pete attached, that's 130 pump strokes.
As for being "pumped beyond full" it's true in the sense that it was pumped to a degree where you couldn't load it on land (loading on land is never a great idea any how). As Pete mentioned, it takes a very good push to load these when they are at the higher pressures needed for spearing. Bear in mind, that band guns are not easy to load either and the energy you put into the loading effort is pretty much the power you get out of it in terms of shot power. So, you actually want it to be hard to load. If it is easy to load, it means you wont have a powerful shot.
All of us pretty much run the pressures as high as we can load the gun without tiring ourselves out. A lot of it is just about getting used to how to load it, so I think if you start at 120-130 pump strokes, you should hopefully still be able to load it as a beginner.
And please do not load it on land. If you do, only do it at lower pressures to check that the trigger works and do not shoot the shaft out, but rather jam the speartip against something and "shoot" as you lean onto the gun but slowly moves it backwards. Hard to explain, but the idea is to let the shaft out gently. If you shoot it on land, with the reduced friction (no water) you might bust the piston or other internal parts. And it is potentially dangerous no matter what.
I should say, you may risk having a leak just by having taken the air out. I know it sounds weird, but seals (o-rings) which have been sitting on pressure for as long as yours have, might have deformed. You will see if that's the case once you take it up to pressure and shoot it a few times. Actually, already now, you could stick it in a sink and look for bubbles.
Also, when you emptied the air out, would you say the mist was a bit oily? There should be a bit of oil in there, so it. would be good if you feel it in the air.
Finally, I would personally take it apart now and service it completely. On the other hand, lots of spearos subscribe to the method of "use until destruction" when using these guns, so since you haven't taken one apart yet, I don't see why you can't just try to use it and then fix it/service it later on if the need should arise.
The gun looks complete but as Pete noted, you need a loader.
20 pumps will just get you to the point of checking that the piston does indeed move now, but it won't be sufficient for spearing. Not even close. I would start at around 15 bar for your first outing as you should be able to load that. According the table Pete attached, that's 130 pump strokes.
As for being "pumped beyond full" it's true in the sense that it was pumped to a degree where you couldn't load it on land (loading on land is never a great idea any how). As Pete mentioned, it takes a very good push to load these when they are at the higher pressures needed for spearing. Bear in mind, that band guns are not easy to load either and the energy you put into the loading effort is pretty much the power you get out of it in terms of shot power. So, you actually want it to be hard to load. If it is easy to load, it means you wont have a powerful shot.
All of us pretty much run the pressures as high as we can load the gun without tiring ourselves out. A lot of it is just about getting used to how to load it, so I think if you start at 120-130 pump strokes, you should hopefully still be able to load it as a beginner.
And please do not load it on land. If you do, only do it at lower pressures to check that the trigger works and do not shoot the shaft out, but rather jam the speartip against something and "shoot" as you lean onto the gun but slowly moves it backwards. Hard to explain, but the idea is to let the shaft out gently. If you shoot it on land, with the reduced friction (no water) you might bust the piston or other internal parts. And it is potentially dangerous no matter what.
I should say, you may risk having a leak just by having taken the air out. I know it sounds weird, but seals (o-rings) which have been sitting on pressure for as long as yours have, might have deformed. You will see if that's the case once you take it up to pressure and shoot it a few times. Actually, already now, you could stick it in a sink and look for bubbles.
Also, when you emptied the air out, would you say the mist was a bit oily? There should be a bit of oil in there, so it. would be good if you feel it in the air.
Finally, I would personally take it apart now and service it completely. On the other hand, lots of spearos subscribe to the method of "use until destruction" when using these guns, so since you haven't taken one apart yet, I don't see why you can't just try to use it and then fix it/service it later on if the need should arise.
The gun looks complete but as Pete noted, you need a loader.
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thanks for the reply. It doesn<t show on the picture but I believe I do have the loader. It is a little plastic thing that fits over the speak head, isn't it? Good to know about not shooting on land, too. The other question: how do you tie the spear onto the chord?
thanks joe
There should be a line slide on the spear. Here is an image of the spear assembly. The speartips sometimes come with a cover made of soft plastic. Hand loaders come in various shapes and sizes, but all do the same job. "Miniministen" or "Snub Nose" guns being so short they are relatively easy to load against your thigh.
Below are two Mares hand loaders, the top one is the original “Sten” loader for the smaller guns, the bottom one is the loader used for the first “Cyrano” as it has a little lug on one side to help undo the rear inlet valve cover.
As I don't want any snapped shooting lines I use rather thick stuff on my reef hunting guns as then there are no escapees.
Below are two Mares hand loaders, the top one is the original “Sten” loader for the smaller guns, the bottom one is the loader used for the first “Cyrano” as it has a little lug on one side to help undo the rear inlet valve cover.
As I don't want any snapped shooting lines I use rather thick stuff on my reef hunting guns as then there are no escapees.
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