Hello to all. I am looking for a new speargun but not sure what to pick so I was hoping that you guys could help me out. First let me state that I do not have a lot of money to spend on a gun because I am a college student and most of my money goes to paying for school and books. Now that I got that out of the way here is what I am looking for, I am looking for a gun that can take long shots (a max of about 20' give or take a foot or two), a gun that is relatively cheap, a gun that is accurate, and that is not that much of a pain in the *** to load. I was looking at the Rob Allen site and I liked what I saw but I don't know much about these guns. I was thinking of the 1.3m railgun with a 7mm shaft but I don't know what the range would be for this gun with this diameter shaft. I might consider the 1.4m railgun but would prefer the 1.3m gun because it is a little shorter. I don't plan on shooting any tunas or other large blue water fish but I would like to use the gun to shoot cobias, grouper, snapper, and big cudas for when I need shark bait. I am a pretty good shot but not a good stalker (working on it) so the extra range would really help me right now. If I get the Rob Allen should I go with the 2 band muzzle or the 1 band muzzle? I have also read in other sites that the Rob Allen guns in the sizes I mentioned are very hard to load; is this true? I do A LOT of shooting during the day while diving so I can't have a gun that I won't be able to load after about 6 times. I am 6' tall and weigh about 210 pounds and would consider myself strong so I don't know if this will have anything to do with me being able to load the gun or not. If any of you have any suggestions on a different gun or about these guns or any tips at all, I would love to hear them. Sorry for the long post but I have been trying to find a new gun for a while now (my 70cm pneumatic isn't cutting it any more) but I can't seem to decide. I did email the people at Florida Freedivers about sending my a catalogue with price but I haven't received it yet. Any help would be very appreciated.
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Need Help Picking a Gun
- Thread starterGoblinShark
- 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.
Rob Allens
Hi Goblin.
If you are looking for a 20' shot then the RA 130 is the right length.
1.3m*3 for the mono = 3.9m
+ 1.6m for the spear and 1.4ish for the gun you have 6.9m or 22.5' shooting range from handle to speartip. if you want extra range, then you can fit a double wrap (+2.6m). the spear will probably start to drop a bit towards the end of its flight though.
As far as i saw, all the guns are now exported with a double rubber muzzle, so you can either have 1 16mm, 1 20mm or 2 16mm rubbers.
Loading the gun is a bit tough, and if you are 6' you will have to do the two step loading with the 1.3 as they demonstrate on the website . the usual setup over here is 1 20mm rubber, but those babys are realy tight. Although... my friend has just got a new 20mm rubber fitted to his 1.3 and it is loadable, but the rubber looks a bit long, so maybe they make them a bit longer so you can load them, and if its easy, you can still shorted the rubber. Rather go long than end up short. being strong helps, but technique is the only way you are going to load it. There are some loading tips on the Diveinn thread in freediving equipment.
what you can do is have two 16mm rubbers that arent too tough. it just takes a bit more time to get the gun loaded.
1 16mm rubber with a 7mm spear will probably lack a bit of penetration.
If it were me buying the gun, i would ask for a 1.3 with a double notch 7mm spear. this gives you a lot to work with, also if you are using the 1 20mm rubber, its a hellava lot easier to get to the first notch, and then get to the second. just ask them to crimp the mono through the hole in front of the notches, this way you dont have to worry about it snapping at the notches.
I hope this helps
Cheers
Mark
Hi Goblin.
If you are looking for a 20' shot then the RA 130 is the right length.
1.3m*3 for the mono = 3.9m
+ 1.6m for the spear and 1.4ish for the gun you have 6.9m or 22.5' shooting range from handle to speartip. if you want extra range, then you can fit a double wrap (+2.6m). the spear will probably start to drop a bit towards the end of its flight though.
As far as i saw, all the guns are now exported with a double rubber muzzle, so you can either have 1 16mm, 1 20mm or 2 16mm rubbers.
Loading the gun is a bit tough, and if you are 6' you will have to do the two step loading with the 1.3 as they demonstrate on the website . the usual setup over here is 1 20mm rubber, but those babys are realy tight. Although... my friend has just got a new 20mm rubber fitted to his 1.3 and it is loadable, but the rubber looks a bit long, so maybe they make them a bit longer so you can load them, and if its easy, you can still shorted the rubber. Rather go long than end up short. being strong helps, but technique is the only way you are going to load it. There are some loading tips on the Diveinn thread in freediving equipment.
what you can do is have two 16mm rubbers that arent too tough. it just takes a bit more time to get the gun loaded.
1 16mm rubber with a 7mm spear will probably lack a bit of penetration.
If it were me buying the gun, i would ask for a 1.3 with a double notch 7mm spear. this gives you a lot to work with, also if you are using the 1 20mm rubber, its a hellava lot easier to get to the first notch, and then get to the second. just ask them to crimp the mono through the hole in front of the notches, this way you dont have to worry about it snapping at the notches.
I hope this helps
Cheers
Mark
Thanks Mark. That is just what I wanted to hear. I am going to try and get this rig ASAP. My 70cm Cressi pneumatic is pretty nice but it lacks the range that I need. I don't have a boat but I am mainly going to use the Cressi when I find a decent place to dive from shore (can't seem to find a decent place in all of South Florida) and use the Rob Allen during the summer if my Dad rents a boat (after paying for school and books I am basically left dead broke) at the Keys. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Jimmy
Jimmy
why RA guns hard to load?
why are RA guns harder to load than most? Is the 20mm rubber different from that used by european guns or is it because the handle has no butt so its painful when loading on your chest? Or is it because people try to load it on the hip? Just curious.
why are RA guns harder to load than most? Is the 20mm rubber different from that used by european guns or is it because the handle has no butt so its painful when loading on your chest? Or is it because people try to load it on the hip? Just curious.
RA = Hard to load ....
The RA guns have a rail on the muzzle to compensate for spear sag when you load it. Because this sag can be ignored thanks to the rail, you can have stronger rubbers fitted. And RA has got the toughest rubbers I've met.
Voi.
Riaan
The RA guns have a rail on the muzzle to compensate for spear sag when you load it. Because this sag can be ignored thanks to the rail, you can have stronger rubbers fitted. And RA has got the toughest rubbers I've met.
Voi.
Riaan
Not That tuff
Hi,
i got a RA 90 cm with the 16mm band and once you have the good technique, it's not that tuff to load. Dont let fear of not being able to load it stop you from getting one.
If you want to train a little, lie on your back under a table, get hold of the table border and pull yourself up in a "reverse push up" fashion. This will help you develop the muscle needed for loading a ReAl gun.
Hi,
i got a RA 90 cm with the 16mm band and once you have the good technique, it's not that tuff to load. Dont let fear of not being able to load it stop you from getting one.
If you want to train a little, lie on your back under a table, get hold of the table border and pull yourself up in a "reverse push up" fashion. This will help you develop the muscle needed for loading a ReAl gun.
