Newcomer looking for a great gun

[.ice]

Hello all at deeperblue,

I am fascinated with the amount of dedicated people in this field and work that has been put in these forums so I joined as well

As the thread title says, I am looking to buy a sling gun for reef/rocky shore spearfishing and would like to hear from you what's the best for what I'm looking for. I was originally going to get a pneumatic one from either Mares or Cressi but I'd rather stick to a sling gun because I like them better.

-The gun has to be around 90cm-110cm(33''-43'') and powered by at least 2 bands.
-The wood has to be teak or mahogany since those are to my knowledge the best there is out there for this purpose.
-The gun will be used at a depth from 20'-40' max.
-The money I can spend on this is $300 at max.(can add a few tens if it's really worth it).

I will be freediving and and I will be hunting for striped sea bass, cod and anything like that in the Mediterranean.

I really like the Riffe Standard series 43''(109cm) but it's a little expensive for what I'm looking for, even though I know a Riffe it's worth every buck for what you get.

Anyways, please let me know what you think would be the best choice. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.



Thank you in advance,
.ice

 

[killerrat]

try rob allen sparid or omer cayman range they are both top guns

 

[Mike Bradshaw]

I would have a look at the test pages on psmcafe a french site,they test various guns and give a balanced view on all the various guns on the market.
Personally I would set your budget,investigate the main manufacturers and if you can borrow an example of your choice,to try out to make sure its comfortable in your hand and you can hit what you aim at. Have fun.

 

[Mr. X]

.ice, are you really based on the Mediterranean? Didn't realise there were striped bass in the Med, have only come across them on the east coast of the USA. There I think they use short, powerful speaguns due to poor visibility and the large size of the striped bass (e.g. Rob Allen railgun 70cm, or was it 90cm).

Do they have cod in the Med? I generally associate them with the North Atlantic.

For the Med, I normally think of Grouper, Bass, Dentex, Grey Mullet, Blue Fin Tuna -- there are probably many others though (sardine, anchovy,...).

Surprised your list of pneumatics under initial consideration did not include the jazzy new Omer Airbalete (a pneumatic that somewhat resembles a bandgun) or the power Mamba modified pneumatic. That said though, I too prefer simple bandguns.

Darryl Wong, Hawaii spearguns probably have the quality and construction you'd want but perhaps not the price. There are very interesting small independent makers around, especially in Italy, Greece, the USA and...Guernsey. They often use wood construction. Checkout the Indy thread: http://forums.deeperblue.com/spearo-board/85475-indie-minor-speargun-companies.html - glossy speargun porn! (No wonder the Italian government's finances are such a mess, clearly they spent all their time and money inventing and building gorgeous spearguns instead of paying boring old taxes, like the Brits).

For powerful non-wooden guns (which can generally be made using cheaper construction techniques than their wooden counterparts), suitable for big fish, most makers, including Beuchat and Omer, have suitable models, but I might be tempted to go for a South African style railgun (e.g. Rob Allen, Mako USA, Rabitech, Orcas, Freedivers, Hammerhead Hawaii).