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Omer T20 Mimetic Med

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.

Amphibious

Working Class Spearo
Mar 17, 2002
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Anyone got their hands on one of these yet? would love go get some better photo's & reviews? Open muzzle looks interesting....
 
Funny, I was just reading another thread about the T20's 3 pc trigger mech. and how it was supposed to be a lot smoother than the typical 2 pc euro trigger especially when powered up high.
maybe Mark L. can shed some more light on this weapon?
some pics and info
Here
 
can not say much about this particular gun but one of my friend has one and he really likes it.
 
one thing that I am curious about that gun is the lack of rail with the angled pull of circular rubber.... But after all, I am a big fan of circular rubbered guns...
 
Best place to get answers to your questions on the rig is Mark L. at Technosport, 757-428-4744 (Virginia Beach, VA). Also, check out spearfishinggear.com or give them a ring. Matt Turner is the owner and can answer any questions you may have. I have a model Omer made several years ago similar to the T20 which I swear by. It's powerful and accurate without feeling like you’re dragging a Chevy through the water. As always, opinions very, but I have six Omer rigs ranging from 75CM to 130CM and have yet to be left wanting for knock down power or fidelity.
 
Already been in contact with Mark, hopefully he'll be joining this thread soon :D
 
Amphibious said:
Already been in contact with Mark, hopefully he'll be joining this thread soon :D

Hey sorry about the delay Amphib! I've been a bit busy and was just typing away at another thread this morning on another forum all the meanwhile I'm getting some bad looks at the office for not getting the boring essential stuff done...

Glad you asked by the way ;)

I'll tell you from my own personal use of the gun and what some of the guys who dive a lot that I keep in touch with have been reporting back to me on it:

I started using a 100cm T-20 green Mimetic last year and the first time I used the gun was in a tournament (the Southern Open) in Fl so I didn't really have time to get used to it. As I've been using T-20 as long as I've known about Omer it wasn't much or a readjustment compared to say being used to a different style handle, ex. the Exc. The Excalibur has a lighter grip, not as heavy duty construction, but it's a different weapon all together, more of a classic two piece style sensitive competition type gun reccomend to be used with only one band for best performance.

Anyhow, the first thing you notice, looks aside, when you take the gun in the water for the first time is that the front end has a clear line of sight typical of open muzzle guns. The next thing you notice even compared to the old T-20's (MB/Masters) is the feel of the handle is very good, it fits in your hand very nicely as Omer increased the rake angle of the handle slightly from the more vertical position it was previously, this helps ease the strain on your wrist and makes pointing the gun more natural. This little feature is especially more appreciated on the longer guns, say 110's and 130's where swinging the gun back and forth needs to be as easy as possible. For guys with big hands like me the gun comes with an extra ergonomic grip that you just replace by popping the pin in the handle and removing the original grip. Just like the stock grip it's made of a high density "light grit sandpaper like feel" nylon (also known as plastic) that conforms to the grooves in your hand very nicely and it gives you a feeling of an even better connection between arm and gun. The grip is solid and can be sanded down to customize to each persons hand.

The other feature I like which I feel is good for beginners even though I remove the safeties in my guns, is the index positioned safety. If you've ever gone to pull the trigger and had your gun on safety you know what I mean. There is an automatic line release integrated in the side of the handle instead of below like the excalibur that holds one wrap of line well and not two as well...one of the only things I don't like about it. I got them to change it in the Mast.America for open water hunting where two wraps of line are preferred by lot's of guys. Even with this myself and others I've spoken to have resolved the problem by taking a dremmel tool and machining the curve into the release arm a bit more.

The gun is carbon fiber so its light, a 130cm is just under 3 1/2lbs while a 100 is just under 3lbs with the shaft.

Shooting fish with it: As with most any Omer gun they're accurate unless your shaft is bent or you've overpowered it so much that you screw up the ballistics. Although I didn't have a rail on the 100 first time I used it I never missed any of the grouper, snapper, cudas, mackerels and other fish I shot within 7-14ft or so and stoned a half dozen or so fish with it that day-including one red grouper that (if you know reds are sort of dumb and stear at you from the bottom) I wanted to test the accuracy and planted the 6.5mm shaft firmly inbetween its eyes from a full wrap of line away with the shaft at the end of the shooting line.

Therefore although I was also under the impression that without a rail the diagonal pull of the open muzzle loop 18mm power band would change the aim slightly that never happened for me. The only downside to not having a rail on the barrel in that gun that particular day was that it got scratches more easily and after one day of use there were several scratches on the barrel from the crimps connected to the back of the shaft just forward of the handle on the barrel. It could have been a scratch from the tail of the shaft as well it but it's not something I could observe with a naked eye. You could fix all the paranoia’s about aim and scratching the barrel by applying a piece of aftermarket plastic rail on the barrel. The one nice thing about not having a rail I’ve found is that it's even more quiet since the shaft now only causes friction on two spots, handle and muzzle.

There is only one other downside to this gun that I experienced if you're used to other closed muzzle competition style guns, the open muzzle. It took me a little while to get used to but it was a frustrating extra step in the beginning to have to wrap the line around the shaft in the front every time you reload. In a closed muzzle gun you shuttle the shaft back through the closed muzzle, secure the loop of shooting line in the catch, and reload and wam you’re ready to shoot again. That cost me a grouper in the tournament as one of my pecker head team mates:D took advantage of a shot I missed and shot the fish all the meanwhile I fumbled with the resetting of the gun :hmm

Toward the latter part of the year I started using the 130T20 Mimetic for bluewater hunting and shooting reef fish. I had set it up with two 18mm power bands initially but I found it cumbersome and time consuming considering I'm used to shooting my fish between 10-15ft even in open water and the single power band was all I really needed. Especially when you're shooting grouper and hog snapper near the reef where a bad shot with two bands results in your shaft getting impaled into the reef and takes longer to reload. I suspect though that if you're blue water hunting and you can't close those crucial two or three feet trying to get a shy wahoo into range the second band is ideal for that. Clean 18ft shots shouldn't be any problem with two bands.

As for a smaller gun around 75cm for inshore hunting unless that's really all you do and you might as well get yourself a nice gun I don't think the carbon fiber barrel and the tough T-20 handle is warranted. You can spend a chunk of change less to get the same performance in other words. In those lengths alluminum is almost just as light, doesn't flex, and is about $100 less on average. I personally use a 75cm Excalibur because it's such a streamline and fast gun for all our inshore diving here for fish up to 30lbs or so (stripers) and most commonly fish in the 2-8lb range and with a single band I find it more than adequate as do most guys I dive with. The way I look at it visibility is generally ten feet or so where we dive and if you can't get within 4-7ft of your fish in ten foot vis not even a triple band gun will do it because you won't even be able to see him and take advantage of the extra range. Therefore I even prefer 16mm bands opposed to 18mm bands shooting around rocks and jetties and low vis in that it suits this purpose perfectly and won't destroy your point if you hit the rock after it's gone through your fish or if you miss. I actually just started using a 4 point paralizer tip again after several years of not using them last few inshore outings instead of the tahitian/hawaiian style shaft and I'm having fun with that since the tips have gotten so much better quality from what was previopusly available. This is off the subject but I've just noticed that shooting fish with them causes less ruckus and doesn't sscare the others away as much or chrun up the bottom since you paralize them most of the time with a 3 or 4 point.


Well, I hope this helps and I appreciate you guys taking the time to ask me my opinion, clear waters!

Mark Laboccetta
 
another thing i want to add to Marks post,

I used normal T20 girp on my 110cm wood gun and then later cahnged it with anatomical grip. Its not only feels better on your hand but also help your arm to absorb secondary recoil coming from butt end of the gun. But i also noticed, since my hands are not extremely big, the butt end of the gun become little harder to maneuver...


Mark, do you think circular 18 bands has better shooting performance than screw in types?? May be open muzzle allows it to pull the shaft few more centimeters?
 
6 AND 1/2 dozen of the other...

Murat said:
another thing i want to add to Marks post,
Mark, do you think circular 18 bands has better shooting performance than screw in types?? May be open muzzle allows it to pull the shaft few more centimeters?

You might not be familiar with that saying Murat, but it means "they're the same" What you gain with one you loose with the other and vice versa. The difference is negligible in that I've never heard it made an issue by any speargun tech. What you gain in not having the bands slow down as fast at the screw in portion of the muzzle like screw in bands with the circular loop bands you loose in the diagonal pull of the loop band. The notion is that strait pull bands run their natural cycle rebounding back into their original position more naturally and efficiently. This should save a little energy maybe, what is the difference? who knows but its not enough worth worrying about. I also wondered the same thing before so it was a good question.

Mark
 
Hey Mark, Great info! Much appreciated!

any chance of getting some pics of the new guns? the ones on the website don;t give the greatest detail :D
 
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