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RA guns

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.

ivan

looking for deeper water
Jan 26, 2002
1,503
48
0
hi guys

Im a crazy rob allen fan like many of the South Africans, I own a 110 and would like to say a few things firstly I love the gun but I will say the trigger mech is ***** I once had this gun with 1 20mm rubber and 1 16mm rubber and the sear broke which made the spear come out when I was swimming along this almost hit my brother, The gun has around 10ft range and is powered up to just over maximum reccomended power, I have shot many fish with this gun mostly spanish Mackeral up to 30lbs, green job fish and so on Ive shot one Giant Trevally when I first got my gun but dont shoot them any more because their crap eating, oh yeah once I almost got close enough to an elusive Dog tooth tuna.

I have now ordered a rob allen with a 150cm barrel, 2 16mm rubbers and a 7mm spear, im hoping to get a range of 20ft with this gun, i was reading another post where SA Spearo saif he owns a RA 160cm, im now wondering wheter I should have got that length, and SA spearo would you be able to tell me how much difference there will be in range between your gun and mine, and how far can you shoot a fish away with your gun,

Conditions I dive in is good I dive the Great Barrier Reef and vis is usually between 30 ft to 230ft but the average is around 50ft, fish such as Mackeral, dog tooth, job fish etc all the tropical pelagics.

I have said that I ve had trouble with the Ra trigger and spears bending all the time so SA spearo and other Ra users have you guys broken triggers and so on and how much can they hold.

My dad just got a 140cm Stealth Railgun and it i san awsome gun similar to the Ra but the trigger mech is far stronger than Ra thats what the shop dude says it looks better made.

Also would I be dreaming in thinking that my new gun set up how I mentioned would shoot fish 20ft from the end of the spear.

anyway cheers
 
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Hi Ivan,

Look at an older thread PNG + RA guns, we been discussing a great deal on RA there and a Dive Factory reply. It should help you. Anyway 16mm x 2 is about maximum you can go but read the post well and you will get confused..:D :D


Regards,
IYA
 
BTW, what is a Stealth Railgun ? Mind posting info of manufacturer or photo. Very curious to know.

The video : Freediving the Rivelagos??? Achipelago by Ron Mullins has one advertisement of what a shop in Hawaii called STEALTH speargun, all black and quite massive. I don't suppose it is the same one ?


Thanks
IYA
 
hi

I cant post a photo cos I dont have the things to do it but I will describe it the name on it or brand is Rabitech Stealth Railgun well start off with the muzzle the muzzle is the same as a Rob allen muzzle the barrel can be either carbon or aluminium and is around the same diametre as the Ra the stealth has a deeper plastic rail that is stuck on the gun it is a fair bit deeper than the Ra, the spear is the same as RA spears that gold sort of oil quenched colour, the trigger and handle is what makes ths gun better than RA ive never seen one like it but the guys at the shop have pulled the stealth trigger apart and a RA trigger apart and they say the stealth trigger is a hell of a lot stronger and better made than the Ra and holds more pressure. Well it certainly looks better and stronger. the only reason why im not getting a stealth instead of a RA is cos they only make them up to 1.4m that is the size of my dads gun. anyway if theres anything else you want me to say just ask, oh yeah it has a 7mm spear with 2 16mm rubbers.

cheers
 
Broken Sear

Hi Ivan

i remeber reading your post on spearfishing.com, and if i remember correctly, the rubbers were very short, like 50cm for the 20mm or something. were they old rubbers or new, and if they were new thats hellva impressive, please share you loading technique.


thanks
Mark
 
160 cm gun

I get about 20 to 25 usefull range out of it - but at that range it's not all that easy to shoot fish.

The shockwave produced by the rubbers releasing warns the fish of the imminent attack, and they get a chance to move. With species like Tuna, they shunt quite fast. So, at 25 foot, you'd be anticipating your prey's direction of flight, plus it's speed, mapping it against the speed of your spear, then aim around 50cm ahead of them ... and hit if you're lucky.

The 160 gun is used mostly for the big fish, the mothers and grandmothers that I don't want to drag me around forever and ever ... one good whack, and they're yours. You can be pretty accurate with it, it's a bit of a mission to track, but not too bad. A nice thing about it is that shot at around 15 foot, you can get your flopper through both gillplates - on 2 x 16mm rubbers.

I don't think there'd be a huge difference between 150cm and 160cm, other than tracking. I ahven't managed to break a trigger mech yet - but I'm normally very protective of my gear - clean it after every dive, after a week or two's hard diving I'd more than likely strip the mech down and clean it, and if I won't be using the gun for more than 3 weeks I clean it and pack it in grease ....

Hope this helps
 
hi Griff and SA Spearo

First Griff Yes that was me and My 20mm was new it was 50cm and the 16mm is shorter I didn't measure the gun 110, to load this I got a tab welded about 20cm ahead of the first notch I would load to there which was quite hard then get my loading pad or anythin soft in the boat and pull it as hard as you could imagine that was it thats how I loaded it I had to take the 20mm off and now have 2 short 16mm rubbers.

SA Spearo your gettin me excited 20ft range would be a dream I hope my gun shoots as far as yours I may have to power it up a bit, I have no trouble loading guns so far RA or stealth so im not worried about loading, I was interested in you saying you grease and pack your mech and all would you be able to write what you do so I could learn im not a real good mechanic so I don't know if I could do it

cheers

PS I like how you SA divers dive reminds me of costal diving here dirty water 3m vis Tiger sharks good fish
 
First off I would like to congratulate Rob Allen on his development of the railgun . Its popularity worldwide speaks for itself .
I have been fortunate to live in an area of Zululand where one of our gang of spearo's decided to manufacture a series of railguns for us to custom specifications . The first thing we all agreed on is getting rid of the Picasso grips that are standard on RA guns , and replacing them with OMER grips . The consensus seems to be that it has a better feel in the hand , and thus far we have experienced no self-firing .
BTW a 145cm custom railgun with twin 16 mm rubbers set me back US $50 two years ago :D ...he only builds for friends though:hmm
 
RA grip modification

Abriapnea,
I own a 130 RA and recently had a problem with the trigger mech.
I'm interested in how you changed the grip from the as purchased to an Omer, I was thinking the new Aluminum grip.
Could you please elaborate on how you did it. It seams the Euro guns have a different set up than the RA. The Euro grips being female and the RA being a male.
Any help wpoud be great.
Anthony
N. California
 
hi

Did you put an Omer trigger mech on, cos I will if needed can you fit a Stealth trigger on it that would be awsome.

cheers
 
Omer Triggers

Abri,
Where did you get hold of the Omer grips? and for how much. also does it fit flush with the RA rail. i'm wondering because the rail continues into the handle. it looks like the boys at Dive Factory do a bit of a mod to get it fitting so well. how much of a mod am i looking at if i go for omer. and lastly, how much can the omer handles handle?

Thanks a million

Mark
 
We seem to have the same topic under discussion in two threads : favourite triggers and RA "s .
Here is the little I can tell you .
Please understand that I have little interest in the technicalities of guns , I only want the best gun to kill fish with:eek:
This OMER grip slips over the barrel .
There is about 5 cm of smooth extention without rail (not detrimental in any way in my experience)
I am using two 16 mm. rubbers , can't personally see the need for more , but a buddy has used a 20 and16 combination FOR A SHORT WHILE without any misfires .
Will try to get contact info of my gun building mate for interested parties ,PLEASE remember he is not interested in entering the commercial speargun market .
Have very quickly taken some shots of gun , hope they demonstrate what I failed to explain .:D
 

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hi

I think when I get my railgun im gonna use 2 16mm rubbers max as reccomended if it dosent have enough power I will just have to get over it cos Im not gonna power up and break another trigger if 2 16mm not enough I will work on my approach to fish.

cheers
 
Hi Ivan

Let us know how the 150 with twin 16's performs compared to the 110 with 20/16 combo.
Shot

Mark
 
I am wondering if new OMER Alluminium can handle two 16mm power bands with 6.75mm Riffe euroshaft or 7mm omer shaft.May be better with standart 6.3mm shaft.

BTW i bought OMER MB 30/86 last year it comes with standart pinpoint shaft but it bends with first shoot.Then i changed it and get 6.35mm tricut hawaian shaft. It is realy strong but i am wondering if it loose accuracy during the fly beacuse of the tricut point since its little deformed (not much) after several shoots around the rocks.
 
hi Griff

I sure will posty when I get this gun, i ordered it 3 months ago apparently the australian importer has changed and problems are getting them to the shops Im pretty sick of waiting,

cheers
 
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Yeah i had a yahn with the new importer a while back, he was expecting to have those RA guns in fairly quickly (that was 2 months ago or so...) I am not sure exactly whats happened there but the shop people in townsville and cairns who I woulsd add are generally in the know have no idea on waiting times!
Just another reason I have been holding off buying. Anyway... I am on a sleezy PNG phone line that gives me an enormous 16K... so I will leave it at that lest I drop out.
 
Ahhhh... so thats what the stealth is... Cool.
Hey the price in Australian dollars I am being quoted for the stealth at 1.4M Is $550.00 Is this normal? Ivan you might be the best to answer that... I am not sure.. but thats what I have seen the rec retail price as. Also Ivan how much is your RA1.5 setting you back? not meaning to pry... just looking so I can figure if I am going to pay to many $$ for this or not.
Cheers Rob
 
:head

Hey you guys , hows it going
just thought i would let u know that the australian distributer for Rob Allen is not importing them anymore. The new importer is a shop in Brisbane called Adreniline and i am not sure when their stock will be arriving. Adreniline is in the phone book by the way. so i would ring them and talk about it with them.
MICK
 
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