Rapid Reloading with Closed Muzzle Guns

Sea Hornet in the early seventies put out a limited number of timber guns with the wooden barrel replaced by a boxy stainless steel tube sealed with cork at either end. It seemed a mad idea and I never bought one, but picked this one up in the Coffs Harbour junk shop in the back end of town in 2000. Stripped of some parts I soon replaced them, but have never used it. Ironically the Chinese "Shooter" replicated this stainless steel barrel in alloy. The Chinese gun when you haul it out of the drink has a cup of water slowly drain from its interior as they never sealed the tubes where the handle screws attach, there is a boxy open space at either end that fills with water. However the guns do float after the shot and are identical copies except that the mould ejector pins are in slightly different places, these pins push the component out after the mould opens.


In subsequent years the bronze plastic parts were eliminated and all Sea Hornet guns now have black plastic parts. An exception was the "Tourist" model which had red plastic parts and over time Sea Hornet made a few specials for other companies such as sports store franchise "Anaconda", which were done in orange plastic. Mel Brown, AUF historian of what used to be the USFA, has told me that some were done in blue, but alas I have never seen one. Other colours are said to be around and may turn up eventually in places like eBay when relatives toss old diver's guns out or sell them to scavengers who then on-sell them on eBay.

An additional note if you ever happen to buy one of the Chinese alloy barrel clones is that to help drain water out I suggest that you don't install all the self-tappers supplied with each gun. They came in knocked down form for you to assemble originally, but this may not always be the case. There are more than enough screws with two each side and two on the bottom in each handle section which means that you can leave one of the bottom ones out. The muzzle only has two self-tappers in the bottom, but with a gun standing on its butt that area will leak down any water trapped inside it. I installed every screw on one gun and it floated very well until water leaked into the butt when it went slightly butt down and on pulling it out of the water quite a bit of water was still in it. If air cannot easily get in that stops any water flowing out. As who knows what alloy the Chinese used for the barrels I suggest that you don't leave any saltwater inside it and with an access hole freshwater can replace any saltwater after a long dunk in a freshwater tub and then drain or evaporate out. I had an alloy barrel on a Bandito turn to Swiss Cheese when saltwater sat in the base of the tube which meant that I had to take about four inches off it to get rid of the damaged metal.

Here is a mystery gun that I have never been able to identify. It is certainly a Sea Hornet clone, but made either in the USA or possibly the UK. I fancy the former as the gun has been made for use on scuba as there are moulded vents that completely flood the gun from one end to the other. It has a different muzzle for three bands and a shaft with three wishbone notches. Inside the handle the mech is a Sea Hornet copy , but it certainly is not from Sea Hornet. I have been offered plenty of guesses but none are correct and some were pretty stupid from people who wouldn't know a Bandito gun from a JBL.

Note the clone gun's double taper spear tip to pre-spread the floppers!!

Alongside it are a standard Sea Hornet "Recruit" tube gun and a gun that was one of Sea Hornet's last creations to try and tap into the sports store market, the lower specification "Terminator". It uses the same handle as the "Tourist" but has a longer barrel and cocking stock. I have never used it, but I bought it sensing that Sea Hornet was going under and from memory Mel Brown put me onto it. Functionally bar the passive line cip this gun would be just fine for spearfishing, except that the spear will rust and so will the spear tip. Bargain basement price though. Unfortunately due to brand snobbery and people big noting themselves by declaring Sea Hornet guns are junk the market was ignoring them here. Most likely the people making such statements never used one, basing their comments on what they read from others who may merely be echoes themselves.

Note the lower grip shape on the clone, Sea Hornet never made a gun like that, nor that triangular shaped muzzle band anchor hole made for three small diameter bands. Sea Hornet guns only use one or two bands, never three. The mystery gun is a production gun, it isn't a one-off. No name on it anywhere, just a barrel sticker showing two stylized fish flanking a scuba tank fitted with a twin hose regulator.